Life's little victories

At Wednesday's TSA oversight hearing, chief administrator John Pistole did not break down and reverse the "gate rape" patdown policy. But he did make a generous offer:

The head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) offered on Wednesday to have airport screeners come to Capitol Hill to give senators a pat-down so they could fully understand the mechanics of the newly deployed, controversial technique.

No word on which Senators took him up on it. Senator Vitter is reported to have wondered whether wearing diapers interfered with the search.

The good news is that there are a lot of people upset about this:

Nearly all of the senators at Wednesday's hearing said they had received dozens, and in some cases hundreds, of phone calls from concerned constituents about the new screening procedures.

Nice work, gang.

More like this

At The American Prospet, staff writer Adam Serwer ponders Why We Are Angry at the TSA: The amount of freedom Americans have handed over to their government in the years since the 9/11 attacks is difficult to convey. We've simply accepted the idea of the government secretly listening in on our phone…
The Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) is one of the most maligned and hated federal agencies. And for good reason. They are worse than useless, performing uncounted acts of "security theater" (in Bruce Schneier's apt coinage), like confiscating water bottles and making you take off your…
A new X-Ray screening device that clearly exposes aliens hiding in human bodies is being tried at the Phoenix airport. This technology will clearly protect us from the alien menace as you can surely see in this photo provided by the creators of this alien exposing technology. I wonder what planet…
Worker issues were in the spotlight on Capitol Hill this past week. Senator Patty Murray of Washington state introduced legislation to ban asbestos, and the hearing on the bill featured testimony from John Thayer, head of a crew that works in the tunnels running beneath the U.S. Capitol. He…

I called (and e-mailed) my senator on the committee, as a direct result of your post. So good job yourself.

The Gate Rape is disgusting.
My girlfriend got chosen to go through the scanner and she did not opt out. Unfortunately, even after the scan, they gate raped her.

Things in the US are escalating at a superb pace. Is Naomi Wolf right...is this the "End of America"? Perhaps, the steps are all being carried out in sequence.

By Electronic cigarette (not verified) on 22 Nov 2010 #permalink