Originally Posted by manneca

...I am somewhat of an expert on cancer, being 2.5 years after diagnosis with ovarian cancer. You don't want even stage 1 cancer. You don't want chemo. You don't want surgery. Many cancers are simply awful. This is why I opt out of the WBS. I'm not willing to increase my risk...

Originally Posted by CDTraveler

I thought you were going to go even further back with "Skeletor" and say Cheney, not Chertof. That's where I think most of sh!t America currently is in started.

And talking about lucrative contracts, isn't he tightly connected with Halliburton?

Originally Posted by BOB W

I prefer to refer to people with a heart beat.

Originally Posted by divemistressofthedark

I'm not sure how I'm supposed to reason with someone who thinks it's OK to let a total stranger touch the genitals of a 12-year-old girl (or take naked photos of her on a machine that can save the pictures) due to the 1 in several million chance that she will be blown up by a terrorist on a trip from Akron to St. Paul.

Originally Posted by JMan40

On a friend's Facebook page just moments ago (my friend is one of us; she is quite upset at her treatment at a CA airport and is fired up), someone actually said he was willing to get an anal exam if it meant "his plane doesn't fall outta [sic] the sky or slam into a building."

Originally Posted by BearX220

Actually, the 12-year-old girl is being virtually disrobed / molested due to the much fainter chance that she intends to blow up the plane herself. When toddlers, nuns, soldiers in uniform, flight attendants, etc. are molested, it is because TSA suspects them of terrorist intent.

With due respect, get better friends. Or at least friends with basic reasoning skills. Shopping malls and sporting events are terror targets. Would he accept an anal probe every time he wants to go buy socks at Kmart? We have 15,000 murders a year in this country. Would he accept a world in which he is forbidden to leave his house without a police escort? We had 33,808 motor vehicle deaths in this country in 2009. Would he surrender his driving privileges to special federally-certified chauffeurs?

The "anything-that-keeps-us-safer" crowd, if it's serious, ought to weigh in on lowering traffic deaths to zero. Much bigger threat to public safety.

Originally Posted by divemistressofthedark

b.) How would they ever prosecute anyone for a banned item if the images weren't saved?

Originally Posted by mozgytog

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and decided that I need to say it as often and to as many people as possible.

I am opposed to the use of WBI and physical searches for primary screening. I support, wholeheartedly, the abolition of both of these practices immediately. I believe the TSA should be disbanded and airport security should be returned to the private sector as it was on Sept 9, 2001.

I understand fully that this means some day my ticket might get punched by a terrorist on an airplane with some kind of weapon, explosive or incendiary device. I accept this risk because it is the price of living in a free society, and I do it gladly.

Some day, I'm going to die. That is an inescapable fact. The only things I don't know right now are how and when it will happen. If it comes to pass that I am the average, regular civilian merely going about my daily life of earning a living or taking a vacation when it happens, I will pay the price gladly. I have considered the argument that if it was one of my loved ones who died on 9/11, I would feel differently. This is exactly the kind of attitude that is contrary to the foundations of the United States.

I want it to be known here and now that I choose to live free. I will die the same way. I hope that if I die in a terrorist attack, everyone who loves me will remember this and not try to say that I'd be alive 'If only'. That is not the kind of life I want to live. If the price of your kids being free to move about without being photographed naked and having their genitals touched by government agents is my blood, then I will pay it gladly.

If I die in a terrorist attack, let this be my epitaph:

I knew the risks, I bought the ticket, and I paid the price of admission. I did it willingly, gladly, and without regret. I would do it again. I was free.

Originally Posted by Tailgater

Well, what if you happen to be heavily invested in these new scanner devices? What about the investors?

Originally Posted by makfan

Too bad, so sad, as far as I'm concerned. Investing is risky, just like anything else one does in life.

Originally Posted by JennyElf

Extremely well said. This needs to be shouted everywhere.