TSA - Another example of government overreach

The TSA has been in the news a lot lately. If you read my blog regularly you know my limited government leanings. So you will not be surprised to know that I have NEVER supported the TSA.

You're heard all the pundits. The Israelis think we're crazy, looking for weapons and not terrorists. God forbid, we might be accused of profiling. I mean, it's not like almost every terrorist fits a certain racial and religious profile...

It has been said that the TSA's real purpose is to provide "security theater." Make us feel good, make us feel like we are safe, regardless of whether we are actually safe.

And now the TSA is going further. This is what happens when there is no market response. Any company that treated its "customers" like this would go out of business. But this doesn't happen with government agencies. You have to bend over and take it. Check out these links:

From the johnnyedge blog:
"TSA encounter at SAN"
http://johnnyedge.blogspot.com/2010/11/these-events-took-place-roughly-between.html

From flyertalk.com forums:
"TSO saying 'heads up, got a cutie for you'"
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-safety-security/1147497-tso-saying-heads-up-got-cutie-you.html

What can we do?

From Byron York, in the Washington Examiner:
"Amid airport anger, GOP takes aim at screening"
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Amid-airport-anger_-GOP-takes-aim-at-screening-1576602-108259869.html

It is time for airports to stop using TSA. Get rid of them!

"The 2001 law creating the TSA gave airports the right to opt out of the TSA program in favor of private screeners after a two-year period. Now, with the TSA engulfed in controversy and hated by millions of weary and sometimes humiliated travelers, Rep. John Mica, the Republican who will soon be chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, is reminding airports that they have a choice.

"Mica, one of the authors of the original TSA bill, has recently written to the heads of more than 150 airports nationwide suggesting they opt out of TSA screening. 'When the TSA was established, it was never envisioned that it would become a huge, unwieldy bureaucracy which was soon to grow to 67,000 employees,' Mica writes. 'As TSA has grown larger, more impersonal, and administratively top-heavy, I believe it is important that airports across the country consider utilizing the opt-out provision provided by law.'"


P.S. I just learned that one airport, Orlando, has indeed kicked out the TSA. Let's hope more airports follow suit. From Gizmodo:
"Orlando Airport Kicks Out The TSA"
http://gizmodo.com/5693455/orlando-airport-kicks-out-the-tsa