Pixiq

After you posted the TSA PA number earlier in the article about Hartford, Conn. I plugged it into my phone; it's appalling that we the public should know their policies better than they do. I can't wait to see what happens during the Thanksgiving flying season this week.

What is the need for the bullyish attitude on the part of this guy?

CARLOS AND FRIENDS; This set of issues with TSA, is the erruption of the major concern I have had for years about security guards, agency middle-management corruption, and general lack of training,paying a livable wage, and proper armament. The bluster days of stupid alarm systems, costly machines, and cumbersome protocols -is a money-making "guard puppy-mill"; guards are not providing a real security service for the client's dollar! The TSA is a burlesque of moniker shuffling that was compiled in the days after 9-11, when Homeland Security tried to consolidate organized manpower---a total failure of further outsourcing. The TSA airport security debacle is just more inability-just like the 50 State MIAMI METRO-RAIL CONTRACT- on the part of government to fool the public that infrastructure services are up to par for our society. Trouble is-it's a damnable lie--and the protesting of "OPTING OUT" will make it abundantly apparent how really pissed-off the public is tomorrow! The outsourcing people at the airlines are giving two choices the public does not like-and the public will economically hurt air travel if this insensitive policy is not modified in favor of more effective and less invasive procedures. Whatever happened to well-trained, well paid guards with big guns----might be more effective then a booby-squeeze, a radiation zapping, or an intolerant TSA MIND-ZOMBIE yelling at you!Clearly-the public is demanding change-and it all revolves around a security industry and clients "THAT STILL DON'T GET IT"!!!!!!!!!!

The "security" theater ignores the very real risk that a suicidal attacker could wreak horrendous damage right at one of these check-points.

The big "SCANZILLA MACHINES" are a white elephant that will never be effective tools in preventing determined terrorists from storming a terminal, killing indiscriminately, taking hostages, and blowing the airport to hell-and-gone. I do not see near enough plain clothes agent profilers there, or machine gun guards at holidays (EURO-COUNTRY AIRPORTS HAVE SERIOUS LOOKING GUARDS WITH FIREPOWER AT THIS SEASON!)-and I want to know why airlines think pissing-off their flying public is any answer to security or happy public relations??! Hell-why not use that technology for free mammograms for poor people, and let real guards with guns provide a deterrent?Pssssssst-it is the saving of money-----you can fire guards, but the machines that scan are not even good scrap for reprocessing into tuna-fish cans----radioactive garbage,you know! Again-bad solutions by the guard industry for pressing problems-a serious "REALITY CHECK IN PROTOCOL" is needed!!!!!

The trouble with that armed-guard notion is that you have to hire people who are intelligent, brave and trainable, and they cost more than the current crop of TSA doofuses. You'd need an extra-large cadre of guards, so they could be constantly rotated out for training. (The real expert shooters use a lot of range time.)

And since the government is trying in another arena to push the notion that guns are bad, scary implements that cause trouble just by their very existence, they'd have trouble spinning the right story.

I heard a theory this afternoon that the tree-huggers may have a vested interest in making it so burdensome and unpleasant to fly that people will quit, in large numbers. Thus "decreasing our carbon footprint," whatever the eff that means.

Gotta disagree with you on radioactive waste from these scanners, though. They do not use ionizing radiation from fissionable materials, just plain old x-rays, your basic Crookes tube type of source. All the fancy stuff is done by taking the data from a silicon detector, digitizing it and processing that data to produce the image.