Give Me a Break

Is it just me, or has the whole world gone absolutely mad? A news story a couple of weeks ago showed video of a wheelchair bound woman, age 100, being frisked by airport security even to the point of having to remove her adult diaper. What's worse, TSA officials think that's perfectly okay. http://articles.cnn.com/2011-06-26/us/florida.tsa.incident_1_pat-down-tsa-pat-downs-tsa-officer?_s=PM:US

Today, a Nigerian man who was the epitome of a profiler’s depiction of possible terrorists, was arrested after he had used a ticket with a totally different name from his own to board a plane at JFK yesterday, and then today was caught just as he was about to make it onto yet another flight out of Los Angeles with another ticket with a different name. He was found to have several other tickets or boarding passes in his possession.  http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/06/30/authorities-investigate-security-breach-at-jfk-airport-after-man-flies-to-los-angeles-without-ticket/

Every time I go through security, I have to explain that I have knee replacements and go through what has become an increasingly invasive pat down. Small children are exposed to the same indignities.

Someone has got to blow the whistle on this nonsense and get real about what a possible terrorist looks like. Yes, someone might be offended when more people who are over 75 and under six are passed through without a blink, but I’d be willing to be that airport security wouldn’t show a great jump in incidents if a common sense policy were established.

I hope some heads roll over these incidents, and I’m not just talking about sending a few security personnel back to school for training.

Blessings,

Janie