Obama says he understands frustrations over airport screenings

sabiwabi,

You said he works for the company. You were wrong. Re-read what you wrote.

You believe wrong... It is not his company.

Did I ever say it was his company?

Anyway, at least we all agree that "he certainly has a conflict of interest"

These new "security measures" have nothing to do with security

The measures are not the problem. One problem is hiring people at hourly wage for a job that should be an actual professional government job.

he now works for one of the companies that provides this stuff, the X-ray machines I believe.

You believe wrong. While he certainly has a conflict of interest, his security consulting agency includes a client that manufactures the body scanning machines. It is not his company. Why be vague when you could just google the information?

These new "security measures" have nothing to do with security, they are just messing around with peoples' minds. Land of the free my @ss.

And meanwhile, Michael Chertoff is laughing all the way to the bank; he now works for one of the companies that provides this stuff, the X-ray machines I believe.

Taka313: O.K. They found something out of the ordinary. Yep. Gold star. They stopped a flight attendant from going to work with her fake boob and her dignity intact.

But to be fair, I think we force the TSA to pretend to be stupid because we'll threaten them with discrimination if they don't. It's a no-win situation for them. Grandmas from Scottsdale get searched randomly not because they are a threat, it's because the TSA has to say they are treating everyone equally. Think of all of the billions and billions that have been spent on security to check probably billions of passengers (multiple flights) when in reality we know that if a plane is blown up due to terrorism there's a 99.9% chance it will be an Arab male between the age of 18 and 38.

And to be fair again, the recent threats are coming from connecting flights into the US, which should tell you that terrorists have been unwilling to try to pass through security on US soil.

These TSA agents are not above the law. -If they are caught groping they can and will be prosecuted. The airport is public property (paid for by public funds) and you have the ability to record your screenings and contact your district attorney with any evidence that you feel is inappropriate for a TSA agent. Libs/Globalists want airport travelers to feel that they must endure the TSA radiation/groping but with both you have the choice to opt-out. Don't fly or goto airports that have the radiation scanners and/or gropers. Best solution is airports with no TSA (use private security instead).

The TSA is, at times, overly obtrusive. I recently read of a flight attendant with a prosthetic breast who was made to pull it out by a TSA agent when she was grabbed fully on the boob.

O.K. They found something out of the ordinary. Yep. Gold star. They stopped a flight attendant from going to work with her fake boob and her dignity intact.

I know I feel safer.

Taka

I have to say I can't follow the comments on this thread, but then I don't live in a world where every single thing that happens is explained by some imaginary right vs. left war.

You have this equipment because somebody is making a lot of money providing it. Makes no difference if the President is a Republican or a Democrat. And you can't have profiling because then you wouldn't be able to sell the equipment.

Obama is succeeding with some to convince them that this 1984 big brother stuff is all the fault of the Republicans who invented terrorism to keep Americans scared to control them with fear and get rich off of contracts with the military industrial complex and stolen oil. And then he goes and says he "understands" your frustrations? Well of course he does. He supports it all and uses the previous idiot that was in the White House as his scapegoat and all libs just lap this stuff up like scripture. Hahahahaha Too Funny!!

If the TSA is "fascist" that's no fault of Obama. It was created by George W. Bush.

And Clinton leftover Norm Mineta, then Transportation Secretary, is why that creation was a mistake.

Michael Smerconish, testifying in June 2004: " Time and again Secretary Mineta has made clear his refusal to consider personal characteristics in the war on terrorism. In particular, I note his Statement to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on October 12, 2001, and his speech in Rochester, New York on that same date. Secretary Mineta was active in the aftermath of 9/11 in dictating to the airlines his view of the world. In the months after 9/11, the DOT issued several memos to the airlines, warning them against “profiling” passengers. "

Like a typical sentimental Lib he is all about "equal outcomes", in this case a suicidal proposition.

We could have avoided it completely if George W. Bush had read the memo telling him Al Qaeda was going to attack America by hijacking planes. Rush Limpbaugh and other right wing fanatics support it and I quote:

Any condemnation of Al Qaeda? Naaah, that would put Lefty on the same side as patriotic Americans and the rest of the civilized world. Any idea how much air traffic goes through the US each day? Bush was supposed to personally monitor each airport?

Rush "Limpbaugh" ? (Arent we clever.) Talk radio personalities do not write our laws. These measures are from the very top. Obama and his control freak party of Nanny State enthusiasts need to be held responsible for what this is going to do to air travel and tourism.

While they're at it, they should repeal the Patriot Act. That's intrusive too. Intrusion is not just physical.

If the TSA is "fascist" that's no fault of Obama. It was created by George W. Bush.

Pure nonsense. Yes, Mr. Bush embraced what was originally a democrat idea and implemented what became TSA. Then in the name of political correctness, the Obama administration declared profiling was offensive and now decided groping little children while their parents stand by and watch is the way to go.

RR

If the TSA is "fascist" that's no fault of Obama. It was created by George W. Bush. We could have avoided it completely if George W. Bush had read the memo telling him Al Qaeda was going to attack America by hijacking planes. Rush Limpbaugh and other right wing fanatics support it and I quote: "You have no civil liberties if you are dead." -- Senator Pat Roberts, R-KS, "None of your civil liberties matter much after you're dead." -- Senator John Cornyn, R-TX, "Our civil liberties are worthless if we are dead! If you are dead and pushing up daisies, if you're sucking dirt inside a casket, do you know what your civil liberties are worth? Zilch, zero, nada." -- Rush Limbaugh

Thank them and George W. Bush if you enjoy TSA screenings and blame them if you don't. They created it and support it as do 81% of Americans. If Obama tells the TSA to stand down and somebody threatens a flight attendant with a paper clip, the lunatics who call him a fascist would whine about that, too. It's not only the U.S., I was groped at Frankfurt recently.

Unless similarly intrusive checks are conducted at ALL foreign airports from which planes fly to US destinations, terrorists will find a way to get on board and blow themselves up.

I understand people’s frustrations,” Obama said

Heh, Obama's now playing the "I feel your pain" card. The fact of the matter is, Obama will never see his own offspring molested by some fat, sweaty stranger who works for TSA while he's sentenced the young children of millions of others to it.

Until he's forced to stand by and personally witness his daughters go through the extensive pat downs/gropings, Obama can't begin to "understand people’s frustrations" over this issue.

RR

Go Obama go! This is where you grab that middle ground with an issue that the right cares about.

Boehner has refused pat downs and Ron Paul is taking him to task for it. Sarah and Rush are dumbstruck that they did not see this coming, and are hurrying to catch up. Time to go after the fat cats and win the hearts of some very put-upon voters. Do the right thing and be a hero. This is a huge chance for Obama to make the grand gesture.

Ummm, Klein from the New York Times,

Only Congressional leaders or members of Congress with armed security details are allowed to go around security. The same privilege is afforded to governors and cabinet members if they are escorted by agents or law enforcement officers.

Michael Steel, a spokesman for Mr. Boehner, said the Republican leader had neither requested nor received special treatment at the airport security line.

“The appropriate security procedures for all Congressional leaders, including Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid, are determined by the Capitol Police working with the Transportation Security Administration,”

I guess Obama could take the brilliant step and make Government officials already provided with taxpayer paid Armed security details go through pat downs anyway. As if that wouldn't be a total waste of time and manpower and resources by the TSA that could be better spent doing their actual jobs of providing security for the rest of us instead.

Obama said he’s told the U.S. Transportation Security Administration: You have to constantly refine and measure whether what we’re doing is the only way to assure the American people’s safety.

The One needs to put this much effort into stopping invaders at our southern border.

RR

Go Obama go! This is where you grab that middle ground with an issue that the right cares about.

Priceless. Yeah, the most "liberal" member of the Senate is going to go to the middle on this? Since he and his administration ordered these measures that would be another admission of failure, like the Obama Care waivers they are now tossing out left and right to any "favored" company or union big enough to raise politically inconvenient stink on the whole mess.

Privatization is the answer to airport security. But that means free markets, free minds, choice, accountability and personal - individual - responsibility come into play, and these are anathema to the control freak collectivist mindset Obama's socialist mentors instilled in him.

"At this point, that agency and counterterrorism experts have told him that the current procedures are the only ones that they think can effectively guard against threats such as last year’s attempted Christmas-day bombing."

This is it. This is the admission that the terrorists have won. Someone actually said that we cannot be safe unless we search EVERYONE. It is like that Kurt Russell Antarctica sci-fi movie... somewhere, sanity got tossed out the window.

Go Obama go! This is where you grab that middle ground with an issue that the right cares about.

Boehner has refused pat downs and Ron Paul is taking him to task for it. Sarah and Rush are dumbstruck that they did not see this coming, and are hurrying to catch up. Time to go after the fat cats and win the hearts of some very put-upon voters. Do the right thing and be a hero. This is a huge chance for Obama to make the grand gesture.

Realize that the TSA is not even liable or prosecutable in any normal way (to file a proper complaint, they will make you miss your flight), and it is the PERFECT job for touching people gently, roughly, heck, Any way you want.

I'm with Lewis Black too. Would even get me to end my boycott. Something to look forward to at the end of your USA visit, and might boost the tourist numbers too, at least for the number of men visiting.

MisterCreosote - Nice one.

Bumper sticker seen on "right wing" website

"TSA - if we did our job any better we'd have to buy you dinner first"

If travelers refuse, they can be forced to undergo time-consuming fingertip examinations, including of clothed genital areas and breasts, by inspectors of the same sex as the passenger.

I'm with Lewis Black on this one. Drop the same sex bit and give me a selection of trained officers and you'll have not a one complaint from me.

MisterCreosote: "What Obama understands is that his base is thrilled with his brand of fascism lite."

Says the guy who WANTS this, but only for Muslims (since, clearly, no one else commits acts of terrorism... ;)

"Texas governor Rick Perry is looking and sounding very presidential :"

It's a shame neither of you can address the topic at hand.

Pat downs, aka molestation. Glad I left the states.

Texas governor Rick Perry is looking and sounding very presidential :

" How about we take all those TSA agents and put them on the border with Mexico where they can do some security there? That’s where we need security substantially more than in our airports and what we’re seeing out of this bunch. ”

“I understand people’s frustrations,”

His job is not to understand but to do something. Anybody can understand, only people in power can do anything. Or maybe that is what the job of President has been reduced to, a guy who just stands there and says "I understand". The real power has moved elsewhere.

Personally I have boycotted the USA since the idiotic "Canadians must show passports" rule came in. I have heard that tourism to the States is way down, so looks like maybe other people are doing the same due to this screening nonsense.

What Obama understands is that his base is thrilled with his brand of fascism lite.

Bunk. Israel has a very good security screening procedure at their airports, and they don't do any nude x-rays.

Full naked x-rays are the only way if you are constrained by the fear of violating political correctness.

Profiling is much more efficient, and much more of a deterrent.

I am willing to go through the scan or an intrusive pat down if President Obama and his family and all the TSA officials and their families go through the same procedure every time they fly (including on Airforce One).