As an appointed official, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) chief John Pistole doesn’t necessarily have to care about public opinion. One might have hoped, however, that faced with calls to back down by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, he might pause for at least a moment. Not so, however.
Instead Pistole lectured the Senators on the importance of his invasive searches, insisting that privacy complaints, whether coming from the American public or the Senate, would not change any of his policies.
He went on to field a complaint from Sen. Ensign (R – NV) that the searches offended religious modesty. Pistole responded that religious people were entitled to their beliefs but suggested that they shouldn’t try to fly, adding that anyone who refuses to submit to the more intrusive screening would be banned from flying.
The installation of new “full body” scanners has sparked a huge outcry, as the scanners produce graphic images of passengers. The alternative, termed an “enhanced pat down,” has been likened to overt molestation, with images of TSA agents groping passengers sparking public outcry. With the bureaucrats responsible for the policies so far removed from the political process, however, these objections are being met with more demands to obey, or else.
It's high time Pistole, Napolitano and the rest of the TSA cadre be forcibly "submitted" to the unemployment line.
so true
Ain't that the truth ! Why not force him to be scanned and hand-molested every time he gets on a plane….. even the private ones…..
'Submit or else' – nothing new there then – simply US stock in trade from 1898 through Philippines – Vietnam – Abu Ghraib – Guantanamo – stop/search – rarking tickets – lockdown – civil protest – now tourism targetted – everything to do with good old 'Homeland Security' [now there's a good Nazi term] – and on it goes. However the only war US seems actually have WON in recent decades is that wonderfully brave foray into Grenada!
Has there ever been in human history a more paranoid, fearful, arrogant, self-righteous bunch of fuckwits on the planet? I think not
"However the only war US seems actually have WON in recent decades is that wonderfully brave foray into Grenada! "
But sir, you seem to have forgotten our most valiant triumph over the "Forces of Evil" in…. PANAMA!
Yes, 'tis true: "Paranoia will destroy ya".
The PSA has become the department of PERVERTS!
Mr Pistole and the trave industry:
That is just it I will not fly until you institute sane and dignity preserving security measures.
Question: What percentage of boycotters do we need to have the airlines and travel industry to feel the pinch?
Reichsfuhrer Pistole seems a bit dictatorial with his remarks. "Submit…. or be banned from flying?" No 'due process'? TSA must have been created outside our Constitutional guarantees. Oh sorry I forgot, Patriot Act and miscellaneous treasons like that there.
"Submit…or be banned"… Hey Pistole? Kiss my ass!
Government's outrages are so prevalent that someday people like Pistole and Napolitano may suffer the fate of scoundrels as described in "Unintended Consequences", a book by John Ross.
"Oh say does that star-spangled banner yet wave, o'er the land of the FREE and the home of the BRAVE?" Please, as long as the the Dept. of Homeland Securtity and the TSA are still in business, don't make me puke by forcing me to ever hear that song again. If the American people fail to confront the arrogance, the perversion, the sadisim, and the facisim of sociopathic government officials like John "feel'em up" Pistole, then we might as well replace The Star-Spangled Banner with the national anthem of Nazi Germany.
Is this the prelude to swearing fealty to the ruling powers?
I think it is a pretty safe bet that members of Congress, their families and highly placed government officials won't be subjected to these "random" "enhanced screenings." It's only for the masses and not for the elite. Their freedoms are secure. Ours are toast. You cannot resist. You will be assimilated… All those who applauded the USA Patriot Act…did you see this coming? Do you see where this is going?
So the question remains…How much more are we going to submit to?
The real Borg is the TSA. I wonder how the airlines are taking der Furhrer blathering about if you don't like it don't fly. OK. Why is this attitude of the government not surprising. What is the true mission of the TSA and its goons, it is OBEDIENCE TRAINING FOR ADULTS, the shoe removal being the pilot program and the spineless cowardice that are Americans didn't raise a whimper in protest. The extent of the TSA obedience training could only increase and the NAZIFICATION of the DHS to the point of "submit, resistance is futile, we are the Borg, DHS'.The whole purpose of then DHS is graft and corruption, and with 10,000 offices and 1 million private operators nationwide is true to the definition of Fascism. "……….and then they came for me". here they come.
Welcome to Americas Gaza strip.
Will there come a day when there is a drop too many in the bucket?
It would be nice to think that the scanners are the equivalent of the Stamp Act in terms of galvanizing public outrage, but that still remains to be seen.
I choose to neither submit nor fly. If others feel the same way, in enough numbers, the airlines will eventually cease to be profitable and will close, or at the very least be forced to severely cut back their operations. As it stands now, chalk up yet another victory for Bin Laden and Co.
The solution? Let the airlines decide what level of security they will impose on their passengers. After all, it's their aircraft and their risk to assess. The public will quickly show what security measures they're willing to voluntarily accept and the airlines will act accordingly. And guess what? It doesn't require a single government employee to accomplish this.
Part 1. This is the point a lot of Americans somehow fail to understand: GOVERNMENT IS NOT ABOVE THE LAW. If individuals have no right to aggress against their neighbors then government does not either. If individuals have no right to murder human beings then government does not either. If individuals have no right to torture other human beings then government does not either. If individuals have no right to expose other human beings to hazardous radiation then government does not either. If individuals have no right to sexually assault other human beings then government does not either.
Part 2. Are the Constitution and the Bill of Rights (our most basic law) still honored, respected and enforced by our government? Are we still a nation of laws that guarantee our individual and god-given rights to life, liberty and property? Do we still have a national government that honors and respects our individual and god-given rights and the laws that were written to enforce those rights? If not, then it is our responsibility and duty to DEMAND that our individual and god-given rights, and the laws that were written to enforce those rights, be respected and honored by the government. If the government refuses to listen to us and refuses to heed our demands to honor, respect and protect our rights then it is also OUR RIGHT and OUR DUTY, as free men and women, to REFORM that government or to even REPLACE that government by using whatever means that are appropriate and/or necessary.
Henry, you're so right, but the government, and I think you know this, writes its own rules and it won't let you reform or replace it if it feels threatened. And when has it NOT ever felt threatened? So it goes without saying it will never willingly submit.
I fear that you are correct. But at some point, the people's patience will be exhausted and the excrement is sure to hit the fan.
Can you believe that this a-hole is payed (quite nicely I would think, with benefits) by our taxes?!
The scanners are not only pornographic in nature, but also emit dangerous levels of x-rays that can indeed give you skin cancer.
The pat down is not only overt molestation, but is indeed unconstitutional. Regardless of what the government says, flying is not a privilege like driving, it is a right. You have a right to move around the country using any means of transportation. Besides, they are now starting to screen passengers on trains and buses. Plus at certain events, security is checking under and inside of cars.
We need to organize a boycott where on a certain day, thousands of people buy tickets, but refuse both the cancer scanners and the sexual pat downs. This would shut down every major airport in the country. I think doing this around Christmas time would be ideal.
Meanwhile, commercial cargo flying on the same planes as the violated passengers never gets screened. Even a retarded terrorist knows that is where to place the bombs.
Gives thanks because of this. Bookmarking your blog.
john pistole and janet napolatano are trying to hit the TSA scanner jackpot just like former TSA administrator michael chertoff. chertoff is peddling the scanners and pistole with his evasive pat downs are giving the flying public two choices get fondled or let one of my 2 week trained TSA agent sit in a booth and view kiddy porn, both napolatano and pistole might be two disgusting individuals for using kiddy porn to supplement their retirement nest egg when they leave office, but what do expect from an administration that hires a tax cheat to head the IRS.
What's a little kiddy porn compared to the john pistole retirement fund, it' no secret that former TSA administrator micheal chertoff is peddling those scanners and john the pervert pistole is using the pat downs to condition americans to use those devices which will make chertoff group very wealthy, pistole might be a disgusting individual but he is not stupid. chertoff made a bundle and pistole wants his cut when he retires.
Images of pistole and his perverts molesting americans and promoting child pornography will be hung around the neck of democrats like a scarlet letter in 2012, who knows how about criminal charges brought against pistole or one of his perverts just before the election, remember the dreaded gestapo thought they were doing gods work and their actions would be justified, that ended in nuremberg.