One Mans Blog
Specialization is for Insects.
Posted on Nov 28, 2007 - 1:11am by John P. in Security, Travel
Uugh. The Transportation and Security Administration (TSA) has really fulfilled their goal of making life for a billion travelers a year completely miserable. You know what TSA stands for?
From the Washington Post:
Travelers and their advocates have long complained that lines are too long at many airports, that some security measures seem inconsistent and that security officers seem to be in short supply.
Others say that TSA officers seem to be doing little but hanging out at checkpoints, even when the lines grow.
Yeah, I’ll agree with all of that. Why is it that every time you travel you have to go through screening stations where there are extra TSA agents standing around - yet there are additional scanning machines sitting idle that they just refuse to turn on!
Grrr.
Also see The TSA Does It Again…
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Yeah I must admit that even though I like the idea of extra security to somehow prevent disasters, the TSA as they are seem ineffective. It’s too bad as I’m sure that there is lots of money going into that hole.
Derek
You (correctly) do not seem to think that Homeland Security will actually provide security. Terrorists have fundamental beliefs that cause their behavior, and those beliefs are not changing (for the better for the rest of the world).
Even if the government had perfect information channels and could sort real versus bogus threats, and had good dates for impending attacks, it is easy to overwhelm defensive security, especially when massive effort, money, and personnel are used for non-essential threats or tasks. Consider how many simple and effective terrorist activities might be used in this country to wreak havoc in the day-to-day activities of the citizens - many requiring very small capital expenditures, although there is a great deal of money available to the terrorist empire. Mass murder is not necessary to cause major disruption in the country, and it is simply not possible to stop a large number of determined antagonists from all of those activities. There must be another approach to reduce the threat and/or the number of antagonists.
This is my view that I’m taking to the polls.
What we’re doing this far with several things like the War on Drugs, War on Terror, etc. are simply not working. It’s not that we’re not getting arrests, it’s that we’re not making an IMPACT.
I’m hopeful that many others are as sick as I am with this current way of thinking. I’ll be giving my vote to the candidate who has a proven history of voting against things like the Patriot Act and funding the “war we can’t actually declare” in Iraq. I’ve already said who’s getting my vote here and on my blog, but on the Dem side there is also Kucinich and Gravel who seem to be going against the grain. Keeping the status quo isn’t working so I want things flipped upside down. What’s the worst that can happen, things still remain broke?
*sigh* at any rate
I wonder if the TSA is union-based? I wonder if it’s simply a matter of laws like Affirmative Action keeping the numbers of employees high but ineffective or if it’s a way to qualify for more government assistance for the airline? Either way, it’s just another example of throwing money at a problem that needs to be fixed by being reworked entirely.
There’s a reason Jenga towers fall, politicians would do well to think hard about that. If the foundation is inherently flawed, adding more by subtraction elsewhere is only going to buy time until the whole thing falls to pieces..
I didn’t experience much wait traveling this October, but we did sit on the plan for an hr waiting to go in Chicago tho, but not much wait inside the airport.
They also take 3 months to replace the ‘no lighters’ signs which were rendered invalid in August … sheesh, they have in-house sign shops and I’ve been throwing my lighters away for nothing