I'm Still Not Flying

John Seiler:

One of my favorite columnists, Debra Saunders of the Chronicle, defended the TSA pat-downs at airports:

TSA pat-downs prove it – Americans are whiners

The latest controversy over Transportation Security Administration body scans and enhanced body pat-downs leaves no doubt: America truly is a nation of whiners.

A CBS News poll found that 81 percent of Americans support full-body airport scanning. That reasonable view is being drowned out by elements on the left and the right who love nothing better than to proclaim that they are victims.

First exhibit: Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, who introduced the American Traveler Dignity Act to “protect Americans from physical and emotional abuse.” Abuse? Have Americans become such babies that a pat-down designed to prevent another 9/11 causes adults to melt down?

Yes, I’ve been through body scans. Yes, I’ve been patted down, not just at airports, but also covering political events. Yes, I’ve had to contend with the rare overbearing TSA worker who let the power go to his head. Are these searches intrusive? Sure, but they beat crossing the country in a covered wagon.

Actually, it’s the TSA, and the tyrannical Bush and Obama regimes that imposed it on us, that’s putting us in covered wagons — or automobiles or trains. As I wrote here before, I’m not flying until the government gets rid of the irradiating porn-scanners, and ends the molestation by the TSA perverts.

There’s new evidence that  both the scanners and the groping cause health threats.

According to WeWontFly.com:

Backscatter X-ray uses ionizing radiation, a known cumulative health hazard, to produce images of passengers’ bodies. Children, pregnant women, the elderly, and those with defective DNA repair mechanisms are considered to be especially susceptible to the type of DNA damage caused by ionizing radiation. Also at high risk are those who have had, or currently have, skin cancer. Ionizing radiation’s effects are cumulative, meaning that each time you are exposed you are adding to your risk of developing cancer. Since the dosage of radiation from the backscatter X-ray machines is absorbed almost entirely by the skin and tissue directly under the skin, averaging the dose over the whole body gives an inaccurate picture of the actual harm. In their letter of concern, the UCSF faculty members noted that “the dose to the skin could be dangerously high”. The eyes are particularly susceptible to the effects of radiation, and as one study found allowing the eyes to be exposed to radiation can lead to an increased incidence of cataracts.

How about a staph infection?

Dr. Marybeth Crane writes:

You would never walk barefoot in an airport bathroom, right? No. That would be completely gross to most Americans. Yet, the bathroom floor probably is cleaner than the carpeting in the security line. The bathroom floor gets cleaned several times a day with disinfectant. The carpeting in security might get vacuumed once or twice a day, but most likely gets actually cleaned very sporadically and only when something gets spilled. I can’t confirm this because the TSA agent working the security line had no idea when or even if the carpeting was ever cleaned!

What’s at risk? Let’s make the assumption that you are a very healthy person with no chronic diseases that would hamper your immune system. What could you possibly pick up from a dirty carpet? Let’s just talk about the really common things because the list could actually be quite lengthy!

1. Warts. Plantar warts (verruca vulgaris) are caused by a virus that infects the skin. This virus is very hardy and if you have children (or ever were one) you probably have seen or had a wart somewhere. They are annoying, but probably won’t kill you.
2. Herpes. Yes, the herpes virus is also quite hardy and cutaneous herpes can be passed from individual to individual but certainly not as quickly or easily as the wart virus. Again, annoying but not deadly.
3. Fungus. You know well the athlete’s foot fungus from your childhood. Hasn’t everyone’s mother warned them not to take a shower in the locker room barefoot so they won’t catch foot fungus? Same idea…..but again, annoying but easily remedied. PS. Fungus in your toenails can take up to A YEAR to eradicate! (Yes, it’s the same fungus).
4. Staph. Our friend the staph bacteria is growing stronger and infecting more people every day. If you have any doubt on how nasty this bacteria can be you should read my article on “Deadly Pedicures”. Staph can kill you and only needs a small opening in the skin to give you a major infection. MRSA (the really nasty staph) is more common than every before.

But you say you don’t have any cuts or holes in your feet so it’s probably OK for you to boldly walk through security at the airport barefoot. Think again! Let’s take a look at your feet. Any dry skin? Tiny little blisters? Maybe a rub mark from a sandal or a tight shoe? A minor ingrown toenail? These can provide openings for all our little microscopic friends that want to join us on our airplane journey. And let’s not forget. You are BAREFOOT! You could easily step on something, drop a piece of luggage on your foot or stub your toe on a bag and provide an easy opening…hello puncture wound!

Let’s remember why 9/11 happened: Our incompetent government failed to protect us, even though its whistleblowers, such as Time Person of the Year Colleen Rowley, were warning that an attack was imminent. And we’re supposed to trust these same federal incompetents when they insist that the way to protect us, now, is by molesting us and irradiating us and giving us staph infections?

No way. Debra Sanders can say I’m whining because I don’t want to subject myself to concentration-camp levels of abuse.

But I’m still not flying until this Gestapo assault ends.

Nov. 27, 2010