Photo Credit: gizmodo.com

Amid fears of travel debacles and administrative nightmares, the federal government gave California a last-minute extension to become compliant with new nationwide ID requirements.

At the mercy of the Department of Homeland Security, California had joined a number of states in dragging its feet on the new rules, meant to make drivers licenses more uniform and secure. “The latest actions by the department granted compliance extensions to California, Alaska, South Carolina and New Jersey until Oct. 10, 2016,” according to Quartz. “With these extensions, 22 states are now exempt until that date from the security requirements, known as Real ID. New Mexico and Washington state have exemptions that last through Jan. 10, and have yet to be granted extensions.”

The grab bag of states reluctant to comply with the regulations revealed two sets of political quirks. Firstly, although DHS actually lacks the legal power to enforce compliance, it has relied on a variety of regulatory carrots and sticks to sway most states. “In October, it began requiring that visitors to military bases, nuclear plants and federal facilities produce a driver’s license from a state that complies with the law, or show another form of government ID, like a passport,” the New York Times reported. “But the biggest leverage the government has over the states is commercial air travel.”

“The Department of Homeland Security said it would provide a schedule by the end of this year for when airport screeners would start accepting only driver’s licenses that complied with federal standards. It said that 120 days’ notice would be given before starting to enforce the law at airports.”

Nationwide pushback

That move confirmed the fears of personal privacy and civil liberty advocates, who have long warned of a federal drive toward an effectual national ID card. Others have focused in on the broader inefficiencies of the Transportation Security Administration, which has endured a string of high-profile scandals and failures in recent years. “We already know that Real ID noncompliance has no effect on airport security, just as we know that TSA body scanners and screening procedures don’t work. Last year, screeners had a 95 percent failure rate when Homeland Security agents tried to sneak weapons and fake explosives through TSA checkpoints at airports around the country,” wrote the editorial board of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

And some activists and analysts also criticized the sheer cost of compliance. “There is no need for California to spend a dime on Real ID compliance, but the most recent analysis of AB1465 says the California DMV would incur costs of approximately $5.56 million in 2016-17 and $5.4 million each year after that,” argued Cato Institute senior fellow Jim Harper.

But, in California, the changes have impacted a different constituency as well: advocates for mainstreaming unlawful immigrants into civic life. Liberals statewide — and around the country — largely cheered when the Golden State succeeded in its negotiations last year with federal authorities around granting special drivers licenses to the otherwise undocumented. Although officials have said “the new rules are not related to California’s decision to provide drivers’ licenses to immigrants,” according to KCRA, because “[t]hose licenses were never intended to be used for air travel and are marked accordingly,” Washington’s aggressive negotiating stance — it rejected initial California designs for the special license — implied a federal interest in minimizing differences between licenses in different states.

Time running out

Adding to the atmosphere of concern, some states have already had their requests for compliance extensions rejected. “At least 19 other states recently received an extension of their exemptions, but the federal agency rejected requests for extensions from Missouri and Illinois,” KCRA reported separately. “States initially were supposed to comply with the Real ID requirements by the end of 2009. Federal authorities have repeatedly delayed implementation to provide time for states to change their driver’s license procedures and make the necessary technological improvements.” But patience has begun to run out.

Katy Grimes: I’ve just returned home a trip across the country. And once again, I vowed to never take another cross-country flight.

I thank our government for this sorry state of affairs, because anyone who has traveled by air in the last decade, knows that the Transportation Security Administration is not about safety or security.

Nearly everyone I talk with has a TSA horror story. Face it–the Transportation Safety Administration is not exactly staffed with Harvard educated rocket scientists, or trained by Miss Manners.

While some TSA agents are friendly and professional, an overwhelming number are bullies with badges and bad attitude. I encountered one such team last week, while trying to leave Niceville, Florida.

Small airport syndrome

The Niceville airport is actually in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. It’s a small airport in a lovely area on the Gulf of Mexico. Flying in from Houston was rather uneventful, although when we arrived in the small plane, the ground crew announced that they were understaffed and passengers would have to wait for their bags.

Hmmm. Attitude problem number one.

Departing the Fort Walton Beach airport was another story. My husband and I had packed lightly and each had one small carry-on suitcase. As we were ushered up to the TSA podium, the female TSA agent made small talk, and then asked us to remove our toiletries.

She didn’t care about our computers–it was all about the tiny bottles of lotions.

Looking around, I noticed that even this tiny airport had one of the new full body scanners, inside of which you are forced to stand with your hands in the air like a criminal under arrest. Prior to standing inside of one of these airport scanners, I’ve never been forced to assume this position by someone wearing a badge. Imagine how the experience makes grandma feel.

“I’m looking for anything that’s liquid, sprayable or spreadable,” she announced. I assured her that all of our toiletries were in the TSA-authorized 3 ounce bottles. But that would not suffice. Apparently it’s not okay to speak to these people… it only confuses matters.

She quickly ushered us out of the line and to the conveyer belt where she began taking apart our bags. And as she did this, she pulled out my toiletry bag and announced loudly, “This isn’t a quart-sized bag; this is a gallon bag. All of your toiletries must fit into a quart-sized bag.”

Divide and conquer

She handed me over to another agent, who began stuffing my shampoo, hairspray, lotion, deodorant, toothpaste, and makeup into a quart-sized ziplock bag, which clearly wasn’t going to fit. As this was taking place, she pulled my husband over to another table, along with our two suitcases, and started rifling through his toiletry bag, all-the-while lecturing him with TSA babble.

The TSA agent I was handed off to asked me what I wanted to throw out. This is where things got sticky. I told him that instead of throwing my toiletries away, I would just check our bags instead of carrying them on the plane.

But that was too confusing. This TSA agent had a job to do, and by golly, he was going to get me to throw out my expensive shampoo and hairspray. I have a thing for nice shampoo, and would rather inconvenience myself at the baggage claim, than throw it away.

But my luggage was separated from my toiletries now, and my husband and I were separated. My poor husband was getting searched, removing clothing, and told to go through the scanner, while my TSA agent insisted that he needed to run my toiletries through the X-ray machine again. Who knows why since all he did was re-bag them.

After stepping out of the security area to go back to the airline to check the bags, at a cost of $50, we had to go through security one more time.

The final TSA bully was now manning the podium, apparently brought over by the dimbulb female TSA agent to deal with us. He noticed that our boarding passes already had the TSA clearance on them, and looked at me for explanation. “TSA wouldn’t allow me to board with my toiletries, so I just had to check our bags,” I explained.

“Well, at least you had a choice,” he sneered, glaring at me over the top of his reading glasses. “You’ve got an interesting definition of the word ‘choice,'” I said. “My ‘choice’ was to either throw out my toiletries or pay $50 to check my luggage. That’s not a ‘choice.'”

“And how is it that I made it across the country through two airports?” I asked him as I walked away. As I went through the stupid body scanner again, he stared at me.

But my husband wasn’t so lucky. The bully TSA agent took his sweet time checking my husband’s ID. He lingered over the boarding pass, writing several notes on it, checked and rechecked my husband’s ID, before he finally, slowly, handed everything back.  As my husband tried to take the boarding pass back, the bully TSA agent tightened his grip on the paper, staring  at my husband, like he was trying to start something. So my husband yanked the boarding pass out of the agent’s hands and walked away.

The bully TSA agent lowered his glasses and his pen. “Excuse me sir, come back here,”

As my husband turned around, he said, “This isn’t so much about you as it is about the system, my husband said. “This is a farce, and you know it.”

Fortunately, we didn’t end up in TSA jail. Airport security has become a no-rights zone.

The end

After four trips through the body scanner and baggage X-ray machine, we arrived at our gate to find that our flight had been cancelled.

TSA is a farce

We all know that the TSA is a farce run by boobs. But the real tragedy is that the TSA appears to nothing more than a conditioning process, preparing U.S. citizens for the loss of liberties that the government has planned for us as it expands into every area of our lives.

The farce of the ‘remove your laptop’ rule was easily proved by New York Times writer Matt Richtel’s in his story, “The mystery of the flying laptop.” As Richtel made inquiries about why laptops must be opened and placed in a separate TSA bin at the airport, the TSA would provide no answers. “I was starting to feel like a Monty Python character, riding a pretend horse, clomping my coconut halves together to simulate the sound of horse hooves. A comical quest for a mythical grail,” Richtel wrote. After months of inquiries, research and discussions with real security experts, Richtel never got an answer.

NYT writer Nick Bilton wrote about the “turn your devices off ” policy during takeoff and landing. “Surely if electronic gadgets could bring down an airplane, you can be sure that the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration, which has a consuming fear of 3.5 ounces of hand lotion and gel shoe inserts, wouldn’t allow passengers to board a plane with an iPad or Kindle, for fear that they would be used by terrorists,” Bilton wrote.

Bilton’s research found that the CTIA, the wireless industry association, said a study that it conducted more than a decade ago found no interference from mobile devices. The radio frequencies that are assigned for aviation use are separate from commercial use, the CTIA found. And, wiring and instruments for aircraft are shielded to protect them from interference from commercial wireless devices.

Another farce.

Yesterday, the headline read: “TSA Let 25 Illegal Aliens Attend Flight School Owned by Illegal Alien.”

I’m all for the push to disband the TSA. “Americans have spent nearly $60 billion, and they are no safer today than they were before 9/11,” Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) announced when releasing a Joint-Staff Majority report on the agency.

(Raw Justice has the Top 10 TSA horror stories – and the photo above is theirs)

By Katy Grimes

Retribution in politics isn’t unusual. Every year we witness members of the Legislature receiving punishment from party leadership, often followed by banishment to a tiny office and committee assignments taken away.

That’s the prerogative of party leadership.

However, Assemblywoman Norma Torres, D-Chino, has taken aim at a fellow member of the Assembly in a very public way. Torres authored AB 2182, which would require a police officer to arrest anyone for carrying a concealed handgun into an airport without a concealed weapons permit.

In the Assembly Monday, Torres said that last year there were 64 such gun incidents at airports, but only 34 of the offenders were taken to the police station; the other 30 were cited and released.

“African Americans and professional athletes are treated differently than business men and members of the Assembly,” Torres said.

As soon as Torres said this, the Assembly chambers ignited with chatter, laughs and stares at one member of the Assembly.

In Torres’ sights is Republican Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, from Hesperia. In January, Donnelly was stopped by the TSA in the Ontario airport for having a loaded pistol in his carry-on luggage. Donnelly told authorities that he forgot that the weapon was in his briefcase. He was charged by police with a misdemeanor.

Torres tried to claim on Monday that this bill was not aimed at Donnelly, and that actually she and her staff have been working on this since last fall. However, the bill was introduced in February, on the last day to introduce legislation, and after Donnelly had his dust-up.

Legislative target

When the bill was first introduced, Torres had language written in that even tried to ban the perpetrator from using the same airport in which a gun incident takes place. But that language was amended out of the bill in April. If there is any doubt of Torres’ intentions, the now-removed amended language should make it clear: “The bill would ban a person who is subsequently found guilty from entering the airport, and would make it a misdemeanor to enter the airport where the offense occurred.”

“This bill is an insult to this institution, and to the citizens of California,” Assemblyman Brian Jones, R-Santee, retorted. “It’s an insult to everybody.”

AB 2182 “is a direct attack on a member of this Legislature,” Jones said. “This is just an opportunity to bloviate, and get more recognition for ourselves,” Jones added. “None of us are perfect.”

Assemblyman Don Wagner, R-Irvine, challenged Torres and asked her to specify the intent of her bill, asking, “Crime or negligence?”

Torres seemed flustered and instead read from the notes she had with her, explaining how the law currently defines a lawful, responsible gun owner. “This bill is about irresponsible gun owners,” Torres said.

Jones asked for Torres to answer the question, and Wagner accused her of filibustering.  “This bill is an embarrassment,” Wagner said.

And then, Assembly Majority Leader Charles Calderon, D-Whittier, called out a point of order, asking Wagner to allow Torres to answer the question.

This was a moment of hilarity as it was evident to everyone in the room except Calderon that Torres did not want to answer the question, but now was faced with coming up with an answer.

Torres read again from her notes, but Wagner wasn’t satisfied. “We all know what this is about,” he said.

Torres told the Assembly that the comments about her bill were insulting, and at this time claimed that she had been working on it since the fall.

The Donnelly incident

Donnelly was charged with carrying a loaded firearm in public without a concealed weapons permit and possessing a gun in an airport, misdemeanors, and punishable by up to 18 months in jail and $2,000 in fines.

Donnelly later said that the incident was an “unfortunate mistake,” and that he had forgotten that he had the gun in his briefcase after placing it there while working in his home garage.

Donnelly was sentenced to three years on probation and a $2,215 fine.

Bill analysis

The bill analysis done by the Public Safety Committee pointed out that, with all misdemeanors, offenders are cited and released unless already guilty of other charges, or “a likelihood the offense would continue, or safety of persona or property is endangered.”

But the other question raised by the committee staff was if there was a reason to treat this misdemeanor differently than most misdemeanors: “Is there a demonstrable need to delete law enforcement’s discretion to cite and release in the case of carrying a concealed weapon within an airport?”

“This is all a big waste of time,” said Jones after the hearing. “It’s an abuse of power, and a waste of time by the Legislative counsel, Assembly staff, and the time of three different committees.”

“What an embarrassment by the Legislature,” Jones said, “like a junior high cat fight.”

The centralized tyranny in the United States has gone too far. It now is assaulting Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.

After the TSA’s microwave “scanners” broke down, Paul was ordered — like a concentration camp inmate — to undergo a full body pat-down. He refused. The last word is that the TSA is detaining him.

Sen. Paul obviously is the son of Rep. Ron Paul, who is running for president. Ron finished second in the New Hampshire Primary.

Ron also has sponsored the American Traveler Dignity Act, which would stop the TSA/KGB from molesting us.

So this obviously was retaliation for the father’s attempt to lessen the police-state total control usurped by the TSA.

I recently flew from Orange County to Sacramento and back again. I refused to walk through the new imaging machine. I don’t want to be microwaved like a TV dinner.

So both times they forced me to submit to a pat-down. Total humiliation. I’ve never been arrested, so that never happened to me before.

Basically, now government does anything it wants, all the time, to anyone.

The excuse is to “keep us safe.” But that’s the lying excuse police states everywhere use to terrorize their own people.

Officially, America now is a tyranny.

Jan. 23, 2012

UPDATE 10 am: ABC News is reporting that the TSA eventually released Sen. Rand Paul from its gulag

But it’s worth remembering that Sen. Paul could have been “disappeared” under the new the National Defense Authorization Act. The NDAA was opposed by Sen. Paul, but overwhelmingly passed by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress. It was signed into law by President Obama on Dec. 31, 2011.

Under the NDAA, the federal government can arrest anyone without a warrant, imprison or execute him without a trial, and tell no one about it.

The NDAA is the reign of absolute tyranny in America.

Welcome to the American Gulag.

Writing here yesterday, I insisted that, in his State of the Union Address, President Obama must order the end of the TSA molestations of air travelers, especially of grandmothers and young girls.

Instead, he joked about it! Watch this short YouTube:

Did you notice California’s Rep. Nancy Pelosi, formerly the House Speaker, laughing! So was Vice President Joe Biden. Of course, as members of the Ruling Elite, they either take government planes or, when out office, private planes. So they don’t have to face being molested by the TSA Gestapo, nor watch the molestation of their children or grandparents. They’re insulated from what’s really happening in this once-free country. Both of them are Democrats.

But notice that new House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican, didn’t laugh. He must have read the speech beforehand and knew that if he laughed, he would outrage the voters who think Republicans will change things. They won’t. Otherwise, their first act in office would have been to pass a bill abolishing the molesting TSA Gestapo. They didn’t.

Obama’s context was high-speed rail, including the boondoggle here in California that won’t be built — despite what he said — because of the state and federal budget deficits.

His joke was that, by building it, passengers could avoid the TSA airport “pat-downs.” He lied. In fact, the TSA already has expanding its groping authority to America’s railroads. It boasts on its own Web site:

The mission of TSA’s Rail Passenger Security group is to protect the nation’s railroad passengers, employees, and properties.

TSA Gauleiter John Pistole said in an interview with USA Today:

“Given the list of threats on subways and rails over the last six years going on seven years, we know that some terrorist groups see rail and subways as being more vulnerable because there’s not the type of screening that you find in aviation,” he said. “From my perspective, that is an equally important threat area”….

Pistole said he wants TSA workers, including 47,000 screeners at 450 airports, to operate as a “national-security, counterterrorism organization, fully integrated into U.S. government efforts.”

“I want to take TSA to the next level,” Pistole said.

And that next level is higher tyranny.

Only we Americans can stop this bipartisan assault on our freedom to travel unmolested by government goons. We need a left-right coalition to abolish the TSA, the Germanic-named Homeland — Heimat in German — Security Department, the molestations, the pat-downs, the scanners that show people naked and keep recordings of the pictures, and all the rest.

We need to take them to court, as Gov. Jesse Ventura has done. We need to stop flying to put financial pressure on the airlines to get them to lobby the government to return airline security to completely private forces.

And we need to relentlessly ridicule Obama, Pistole, ex-Prez Bush, Boehner, Pelosi and the other bipartisan goons who keep us in chains. If the regime jokes about tyranny at our expense, then we can joke back. Here’s one:

Q. Was the TSA created by scientists or politicians?

A. Politicians. Scientists would have first tested it on monkeys.

Another one:

President Obama mentioned NASA in his State of the Union address. After the address, he called up NASA’s Space Center in Houston and said, “By the end of 2011, I order you to land men and women on the moon, Mars, Venus and the sun.”

NASA responded, “But, Mr. President, if we land on the sun, we’ll burn up.”

Obama shouted back, “Do you think we’re stupid here in the White House? Land during the night!”

Jan. 26, 2011

There’s one thing I want to hear from President Obama tonight in his State of the Union Address: That he is ending the molestation of airline passengers by the perverts at the Transportation Security Administration. Under edicts imposed by Republican President Bush, but fully enforced under Democratic President Obama, fliers — even old ladies and young girls — are routinely grabbed, poked, felt up and otherwise molested by TSA goons.

These Gestapo tactics must stop for America to be free again. Obama needs to stop it. If he doesn’t, he’ll go down in history as one of the world’s worst tyrants.

Things are so outrageous that former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura is suing the TSA for forcing him to undergo a Nazi search:

Former Governor Jesse Ventura has taken steps to sue the TSA and the Department of Homeland Security, naming their chiefs John Pistole and ‘Big Sis’ Janet Napolitano in a lawsuit that will take oninvasive airport pat-downs[READ LAWSUIT]. Ventura first told Alex Jones of his intent to sue the TSA privately back in September while traveling for the making of TruTV’s “Conspiracy Theory,” expressing grave concern about what he viewed as his country’s transformation into East Germany.

Jones recalls Ventura’s outrage at the TSA’s harassing old people in wheelchairs with the invasive new pat-down procedures. The former governor himself is routinely sent to secondary screening due to a hip replacement in 2008, and Jones witnessed him undergo repeated humiliating searches during pat-downs at the hands of TSA. Worse, at airports across the country, even those presenting medical cards describing special needs or equipment from a doctor are routinely ignored as TSA agents demand that medical patients remove urostomy bags, prosthetic breasts or that TSA be allowed to grope a pacemaker patients’ breasts.

“That’s why I want to leave the United States,” Ventura had told Jones at the time. “This is why I go down to Mexico– this is wrong.” Ventura indicated that he was most concerned about the destruction of the 4th Amendment and passing of the America he once knew.

Ventura filed his lawsuit Monday, January 24, 2011 in Minnesota and news reports have namedDavid Olsen as his lawyer. The former governor has indicated that his suit will include violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the 4th Amendment, arguing that he and others with disabilities have been discriminated against and unduly singled out by TSA despite presenting no threat and warranting no reason for lawful search. Further, Ventura has argued that his ability to travel freely has been infringed, hampering his ability to work.

Jan. 25, 2011

The TSA Gestapo must have it in for Californians. I blogged earlier on how it assaulted and arrested a California woman who was a rape victim.

Now, TSA goons have assaulted a California pilot for taking pictures showing what a joke security is at Sacramento airport:

The 50-year-old pilot, who lives outside Sacramento, asked that neither he nor his airline be identified. He has worked for the airline for more than a decade and was deputized by the TSA to carry a gun in the cockpit.

He is also a helicopter test pilot in the Army Reserve and flew missions for the United Nations in Macedonia.

Three days after he posted a series of six video clips recorded with a cell phone camera at San Francisco International Airport, four federal air marshals and two sheriff’s deputies arrived at his house to confiscate his federally-issued firearm. The pilot recorded that event as well and provided all the video to News10.

At the same time as the federal marshals took the pilot’s gun, a deputy sheriff asked him to surrender his state-issued permit to carry a concealed weapon.

So the local sheriffs, to their shame, are working with the TSA thugs to suppress the truth. Aren’t local sheriffs supposed to protect us against such assaults?

Here’s what the videos show:

The YouTube videos, posted Nov. 28, show what the pilot calls the irony of flight crews being forced to go through TSA screening while ground crew who service the aircraft are able to access secure areas simply by swiping a card.

“As you can see, airport security is kind of a farce. It’s only smoke and mirrors so you people believe there is actually something going on here,” the pilot narrates.

Video shot in the cockpit shows a medieval-looking rescue ax available on the flight deck after the pilots have gone through the metal detectors. “I would say a two-foot crash ax looks a lot more formidable than a box cutter,” the pilot remarked.

And that’s what the TSA bullies really hate: Being shown that they’re incompetents at protecting us, but good only at harassing decent, honest, law-abiding citizens.

California airports should expel the TSA and hire private guards. And the California Legislature should pass a law banning the TSA from the state.

The TSA gangsters clearly are targeting Californians. It’s time to reclaim our liberties.

Here’s the a TV news report that includes some of the pilot’s footage:

Dec. 23, 2010

Government is obsessively determined to make the Christmas holiday absolutely miserable for Americans. The latest: The TSA arrested a California rape victim who refused to be molested by TSA gropers, as she was trying to fly from Austin, Texas to California.

Here’s a video of the woman. Amazingly, at the end some Americans defend the TSA’s Nazi assault, much as “Good Germans” defended the Gestapo back in the 1930s and 1940s.

I hate to bring this up just before Christmas, but this is what’s going on in totalitarian America right now. We need to fight it RIGHT NOW!

Dec. 23, 2010

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

San Diego is the most pleasant large city in the world. I relax every time I go there. Nice folks, great atmosphere and of course incomparable weather.

That’s all ruined now with the TSA molester goons descending on the city as they have everywhere across America:

When a San Diego man opted out of security screening using the Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) at Lindbergh Field Friday, he stripped down to his underwear in an attempt to avoid the pat-down procedures.

While Tyner videotaped his refusal to be patted down, telling the agent “If you touch my junk, I’ll have you arrested,” Wolanyk decided to give TSA a look at his body down to his Calvin Klein’s.

Through a statement released by his attorney Sunday night, Wolanyk said “TSA needs to see that I’m not carrying any weapons, explosives, or other prohibited substances, I refuse to have images of my naked body viewed by perfect strangers, and having been felt up for the first time by TSA the week prior (I travel frequently) I was not willing to be molested again.”

Wolanyk’s attorney said that TSA requested his client put his clothes on so he could be patted down properly but his client refused to put his clothes back on. He never refused a pat down, according to his attorney.

Wolanyk was arrested for refusing to complete the security process. A woman, identified by Harbor police as Danielle Kelli Hayman,39, of San Diego was detained for recording the incident on a phone.

I’m a veteran. I joined the U.S. Army 33 years ago this month to prevent the Soviets from taking over America. But now here in America we have innocent, law-abiding citizens being treated like inmates in a Soviet gulag.

This has to stop. Abolish the TSA. Restore freedom to America!

Nov. 22, 2010