depending upon his preferences, the agent might actually enjoy feeling up the boarding passengers. Last flight I took, post 9/11, they were dumping the contents of passenger's luggage on tables in front of EVERYONE. women's underwear was being held up and carefully examined by gloved hands, quite a show for all concerned.

You may need to fly for business, plus many places aren't reasonably accessible without flying.

You're also free to treat TSA agents and other members of the bureaucracy like mangy curs outside of their jobs. Like the guy who I refused to help. Hope he either got hit by a truck or got mugged.

How nice of you, I'm not sure I can have an intelligent conversation with someone who doesn't have a shred of human empathy.

__________________
TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

I have empathy. I don't have much SYMPATHY for people who choose to be cogs in the whole corrupt machine.

This is a very thoughtful post IMHO!

__________________
2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

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

- Benjamin Franklin

One of my favorite quotes.

__________________
2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

the people know in their gut that total and complete safety is a myth and yet they continue to buy the "we need more cops, we need more TSA agents, we need more........and THEN we will all be SAFE" myth.

Safe from ourselves, perhaps.

We're all giving up liberties by driving in our cars and adhering to traffic laws - I fail to see how this is different. Don't drive like an idiot, follow the rules and you won't get a ticket....same goes for TSA, don't piss them off and break the rules and you won't have a problem. I agree with Dee8go's post above.

Obviously we'll never be totally safe, I'd argue that intelligent policy is much more effective than volume and force.

Edit: flying is not a right, it is a privilege and should be viewed as such.

__________________
TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

What are the rules? Should your personal papers be subject to search, as happened to that poor woman in Philly? Look for explosives and weapons within reason, leave the personal questions and searches for things that are NOT dangerous to aviation the hell out of it.

What about the Ron Paul activist who was flying with $4700 cash and had it confiscated as drug money? Last I checked, there's no way paper money can bring down a plane (OK, you could set it on fire and throw it at the pilot, but you could do the same with an in flight magazine )

By incidents of that type, the Keystone Kops at TSA have earned their bad reputation. Did I mention that I had some prescription skin cream confiscated at LAX because I had left it in my bag while going through the x-ray? It fit in the Kippie bag, but the little TSA greaseball obviously thought it was his job to "punish" me.

Him: You can either check this bottle, or have me confiscate it.
Me: If I check it, I'll miss my flight.
Him: That's not my problem.
Me: OK, take it, cram it up your a** for all I care
Him: You're lucky you're talking to me at the airport, and that I'm not seeing you on the street
Me: Hmmm, so now they have wannabe gangsters working in the airport? You Blood or Crip?
Him: (proceeds to search my bag again)

there is something to be said in favor of this view. The roads are deemed to be 'public' and as such driving is a priviledge. Flying on a public passenger aircraft is a priviledge and is subject to rules. To avoid most of the hassle, take a private jet.

Volume and force are in vogue; create more TSA jobs and there is less unemployment, hire more cops and there is less unemployment, hire more census workers and there is less unemployment, pay men fifteen cents an hour to build federal highways and there is less unemployment.

The system is working.

I would actually call air travel a service provided by airline companies... Why does everything have to boil down to what is allowed to take place, as either a right or a privilege? Everyone already unknowingly admits they live in tyranny. "Wonder what big sis' will let me do today!"

Yes, and the rules should exist to look for dangerous people and articles, not fish through people's personal papers (for example) or chat them up about their life plans. And actually, public modes of transport DO have Constitutional protections, as the good citizens of Montgomery, AL found out in the 50s.

Why is the 14th Amendment held sacrosanct and the 4th dropped by the wayside?

they are looking for dangerous people and articles. However, it is the means they use which may be distateful to some.

when it comes to constitutional issues, "they" pick and choose which ones are in vogue and which ones aren't. AKA "Administrative Law".

type in "they myth of the rule of law" into any good search engine and begin reading..........

you have to ask big sis for permission to breathe. ever since the war between the states, more rights have been converted into priviledges. Living and breathing is now considered a 'priviledge'.