Monday, January 23, 2012

TSA Critic Detained at Airport

Rand Paul’s Pat-Down Standoff With TSA in Nashville Ends

Sen. Paul, who's been a critic of TSA proceedures and pat down searches, was detained at the Nashville airport by TSA officials.

The Twitter account associated with Paul staffer Moira Bagley, @moirabagley, tweeted around 10 a.m., ET, “Just got a call from @senrandpaul. He’s currently being detained by TSA in Nashville.”

Paul’s office confirmed he set off an airport security full-body scanner “on a glitch,” according to a spokesman.
The Paul staffer said TSA agents would not let Paul walk back through the body scanner and were demanding a full body pat-down.

Obviously, the Senator is as a dangerous terrorist who must be closely searched before being allowed to be on an airplane. If you think I'm joking, remember that Homeland Security helped Missouri put out an advisory to their police that anyone with a bumper sticker supporting his father, Rep. Ron Paul, for President was obviously a terrorist suspect.

If nothing else, this just goes to show that the TSA officials at airports have too much power that is unsupervised and impossible to appeal. Millions of Americans are constantly put in the position of having no choice but to abide by whatever arbitrary decisions that are made by TSA officials.

My problem is that I'm old enough to have been taught about America back when there was a Soviet Union. As a child, we were told that one of the reasons the Soviet Union was dangerous and awful compared to free America was that people in the Soviet Union weren't free to travel without having to constantly stop and show their papers and prove their right to travel to government officials at checkpoints.

This even made it into the pre-9/11 movie classic "Hunt for Red October"

Capt. Vasili Borodin: I will live in Montana. And I will marry a round American woman and raise rabbits, and she will cook them for me. And I will have a pickup truck... maybe even a "recreational vehicle." And drive from state to state. Do they let you do that?
Captain Ramius: I suppose.
Capt. Vasili Borodin: No papers?
Captain Ramius: No papers, state to state.
Capt. Vasili Borodin: Well then, in winter I will live in... Arizona. Actually, I think I will need two wives.
Captain Ramius: Oh, at least.

Capt Borodin would be very disappointed in today's America, but he'd surely recognize the arbitrary officials at checkpoints demanding your papers and obedience.



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