September 21, 2007 7:30 AM

Next time I fly anywhere, I'll be reading "The Anarchist's Cookbook"

U.S. Airport Screeners Are Watching What You Read

International travelers concerned about being labeled a terrorist or drug runner by secret Homeland Security algorithms may want to be careful what books they read on the plane. Newly revealed records show the government is storing such information for years. Privacy advocates obtained database records showing that the government routinely records the race of people pulled aside for extra screening as they enter the country, along with cursory answers given to U.S. border inspectors about their purpose in traveling. In one case, the records note Electronic Frontier Foundation co-founder John Gilmore’s choice of reading material, and worry over the number of small flashlights he’d packed for the trip. The breadth of the information obtained by the Gilmore-funded Identity Project (using a Privacy Act request) shows the government’s screening program at the border is actually a “surveillance dragnet,” according to the group’s spokesman Bill Scannell…. “There is so much sensitive information in the documents that it is clear that Homeland Security is not playing straight with the American people,” Scannell said.

Are y’all as sick to death of living in a vrtual police state as I am? Jeebus, when did we become scared of our collective shadow? Yeah, I know…9.11 changed everything- and that’s EXACTLY what’s wrong with this story. We’ve sat idly by like Good Germans while our media and government have effectively propagandized and transformed us into terrified sheep. We live in daily, constant, mortal fear of the next terrorist attack…and because it can come from ANYWHERE (You know, that box of Corn Flakes looks suspicious, don’tcha think??), we live in dread of being the next victims. Look, I’m as concerned about terrorism as the next person, but there’s a time when you really just need to say “(&^% it” and start living your life. Six-plus years after 9.11, and we’re still acting like a milquetoast collection of (&^%$#@ sheep, willing to be treated like potential terrorists in order to experience the supreme privilege of flying on the human cattle cars that pass for passenger airplanes. Free country? Yeah, trying boarding an airplane….

The reality is that security is a comical pursuit in a free society- though it’s certainly a laudable and desirable goal. Airport security is an absolute joke. Any reasonable person who’s flown anywhere since 9.11 recognizes that airport security has little, if anything, to do with protecting the flying public. What it’s about is creating the illusion of security- the theory apparently being that the more onerous, inconvenient, and invasive the simple act of boarding a plane can be made to be, the safer the American sheeple will FEEL.

Let’s think about this for a second, shall we? How does confiscating a traveller’s 12-oz. bottle of water accomplish anything but to drive up sales of water bottles for vendors on the concourse a traveller is trying to get to? Flying back from JFK Airport in New York, a TSA goon confiscated a 24-oz. water bottle I still had with me. I then watched nonplussed as the aforementioned goon proceeded to lob the bottle 15 feet into a large drum. If you’re going to confiscate water bottles, thus forcing a traveller to purchase one from a concourse vendor (at a no doubt highly inflated price), shouldn’t those doing the confiscating at least PRETEND that the water is, or may be, a threat?

No, the sad reality is that this is and never has been about protecting the flying public. It’s never been about security, or preventing terrorism, or all of the other wondrous propaganda and b.s. that’s been lobbed in our direction since 9.11. It’s about creating the illusion that TSA and Homeland Security are on the job, making our friendly skies a safer place to be. Keep ‘em scared, and we can get ‘em to do or believe ANYTHING….

What I want to know, because no one has ever adequately explained the rationale involved, is how can confiscating toothpaste or bottled water make Americans safer? How can kicking people off planes for wearing “offensive” t-shirts make people safer? How can deboarding Muslims wtih the temerity to pray at the gate before getting on their plane make the flying public safer? The reality is simple- ignorance, reaction, and preemptive discrimination cannot make flying any safer from the threat of terrorism. What these things may well do is allow people to feel safer (“Wow, those strip and cavity searches sure are inconvenient…but, man, I sure do feel safe from terrorism. Don’t you?? And that blonde in front of us sure has a nice rack, eh??”)

I’ve been threatening for some time now to wear my “Worst President EVER” t-shirt when I fly, just to see what happens. And if I can find a copy of “The Anarchist’s Cookbook”, I’m going to take it on the plane with me, just to see if anyone raises a fuss. It’s about time somebody made a statement that this is still a free country…or at least one that maintains the illusion of freedom.

Then again, 9.11 sure changed everything, eh? Yeah, it changed us into a nation of unthinking, sheep-like drones, frightened of our own shadow and willing to endure all manner of insults and invasions of personal privacy if it protects us from terrorism.

Who says the terrorism haven’t won??

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on September 21, 2007 7:30 AM.

Of course it's fair...and balanced, too!! was the previous entry in this blog.

Meanwhile...somewhere on a sound stage in Burbank.... is the next entry in this blog.

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