While I tend to agree OP brought much of the grief upon himself, I'm afraid your contention that terrorists are wandering around photographing targets destroys much of your argument.

They aren't and don't need to; simple observation is enough, not to mention google. Would writing in a notebook raise your 'suspicions' as well ?

Photography is not terrorism.

What nonsense. You either have a right to do something or you don't. Yes, rights are not absolute (yelling fire in a crowded movie house when there is no fire), but there is nothing in the Constitution or law that says your rights are limited to "common sense."

You are not the arbiter of what is and what is not acceptable or normal.

Walking along the sidewalk in front of a bank could be a precursor to criminal activity too, should we shakedown every pedestrian on the sidewalk? Firing the synapses in your brain could be a precursor to criminal activity, should we shakedown everyone who has a brain?

That's not the issue. The issue is how the the TSA and HPD behaved *after* it became apparent that the OP was not any kind of threat, just an air-travel nerd.


http://strandedmariner.files.wordpre...ear-bunker.jpg

Yep, and Rosa Parks should have just sat on the back of the bus rather than causing trouble.

How do you know?-- he could be posting from Paraguay.

The longest journey begins with a single step.

Bruce

^^^

Neither is the TSA. Or anyone else for that matter.

I'd rather have our law enforcement doing their jobs, instead of harassing innocent people who were engaged in doing something perfectly legal.

Is buying fertilizer now a criminal offense too? Is there anything else you would like to make illegal? Are there any books you'd like to burn while you're at it-- because that's the direction that this type of position will ultimately take this country.

Law enforcement's job is to investigate crimes and catch criminals after they have done something illegal-- not before. By doing what they did, TSA and HPD were far out of line.

Though lawsuits probably aren't going to happen in this situation, I really wish they would. I'd like to see the thug screeners and jack boot cops be made to pay for their harassment personally. It would be great to see them and their families lose their car, home, and savings and be thrown out on the street as the result of blatent disregard for Rights and Liberties.

It may sound harsh, but I'll bet if examples were made of a few thugs it would cause a number of others to think twice before doing something that might exceed their authority. I'd prefer to have a society with police, TSA, FBI, NSA, and others put on short leashes and spanked-- hard and publically-- when they exceed their authority and trample the Bill of Rights.

No, it's just plain abuse of authority. Question them after they've done something wrong, not before. They shouldn't trample my (and others') rights just because their poor education and sense of justice tell them they can.

The beauty of our system is that nobody is required to meet either your definition nor the government's of what is normal.

When I ride the MARC train home at night, I often see train buffs with their cameras standing on station platforms taking pictures and noting locomotive numbers and such. This would be considered a terrorist act in some professional circles.

And they may have recreated whole rail lines in miniature in their basements to practice on, under the guise of being hobbyists.

I find this very disturbing, as these could be dioramas used for a dry run of choo-choo mayhem. Oh noes!

Quick, round up the rail and R/C hobbyists, they are a dire threat.

I think that all of us who ride the MARC trains should be bound, gagged, and blindfolded for the duration of the ride too, as seeing where the tracks are is definitely a security threat too...