TSA 'Warning' Media About Reporting On Body Scanner Failures? 465
OverTheGeicoE writes "When anti-TSA activist Jonathan Corbett exposed a severe weakness in TSA's body scanners, one would expect the story to attract a lot of media attention. Apparently TSA is attempting to stop reporters from covering the story. According to Corbett, at least one reporter has been 'strongly cautioned' by TSA spokeswoman Sari Koshetz not to cover the story. If TSA is worried that this is new information they need to suppress to keep it away from terrorists, that horse may have left the barn years ago. Corbett's demonstration may just be confirmation of a 2010 paper in the Journal of Transportation Security that concluded that 'an object such as a wire or a boxcutter blade, taped to the side of the body, or even a small gun in the same location, will be invisible' to X-ray scanners."
Warned about what? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Warned about what? (Score:5, Insightful)
BS? Barbara Streisand? (Score:5, Funny)
I call BS.
I was wondering who would bring up the Barbara Streisand Effect first.
So now, Barbara Streisand is a Terrorist!
Re:BS? Barbara Streisand? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:BS? Barbara Streisand? (Score:5, Funny)
Gee, you notice that now? I heard her sing, that was proof enough!
Re:Warned about what? (Score:5, Funny)
But I thought that if we see something, we're supposed to say something?
Re:Warned about what? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Warned about what? (Score:5, Informative)
The flaw was exposed in February 2011 by an undercover TSA agent. He tested a known, unpatched, exploit.
Here's more links to stories. [freeinternetpress.com]
Re:Warned about what? (Score:5, Insightful)
Of course it's BS. Think about it. Before this stuff, you couldn't get that easily on board with a gun or box cutters. Now it's become *easier* than before. Streamlined access for terrorists and undercover government peeps, PITA for the rest. That's what taking a long hard look at this would reveal, it would make a whole lot of bluffs quite obvious. It threatens a house of cards. So.... who are these clowns to give advice to anyone? They should shut the fuck up, say "thank you" and "sorry", work until they paid the money they squandered back, and then go to jail for life. That would be the *beginning* of something remotely sensible.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Warned about what? (Score:5, Interesting)
have you read The Interrogators (Score:5, Interesting)
because thats pretty much what happened in Afghanistan in 2002, and how we got people like Khalid Sheik Mohammad put in the same facility with random teenagers and goat herders.
Re:Warned about what? (Score:5, Insightful)
The "having you killed" suggestion is overblown, but I'm sure the TSA could realistically add you to No-Fly lists, just because.
Re:Warned about what? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Warned about what? (Score:5, Insightful)
You have a weird definition of "they can't".
Re:Warned about what? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Warned about what? (Score:5, Insightful)
That's right. American citizens are being disappeared by the government on a daily basis. Apparently either their friends and family never notice or Big Media is in on it and so you never see a story about it...
Re:Warned about what? (Score:5, Insightful)
When a three letter agency cautions you with unspecified malice, even if they can't (yet) drag you out of your house at night, you know they can make your life difficult...
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Warned about what? (Score:5, Informative)
They can send you to jail for not cooperating [nydailynews.com] (or even citing the constitution at them) [ajc.com], prevent you from traveling freely [cbsnews.com] and deny you the right to exit the country. They can put you on watch lists that make the "more traditional" TLA's pay attention to you. And their influence [forbes.com] is [publicintelligence.net] spreading [tsa.gov].
So, yes, they are.
Re:Warned about what? (Score:5, Interesting)
Whatever happened to the principles the US was founded on? "Live Free or Die," "Don't Tread On Me," "Liberty or Death?" We've become a country of Bread and Circuses consuming, Entitlement gratified proles.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
10k names is a small number to search against. Takes seconds on a properly implemented and maintained db and app.
My point is that the TSA doesn't give a rats arse how many people on the list there are. They would be just as happy if there were 100k, even if it meant there 95% false positives. It would just mean more justification for their existence.
Never assume a bureaucratic organization will always exist for the sake of the people. It eventually evolves to the point where its existence is its existence.
Re:Warned about what? (Score:5, Informative)
Innumeracy runs rampant. You're off by a factor of 1000. 10,000,000 (that's 10 million, since you apparently can't parse digits) is a very significant fraction of the (frequently) flying public.
Re:Warned about what? (Score:4, Insightful)
Never the less, a properly maintained DB and app will still render the numbers largely irrelevant.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
LOL - The more citizens who fight... get real (Score:4, Insightful)
With so many citizens on the dole do you really expect them to care?
It is happening to OTHER people. Not them. That is how they think. The government if giving them money to eat, giving them money when they don't earn any, giving them money if they don't make enough, paying for their health care, their transit passes, and their cell phones.
Do you think they don't mind giving up stuff, the trade off seems to be only inconveniencing people who are flying, you know those who have their own money. You are out of touch with how many people think now
Re: (Score:3)
Whoosh.
It's not looking them up, it's having the majority of the traveling population blocked/delayed at the checkpoint, the resulting logistics, and the political fallout.
Re:Warned about what? (Score:4, Insightful)
By the time you get to the point where they'd put 10M names on the No Fly list, there will be MUCH more worse punishments ready and lined up for a good portion of those 10M. The No Fly list will then only be for low level people, like nobodies who criticize the government, not Somebodies who need to be Locked Away out of Sight and Punished.
Re:Not exactly (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
While I applaud your sentiment, I wouldn't necessarily endorse the use of all the incidents you cite to support those sentiments. For example:
Just before he was to be scanned, Tobey protested his treatment by removing his pants and shirt (thankfully, leaving his boxers on), and revealing a writing on his chest, “Amendment 4: The right of the people to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated.”
For thus displaying a sentence appearing in our country’s Constitution, Tobey was deemed to be a “security risk.
Personally I suspect it wasn't his attempt to "educate the TSA" (as the columnist put it) that branded him as a security risk. I think it more likely that his behavior was simply regarded as bizarre. Personally, I'd suspect PCP use if I saw somebody do this, although I wouldn't dispute that in light of further developments it was probably a sober, if unconventional ac
Re: (Score:3)
Personally, I'd suspect PCP use if I saw somebody do this...
IOW, "What he's doing doesn't make sense to me; therefore, he must be on drugs." Clever.
Re:Warned about what? (Score:4, Informative)
How is an adult's decision to consume ANY substance a reasonable basis for detention?
Just because prohibition is law does NOT make it reasonable.
Re:Warned about what? (Score:4, Insightful)
QUOTE: "(Abbott) told me in a very stern voice with quite a bit of attitude that they were not going through that X-ray," security officer Sabrina Birge told police. Birge said she told Abbott that the machine was "not an X-ray"
Except 3/4 of the machines are indeed X-ray machines. And if they experience a mechnical failure, can hit passengers with lethal doses. I'm not sure I trust the machines either.
QUOTE:"After Abbott refused to cool her heels - she allegedly attempted to try to shoot video of the agents with her cell phone - cops cuffed her and hauled her off to jail."
The U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that citizens have a first amendment "right of freedom of the press" to record the actions of government officials in public venues. Including with a camera, an audio recorder, or the old-fashioned way of writing it down on a tablet. This woman should never have been arrested.
Assholes.
Re: (Score:3)
So you're saying they have no authority they could possibly abuse? No chance you could get "randomly selected" for life or find your way to the no-fly list?
Re:Warned about what? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Warned about what? (Score:4, Insightful)
And here I was, thinking it was a two party dictatorship...
Re:Warned about what? (Score:4, Funny)
Eh, lots of countries prove you can call yourself a republic and be a dictatorship at the same time.
Anyway, since we have a two-party dictatorship we're obviously 50% more free than a single-party dictatorship like North Korea.
ask Thomas Drake, Stephen Kim, (Score:3)
Shamai Leibowitz, Jeffrey Sterling, Siobhan Gorman, Diane Roark, and Jesselyn Radack.
Re:Warned about what? (Score:5, Insightful)
Totally by coincidence your tax returns get audited. If you have kids, child protection services shows up at your door with complaints about child abuse. Every time you do a rolling stop a cop is right there to give you a ticket. As a journalist, every time you try to attend a press conference there seems to be no more space left, sorry. Your usual contacts at the police force run out of scoops to feed you. If you try to cover a protest you're one of the first to be arrested. The list goes on... None of which has any relation to the fact that you covered an "unpopular" story, of course.
Re:Warned about what? (Score:5, Insightful)
Reporters might find it hard to advance in their profession when they're on the no-fly list.
Re: (Score:3)
I can't. So I broke it up a bit:
Farcebook won't allow the link to the original wordpress blog article.
Try this:
Type: http:
Then copy the following text and paste it behind. //tsaoutofourpants(dot)wordpress(dot)com/2012/03/06/1b-of-nude-body-scanners-made-worthless-by-blog-how-anyone-can-get-anything-past-the-tsas-nude-body-scanners/
Re:Warned about what? (Score:5, Funny)
That's inhumane. Nobody deserves light opera.
Probably not suppressed for Terrorists. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Probably not suppressed for Terrorists. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Probably not suppressed for Terrorists. (Score:5, Insightful)
What terrorists?
Re:Probably not suppressed for Terrorists. (Score:5, Insightful)
You should watch Fox News from time to time. Been watching the real news shows again, right?
Please, tune in to the propaganda, you're getting so out of the loop.
Re: (Score:3)
Easy fix? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Easy fix? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Easy fix? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Easy fix? (Score:5, Insightful)
Even if it was working as advertised, was free, didn't inconvenience you at all, wasn't an illegal search, and didn't have health risks... would it actually make you safer?
Re:Easy fix? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Easy fix? (Score:5, Funny)
But how do we get every TSA worker to swallow it?
Re:Easy fix? (Score:5, Funny)
Honestly, I feel bad for the people who work around the machines. There's no shielding. When TSA agents start getting cancer, part of me will feel bad for them. But part of me will be laughing hysterically.
Re:Easy fix? OPT OUT! (Score:3)
OK...but I am concerned that these machines are essentially operated by untrained people who have no concern at all for the safety of those passing through them. The machines themselves were produced for "national security" and as such were most likely granted all kinds of waivers to radiation safety regulations. I won't go through them and I don't trust TSA to be doing any kind of regular checks or maintenance on them, except wh
Re:Easy fix? (Score:5, Interesting)
The radiation dosage received from the scanner is still less than what you get from the flight itself. If you are that worried about radiation, you probably don't want to be on the plane in the first place.
Ok, two things:
1. I need to get from A to B when I get on the plane. There is a perceived benefit and there is some incurred cost. Seeing how not a single one of these machines is know to have stopped a single terrorist, there is no perceived benefit to match going through the machine
2. You say that radiation dose is miniscule. TSA says that radiation dose is miniscule. Others say that due to improper calibration (how many of TSA employees are qualified to calibrate a medlical-like device?) or due to other factors the radiation received may be 10X or 100X higher than the "optimal". TSA had refused to do a health study, so even assuming I trust everyone equally, that's a 50-50 risk that TSA assertion is wrong.
Re:Easy fix? (Score:5, Interesting)
And you say this on what grounds? The dosages that the machines give out is "Classified for National Security Purposes". They won't tell you how much you are getting dosed. It's illegal for them to tell you. Hell, if you listen to the TSA tell it, it's "the same as getting an ultrasound"
Re:Easy fix? (Score:5, Interesting)
Anyone know if anyone has ever tried to go through one with a film badge dosimeter or something similar? That might prove very interesting.
Re: (Score:3)
Hold it right there, you know what dose you get from those machines? How did you get classified information?
Or are you just repeating the TSA PR leaflet? If so, you should move to Japan. I heard the real estates near Fukushima are really cheap to get today, and the local nuclear plant is no threat anymore. At least according to its owner.
I have an easier fix (Score:5, Insightful)
Use the fucking metal detectors that are already there! They work great. They'll pick up any gun, even a small one. No, there is no gun that has no metal in it (nor bullets). What's more metal detectors are 100% within the range of TSA intelligence to use: Green = person ok, go through. Red + beep = person not ok. Even the untrained morons in the TSA can deal with that. The scanners though, they require knowledge an interpretation. You are presented with an image and you have to interpret it.
That is why so many people get sent for patdowns. Not because they found something but because they can't tell what they fuck they are looking at. They can't interpret the results.
The answer is in what they already have. Metal detectors work great. There's a reason why people like, say, the Secret Service uses metal detectors, and not these scanners.
Re:I have an easier fix (Score:5, Informative)
Sigh. Have you ever held a glock? What material do you suppose the slide (you know, that thingy on the top that goes back and forth each time it goes bang) is made of? That's right... Steel. Which is a metal. How about the barrel? Oh yeah, that's steel too. Recoil spring? I'll give you a hint... steel. Should I go on?
But you're half right... the frame is made of... polymer. A fancy name for plastic. So if you separated the slide from the frame, and took all the little movable metal parts out of the frame, then the frame probably wouldn't set off the metal detector (the little metal inserts molded into the frame are probably too small to set off the walk-thru metal detector).
Summary: Glocks (and all other mainstream guns) have major parts made of metal. More metal than a belt buckle. If a beltbuckle sets of the metal detector, so will a gun. Even a glock.
http://xkcd.com/386/ [xkcd.com]
Re:I have an easier fix (Score:5, Informative)
"The Glock 23 has no metal parts"
Umm.. "The Glock's frame, magazine body and several other components are made from a high-strength nylon-based polymer invented by Gaston Glock and called Polymer 2.[34] .. The injection molded frame contains 4 hardened steel guide rails for the slide: two at the rear of the frame, and the remaining pair above and in front of the trigger guard. .. The frame houses the locking block, which is an investment casting that engages a 45 camming surface on the barrel's lower camming lug. It is retained in the frame by a steel axis pin that holds the trigger and slide catch. .. A spring-loaded sheet metal pressing serves as the slide catch, which is secured from unintentional manipulation by a raised guard molded into the frame."
Re:I have an easier fix (Score:4, Informative)
The Glock 23 has no metal parts in it (as the most famous - You can actually get at least half-a-dozen polymer frames today, in a variety of poly chambers and actions). Poly casings hit the mainstream within the last few years (though they still cost a bit more); Hand-load with a properly sized ceramic bullet, and you have fully live firearm without a scrap of metal in it.
Say what? The Glock 23 [glock.com] certainly is made of metal, as are all Glock pistols. The barrel, slide, and much of the internal mechanisms are steel and comprise about 80% of the gun's mass. It is certainly detectable by airport metal detectors.
The plastic parts show up clearly on airport x-ray baggage scanners [wordpress.com]. The plastic parts and magazines have a fair bit of metal in them as well for strengthening (and the metal rails on the frame for the slide to move on) and would set off metal detectors.
There's nothing special about the Glock 23: it's simply the mid-sized model chambered in .40 S&W. I have owned it's 9mm counterpart, the Glock 19, and the subcompact 9mm Glock 26 and can confirm that both the 9mm and .40 S&W models have considerable amounts of metal.
Re:Easy fix? (Score:5, Informative)
That's what metal detectors do. I fly a lot. these go thusly:
wait, get in, put your feet on the prints (rotated 90 degrees from normal walking direction), hold up your arms
wait for the scanner to swipe through it's arc.
get out
wait on another set of footprints
total time 20-45 seconds per scan.
Re:Easy fix? (Score:5, Informative)
Someone who has actually used one of these could probably confirm or deny this...
As someone who has actually used one of these (many times), my answer is a solid "deny". You don't just walk through these scanners the way you do with the metal detectors. You walk in, turn to the side, spread your legs, put your hands in the air, and hold that position for about five seconds. They slow down the lines immensely. If you then had to turn another 90 degrees and hold for another five seconds, it would make things even worse.
Considering that the scanners don't even detect the sort of threat they were rolled out in response to (the underwear bomber), they should just be scrapped entirely, and the government should do everything in its power to find a loophole in the contract to get some of our money back.
Re:Easy fix? (Score:4, Interesting)
I also do a fair amount of work travel, and detest the scanners, but I still find the baggage screening process to dominate the time required in line. Remember, this occurs in parallel with the baggage getting screened. Chances are that, while you're getting screened, the guy behind you is fumbling with his belt and the genius scanning the bags is reversing the conveyor belt to find the shampoo that someone had left in their bag.
I've never found a backup of people trying to get through the people scanner, it's always waiting to shove your crap on the conveyor. I don't think they should be doing mm-wave pr0n at all, but I don't think a quick second scan slows the overall process down at all.
Re:Easy fix? (Score:5, Informative)
But I work on millimeter waves in my day job, so don't believe a word I say.
Re: (Score:3)
Also that would detect things sewn into clothing, but probably not thin things like wires taped to the body.
Or 2x foot long razor blades: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3yaqq9Jjb4 [youtube.com]
(that's a link to Adam Savage of Mythbusters fame giving a talk at w00tstock 2.0)
FWIW, metal detectors *could* detect these, but they often have those things turned down so low stuff like this would pass right through anyway (I've gone through a bunch of times with my chunky metal belt buckle still on... left it on by mistake, and always surprised when it doesn't go beep).
My favorite solution to this whole mess is to simply arm every pa
TSA has this covered. (Score:5, Funny)
Much like the underwear bomber, TSA has this all planned out.
1. Allow terrorist onboard with a weapon hidden at his side.
2. Civilians on plane stop terrorist when he attempts to take over plane.
3. TSA announces that the system worked.
These "reporters" are clearly interfering with step #1.
Stupid constitution. (Score:5, Insightful)
the TSA is unconstitutional as heck! (Score:5, Insightful)
I will stay away from the airports if the TSA stays out of my pants, and I refuse to step in to your xray cancer machines.
Re:the TSA is unconstitutional as heck! (Score:4, Insightful)
You don't think the airlines have a vested interest in keeping their planes from falling out of the sky?
Re:the TSA is unconstitutional as heck! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
And it's been shown time after time that the "policing" by the TSA would not have had the slightest affect on ANY of the terrorist plots to date. Including 9/11.
They're hardly perfect (Score:5, Interesting)
I remember back in 2002 I had this huge inner door house key, like really big old fashioned solid iron thing. It ended up being in my pocket as I walked through the metal detector, so I just clenched it in my palm thinking I'll have to show it anyway. Passed right through, not a beep. It was big enough it'd easily be the blade of a pretty good knife. And it beeped for some other passengers so it wasn't defective either. Of course this was after 9/11 so everybody was on their toes, I showed it to a friend and he was like "Seriously? You got to be kidding me..." but it happened.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:They're hardly perfect (Score:5, Funny)
And no need to even mention ceramics or the fancier plastics, that shit is totally harmless.
Re:They're hardly perfect (Score:5, Funny)
I typed out an entire response about the Bronze Age before I realized you were being sarcastic... My sensor is busted today I guess.
Re:They're hardly perfect (Score:5, Informative)
They aren't iron detectors, they are metal detectors.
In fact, they'd detect bronze better than steel.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:They're hardly perfect (Score:5, Interesting)
Man, I once got through with a few unused razor blades in my carry-on I had left there by mistake. I don't know if it was the cardboard covering or what, but they weren't even inside my bag, it was one of those backpacks with the mesh pockets and you could see them right through it. Got right through.
Meanwhile, my sister-in-law, who is permanently disabled due to being wounded in Iraq, has 10 pounds of metal in her leg, and has to walk with a cane, she gets a ration of shit every single fucking time we go through the airport. They try to take not only her cane, but her damn knee brace every single time, saying it could be used as a weapon, but the best part is, when she complains and makes a scene, they always wave her through, which really makes me want to ask (if I wanted to end up in a windowless room when my plane takes off, that is): If it truly could be used as a weapon and is dangerous, why the fuck is complaining enough to get waved through? And if it's not, why the fuck do they stop her and try to take it from her every time she goes through security?
The TSA is a fucking joke...
Re:They're hardly perfect (Score:5, Insightful)
Anyone here who doesn't know yet that the whole TSA is mostly a job creation project? No? Good.
Let's be blunt and honest here: These people have close to zero training in security, they have near zero training in the technology they use and they are most certainly not chosen for their people skills, their intelligence or their ability to work efficiently.
If they had ANY of those qualities, they could have a real job!
It's a job creation program for people who are generally unemployable.
Gee, I hope I didn't just spill a national secret...
Re:can't you also make plastic shivs? (Score:4, Informative)
The hell with improvising. High quality polymer weapons are cheap.
http://www.coldsteel.com/nightshadeseries.html [coldsteel.com]
Re:They're hardly perfect (Score:4, Insightful)
That only works when the conditions exist where people are drawn to the extremist teachers out of desperation and/or complete lack of hope for the future. It's the people who are already marginalized who are drawn to that sort of rhetoric. If you work on the root of the problem (the marginalization), the pool of potential terrorists gets drastically smaller.
Where is the text? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm interested to see the text of this email. It's hard to judge just how egregious this behavior is without seeing the actual text.
Not Surprised (Score:3, Interesting)
I recently went through a major southeast U.S. airport. When I stated my desire to opt out of the millimeter scanner, the TSA agent tried to convince me otherwise. When I stated my desire to opt out again, she deadpan "joked" it is $20 extra screening fee for a pat down (but relented after a further exchange). I would not be surprised if supervisors suggested their agents try that to discourage as many people from opting out as possible to make the numbers look better in their favor.
FoxNews is covering the story (Score:5, Informative)
FoxNews is covering the story:
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/03/08/blogger-shows-world-how-to-sneak-anything-past-tsas-nude-body-scanners/ [foxnews.com]
I'm impressed.
Re:FoxNews is covering the story (Score:5, Insightful)
Obama is president, which means government is bad. As soon as a Republican is in the White House, government will go back to being good.
That is, according to Fox.
TSA needs to be disbanded with prejudice (Score:5, Insightful)
The TSA needs to be disbanded at once with prejudice. It is nothing but kabuki theater masking fascism. It has no place in the America of our founders.
It is not about the truth it is about perception (Score:4, Interesting)
I saw a sign in the airport las weekend. "The backscatter scanner exposes you the same amount of radiation as you receive in two minutes in the airplane". Yeah but think of it this way; standing on a beach on a sunny day would you accept someone telling you that you were going to get a sun blast equal to two minutes in the sun in two seconds? Radiation doesn't always hurt bit it is always harmful to your DNA. There is a reason heath care providers put a limit on the number of X-rays you get in year.
Osama must be laughing in his grave. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Osama must be laughing in his grave. (Score:5, Insightful)
they hate us for our freedoms
if we eliminate all our freedoms they won't hate us anymore
Re:Osama must be laughing in his grave. (Score:5, Interesting)
Could he have ever imagined the repercussions of his attack?
He did. Read "bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America" [amazon.com]. This was written before 9/11, and includes many of bin Laden's own comments. He recognized that America was too strong to take down, and had to be weakened internally first. His plan was to destroy America's moral authority in the world. He wanted a more oppressive and heavy-handed America, to help build hate and opposition in the rest of the world. That was the objective of his terrorism.
He succeeded.
It's hard to remember now, but just before 9/11, the US didn't have any serious enemies. The big players, Russia, China, Japan, and the European Union, were on good terms with the US. The Middle East was intimidated, but reassured by the fact that, once the US was finished liberating Kuwait, all the US troops packed up and went home.
If the US had simply focused on cleaning up the mess and finding bin Laden, we would have been far better off.
Re: (Score:3)
Re:Osama must be laughing in his grave. (Score:5, Insightful)
That's actually pretty accurate.
In the 90s of the last century, the US were the big winner of the cold war. The Soviet Union folded and Russia snuggled up with the US. Former East Bloc countries in Europe trampled over each other in the desperate attempt to be the first to get a foot into NATO, China was pretty happy to have a business partner, India was happy to be an outsourcing partner, the Middle East was ok with the US, after all the only country there the US smacked about was the one that didn't want to create an Islamic nation, in general, the only countries that weren't in love with the US were North Korea and Cuba. And, bluntly, who gives half a crap about them? And the rest was pretty swell too, the industry powerhorse of the world, the pinnacle of freedom and opportunity, everyone's darling. For real.
Now, twenty years later, the US are in a crisis, nationally and internationally. Debt skyrockets because of military expenses, industry struggles and China is laughing their ass off while shipping cheap crap over, internationally the US are seen as the schoolyard bully that everyone only plays nice with because they fear to be the next to get smacked about... The US sure went a long way downhill.
The Juggernaut cannot be stopped (Score:5)
I have to agree with the posters above. In the 1990s, after winning the "cold war", the US was triumphant and popular. Apparently this went to the heads of the politicians. While there was brief talk about scaling back military expenditures (since they were not necessary anymore), instead the US scaled up, and started looking for places to use that military. 9/11 was a huge boon to those who wanted to go this way, and they have taken full advantage of it. The US now spends nearly as much on its military as the entire rest of the world combined. Internationally, the US behaves like a schoolyard bully - a bully utterly convinced of his own righteousness.
What I find saddest about this whole situation: most people I know in the USA don't have the faintest inkling of this. "Look at all the good we do." "The Iraqis should be thankful we got rid of Hussein for them." Etc.. It's really unbelievable.
Re:hello tsa: (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:3)
2) not wanting to die of skin cancer
Re:False Modesty (Score:4, Insightful)
Oh, that's easy to explain. There are a few factors that get the people's panties in a knot.
First, it's the whole security theater. A system that is proven to be flawed to the point of being utterly and completely useless, but expensive. And we have to foot that bill. We have to pay for those scanners, the TSA goons, the whole theater and its cast and crew. And we don't even like the show one bit, it's tedious and they keep playing the same bit for a decade. Even Cats was boring after that long.
Second, the threat of cancer. Or rather, the fact that we don't get to hear whether there is a threat. Why not? Why are we being subjected to a procedure that is flawed and not able to accomplish its intended goal, while at the same time being possibly dangerous to your health? See, people could and would accept it if there was a benefit. We know that we could die in a car crash, still we drive with cars. The good (being able to get from A to B fast) outweighs the bad (the chance of dying because some drunk idiot hits my car). This is not the case here. There is no good (intended goal not being met) while there might be a bad (threat of cancer).
Third, the time loss. When I was young (yeah, get offa my lawn) it was enough to get to the airport about 30 minutes before your flight, at least if it was a domestic flight. Today you better get there a few hours early. And if you plan to go international, consider spending the better part of your day on the airport. This is by no means in any relation to the gain. Which is essentially zero.
This is what the rage is about. Not that we get groped. Actually, the whole point is that we'd PREFER to get groped to being scanned. But only as much as we'd prefer being shot to being crucified.