Anyone who’s been reading this blog for awhile – *pauses to wave to the 2 subscribers* – knows that I am not overly fond of the TSA, no matter how “even handed” I attempt to be when looking at the stories. There’s been some good news – no more pawing at children in “enhanced” patdowns and training them for pedophiles – and some interesting changes in policy. But there’s also been TSA agents busted for selling oxy and other stupid crap. Though, I don’t blame the TSA for its agents’ mistakes I do believe that TSA agents need to be held to a very high standard. They need training and support and I’m not always sure they’re getting it. Maybe some changes in the agency could do some good.
This note also does not *only* deal with the TSA, but also the disturbing trend in “airline” security that seems to think it has the right to censor what you wear, what you read, and what color your skin is. Really people? A man’s reading a book on antique aircraft and you think he’s a terrorist? WTF?
So, onto the news articles/op-eds/etcs that I’ve been hoarding to for at least a month.
- Airline Specific
“Half-Arab, half-Jewish housewife” terrorized on 9/11 for Flying While Dark-Skinned (boing boing)
A Racial Profiling Victim on 9/11 Shares Her Story (Racialicious)
Flying While Black and Reading Antique Aviation Books lands folk musician in Security Theater Hell (boing boing)
- General TSA
TSA Creator Says Dismantle, Privatize the Agency (ontd_political)
Airport Security Officers And Cops Snared In Multistate Oxycodone Ring, U.S. Attorney Says (CT Now – FOX)
TSA Remembers 9/11: Not Just Another Day at Work in the Pentagon… (White House)
- Patdowns
TSA Rolling Out New Procedures For Fliers Under 12 (Consumerist)
TSA can’t explain why “enhanced patdowns” are legal (boing boing)
- Scanners
TSA to deploy 300 additional full-body scanners to airports (Security Direct News)
- Trusted Travelers Program
TSA wants money, but the question is, for what exactly (ontd_political)
