tsa

I won't be travelling anywhere 'til January, but I've been pondering the whole full body scan thing lately. Aside from finding the whole thing invasive to the point of insanity, I've had far more x-rays in my life than an average citizen. To the point where my doc and I have conversations about "is the information we could get here important enough to merit an additional x-ray?" rather than just "let's see what's going on." This began as a concern of hers, not mine--on the scale of Things to Worry About, x-rays rated somewhere below bed bugs, Vitamin D, and what I might want to eat for dinner tonight, down towards the spot reserved for wondering why all my brown wool socks are slightly different shades of brown in some lights, and fretting about whether they are properly mated to a sock of the correct shade.

Anyway, thanks to her getting me to think that perhaps I should try to have many fewer x-rays in the next decade than I had in the previous decade, I have already decided that I'll be opting out of the scan, at least as long as my local airport uses the backscatter variety. This means I get to have some sort of invasive groping procedure as an alternative. Debating between a) yelling "ow, quit it!" throughout; b) hollering "say no to touches" and "that's not my kid code" and variations on that theme; and c) singing Giovinezza and/or Cara al Sol during the procedure.

I was momentarily hopeful about Rep. Nutbar Paul's "American Traveler Dignity Act" (that link is to his showboating statement) and then I went to look at the legislation. Short, sweet, and nearly pointless: just like Mr. Paul, except for the sweet bit.

It is newly tempting to travel in nothing but a bathrobe and slippers, however. Much like the commando-style men in kilts, I guess. Anyway, I will be planning my January travel outfit with great consideration, and will also be sure to add an extra hour or so to my travel time.

Comments

[dale hotep]

that last graph made my brain go, "jill is a combination of hunter thompson and julia child, with some dorothy parker thrown in… more wine."

and finally, personally, i can't wait to be groped. the invasiver the better.

[Paul]

Also: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/11/22/scientist-x-ray-scan.html

[Jessie Brown]

We were thinking about flying in February. Thanks to Boing Boing and NPR and CNN I have been giving this some thought lately. I've had my innards photod enough as well. But wow the groping thing is super offensive to me. Thanks underwear bomber dude.

I also have the dubious honor of wondering how I feel about having my puberty-stricken daughter faced with this type of invasiveness. Maybe barfy-junior will just have to enjoy a long car ride to the bay area.

Maybe if we're all lucky the blow-back from holiday travel will be enough to cut this down to size quickly. Sorry about the millions, and thank you Michael Chertoff (jackoff).

[Tom]

It's bothersome I weigh in my head my civil rights against TSA possibly wrecking my trip -- for no arguable increase in security.

An Atlantic blogger also doesn't like the back-scatter body scanner and is more willing to risk inconvenience than I. But that's certainly "work" time for him (including missing a flight).
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/10/for-the-first-time-the-tsa-meets-resistance/65390/