"Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages are not yet sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favor; a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defence of custom...A long and violent abuse of power is generally the means of calling the right of it in question..."
~Thomas Paine, Common Sense

Thursday, December 9, 2010

The DHS Relentless

With the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) announcement that they are teaming up with Wal-Mart in their "If You See Something, Say Something" campaign, it is obvious that the DHS has no plans of slowing down their assault on our rights and privacy. The United States is becoming more and more Orwellian at an continually increasing rate. If we learned anything from 20th century, this is certainly the test. No matter what the excuse, whether the pursuit of some Utopian ideal like Fascism or Communism, or false protection against some indeterminate enemy like Terrorism, despotism is still despotism, and we must not stand for it.

It has been encouraging to see the level of outrage spurred by this new campaign of civilian espionage that the DHS is carrying out hand-in-hand with Wal-Mart, as it has been encouraging to see many continue to protest the TSA in airports around the country. Some have caught the attention of cameras and undoubtedly many more have not. Below I've posted a written account of a protester at John Wayne Airport in Orange County a few days ago as well as two more videos to help keep the ball rolling:

"This morning I had a flight, but I don't own a bikini and never had time to buy one since I just got home from Europe. However, I found some spandex and sports bra in my drawers...so I I put on the underwear telling myself I had to go through with it. After checking in I was directed to the longest of the three security lines. I watched a number of people getting screened or pat downs - at this moment I decided there was now way I was going to let the TSA have their way. As soon as I got to the trays I took off my coat, boots and socks and after about a half a second of contemplating I pulled off my pants and shirt. I placed everything in the trays and waited patiently to put my things on the conveyor belt and continue through the line. None of the TSA workers said anything, but they immediately called the chief of security. There were people in front of me waiting to go through the metal detector but they waited until security was there. I couldn't hear everything they said, but I did catch them saying it was "...the same situation..." as soon as the chief of security got there and saw me he said, "Just let her through." Then he looked at me, waving me forward and said, "Go on through." He had me go through in front of the other passengers waiting in front of me. I had all sorts of things prepared in order to explain why I was doing this, but I never had to say a word. I picked up my things, got dressed and walked away without having to worry about going through the screen or getting a pat down. I got all sorts of glares and heads shaking from the TSA, but they didn't do anything to even try and harass me. They simply had to let me through. I know I watched Jimmy's video, but it was even easier than I realized!
--
"ps. here's a picture of my sports bra and neon green spandex... if I had had any way of filming this I would have."



Videos:


16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awesome job, Eric and Jimmy! We love you! I have not yet traveled on a plane this holiday season, but will let you know when I do...

Anonymous said...

It seems there is supposed to be a picture after the P.S. on the page, but the image tag contains the URL of gmail instead of an image :(

Mike said...

I appreciate your efforts to protest it. Where does it stop? I fly 100,000 miles a year, and I'm NOT going to be subjected to the health risks of radiation nor the disgusting groping by random TSA agents. We teach our kids it's not OK to have someone touch them without their permission; now the government is touching anyone who wants to fly without their permission.

Mike said...

One last thing: as a 100,000 mile flyer, I'm perfectly OK getting on an airplane with people who have been sent through the basic metal detector with their luggage screened. Screen checked bags more carefully and leave my body alone.

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