Outrage Dujour: Strip Searching Kids in Full View of Others

I wonder if they’ll ever realize the groping was just the straw that broke the camel’s back. Speaking for myself and several friends I’ve discussed this with, what we really want is for it to be FASTER and easier. The whole process is designed with the convenience of the TSA in mind, not the passenger’s. A good professional ergonomics company should be called in to analyze and streamline the process. God, hopping around trying to get your shoes on and off while people swarm around you, unpacking your laptop while the guy behind you taps his foot, trying to put your shoes and belt back on while also trying to get your laptop back into the case while more stuff floods out of the x-ray machine….
No real company would treat “customers”* with this level of contempt and ineptitude.
Add to this the fact that your chances of dying in ANY kind of airline accident are 1 in 30 million, whereas your chances of dying on a 50 mile round trip drive to the airport are 1 in 1.1 million, and the whole thing becomes absurd. It’s been calculated that because of the number of people who now drive (especially for short flights, say, less than 500 miles) the death toll has been the equivalent of three jumbo jets crashing per year since 9/11.
My first suggestion is that the TSA randomly choose 1 in 5 passengers to just get waved through. I doubt this will encourage terrorists. My other idea is that if airlines have multiple flights to a location in one day, maybe they could call one the “You Takes Your Chances” flight and let everyone who flies on it skip the security check.
The reality is that any thinking terrorist isn’t going to try and get things through security any more. They’ll be using airport employees to plant bombs in luggage or placing explosive packages in the secured areas for the flier to pick up. (The secured area of airports is only secured for passengers. The employees that work there often get no more than a perfunctory check.) Hell, the TSA will apparently hire anybody. I’d say there are opportunities there.
Bottom line is, the TSA has not stopped a single terrorist since they were started. All terrorist attempts worldwide have been stopped by the passengers.

*Check the TSA brochures–we are, apparently, “customers.” With the chance to win an all-expenses paid trip to Club Fed.