Homeland Insecurity: TSA/Total Sexual Assault

One of the nice things about delaying some material a while so as to let it get printed in a monthly before uploading it here is I get to see if it still holds up after some time has passed. That and if I'm still pissed about it. This panel was in reference to a recent incident where an Alaskan politician, state Representative Sharon Cissna from Juneau, refused to put up with the degrading tactics of an invasive grope by TSA agents in Seattle: 

“So last night, as more and more TSA, airline, airport and police gathered, I became stronger in remembering to fight the submission to a physical hand exam. I repeatedly said that I would not allow the feeling-up and I would not use the transportation mode that required it.”
“For nearly fifty years I’ve fought for the rights of assault victims, population in which my wonderful Alaska sadly ranks number one, both for men and women who have been abused. The very last thing an assault victim or molested person can deal with is yet more trauma and the groping of strangers, the hands of government ‘safety’ policy.”
“For these people, as well as myself, I refused to submit.”

It remains to be seen if this will go anywhere, or just get swept under along with every other civil rights infraction incurred from the Bush administration. Along the same lines of "if men could get pregnant than abortion would be a sacrament" I'll bet things would change in a big hurry if one of our esteemed male politicians were to have his junk touched. 

"JUNEAU, Alaska - Alaska is evaluating whether a compromise can be reached with the federal government over airport pat-downs that many passengers consider intrusive, Attorney General John J. Burns said Tuesday." - Read more: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - Alaska attorney general State considering options on TSA pat downs

Not holding my breath over this saber ice-scraper either, as "considering options" is political speech for "we won't do a damn thing." Bob Poe's perspective in the Alaska Dispatch merits mention:

"The TSA has many good managers -- I personally know some of them. But if they don’t get focused on this needless, insensitive, abusive embarrassment of our travelling public, support for these more invasive screening technologies will quickly wane."

Really? You don't get out much, if you honestly think there ever was any support (with the exception of lobbyists and crooked politicians). And as for "good managers"... it doesn't absolve them of being complicit in enforcing these capricious, ineffective and abusive policies. Maybe one needn't go so far as the cafe in Seattle who outright bans serving TSA agents, but it'd be poetic justice to pull out a blue rubber glove on 'em first.

“Isn't that the ultimate homeland security, standing up and defending marriage?” – Rick Santorum