Whatcha gonna do 'bout it?

[jmra]

There's another thread on this forum about the TSA pat downs. A lot of talk by a lot of upset people.

Well, talk is cheap. If you're that ticked off why don't you do something about it.

Here is the challenge - list a least one thing that you are going to do in the next two weeks that is going to bring about change. Then after you have done what you said you were going to do come back to this thread and tell us about it. This is your opportunity to lead by example, to inspire a movement, to be part of the solution.

Now let's see just how ticked off you really are.

(disclaimer - in no way am I suggesting anyone do anything illegal. That whole Boston Tea Party thing didn't do much good anyhow.)

[Hoi Polloi]

I'm not buying a plane ticket. The last time I went through an airport, we were chosen for the puffs of air explosives machine. It was kinda scary! I decided then that air travel would be a last resort from then forward and have stuck to it. It would have to be something pretty big to make me take a chance between nudey pictures with potentially harmful radiation or some person putting his hands in my pants and on my "sensitive areas."

[A-R]

I haven't flown on a plane in more than two years. We now make all of our trips in the "family truckster" minivan.

[OldCurlyWolf]

I haven't flown on a plane in more than two years. We now make all of our trips in the "family truckster" minivan.

I last flew in July 2000. DFW to Amarillo. Under the rules now it would take a major emergency to get me on a commercial flight and some quite strong tranks to keep me from physical violence on some TSA twerp.

[denwego]

I don't think it does any good to actually fix the problem, but I'm in the same boat - no more flying for me. The last time I flew was this Christmas, which in turn was the first time I had flown in several years, and I was disgusted with how much more intrusive it had become since only '05 or so. Baring ANY other option, I'm not going to submit to treatment like that garbage, government doing it or private sphere.

[JP171]

I fly internationally quite often, when I am getting on the plane I get searched in other countries, its not that big of a deal, they pat my pockets, they check my legs chest and so forth, but they leave my junk alone, at home going out I have not been patted down, but I never set off the metal detector cause all my stuff is in my back pack, cept my passport and that I put into the little box thing along with my boots. I have had my bag searched, I always ask them exactly what they are looking for, if they can't tell me I tell them to get a supervisor, I ask the supervisor what are you looking for, I am always nice polite and calm, they usually tell me that it looked like there is a lighter in my bag, I let them look thru my bag, when they don't find the lighter that I don't have I always make a comment something like, ok can I go now that you got to look at all my stuff? or something as smart alecky. I do what I can, no I'm not causing trouble but just because I have a pack of smokes doesn't mean I have a butane lighter, my matches are with my smokes. I've even had the Iraqi's take my matches, as far as prohibited items in Iraq you can't even have nail clippers in your check bag let alone a knife. but I do agree the abuse needs to stop, this is not promoting safety it is promoting a police state and of course with a police state the abuse of a persons rights are absolute. soon its going to be welcome to the new 4th reich if we don't do something to stop the violation of our rights. I'm sure that it has been said in here before but it was once said that a society that gives up its liberty(rights) in the name of safety deserves neither(not a direct quote)

[speedsix]

...I am my own personal no-fly zone...let them play their silly games without me...I won't be giggled at...

[chasfm11]

1. I've stopped flying.
2. I've written to my Congresspeople, my Senators & Chairman Napolitano and explained the reason for my decision to stop flying.
3. I've joined several activist groups with agendas to replace the politicians who allow this stuff to happen. At their request, I regularly write more letters, targeting specific bills and actions which violate the Constitution. I try to dedicate at least 10 hours per week in support of these causes.
4. I do not allow conversations to occur about airplanes and flying without my voicing my concerns about what is happening with TSA security and encouraging others in that conversation let their representatives know about their concerns. Everyone that I've talked to seems to have those concerns.

Enhanced TSA patdowns are bad. They are, however, just one of the bad things that goes on at the Department of Homeland Security. Contrast that with what is NOT happening with the CIA to actually gain intelligence to prevent future terrorists acts

At the end of the day, it will take a grass roots movement to make changes and it is not going to happen over night. Every day that I can help to expand that movement, I count as a success.

[VMI77]

I'm do the same thing I do when I see a 30.06 sign --stay away and keep my money. I haven't flown since 9/11. I haven't even considered personal air travel. My work travel doesn't usually require air travel but when it has I either bite the bullet and drive, teleconference, or don't go. I've skipped what amounts to probably $10,000 in business air fare over the years.

The only thing that really matters to the people who run this country is money. Protesting is usually counterproductive. It's nearly always counterproductive to protest something when people are still spending their money on it. If people stop flying and airlines start going bankrupt then the system may change. Until then, they may shuffle some of the deck chairs around but the ship isn't going to alter course.

[DFWTT]

I'm with the no fly group. Why give them your money if all they do is disrespect you. This is the very same reason I would rather go somewhere other than wally world.

[The Annoyed Man]

[RANT]
I used to prefer to fly and rent a car at my destination if the trip was any further than a few hours driving time. For instance, I wouldn't bother flying to Austin or Houston from DFW, but I would fly back to L.A. and rent a car rather than spend two days minimum on the road.

Not so anymore. I have a trip to California coming up in May for the purpose of hauling some valuable antique furniture which my mother has given us back to Texas. Normally, I'd fly there and rent a truck, and drive the truck back. This time, I'm driving my SUV out and pulling a trailer back. From where we live here in DFW, there isn't any place I can't get to in the lower 48 by car in a two day drive. I'm self employed, and my office is whatever computer I happen to be sitting at at the moment. I can work on the road from hotel rooms and in restaurants. I can even work in the car on the road if my wife is driving. TSA no longer has any power over my life.... ....for the moment.

And the upside of all this is that I get to see the country in a way you can't experience when flying. I would further add that it is the ease of flying these days (particularly if you get to do it from the pampered confines of an Air Force owned jet), as much as anything else, which has disconnected politicians in DC from the national sentiment.....or even the local sentiments within their own states. When a California congresswoman from San Francisco can fly to Los Angeles, she no longer has to speak to farmers in Fresno and Visalia along the way, or to give a damn about what her policies will do to food production in California. She can rub shoulders only with those who represent her own narrow set of interests. Flying may be a great time saver, but it also cuts people off from any sense of national identity. When your district is in San Francisco, and your office is in Washington D.C., everything in-between might as well be France for all the personal connection you might feel to it as a politician and an office holder in Government. That is exactly why they sneeringly refer to it as "fly-over country," with an implication that they are somehow elevated above the "rubes down there," and whatever concerns those "rubes" is irrelevant.

That said, my mother is 86 years old and in slowly failing health. She owns a farmhouse in the south of France, and an apartment in Paris; and when she passes on, there is going to be some travel to France required for the disposition of her estate there. So at some point, flying is going to be necessary and unavoidable for me, and I won't be able to evade having to deal with whatever regulations are in place then. Given trends, I wouldn't be surprised if body cavity searches are required by then. Maybe I'll offer the TSA agent a glass of wine to loosen the mood before he starts.

This crap has to stop. But it's not going to do that until people high up enough in government have to rely on commercial aviation to get around. So long as they are insulated from the effects of whatever they permit to be visited upon the rest of us, the abuse will continue. This is true of their healthcare insurance. It's true of their retirement benefits. It's true of their self-awarded raises in pay. They're not going to fix those things until they have to live with what we have to live with. And it is certainly true of their transportation benefits. When a sitting senator or representative - even a Speaker of the House - can no longer dial up an Air Force owned jet to get to wherever they want to go, then they will have to deal with this crap too, and then maybe something will get done about it. But until then, don't look for it to change, because they don't see the need for it.

Cicero said, quoted indirectly, that it was time for the treasury to be restored and the arrogance of officialdom curtailed lest Rome perish. He was a smart man. The irony of this whole state of affairs with regard to TSA is that it is now headed up by a woman who, as the sitting democrat governor of Arizona during a republican presidential administration, refused to cooperate with the building of border fences as mandated by Congress; to the extent that even California complained about her attitude. Illegals would cross the border in Arizona, skirting the fence in California, and head straight into California for the "good life." THIS is the fool whom the fool in the White House has entrusted with managing the homeland security.

They have lost sight of the fact that, as the Founders understood, the homeland security is supposed to be in the hands of an armed populace who have their eyes open to what is happening around them. Instead, we've become a nation of "itsnotmyjobbers" who are all too ready to hand over their responsibilities of citizenship to someone else.... ....because the "good life" with all its perks has made them lazy. [whiney voice]"Citizenship is too hard!"[whiney voice]

It is going to take a grass-roots outrage, sweeping the nation, to stop abuses like those imposed, top down I might add, by Napolitano's TSA. But when the responsibilities of citizenship are viewed as "too hard" by a fundamentally lazy people, what hope is there of such a massive outrage? I see none.

That won't stop me from my own little protest, or doing as chasfm11 has listed above, but I don't honestly see it changing. Sadly, I don't even see it changing if republicans win both houses and the oval office.... ....unless they are ALL incorruptible tea party activists. And that ain't gonna happen.
[/RANT]

[PUCKER]

Wish I could drive everywhere (well, with the new 'vette I could...most places....if the speed limits were eliminated, ie - Autobahn!), but it's just not practical, like I posted on the other thread, my travel schedule has been (and will be for awhile) one week home, one week on the road....all for work...some international...

I've thought about my next ploy for "grab n grope"...no one likes to be humiliated/embarrassed, but I'm got no shame...so next grab n grope I might pretend like I'm enjoying it a "little too much" if you catch my drift...I don't see anything illegal with that, but it might give the gropers a little something to think about...hey, if I can make them blush...why not? And I might end up with a date...especially if I go out the exit and come back again! Nah, just teasing, my wife would slap the daylights out of me!

[Armybrat]

I shall just pass a lot of gas when we go through security on our trip to Vegas next month.

[Katygunnut]

That said, my mother is 86 years old and in slowly failing health. She owns a farmhouse in the south of France, and an apartment in Paris; and when she passes on, there is going to be some travel to France required for the disposition of her estate there. So at some point, flying is going to be necessary and unavoidable for me, and I won't be able to evade having to deal with whatever regulations are in place then. Given trends, I wouldn't be surprised if body cavity searches are required by then. Maybe I'll offer the TSA agent a glass of wine to loosen the mood before he starts.

I agree with your entire post.

I also wanted to point out one option to avoid the need for dealing with US TSA agents when you fly to / from France. You could always drive to Mexico or Canada, and then fly from there to France. May not be the most convenient option, and with Mexico, may not be the safest, but it is an option.

[PUCKER]

[RANT]Maybe I'll offer the TSA agent a glass of wine to loosen the mood before he starts.[/RANT]

Don't forget to show up in your "mangerie" (you know, like lingerie, but for a man....robe, boxers, slippers....travel really would be easier that way!).