3166 We are living in 1984

Friday, November 19, 2010

People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.

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I've been reading a lot about the new TSA "scan or pat" controversy. Of course it's security theater, not real security at all, having much to do with past failed attempts and doing nothing to thwart future attempts, and a whole lot to do with someone profiting from sale of the machines.

It's also unconstitutional under the fourth amendment. To quote a comment from 'Mela' on an interview of TSA agents here:

"This policy allows TSOs to “pat down” (which is an absurd bastardization of the term in this case) American citizens, assumed under the law to be innocent of any crime, in ways that a police officer is not allowed to touch a suspect in the face of probable cause of evidence of a crime. That is blatantly unconstitutional and every citizen should protest if they believe in the tenets of rights this country was founded upon."

But then, we've been giving up rights over the past ten years. What's one more (shrug).

Many non-Americans have said that they will no longer enter the US, for business or pleasure, because the American "security" measures insult them.

I have flown El Al. Their security measures make sense and are supremely successful, especially considering that they are target #1. Please do read this: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/744199---israelification-high-security-little-bother. They take the problem seriously, and attack it intelligently with training and psychology. No fuss, no feathers flying, nobody profiting, no insulting intrusion or harassment.

Then ask yourself why Americans are generally considered lacking in intelligence (and yeah, that's a sort of a sad pun).
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