The Terrorists Are Winning

Stories like this get me angry.

"I was wearing a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt that zipped up.
Underneath was a tank top, but it was not something I would ever wear as
outerwear, never. The sweatshirt was not long or bulky; it was not a coat or a
jacket. It was not something you would remove in public," she said.

At the checkpoint, she did not set off the metal detector. "I was told
I had to remove the jacket. I told the screener that it wasn't a jacket, it was
a sweatshirt, and said that what I had on underneath couldn't be worn by itself
in public," she said.

She was escorted to a private room, where she waited for about five
minutes - worried about her laptop left unattended at the checkpoint - until a
female screener arrived. The screener was friendly but unyielding. "They made me remove the sweatshirt and stand there with my arms outstretched and legs
separated. It was so uncomfortable. Then she patted me up and down the back,
between the middle of my breasts with the back of her hand, and then lifted both
breasts from underneath while I stood there like a criminal."

What did they expect to find under the sweatshirt that couldn't have been hidden under a bulky shirt? Our response to 9/11 has been just stupid. We continue to accept massive delays, all because the TSA is trying to prevent another 9/11. These people couldn't find their ass with a mirror, I don't expect that they'll catch a terrorist. But they will inconvenience millions of passengers, adding to the ever increasing uncounted costs of fighting the war on terror. As long as people respond to the TSA's incompetence like this:

While a handful are from travelers claiming that women who object to being
manhandled (or womanhandled) at checkpoints ought to stop whining and submit gamely for the sake of security and Old Glory

Yeah right...do it for Old Glory. Please, Old Glory would prefer we not give up our freedoms for some imperceptible improvement in safety.

Benjamin Franklin said it best:

Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary
safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety

Keywords: Terrorism