Monday, November 22, 2010

Hey, Government - Get Your Hands Off My Tea Bag!

I'd like to make this as simple as possible.

I typically fly once a year. I fly from Phoenix Sky Harbor to a final destination of Cleveland Hopkins. I fly Southwest Airlines. My flight is typically on Christmas Day, or within a day or two before at most. Southwest Airlines certainly has record of this flight history, and it's likely the government has this information as well.

I have one family member who flies for business. This family member uses one of two major carriers, and their flights can be to the same destination for weeks on end. This person flies out of their home city on Sunday, or perhaps Monday, and their return flight is close to the end of the week - Friday after business, or perhaps Thursday if work is done for the week.

Again - the carriers have this person's flight history on record, and I'd bet every penny I have to my name that our overreaching federal government knows full well about this person's pattern of flying as well.

These are just two simple examples of two Americans who should not be subjected to this ridiculous new governmental intrusion, courtesy of the TSA, which today Rush Limbaugh appropriately named "Tough S#!% America."

There is no reason that upon verification of ID, these two Americans should be subjected to any more than and a simple walk-through of a metal detector and a scan of our carry-on bag. We shouldn't even have to remove our shoes, in my humble opinion.

Blame it on Obama - it's his government now, and his DHS Secretary who is defending this asinine policy.

Blame it on Bush - it was his "progressive" side that allowed him to create this monstrosity of government intrusion called DHS after September 11, 2001.

Democrat, Republican - what's the difference. The bottom line is that this is embarrassing, and a prime example of why the Tea Party exists. Enough damned government, already.

Can't we find professionals who are trained to read patterns of behavior and profile accordingly? What are our former CIA operatives doing with their lives? How about retired police detectives who are trained in interrogation? Do I watch too much NCIS, to the point that I believe we have professionals who are trained to read "tells" in body language? Funny - I can "tell" when my co-workers are telling me a tall-tale, yet we can't competently screen

Profile based on nationality. Sorry - no, I'm not sorry, damn it. It's not the 63-year-old Grandma or the 7-year-old little boy who is going to blow up a plane, and if they are rigged with some device by a cretin who had the audacity to use another soul for their devious plot, their behavior will give them away.

Get real technology. Screw this full-body-image, see your "T&A" scanner crap. Get the type of technology that reads body temperature, and have people trained to understand how they indicate that there is a terrorist in line. With that technology, the people you're going to catch are those who are wired on meth or cocaine, or those who are trying (or being used to try) to blow up a plane. Either way, it's a win-win situation.

It's really simple, and our government is really stupid. And when I say stupid, I mean really, really stupid.

Hell, even I can figure this one out, and I'm just a high-school graduate with a handful of college credits, who makes less than the average government worker. Of course, since I'm not Harvard Law School educated, nobody will take me seriously...

Hey, government - get your hands off my Tea Bag.

16 comments:

Pedaling said...

Either way, it's a win-win situation.
Soloman, I like your thinking.
Would love to facebook this post.

Soloman said...

Pedaling,

I'll be awaiting my royalty check - heh.

Seriously though - please feel free to republish this or any of my writings at any time. Just let me know, feed the ego!

Fuzzy Slippers said...

Apparently, the oh-so-intellectual and smarter-than-everyone left doesn't understand the difference between criminal/terrorist profiling and racial "driving while black" profiling. Do the police randomly stop and grope everyone they see after a crime? Nope, they base their investigation on evidence, criminal profiles, and common sense (well, mostly). It's about time that those in charge of our national security got as good as our local flatfoot, don't ya think?

This is appalling and embarrassing and the direct result of political correctness. I'm over it. We're definitely going to get our butts handed to us by al Queda because we're being too stupid to address the threat properly.

Jen said...

Great post and I'd like to know which bomber the TSA has stopped with this technology. Names, anyone, anyone . ..?

Pedaling said...

I facebooked it.
thanks.

Anonymous said...

Homeland Security. What a gestapo-likd excuse for trampling human rights.

tha malcontent said...

Good job here, thanks for it and have a great Holiday.

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Anonymous said...

Happy Thanksgiving from the staff at Goomba News Network®, a Division of Nickie Goomba Ltd.

Soloman said...

Fuzzy -

Sadly, I believe you're right.

We're in for a long, difficult struggle within the confines of our own nation that we must win before we ever find success in our efforts to defeat terrorists.

Soloman said...

Vineyard -

I hope you're not still waiting for that answer...

Thanks for the compliment! Happy Thanksgiving.

Soloman said...

Pedaling -

Thank you so much. All my "feed the ego" commentary aside, I'm truly humbled.

Soloman said...

Nickie - There you go again with the Fascist references. It's not like they've nationalized industries or...

Hey, wait a minute...

Soloman said...

malcontent,

Thank you - Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Soloman said...

alfred,

I've added you to my "not about politics" blog list, which is just a bit down the page but growing steadily.

Thanks for the link.

Soloman said...

Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Have a Blessed day.