If someone wanted to, they could use a breast implant and make “bombs” with their breast implants, or simply inject C4 into their rectum. Also, how do you think they cook and prepare food in all the airport kitchens, or all the blunt objects that can be turned into weapons at stores like Brookstone. Is the government checking every item sold in airports for bad items? Is the government scanning each burger patty?

I’m sick of this! I am now personally raising my voice each time I go through airport security and telling them exactly how I feel about this. They try to react to me with authority, but I am an American and I am not breaking any law. I should be treated with respect and I should be able to enjoy rights of being treated with dignity while traveling.

I watched a woman stuck in a wheelchair have her think sweater ripped off of her and forced to walk without shoes past a metal detector in SFO last weekend. It was awful and i felt so embarrassed for her.

I think it’s time that we take our duty as Americans and speak out against this treatment. I think we should all band together and when we go through airport security, we should have something to say and something to say LOUD. If every American simply spoke their minds as they are subject to their freedom stripped and the abuse of the TSA, something may change.

I’m not sure of the wording of this, maybe someone can help me refine this, but when I travel next time I will be reading this each time I go through security:

“As my duty as an citizen of the United States of America, I think what the TSA and the Federal Government is doing here goes beyond my level of comfort, I think that each person working here should question their ethics. This is treating each American as a criminal and as Americans we should not accept this treatment. We should require better treatment and better accommodations for Airport screening. Until then I hope you cannot sleep at night with your unethical job.”

Anyway, I am sorry about this rant, I just find this disgusting! Anyone else with me? Maybe we can make a web site and create a movement for our rights.

I grew up in a country with a terrorism problem. I very nearly lost one friend to terrorist actions, and very actually lost another. And while I would by no means EVER diminish the events of September 11th, we cannot allow them to diminish or eliminate the freedoms that are our inalienable right. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance, not perpetual legislation and attendant restriction.

We’re fighting a war of both conventional and unconventional means – and we’re having a hard time dealing with the unconventional war because it’s not how we fight. Those who would destroy us seek to do so by undermining our freedom, one small hit at a time, knowing that in a conventional engagement they wouldn’t stand a chance.

Look at the events at Heathrow this week for an example of that: a very real threat to human life was in place and about to be executed via thoroughly unconventional means. Should we heighten our vigilance? Absolutely. But to do so in a way that would fail to address the root causes of the problem and ultimately punish those who are patently not part of the problem means we’ll lose, plain and simple. The psychological and political ramifications of terrorism can be far more effective than the casualties it inflicts. I’ve never been a fan of the, “because one person did x, we’ve all got to suffer” mentality.

A friend of mine recently posted something to a mailing list I’m on that made a lot of sense: twenty years from now, we want our kids to be able to look back at this time and say, “man, you guys sure had it rough back then” instead of, “yeah, and look at how easy it was in your day”. We need to evaluate why what were are doing is not working and adapt accordingly. Appeasement is not an option, but as Einstein noted: doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is an indicator of insanity. If we fail to adapt accordingly, we’re basically doomed.

First off, I was fortunate that everyone I know escaped the twin towers safely (or hadn’t arrived that day yet). Personal safety has a cost, of course, but people aren’t bearing it. Instead they’re being liberal cry babies and asking daddy government to take care of them. Under this system, the costs of personal safety go way up, and the real safety you get goes way down.

Schneier calls it “security theater” for good reason: It looks good, even though it is completely useless. You want me to pay for that? I’ll pay for real security, but this government has delivered precious little of it. It’s not their job to protect you, and even if it were, they would be allowed not to do it, thanks to various Supreme Court decisions.

When the government starts doing something to safeguard my well being, I might appreciate it, but I would never count on it. They can change their minds at any time, and I have no recourse. Ultimately, the responsibility for your security falls to you, and if you abdicate it by passing it on to the government, where you have no recourse if they fail, then you’re probably going to die sooner or later.

As for how to make the country safer, you really must be new around here, for I’ve talked about that many times. The first thing you do is listen to the military when they tell you that bad foreign policy is the root cause of all this terrorism. But don’t think a propaganda campaign will help; it won’t. You can’t win the hearts and minds of these people while keeping the bad foreign policy.

It’s time for the U.S. to disengage from its Middle East entanglements. Only by doing this can it truly discourage terrorism by removing the reasons for terrorists’ hatred.

Your cynical attitude is alarming. You think every warning is a waste and
and waiting in line or having a bag x-rayed is in violation of your
civil rights. Let me take a wild guess…you have never lost anyone
close to you in a terrorist attack.

How can any rational person witness the carnage of 9/11 as well as
notice all of the continued thwarted terrorist attempts and have such
blatant disregard and contempt for attempts to make us safer??

Everything with liberals is an “egregious violations of our civil
rights”. Doesn’t personal safety have a cost?! What good our civil
rights when your body is charred wreckage floating in the North
Atlantic?!

People demand SAFETY from their government. Our civil rights compared
to every other country on Earth are SCRUPULOUSLY guarded but you want
more even at the cost of your well being? Check my bag, make me wait
a little longer. Most Americans do it willingly. You, Michael, will
always be among those that never appreciate when things are being done
to safeguard your well being.

Instead of doing the worlds easiest job (bitching and then doing
nothing), what is YOUR SUGGESTION of how to make air travel much safer
to avoid a 9/11 incident AND ALSO keep all of your civil rights
intact?

Didn’t think so…

Bill