Touch your junk at the airport?

[icnmgrjill]

Did you hear about the man who refused to go through the high beam metal detector at San Diego airport because the staff said that they would, indeed, have to touch his testicles?? This is fascinating. Check it out at the link below!

http://johnnyedge.blogspot.com/2010/11/these-events-took-place-roughly-between.html

Yikes!!! Ummm.... I really do NOT want anyone groping my vulva, thank you very much.

Jill ":)

[ICNDonna]

One thing for certain, this should increase the traffic on the trains!

Donna

[bubbe1]

Okaaaay! I didn't want to fly before, and I really, really don't want to fly now! Talk about a little power going awry.
I would say arriving at security in wheel chair would alleviate all of that potential trouble, but my husband was patted down and practically strip searched in public, after coming up to security in a wheel chair. He has a spinal fusion with metal rods ,so he sets everything and everything off and even though he has a doctor's note, the TSA people still insisted on giving him the almost full monty! Good thing he has a great sense of humor. He was laughing,and all the people watching were laughing too. When they were done, hubby put himself back together, got back in the wheel chair and we proceeded to our gate. Still one of our best airport stories!

[VickiB]

I received this email a few days ago....

Here's the solution to all of the controversy over the full-body scanners at the airports:

Have a blast proof booth that travelers step into that will not X-ray you, but will detonate any explosive device you may have on your body. It would be a win-win for everyone, and none of this crap about profiling. This method would eliminate a long & expensive trial. Justice would be quick and swift. This is so simple that it's brilliant.

I can see it now. You're in the airport terminal and you hear a muffled explosion. [[ whooof!]] Shortly thereafter an announcement comes over the PA system, "Attention standby passengers. We now have a seat available on flight number 4665......"

[Julie B]

I love it Vicki...

I really wish I knew the answer to this one. I think that people need to just go through the heavy duty scanner and not get smart-mouthed. What is interesting is that people go into department stores and try on swimsuits and underware knowing there are cameras in there monitored by who knows.....

The underwear bomber flew into Detroit from Amsterdam and I am from Michigan. My husband and many of our friends in the auto industry use that flight all the time to get back and forth from Europe (KLM has a hub in Detroit and Amsterdam.) In fact, one of our friends had just returned from Germany a few days before using that exact same flight number.

I guess they have to do whatever they need to.........it is a chess game and the only reason we "won" that one was because their plot failed. That guy in the article had a choice to go through the scanner in the first place. I don't feel sorry for him. If it keeps my husband and my friends and family safe as they fly day after day, I don't care what they do.

[VickiB]

What is interesting is that people go into department stores and try on swimsuits and underware knowing there are cameras in there monitored by who knows.....
Seriously,...there are cameras in the department store dressing rooms??? Watching me???

[Julie B]

You are joking right, Vicki? Absolutely there are!

[VickiB]

No, I'm not joking! (naive maybe? :confused:) I know that shoplifting is a major problem for retailers but I find it hard to believe that surveilance of a dressing room is legal. (?) Say it isn't so!

I see these roads we're heading down in our society and it makes me sad for my grandkids. Like you say, I wish I knew the answers! There's a sort of round-about danger that comes with expecting bad behavior. Almost an acceptance of it. A validation. I wonder if that in itself doesn't serve to create unscrupulous people?

[kadi]

I figure everyone has the same parts, so it's not really that big a deal..
I get more upset about unpleasant invasive medical procedures that hurt than about being scanned painlessly along with 5 million other people at the airport, and then being able to go where I want on an airplane--which is a privilege most other people in the world cannot afford.

[ICNDonna]

When you think about the guy who had explosives in his underwear it makes the scanning sound a little more reasonable. And I seriously doubt there are scanners in dressing rooms.

Donna

[Julie B]

Hi Donna,

I didn't say there were scanners in the fitting rooms :smile tee , but in 37 states, stores are allowed to put cameras in the fitting rooms. (I looked this up last night and I guess Michigan is one state that does not allow it.)

Meaning, that people are changing, possibly trying on swimsuits or bras with someone checking them out.....so what's the big deal with the scanners. Like I said, you aren't going to hear about people in Detroit complaining about them. In fact, for the next few days after the underwear bomber, they talked about those scanners on our news saying they could have prevented this, but the machines were too expensive....now look, one year later, we have them all across the country. BTW, the friend who was on that same flight number a few days beforehand was at our house from Christmas that day. It made us sick to hear it.

You also have to remember, that idiot's trial has been going on here in Michigan so the rest of the country may have forgotten it. If you need a reminder, please read this.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/northwest-airlines-flight-253-bomb-photos-exclusive/story?id=9436297

The problem with the scanners? Small airports can't afford them.........don't have them..........and many international airports don't have them.......so people coming here aren't screened. We can only screen people who are departing from our major airports. So it isn't fool proof.

This all reminds me of I had a talk with a TSA person a couple of years ago when they searched my carry-on luggage (I had never had that happen before, the really open up every bra and bottle in your bag!) and they said that they were were working on a way to change up the way they screen people in different airports. In short, changing up the rules keeps the terrorists on their toes because they don't know what to expect. The problem they were having was that regular "good people" don't like to be surprised and surprised passengers can bottle-neck what is already a tedious process.

The TSA and its agents on the ground doing the screening are just doing a job to protect us. Do you think THEY want to feel someone else's genitals? Really? Ask your gyn if they get a thrill when they do a pelvic or breast exam. It probably is as uncomfortable for them as it is for us. They would MUCH rather us go through the scanners.

Finally. when I was flying back from Boston last week I thanked the TSA guys for keeping our flights safe. The one guy said, listen, if I could go back over there and fight to find these guys again, I would. It seems that many of the TSA now (and border patrol) are Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who want to keep doing their job to fight terrorism, but for one reason or another can't take another tour. We need to keep this in perspective.....just like the texting and driving laws that are popping up............they don't make laws to inconvenience us....they are making laws in REACTION to bad things that have happened. In fact earlier this year in Boston, there was a woman in Arab dress that was taking pictures of the security signs. The TSA agents flew out from corners I had never seen and surrounded her telling her to delete the pictures....craziness, why would someone do that? These people have to deal with ALL kinds of things!

Ok, that is enough for today. I still maintain that anyone that smart-mouths someone in a TSA line gets what they deserve.

[bubbe1]

Vicki B,
Not only is that genius, it's the best laugh I've had all day:smile tee
Thanks!
Laurie

[bubbe1]

Hi Donna and Vicki,
Yes, most department store fitting rooms have cameras to watch what's going on. Most, at least where I live, have signs that say this dressing room is being monitored. I don't even think about it anymore. If they want to look,so be it.
As for air safety, in all seriousness, I have to agree with Julie. I would rather have someone look at my bod, (they can't see your face), than have my plane blown up. Where the question comes for me, I guess, is how far do we take the invasion of civil liberties in the name of safety? If we keep moving the line, how far would it go? Sounds a bit paranoid, I know, but still...
Hard questions.
Laurie

[VickiB]

Yep, hard questions! Especially given that I'm not sure there is any way to safeguard the public against this type of maniac anyway. I mean, one could have the explosive material surgically implanted and how will security find that?

To add to the debate, some are saying that the low dose X-rays from the scanner poses a cancer risk, and are advising those who travel often to opt for the pat down instead.

Personally, I'm all for the blast-proof booth method. And now I'll probably get a little nervous if I see a lady with DD cups getting on my flight.

[sailawaygrl]

Typically monitoring the dressing room (as far as I know, from working retail and being friends with loss prevention) they monitor what you go in with and come out with. I don't know of where they can monitor you inside. (I am going to search this one too!) What I didn't know until today about the airport is that it is illegal to start the screening process and not finish!! This guy is facing charges over leaving the airport. I do agree with him that if it were not the government that type of touching would amount to sexual battery or abuse! I am not looking forward to going through those scanners either. I wonder how long before some unscrupulous screener is selling someone famous' scanned body??? I know it is going to happen. One of my neighbor's worked at the airport doing screening and I wouldn't have let that creep near me!! He is really wacko and he go the job!! Makes me wonder. I don't like the fact that they can use both sides of their hands now either!!! I don't want a terrorist on my plane either so I guess next time I fly I will deal with it!! I won't like it though.

[luvsterriers]

I prefer to travel by car or train. Planes are ok but after this?? No one can touch me down there. It's way too sensitive. :confused: