People sure are worked up about Joe Paterno. I guess child molestation is only cool if the government is doing it.A friend who is a prosecutor in Texas responded...
BB: What is that supposed to mean?
CM: With all respect, there's nothing I can say that won't offend your politics.
BB: Well, regardless of if you know I'll be offended or not, I'm curious as to what you meant.
CM: It's unclear to me why a child at football camp should be more protected from inappropriate touching than should a child at the airport.
If you believe in the security apparatus, this discussion won't make sense. I happen to not.
BB: Putting aside whether or not you are in favor of security at the airport, wouldn't you agree with me that an airport pat down (even if you find it inappropriate) is distinguishable from anal rape?
I guess my question for you (and you don't have to answer it if you find it stupid, but I am asking it because I am genuinely curious): Are you opposed to having airport security? What is the alternative? Which makes me think about some of the conversations we've had about cops. What is your proposed alternative to a police force?
CM: A small, transparent, and accountable police force is desirable. That is not even close to what we have today, largely thanks to the horrific war on drugs and the farcical war on terror.
As to the particulars of the Sandusky case: I do not feel that systematic fondling by authorities at the airport is any less bad, simply because it falls short of anal rape. In several respects it's worse, given its scale, its state-sponsored nature, and its corrosive effect on what Americans consider their liberty.
BB: I didn't write you back all weekend because I don't want to fight. But I do want to say that I think it's absurd to compare airport security to what happened at Penn State. I feel pretty confident in that opinion given that I work on a daily basis with children who've experienced things like what happened there.
And you still didn't answer one of my questions: Are you in favor of airport security at all?
CM: Private security at airports is far better than a bloated and corrupt government operation.
The idea that private screeners failed us on 9/11 is simply false. For decades they kept bombs and guns off planes, and then these guys walked past them with items that were explicitly *allowed*. This is a failure of policy, not execution.
I think the point of what I originally wrote has been lost. It is not to say that TSA and Penn State are on a par. It is to say that if people are so concerned about the inviolability of their children, they should absolutely be vocal against a system that inculcates an acceptance of molestation by authority.
If a screener gropes the inside of a child's thighs, I believe that is molestation. If a stranger touches your kid at all without your consent (and the kid's), I believe that is molestation. If you want to parse which authorities can fondle your kids and which can't, I would hope you could explain to the kid a good reason for which is which.
The government's reason is a lie and a joke.
3 comments:
Charlie,
Good observations. A couple of comments and also a suggested reference for your friend and yourself.
1) Your friend said "Putting aside whether or not you are in favor of security at the airport, wouldn't you agree with me that an airport pat down (even if you find it inappropriate) is distinguishable from anal rape?"
ANSWER: I agree, just like Assault and Battery is not homicide. Both are crimes that should not happen.
2) Your friend said:"Are you opposed to having airport security? What is the alternative? "
ANSWER: I am okay with the legal methods used since the early 1970s. The TSA's weak justification for scanners and touching of genitals is to "prevent" suicidal airline passengers on US domestic flights from causing fatalies by setting off working, non-metallic bombs.
Since there have been 0 successful bombings of this type in the last 48 years on US domestic flights, there is no need to violate the 4th amendment by conducting unreasonable strip searches (no matter how convenient for government clerks to look at your naked body) and sexual assault pat downs.
3) If one cannot live with the odds of zero dead in 48 years, I would suggest this is unrealistic. The actual threat is clearly as close to zero as one could find. In fact the 2 known global attempts since the liquid bomb on a Brazilian airliner in 1997 (killed 1, plane landed safely) were miserable failures, despite the bombmakers having 5 and 8 years respectively to plan, design, test, and refine a working non-metallic bomb.
The legal methods worked fine for 8years after 2001 (and even prior, as boxcutters were allowed). With hardening of cockpit doors and new procedures to not cooperate with potential hijackers, we have done reasonable safeguards. Also, the full scanning of US domestic checked baggage has been an upgrade to really fight the #1 threat to aviation which is cargo bombs. Of course, it won't be perfect and never can be.
4) As a prosecutor in TX, was your friend aware the TSA threatened to shut down all flights to Texas and implement a "no fly zone" like in Libya? This was because TX was going to outlaw sexual assault pat downs.
You can read about this and more in our INFORMATION KIT (available under the INFORMATION menu)at http://fttusa.org.
Amendment 4
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Amendment 5
No person shall be ...be deprived of life, LIBERTY, or PROPERTY, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Let us assume that I am a suicide-inclined terrorist. Will I try to sneak my 5 kilos of C4 past the sherlocks of TSA? Not simply 'no'; HELL, NO!
I wire up, buy a ticket, and get on line for my TSA inspection along with several hundred other travelers. When I judge I'm in the middle of the pack... BOOM!
What happens? Several hundred dead pax, along with a dozen or more TSA agents; millions in snazzy scanners blasted; walls and ceilings with a new decor; an entire terminal, maybe the whole airport, shut down until all the fingers and toes can be inventoried.
The best part? TSA has NO plausible response to this that won't make the cost of flying so prohibitively expensive that the airline industry will shut down.
If there were some danger to flying, this would be it, not that someone would sneak onboard with a bomb.
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