Terrapin Tables

the only response I can come up with:
"ugh"

There aren't many goverment entities I hate as much as the TSA. It's a step in the direction of turning our country into a police state. I understand the tradeoff of personal freedom for public safety, but I think the TSA oversteps the boundaries.

They made me hate them even more over Christmas when Irma, Alex, and me all flew to Pittsburgh. First, we were 5 minutes late from the recommended time that you're supposed to get to the airport. Had we been flying without luggage to check in, it wouldn't have been a problem. But, since we had luggage to check, and the TSA had to inspect it, there wasn't enough time, so we missed our flight, and ended up waiting around the airport all day.

Then, when we finally get to Pittsburgh, all of the presents that we had stayed up wrapping the night before were now unwrapped. All of them. And not just unwrapped, but the little plastic bags that most toys are in inside of the boxes had been removed. That damned inspector had his hands on every single item in our bag. Yeah, I heard afterwards that they ask you not to wrap presents, but don't they have X-Ray machines? I can see one or two presents maybe looking suspicious on the X-Ray, but all of them? Fuckers.

Plus, they're pretty worthless at keeping out what they're supposed to. I don't know how many times I've taken a pocket knife on board a plane with me since 9/11, and I'm not even a terrorist trying to think of creative ways to hide contraband. And what about that kid from Maryland who snuck on a bunch of illegal items?

I wish that Congress would just get rid of the TSA, save us some money, and let us go back to living in a free country.

See, these restrictions work under the assumption that air travelers are trying to kill themselves. That Reid guy is, what, the only attempted suicide flyer in history? (apart from possibly the WTC pilots, since no plane hit the Pentagon). I'm really shocked that people allow themselves to believe that this nonsense makes them safer, instead of just inconvenienced. You know BIC lobbied for this.

Rick, why are you on the watch list? That's a JV Threat Matrix - step it up, drunky.

Yeah, the TSA has let me get on planes with pocket knives lots of times since 9/11. It wasn't until I started getting this wonderful special treatment that they told me I couldn't take it aboard. They also said I couldn't mail it to myself - only checking the knife in as a piece of luggage would do, and that cost $60, so I let them take it.

I have no idea why I'm on that stupid list. My dad is also on (same first name). I don't care about the extra security measures (we have our own lines, although they're not necessarily quicker), but I can no longer do the kiosk check-in without an agent verifying everything over the phone, which takes too long. The irony is I just got an upgraded membership with United (thanks to my work trips), so I'm supposed be to able to check in at home, or use any lines normally reserved for first class to speed things up. But instead, I now have to show up like 2 hours before my flight. Boo.

I saw get rid of all security. If some raghead decides to blow it up - so be it. Hopefully they do it on my flight to Tampa so I don't have to go through the hassle of getting my failing scores for my P.E. exam.

I love it when Chad posts. His unchecked rage and borderline racism makes my conspiracy-theorist paranoia look that much more reasonable by comparison: I doff my hat to thee, queer.

Borderline???

The whole thing is fucking stupid. In the Crapital today there was a graphic with the article about this. Something like :

Collected Items Banned by TSA (in 2004)
1) Knives 160,000
2) Box Cutters 2,000
3) Guns 70
4) Ammunition 1,000

Tell me how the fuck lighters compare to guns and ammunition. I am all for safety and I'll even wait in a little longer line to secure it, but these people are taking crazy pills.

Did I ever tell you my Capital story? When I was editor of the AACC newspaper I was told to model the layout and content after the Capital, the local "real" newspaper. I was really bothered by this, so I redesigned the whole damn thing - I got rid of those big blocks of pastel colors, gave the paper a tight streamlined layout, etc. Of course the Admins were pissed at me, so in a meeting I railed off a couple points as to why the Crapital barely qualifies as a fishwrapper. Apparently, there was a Capitol editor there: maybe he was on some advisory board, maybe he was scouting me for work, I don't know, I don't care. Apparently, though, he was really pissed to hear a student blast the paper and refuse its influence. Hopefully I caused a rift yet to be repaired.

The Capitol, when you consider the scope of its readership and its own purported relevance, is an embarrassment to journalism.

to all of you tsa haters out there,
All I have to say is be thankful that we are out there to keep you safe . It will NEVER go back to the way it was before 9-11. Everything that is taken away is for a reason. Next time that you fly remember... treat others the way that you'd want your mother to be treated. Think of your children getting on that plane . Wouldn't you want them to be safe? If you can keep this in mind, then maybe you can better appreciate as to why we are here, and thats for YOU!!