“Libertarians” for TSA Totalitarianism
Friday, January 1, 2010Reason’s Robert Poole spilled his noodles again. He wants the federal government to “get serious” about aviation security. He wants to see travelers undergo more intrusive measures – it’s a small price to pay to be safe! Not only that, he wants regular Joes to undergo an FBI approval and obtain a government-issued ID card before they can become a “trusted traveler” (I do not make this up!) and fly the unfriendly skies without enduring invasive body searches and other measures used to control people.
Lower-risk people would be those with active government-issued security clearances and anyone who joined a risk-based “trusted traveler” program by passing an FBI background check and getting a biometric ID card. These people would get streamlined processing at airports, similar to what existed pre-9/11.
I know this seems like satirical madness, but Poole has long been a big TSA proponent and a champion of the corporate state. With “libertarians” like this, we sure as hell don’t need Republicrats, Demopublicans, Totalitarians, and Fascists!
Owen says:
January 1st, 2010 at 8:36 pm
I just endured a trip from Cork, Ireland to San Francisco…via London and Boston. I must’ve been herded through at least a dozen security ‘pens’, patted down, grilled about my itinerary, had my bags opened and scrutinized every step of the way, sometimes more than once at any particular frontier point, and generally made to feel like a criminal by an utterly indifferent, menacing TSA and it’s British equivalent.
I’ll gladly tell Poole, to his face, where he can shove his demand that the Feds ‘get serious’.
Trusted Traveler my arse. You couldn’t make this stuff up!
cousin lucky says:
January 1st, 2010 at 8:45 pm
Mr. Kurt Haskell was on flight 253 with the ” undiebomber ” and also witness how he got onto the plane without a passport. He also says that another man on the plane had a bomb that was discovered after the plane had landed. You can read the story here: http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2009/12/flight_253_passenger_kurt_hask.html
It could be that the Nigerian was only a patsy and the real bomber changed his mind about killing himself. The TSA is a Joke!! Our Government is a Joke!!
You Betcha!!
S.M. Oliva says:
January 1st, 2010 at 9:58 pm
More such nonsense:
http://distributedrepublic.net/archives/2009/12/30/scan-me
John says:
January 2nd, 2010 at 2:15 am
Karen,
These type of articles make me apoplectic. The best, and therefore stupidest, line of Poole’s article: “Now that terrorists have started hiding explosives in their underwear and body cavities, we have no alternative to these intrusive measures.”
It reminds me of this disgusting article on Slate: http://www.slate.com/id/2240209/
I sent this latter article link to a friend. In my email I noted the author of the article would no doubt be glad to pay the price of a rod up his rectum to ensure he is not carrying semtex in there. When someone does this in a mall, or one of the trillions of public places where we couldn’t possibly screen everyone (nor should we), these sick people will no doubt say: ‘Now that terrorists have blown up malls with explosives in their rectums, we have no alternative to these intrusive cavity searches.’
I am as disgusted as you.
Steve Bernier says:
January 2nd, 2010 at 9:49 am
Robert Poole is a libertarian? He isn’t espousing a libertarian view on “security”. “Your papers, please”.
Karen De Coster says:
January 2nd, 2010 at 11:29 am
Robert Poole is the founder and former president of the Reason Foundation!
Jeannie Queenie says:
January 2nd, 2010 at 2:38 pm
I ran across this insight yesterday by a Mr. David Thomson:
“The biggest barrier to a major change in process like this is the TSA work force.”
The Israelis don’t have this problem. We can take for granted that affirmative action policies determine the hiring of TSA workers. Minorities are hired REGARDLESS of their lack of qualifications. The TSA is nothing less than a “DIVERSITY DUMPING GROUND”. As if any of us who have traversed the landscape of airports in recent history haven’t experienced first hand. And then, we should never forget salient points such as this one… In some places such as Detroit and nearby Dearborn, the screener or baggage handler is more likely to be a local Muslim than ex-military. I ASK YOU, WHO IS WATCHING THE WATCHERS? Make you feel secure? I think that Ayn Rand said it best when she offered this, “The government was set to protect man from criminals – and the Constitution was written to protect man from the government. – In saying that she acknowledged that the common man needs protection from the criminals, but we need the counterweight of protecting man from the govt. So if govt employs just any person who may be a threat to our safety be it in an airline or on a plane, where do we go from here folks?
liberranter says:
January 4th, 2010 at 1:20 pm
Anything written by ANYONE from Reason magazine can be safely ignored by serious libertarians (except for the pleasure one gains from mocking its content). That magazine hasn’t been “libertarian” for a long time and is now indistinguishable from the Beltway Establishment rags it seeks to emulate.