Who are they protecting?
Some years ago, we took a family vacation trip to Boston. Our girls, ages eight and four, had a blast and so did we. Thanks to Laura, I got to mark a trip to Fenway Park off my bucket list.
In 1755 (Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, Tue, Nov 11, 1755), Franklin wrote: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
This phrasing was also the motto in Historical Review of Pennsylvania, attributed to Franklin
It's important to note that this sentiment, with many variations, was much used in the Revolutionary period by Franklin and others.
And while I don't understand how TSA chooses who gets checked ( I got to experience the full body scan last month and at my age, I'm relatively certain it wasn't done for anyone's viewing pleasure), I continue to blame the Taliban for this entire scenario.
I'm sorry it frightened your 4 year old, though. And watching 3 men in full Muslim regalia sailing thru the security checkpoint must have been maddening. Perhaps they were Embassy employees? Who really knows?
We have to remember that terrorists are capable of stuffing explosives in a baby's diaper. A cute young blonde female might be willing to give her life for her foreign boyfriend's twisted ideals.
We were told at the Great Lakes Training Facility in Illinois when we went up to watch our daughter's graduation from Navy boot camp, as our rental car and our individual persons were being thoroughly checked out, "You folks can thank Bin Laden for this."
As Fed Up noted, there is a point where you cross the line. For me, the point that laws burden and punish the law-abiding with minimal results in stopping the bad guys, that is the line. When you won't profile and use information about who is most likely to be a criminal or terrorists, but you will pull 4 year old little girls away from their parents for no real reason, that is a system that is self-defeating and broken. It is also contrary to one of the basic premises of our law: the presumption of innocence.
Can't say that I have an answer for everything that is wrong, but I can say the direction we are going and the things we are doing as a nation (and giving up/giving in to as a people) is wrong.
Our suitcases were completely emptied and all the contents placed on two large folding tables.
Meanwhile, women in burkhas waltzed right on the plane as if they were VIPs. Not a second glance.
I guess that's what happens when we fly economy class.