Transparency

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if the transparency demanded of us all from the TSA when flying would also be demanded of politicians? Think about it. What if Nancy Pelosi owned up to what she was and attended a self-help group for over spenders by going in front saying, “Hello, my name is Nancy and I’m a spendaholic!” What are the odds that members of Congress have to go through pat downs or x-rays?

The IRS wants to see your financial picture for the previous year laid own in your tax return but why was the health care plan not laid out in such a manner for our inspection? The height of hypocrisy and overreach has now attained new heights in the TSA trying to determine whether my 88 year old mother is a terrorist and the military not batting an eye about the blatant terrorist indicators of Major Nidal Malik Hasan which resulted in his cowardly attack within a Ft. Hood Army Base.

The truth is these scans of our body are kept and does not even detect plastic explosives or those hidden in the body’s cavities. We are being sold a bill of goods in which we must bare all but we are not allowed to know all about these body scanners. Don’t want a body scan? Prepare to be groped in ways that should make anyone blush-what a choice.

When looking at a similar situation reasonably this whole matter is all the more silly. When police put out an All Points Bulletin, they try to give as precise a description of the person they seek in hopes that other officers will see this person and arrest them. Imagine if they gave an APB like this, “Attention all officers, a robbery has occurred at the First State Bank so immediately begin stopping everyone and search them for the money stolen.” How would that investigation go?

There may be a need for random stops, scans and searches at the airports and a professional look at the passenger list and a visual look of the people boarding would be much more effective in stopping a terrorist attack without denying our constitutionally protected right against search and seizure. The Bush Administration started this madness and imagine if they were the ones putting it into practice? There would be charges of Gestapo techniques being implemented.

To deny that an actual profile and personal makeup of a terrorist trying to board a plane is to deny reality. In today’s world we want to be as efficient as possible and flying is still the safest way to travel. Why do we seek perfection with such inane techniques that gives no one, not even pilots and flight attendants the benefit of the doubt?

I predict that this system will not be in use on a long term basis and will be abandoned as law suits and outrages will soon mount to the level that will render them unusable. The transparency we really need to be safe lies within the walls of Congress so we can know just what they are up to. No more hidden amendments in appropriation bills that have nothing to do with each other, no more ear marks, no more passing a law without reading it, no more insanity. Put this editorial through your mental scanner and tell me what you see.