soundoff (382 Responses)

1. HDS
   

   Whats funny is do you think they are going to use a plane again? phh been there done that. Paranoia may destroy ya...

   April 13, 2011 at 6:26 pm | Report abuse |
2. Sandra
   

   that little girl was wearing clothing that was tight to the skin. There was no reason for any adult to be publicly feeling her up like that. And to all the ones going on about 'keep us safe'.. it would be better for tickets sales to be pre-screened. Screen passengers before the enter the terminal. Biometric IDs would be even better.

   April 13, 2011 at 6:26 pm | Report abuse |
   • Duane W
     

     Biometric ID's are not going to tell the airport that you recently converted to Islam and decided America was evil after all. How many converts have taken up arms against our own country already? I am sorry, I would rather have my family safe versus your narrow vision of privacy.....take a car instead and save it

     April 13, 2011 at 7:19 pm | Report abuse |
3. Richard
   

   As reported over and over again, the pat downs and scans are useless. Auditors test the system all the time and report that they smuggle in all sorts of stuff that gets past screeners. And as most business know, it's the employee, not the customer, who is most likely to exploit the system. Get one terrorist to work as a baggage handler and they get to go through almost no security with whatever they want. I live next to an airport. There are places where I can litterally walk onto the runway. No gate at all.

   If they want to keep people safe, put marshalls on the plane. Every plane. It probably costs the same and it's probably better and save us all time.

   Remember this. There are no more and no less hijackings than any other time in history.

   April 13, 2011 at 6:27 pm | Report abuse |
4. ci
   

   If you are afraid of getting killed by a terrorist on an airplane, don't fly. The underwear bomber would not have been detected with a pat down.

   April 13, 2011 at 6:28 pm | Report abuse |
   • Chris
     

     Exactly! Don't fly if you're so afraid of "terrorists". If you're afraid of terrorists you must be REALLY afraid of those hamburgers and junk food that kill hundreds of thousands of times more people a year. You must be VERY afraid to get in your car, which kills tens of thousands of times more people a year. You must also be pretty afraid of lightning, which kills more people a year. Hell, you might as well just stay in your home with your guns and your NASCAR and hope that an earthquake, tornado, forest fire, or tsunami doesn't take you out! WAKE UP AMERICA!

     April 13, 2011 at 7:12 pm | Report abuse |
5. Doug R
   

   "Everytime someone gets patted down or has to wear a bikini through security, Osama Bin Laden laughs and wins again. "

   Then again, every time a woman wears a decadent bikini in public, Osama Bin Laden cries and loses.

   For those who keep comparing patdowns (which are optional–you can go through the enchanced xray screening instead) to being 'in prison,' I'd say you are being over-dramatic and embarrassingly ignorant of what that actually means.

   April 13, 2011 at 6:34 pm | Report abuse |
   • unsaid
     

     Actualloy, the little girl DID go through the screener. They claimed it was inconclusive even when the parents asked if she could be scanned again.

     April 14, 2011 at 12:41 am | Report abuse |
6. Pedro Torres
   

   Terrorist of the word, just put the bomb in a little kid. Or in an eldery person, or dress like a nun.

   April 13, 2011 at 6:44 pm | Report abuse |
7. WV Mike
   

   Look it really is as simple as this, I want to be safe while I'm flying. I want you to be safe while your flying. We do not live in a safe world. Searches and scans are a necessary part of the process. For crying out loud get over yourselves, if you don't want a TSA agents hands on you, go through the scanner. Do you honestly think any one really cares about, or will remember your naked sillouette? Grow up already!

   April 13, 2011 at 6:44 pm | Report abuse |
   • Jamie
     

     Finally someone with a brain. WV Mike has it right.

     April 13, 2011 at 9:23 pm | Report abuse |
   • Red
     

     Except we shouldn't have to surrender our basic 4th Amendment rights to ensure safety. TSA agents have NO police powers, therefore NO legal authorization. They don't even have any security training. They have NO real training period. Unless you can somehow prove me wrong.

     I'm all for safety, too. But NOT at the expense of my personal rights.

     April 14, 2011 at 3:22 am | Report abuse |
8. josey
   

   Dear TSA,

   I will accept your removing all of our freedoms and abusing us if you can name 1 terrorist that you stopped using these methods. Ohh sorry, terrorist have all been stopped by the poeple on the plane after being in flight. Funny how other countries are proactive in air security and we are reactive and they keep telling us how to do it right and we don't listen.

   April 13, 2011 at 6:51 pm | Report abuse |
   • Duane W
     

     josey, have you ever thought they prevented terrorists from wanting to take the chance they would be caught? I mean seriously any half wit is going to know if they try and smuggle something on their odds are not in their favor so why attempt it? So in fact although they didn't catch anyone in the act, they probably saved you and I by preventing an attempt in the first place. Try and see the bigger picture for the security.

     April 13, 2011 at 6:54 pm | Report abuse |
   • Stephanie
     

     Duane- the patdowns started a year or so ago and the body scanners have been in place just a little longer. That doesn't explain the years we have gone without the TSA body scanners and patdowns without any incidences

     April 13, 2011 at 7:48 pm | Report abuse |
9. Matt
   

   "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." -Benjamin Franklin

   Enough said.....

   April 13, 2011 at 6:53 pm | Report abuse |
   • John Walls
     

     we even give up our children's basic private rights away, just so we can feel safe. we give up our children's right to be healthy by letting them go through a field of radiation, unprotected.

     this countries morales are dead, as is our children freedoms.

     America, the Ignorant.

     April 13, 2011 at 7:11 pm | Report abuse |
10. Stephen
    

    When I fly I request the frisk because I do not wish to receive toxic radiation doses. I can see that everyone aroun me also does not want to go through the machine but hey, who wants to be "that guy" who rocks the boat? So we go through like sheep. One person standing up is a good thing, and what goes on "behind closed doors" is always a crime for that very reason. The crowd is our safety, a search in public is our safety against being taken back and then renditioned off to Guantanamo Bay to be searched there.

    The agents are always courteous. I am sure that the agent who has to frisk the children goes home everyday and contemplates suicide – molesting children is not a job most people would choose for themselves. In fact, profit-mongering lobbyists chose that job for them.

    The TSA is an enormous jobs program, only instead of having these people constructively contribute to the economy, by building roads, farming, and so on, we have them spend all day doing nothing except slowly growing into the draconian army of a repressive regime. The TSA has the same effect on the economy per dollar spent as prisons do – that is, we are simply throwing that money away.

    The Radiation-based scanners are just a corporate product which is used because many people are profiting from their use.

    I go back to my original point (a simple syllogism):
    A We do airport security to prevent plane explosions (hijacking is already impossible)
    B Explosions can only be caused by exlosives
    C We do airport security to prevent explosives from getting on planes

    That's it folks! Frisking doesn't prevent explosives placed inside the body from getting on a plane. The cancer-causing scanner does not accomplish this either. Therefore, we should retire both, especially because all they do do is degrade natural human sensibilities and erode our rights. What we need – what I want to truly be safe – is to immediately deploy a ubiquitous chemical explosives detection system. That is the only solution and amazingly it is a complete one and one which does not infringe on our rights as humans.

    April 13, 2011 at 6:55 pm | Report abuse |
    • Chris
      

      Excellent post! There is hope!

      April 13, 2011 at 7:01 pm | Report abuse |
11. Chris
    

    No, we don't need any pat downs or x-rays. Why? One word: Israel. They don't do either and you don't see their planes being blown up left and right. They use profiling of sorts. Security ask 2 simple questions: "How are you today?" and "Where are you flying to?" Based off of the response, body language, etc, they decide if further screening is required. There are a bunch of very, very afraid sheep in America, and we are in a state of collapse in part due to this. I might add: Who are the real weakling pansies? Who wants you to buy guns? Fear terrorists? Fear illegals? Fear drug users? Fear your neighbor? Fear gay people getting married? Fear China? Here's a hint: It's the people who normally call the left "pansies".

    April 13, 2011 at 6:56 pm | Report abuse |
12. Michael Brown
    

    I fly a lot and I actually got my first ever pat down in February. I was kind of surprised. I flashed my military ID and never thought that they would choose me for that kind of junk, but it happens. I guess they figured I wouldn't put up a fuss about it so they selected me. It's not so bad, but it is a little uncomfortable of course having another guy grab you in places only an attractive woman should grab.

    April 13, 2011 at 6:57 pm | Report abuse |
    • John Walls
      

      i guess fighting and willing to die for your country isn't enough proof for the HomelLand Security/TSA/Federal Governement to warrant that you're not a terrorist.

      April 13, 2011 at 7:05 pm | Report abuse |
13. Jon
    

    Anyone ever fly internationally? Flying back to the US from Panama everyone got a pat down after going through the metal detector. And not just a quick 1,2 done, everything was touched. No option, no warning, no gender specific pat down. I had a female security officer and it felt more like a physical, I just didn't have to turn my head and cough. I'm sure if I had an issue with it, I wasn't getting on the plane. Get over it.

    April 13, 2011 at 6:58 pm | Report abuse |
14. Just concerned
    

    False security. That's all. Shoe bomber-now we take our shoes off. shampoo bomber–now we cannot have any fluids. Underwear bomber-I don't know how this woman got through without anyone looking inside her bikini?

    April 13, 2011 at 6:58 pm | Report abuse |
    • small dog trucking at myspacedotcom
      

      i'll check her bikini, got to make sure there are really breasts in there!

      April 13, 2011 at 7:44 pm | Report abuse |
15. Dave
    

    TSA is trying their best...next step, cavity checks.

    April 13, 2011 at 7:01 pm | Report abuse |
    • small dog trucking at myspacedotcom
      

      probapbly, cause next they will be building tampon bombs, dont pull that string!

      April 13, 2011 at 7:45 pm | Report abuse |