exerda

^

Bart

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Bart

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FliesWay2Much

...but, TSA Spokeshole Yolanda Clark said:

pdhenry

I've got to run to a meeting so I can't stick around. Just wanted to comment that this made the yuk-yuk morning show on the radio as I was driving in. Following mention of the "no prohibition on writing on bags" comment by the TSA, they yukkers said, "Yeah, it will just get you detained for awhile," in a sort of "What was this guy thinking?" tone.

I certainly hope that MKE has gone /will go forward with the ACLU contact. I think the 1st amandment point made by this incident needs to be escalated and not shrugged/laughed off.

I will send away for an ACLU card if I learn that the ACLU is going to persue this case in some meaningful way.

- PDH

essxjay

Oooh, baby! I'd pay good money for *that* bootleg!

"Hullo? YouTube??"

:devil horns:

First_Amendment

As a NON-THREATENING message, we all should start using "approved" plastic bags emblazoned with Mr. Bird's quote about Mr. H. As a social experiment, it would be interesting to capture everyone’s screening experience.

I'm sure that this "idiotic" reason to detain Law Abiding American Citizens who are supposed to be protected by OUR US CONSTITUTION, written by the great Forefathers of this nation ( and now certain individuals feel that it's their right to "amend our Amendments") will be overlooked very quickly. At least it would be a quiet and non-threatening way to voice our thoughts without harming our security process.

jrcoyote

since our rights for free speech are sucked away by the TSA scanning equipment, expalin to me why toy weapons..."if not realistic replicas" are allowed as carry-ons and checked items? who determines the realism? perhaps its the toy ammunition post-security third-world vendors who are running packaged specials such as tooth paste, hair gel and free plastic ammo! BTW, i agree that box cutters should not be allowed but, if you're like me, I've opened most of my box shipments with eitehr versions of the TSA approved scissors or handy TSA approved screw driver. What is the TSA leadership thinking?
reading through the approved items list I noticed that although our gels and toothpaste must now be purchsed post-security from third-world vendors in the airport, "toy weapons...if not too realistic" are allowed as both carry-ons and checked items. now...who determines what is too realistic, what is the litmus test and are plastic toy guns preferred to metal ones? holy smokes! perhaps Nickelodean or Disney should be posting the TSA secuurity rules da jour to help our younger travelers pack properly!
JR

Flaflyer

Just came from the newsstand. Congratulations on making the AP and CNN wire. ^ Enough publicity on the TSA loony tunes may someday reach a congresscritter and something be done. Publicity is good.

"A T-S-A spokeswoman says there is no prohibition on writing on bags." Time to take TSA at their word.

FliesWay2Much

It's clear, by the Spokeshole Yolanda Clark's remarks, that the TSA intends to push this under the rug and make sure it goes away. They have no intention of addressing the bigger issues. To them, it's just another case of a non-compliant passenger who won't play by the rules, and, watch out or it will happen to you! Their culture is derived from the FAA, which historically has retreated and hunkered down in the face of criticism or embarrassment. They are both very good at capitalizing on Americans' very short attention spans.

Hawley is the #1 hunkerer-downer. My educated guess is that this whole incident hasn't received anything more than a passing mention in the TSA Head Shed. The farthest thing from his mind is to do something like make a public statement or send an all-hands memo stating that he won't tolerate this type of attitude and behavior among the screener workforce. Heck -- I wouldn't even expect this from the local MKE FSD!

The way to keep the pressure on Hawley is through a couple of methods --

1. Keep this incident in the media -- so far, so good, but the free speech issue really hasn't been prominent.

2. Set up a Member of Congress to question him about this incident during a hearing. Unfortunately, they are about ready to all go home and get re-elected and their entire focus is on passing continuing resolutions and going home.

3. Find out where he's speaking in public and try to get in and ask a question to put him on the spot. This will require so very good intel and some deception of moat dragons controlling attendance. Remember when that guy got in one of Bush's audience-controlled Town Hall meetings? The guy had to act like a Party loyalist and submit a false question he had no intention of asking. But, it worked.

4. Get to Hawley through Chertoff. Find a press conference and do what you have to do to ask him something like, "Mr. Secretary, what are you doing about Mr. Hawley's handling of the free speech harassment at Milwaukee a few weeks ago?" The press conference doesn't even need to be related to the TSA. All that has to happen is for a reporter to get in and ask a question.

I'll speculate, for a minute, about how Hawley is taking this personally. My speculation comes from having been around some public figure who have been publically lambasted on a professional and personal basis. Hawley's options are to either ignore it all together and put the heat on his senior staff to do the same or to turn it into a humorous event to deflect what he really might be feeling. He could even buy a tee shirt and wear it himself if he really wanted to poke all of us in the eye.

The real heat would come from his family. I don't know his family situation at all, so, once again, all I can do is speculate. If he has a spouse who really takes things personally, he could really feel the heat. He could have to deal with a child or grandchild coming home from school and saying, "Dad/Grandpa, I saw a kid in school today wearing a tee shirt saying you're an idiot. Is that true?"

Would I feel sorry for him? Not for a nanosecond!

Jakebeth

Bart - I thank you for your continued participation on this and other threads, despite the fact that it often brings you a lot of heat.

But while I almost always agree with your level-headed responses, I think you're off the mark here. There was nothing playground here. Sometimes political expression requires just this kind of phrasing in order to raise awareness. As I believe was discussed in Cohen v. California, there just wasn't any better way to say "F*ck the Draft". Ultimately, there just wasn't anything at ALL inappropriate about writing Kip Hawley's an Idiot. If the OP had written "you TSA guys are idiots" that would have been a little more 'playground' IMO. But he was thoughtful and deliberate in what he wrote, in a clear effort to make people think, without stepping over the line into something truly threatening or inappropriate.

I'm not suggesting that your discomfort with this is any kind of cardinal sin. If I were in your position, I would probably be equally irritated. I'm just trying to point out that what OP did here was a small measure of civil disobedience in the best tradition. Without it, we're just another USSR.

mkeMike

Just be sure to quote the TSA spokeswoman directly under whatever you write. Then look for their reaction.

dd992emo

I take it that doesn't include the insults and names directed at TSA employees?

VADemocrat

We all know that the TSA is out of control, this case only exemplifies the problem. However, the bigger issue is where these "directives" come from. The White House, Bush and his cronies are taking our beloved nation down a road that we may never recover from. When individual citizens are "detained" for exercising their rights GUARANTEED to them by the First Amendment, whether it's in an airport, train station or simply on Main Street USA, the problem is that the behavior of the TSA is condoned and even encouraged in our current atmosphere. The Founding Fathers must all be rolling over in their graves at the indignities being forced on the American travelers and citizens in general.

Having Big Brother looking over our shoulder doesn't make me feel any safer to travel....in fact, I'm more concerned / afraid of my own government than terrorist plotters. As a nation we can be diligent and aware of our surroundings to protect ourselves from terror activity, but we seem to have little or no protection from the actions of our own government! This has to stop. Yesterday Congress passed the Torture Bill...how long will it be before another fellow traveler is "detained" and questioned under the premise that he may be a terrorist or some kind of threat. Under the new bill anyone, yes anyone folks, can be detained indefinitely at the Presidents' descretion. We should all be afraid...VERY AFRAID at the direction our government is taking us.

FliesWay2Much

In all of this, I wonder why they just didn't send the OP for a retaliatory secondary? OP, did they ever bring this up?