TSA Procedures Will Kill More Americans

We lost 3,000 people on 9/11.  A terrible one day toll.

How many will we lose between now and New Year's because people decided to drive over the holidays instead of submitting themselves to intrusive and objectionable TSA procedures?

As the nation readies for one of the busiest traveling holidays, Steven Horwitz, a professor of economics at St. Lawrence University, told The Hill that the probable spike in road travel, caused by adverse feelings towards the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) new screening procedures, could also lead to more car-related deaths.

“Driving is much more dangerous than flying, as you are far more likely to be killed in an automobile accident mile-for-mile than you are in an airplane,” said Horwitz. “The result will be that the new TSA procedures will kill more Americans on the highway.”

But according to the government, that's okay as long as the TSA gets to strip search little boys. Gateway Pundit has that story plus a whole collection of links of other abuses.

And there's another story from San Diego, the city that made "don't touch my junk" famous.  This guy was clearly baiting the TSA, but he also made a good point:

In what can only be described as TSA handlers gone wild, the San Diego Harbor Police arrested an area resident for refusal to complete the screening/security process yesterday. This is the same airport that created the TSA security catch phrase “don’t touch my junk.” John Kliner of San Diego started the airport screening firestorm last week as Americans head into the busiest travel week of the year in the United States.

This time the defendant, Sam Wolanyk says he was asked to pass through the 3-D x-ray machine. When Wolanyk refused, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) personnel told him he would have to be patted down before he could pass through and board his airplane.

Wolanyk said he knew what was coming and took off his pants and shirt, leaving him in Calvin Klein bike undergarments.

“It was obvious that my underwear left nothing to the imagination,” he explained. “But that wasn’t enough for the TSA supervisor who was called to the scene and asked me to put my clothes on so I could be properly patted down.”

It was clear to Wolanyk that TSA only wanted him to submit to a pat-down and if they were interested in ensuring the safety of all passengers they would have rifled through his clothes, carryon baggage and acknowledged that he was not carrying any illegal paraphernalia on his person.

Once Harbor Police arrested Wolanyk, he was handcuffed and paraded through two separate airport terminals in his underwear to the Harbor Police office located inside a different terminal at the airport than Wolanyk had originally gone through during his TSA security process.

The incident was confirmed by Harbor Police Sergeant Rakos who said Wolanyk was arrested on two misdemeanors, “failing to complete the security process; violation code 7.01 and illegally recording the San Diego Airport Authority (they confiscated his iPhone); violation number 714 (2).”

This shows the lack of creativity on the part of TSA examiners. Clearly there's no reason to pat this guy down if he's standing there in his underwear, but their little robot brains just won't let them deviate from the script.

Secondly, laws prohibiting the filming of law enforcement actions have been successfully challenged all over the country and a good First Amendment lawyer could get this one in San Diego overturned as well. The only reason to ban citizens from filming public servants in the process of doing their jobs is to hide abuses, and that won't fly (pardon the pun) from a constitutional basis.