I know, it’s tacky to quote oneself, but in light of the full body scanners and very personal “patdowns” becoming the norm in airport security, courtesy of TSA, I have to refer back to this from a year or so back:
In the meantime, ever more restrictive airport boarding regulations seem a certainty, and ever more intrusive searches, until we figure out that we have no choice but to identify who is more likely to have evil intent, and give them more scrutiny, because we surely don’t have the resources or the time to give the necessary scrutiny to everyone, including your grandmother in a wheelchair from Peoria, or Trenton, who may choose not to visit you next Christmas due to a distaste for body cavity searches and x-ray glasses (like the ones they used to sell in D.C. Comics, except these will work) in the hands of prurient security types.
The feckless belief that we can solve our security problems by restricting carry-ons and on-board behavior even more than we already have, and by searching everyone even more thoroughly, is yet more “Powerpuff Policy.”
Sooner or later, someone is going to figure out how to make high-explosive dentures and hip/knee replacements. While Christian “fundamentalists” will be getting only fluoride treatments, young adult male Islamic fanatics will be lining up to have all their teeth pulled and get dental implants made of enamel coated plastique. I predict an influx of wealthy foreign nationals, of Islamic extraction, into European schools of orthopedic surgery, particularly focusing on lower extremity joint replacements. Our too-faithful recent oral surgery patients, who will not have flossed much, will enter airplanes with a slight limp. It’s tough to recover from double knee/double hip transplants, especially when it hurts to eat.
The other passengers will feel sorry for them, briefly.
Eventually, the only people on airplanes will be strip-searched people with no scars, who just endured body cavity searches and had their stomachs pumped. But they will be very, very safe, wearing their airline-issued flying uniforms. When they land at their destinations, they will report to the changing room/luggage area, where they’ll get their clothing back, which was sent in a transport plane. Cost of a ticket from L.A. to Phoenix? About $1,000.
Coming up next: explosive hair.
Maybe I’ll just stay home, or drive, at least until the TSA adopts the security approach of El Al.
November 23rd, 2010 3:11 pm
The media seems to be always looking for the most egregious of the most egregious of this 3 percent that is getting “groped.” I do feel bad for the guy that spilled urine all over himself, but aren’t these relatively isolated cases?