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Airport body scanners spreading across U.S.

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Invasion of the body-snatchers...I mean scanners.

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Thanks for the information Odogma,

I will meditate on petty criminal Richard Reid who converted to Islam to get better food in prison on the advice of his Dad (himself a career criminal). The same guy who tried to set off plastic explosive with a match (which to my knowledge is impossible).

Or the famous underwear bomber who tried to do the same thing as Reid, only to fail because you can't really set off plastic explosives with chemicals that create only a mild flame. The same guy who was read his Miranda rights... a move that really made Republican politicians lose it (Miranda rights is probably to radical a concept...) BTW, did you know he got on the plane without a passport? When was the last time you were able to just get a seat on a plane without first presenting a passport? And would a body scanner have helped in that case?

And none of the eight men you are referring to were ever found guilty of anything related to conspiring to target/blow up an aircraft. The only thing that the prosecution could get them on was conspiracy to murder and only two of them were actually sentenced.

I'll just say that I don't travel to the US any longer. I just don't feel the need to be nuked/probed on arrival! But I am also scared silly by the fact that I don't have any rights when stepping on American soil (until I get through customs and immigration).

Sorry if I sound a bit harsh here but there is no way that the kind of safety offered by these machines is worth the price of the loss of liberty incurred.

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Try not to think of any particular organised religion when suffering the latest indignity imposed upon you at the airport.

When you have to remove your shoes think only of the criminal Richard Reid - the "shoebomber" - and not the religion he had converted to while in prison.

When they force you to undergo a full body scan recall that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is a true believer but it was in Europe that he became 'radicalised' so it really isn't his fault.

When they confiscate whatever hygiene products you have which may be in liquid form and more than one ounce remember that this was never a practice until 8 British males were apprehended before boarding 8 separate transatlantic flights to blow them up, in accord with a certain religion's teachings we are assured they had simply misinterpreted.

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It's sad to see that fear has taken some of our most cherished freedoms away. Are we really that much safer because of all these safety checks and devices in place? And if so, is it really worth the price of our comfort and freedom? I sense that this is only the beginning.

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With all of the guns and tough talk in the world, let history record that Americans have given up their most cherished freedoms without firing a shot. It is not worth commenting on anymore. It is finished. Nothing will take things back to the way they were.

The weak link turned out to be Americans themselves. More to follow no doubt

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Very true comments by everybody here. Next we will all have to have our anuses inspected before we go to travel naked on the aircraft. And our sheep will still be saying it's a price worth paying for security! Really some people are very well trained like pet dogs!

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Wow. These look like comments I was making last year at about this time when everyone thought I was a cuckoo-bird.

I saw this coming and I foresee a lot worse. The powers that be do not need to crash 4 airliners anymore. One failed attempt by one Nigerian is enough to scare Americans into throwing up their hands and emptying their pockets.

With all of the guns and tough talk in the world, let history record that Americans have given up their most cherished freedoms without firing a shot. It is not worth commenting on anymore. It is finished. Nothing will take things back to the way they were.

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I would be sorely tempted to say "scan this" while extending my middle finger

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Why not spent this amount on improving the skills of the investigators to catch terrorists before they are ready to strike.

This requires skill, and government employees who care about their jobs. Why worry about that when you can just throw (a lot of) money at the problem?

Peel back the top layer of this and you are sure to find extremely intense lobbying efforts by the manufacturer. Peel back a bit further and you're sure to find the public officials whose pockets were lined. Unfortunately you don't have to look anywhere past the surface to see the citizenry who are willing to give up all of their freedoms because some government bureaucrat says it might - might! - make them a tiny bit safer. Sad, really.

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Ok, so these machines may be able to filter out any potential terrorist on an OUTBOUND flight from the US, but what about INBOUND flights?

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this kind of passive security will never stop a determined suicide bomber. if they are scanning the outside of your body...surgical implants anyone?

Luckily most terrorists are dumb (the clever ones wear suits and run corporations). If they would be intelligent, they'd blow up the long queues in front of the security check with hundreds of casualties and a devastating impact on the public morale.

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The Associated Press timed a body scanning at 25 seconds, and Kair said he did not expect them to take any longer than a passenger would have to otherwise wait for the X-ray of carry-on bags.

More security theatre and bad allocation of tax money. Why not spent this amount on improving the skills of the investigators to catch terrorists before they are ready to strike.

Plus expect to see more baggage theft as passengers are separated from their carry-on luggage during screening.

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"Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither." Ben Franklin

Might as well just strip search everyone...they have concluded we are all terrorists.

150 machines bought with money from the federal stimulus package signed by President Barack Obama.

Im sure the first couple would be more than happy to submit to full body scanning should they have the rare privilage of flying anything other than airforce one?Ah, no, ladies first... you go firts Michelle...

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The only real city on that list is LA. What happened to the other great cities like NY, Chicago, Atlanta etc.?

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this kind of passive security will never stop a determined suicide bomber. if they are scanning the outside of your body...surgical implants anyone?

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We have seen the creation of the American police state more and more over the past few years. More scans, more cameras, more violations of privacy. Orwell thought 1984 would be a more bleak Soviet like landscape. But what we have instead is a sheepish population ruled by fear, reeducated by endless media propaganda and subjected to surveilance and zero privacy.

Wow, America, land of the "free" home of the terrified. Our forefathers would hang their heads in shame for how quickly we have surrendered liberty and privacy for the illusion of safety. And I absolutely guarantee you that it is only an illusion. The repeated ability of enemies to adapt to our "security" demonstrates this fact very clearly.

Life is risk people. Liberty is more important than illusory safety. We should be resisting the degredation of our privacy.

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I have no problem with it,” said Michelle Carrier, 32, who was flying to Houston. “Freedom’s important, but this is one of the prices you pay for safety.”

Without ever detonating another bomb in the U.S., statements like these show that the terrorists have already won. This person doesn't understand what has, what has not, and what is never likely to happen.

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