Resistance to porno-scanners increases

SUBHEAD: Pilot takes daughter through security. Overhears TSA officer say to coworker 'Heads up, got a cutie for you.' Image above: Have we come to this? A Playmobile playset of a TSA airport intimidation. From (http://airlinenightmare.com/blog/?p=3061). By SWFA (Pilot) on 13 November 2010 in Flytalk.com - (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-safety-security/1147497-tso-saying-heads-up-got-cutie-you.html)
Last week, one of my flying partners (Captain with Skywest) was going through security at DEN (Denver International Airport) with his 18 year daughter. As his daughter approached the detector, the TSO working the NoS (new full body scanner) said on his headset, "heads up, got a cutie for you." He then confronted the TSA clerk with what he said and that neither of us are going through the NoS. The TSA clerk said you must have misunderstood me. He said pat-down was pretty evasive, and his daughter felt uncomfortable. He is taking it up with Skywest, with this behavior. Normally, crews there go through a different screening area, but since he was with his daughter, he got to see the TSA clerks at their finest in Denver. Its stories like this, is why I will not go through the NoS (radiation/health issues) and even refuse the the pat-down thus (if it happens while on duty) canceling the flight due to a hostile work environment. I hope this gets resolves soon!! Got to fly....no NoS checkpoints on this trip so don't worry about a canceled flight from me!
SUBHEAD: Body-Searching Children: No for the US Army, Yes for the TSA? by James Fallows on 13 November 2010 for The Atlantic -
Please read the note below. A US Army staff sergeant, now serving in Afghanistan, writes about the new enhanced pat-down procedure from the TSA. Summary of his very powerful message: to avoid giving gross offense to the Afghan public, and to prevent the appearance of an uncontrolled security state, the US military forbids use on Afghan civilians of the very practices the TSA is now making routine for civilian travelers at US airports. Here is what he says:
>>In reading your post and the most recent one from Mr. Goldberg about the War on Terror and pedophilia, I am disturbed. What bothers me is that I am on the verge of re-deploying from Afghanistan after a 10-month combat tour that involved having to deal with, among other things, conducting searches of local nationals when involved with security tasks within my Infantry company. At no time were we permitted or even encouraged to search children or women. In fact, this would have been considered an extreme violation of acceptable cultural practice and given the way word travels here, been a propaganda victory for the Taliban. Yet somehow the TSA is engaged in this at home while my unit and I spent our tour unable to safeguard ourselves equally in an environment where the Taliban have often disguised themselves in burkas and used children as both spies and fighters. While I have no conflict with the necessity to safeguard civilians against terrorism or with the risks we all voluntarily assumed as soldiers, it seems as if the bureaucracy has become so obsessed with safety that we have forgotten that war entails risks beyond those of physical combat. If we are truly at war, then we need to decide what civil liberties we truly view as negotiable and which are inviolate- otherwise the greater risk than underwear bombers at home will be losing the values that make us unique as a nation. These people terrify us as much as we allow them to. Apparently FDR's idea about "the only thing to fear" is lost on TSA and the current administration.<<
Everything about security involves a balance. "Perfect" security would mean complete controls on freedom, elimination of privacy, etc. Someone who is now exposed to real, daily danger in Afghanistan because of decisions about the proper balance argues that we need to be braver society-wide. Yes, soldiers accept different risks from those that are tolerable for society at large. But this is profound and powerful testimony.
SUBHEAD: Members of the Pirate Party in Germany organized a fleshmob that stripped down and converged on the Berlin-Tegal airport. See also: Ea O Ka Aina: Pilots Reject Full Body Scanners 11/8/10 Ea O Ka Aina: Natonal Opt-Out Day! 11/11/10 Ea O Ka Aina: Don't scan me, bro! 11/12/10 .

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