Why the TSA Searches Grandmothers and Toddlers

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Mr. Davis, this is what Mr. Ventura meant by "Fascist States of America": Adolf Hitler justified the Holocaust by using a few concrete incidences of Jewish wrongdoing against German civilians to take away the legal rights of every single Jew *with or without any evidence of wrongdoing* because all Jews were considered to be "potential" wrongdoers like those in his examples. In this way, the whole Holocaust was carried out in the name of national security to protect German civilians from this "potential" threat.
Mr. Davis, if you examine your argument carefully, you will see that the "logic" that both you and the TSA are using to take away the rights of the innocent is exactly the same line of reasoning as Hitler's. Don't feel bad, many educated Germans were swept away by Hitler's arguments back then as well (it is hard to recognize tyranny when it is packaged under the guise of security!).
Personally, I do not share this view that all innocent women and children in this country should be stripped and sexually assaulted because ONE woman for example nearly 30 (!) years ago almost got on a plane with a bomb. The idea that you can keep people safe by doing objectively the wrong thing seemed pretty stupid in Nazi Germany, and it is still stupid today.

DG101 of CA 4:22AM March 31, 2012

I'll take my chances with circa 1990 screenings.
The last guy who smuggled semtex on board a US air flight ---GOT IT ABOARD!!! ---
These trash bag TSA employees are not helping anyone
If you want better screenings then ask scientists for better equipment.
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At least the LA terminal isnt jam packed with scum bags anymore though. We can keep that
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Will of SC 2:00AM March 31, 2012

That children are now being conditioned to allow strangers to shove hands down their pants, that young women are subjected to genital inspections before being allowed to pursue their careers, that innocent people are adopting poses of humiliation and surrender in response to barked commands, is such a great harm to our society that no one with any sense of history could consider reducing the risk of an astronomically remote adverse event to be justification for TSA's reprehensible actions. There's just nothing to balance here. The harms are enormous, the benefits are make-believe. Disband the TSA, now.

Sommer Gentry of MD 12:48AM March 31, 2012

Interesting how El Al needed neither full body scanners nor an invasive groping to discover find the explosives. God forbid someone fly unmolested.

yaRLY of CA 12:22AM March 31, 2012

When I take over the world, I want all my subjects (and livestock) to be just like you.

Robert of OR 11:00PM March 30, 2012

The author must be blind if he hasn't seen the abusive behavior of the TSA.

Lil of IL 10:58PM March 30, 2012

Baaaaa.

Lisa Simeone of MD 10:14PM March 30, 2012

If you're so scared of remote possibilities, perhaps it is you who shouldn't fly? Let the rest of us fly without being ritually humiliated. After all, the TSA cannot protect you from pilot error, mechanic error, controller error, other pilot error, mechanical failure, bird strike, extreme weather, "acts of God", or crazy people on the ground intent on taking out an aircraft. And yet, flying by air is statistically extremely safe, all risks considered.

phoebepontiac of AK 10:06PM March 30, 2012

The author is illogical. Terrorist don't hide explosives in granny's crotch, or in a toddler's diapers. If they want to check granny's luggage, like Ms. Murphy's valise, fine. But unless someone planted a device in granny's breast, or up a baby's bum, fondling them does absolutely nothing to improve our security.

Bill Wright of CA 10:03PM March 30, 2012

The author's example of Anne-Marie Murphy does not support his argument that we should be happy when TSA officers touch passengers' genitals and get to see them naked. Security officers did not find explosives in her valise because they saw Miss Murphy naked, or because they touched her breasts. They found the explosives in her bag because they searched her valise.

Melissa Wooster of OH 9:38PM March 30, 2012