Backlash against TSA still rising; more passengers sharing their horror stories

If John Pistole and his subordinates at the Illusion of Security Administration thought these last few days were a tough week, they haven't seen anything yet. The scope and intensity of the backlash against its invasive new screening procedures is certain to increase as Thanksgiving travel week gets underway.

Millions of Americans will join the ranks of those who have been unfortunate enough to experience the TSA's virtual strip searches and intrusive pat-downs.

In Portugal, President Obama was asked by MSNBC's Chuck Todd at an afternoon press conference today if he would "care to comment on the dustup over TSA pat-downs". (The press conference took place at 8:47 AM Pacific Time).

The President began by saying:

With respect to the TSA, let me, first of all, make a confession. I don't go through security checks to get on planes these days, so I haven’t personally experienced some of the procedures that have been put in place by TSA.

We'll give credit where credit is due. The President gets an accolade for admitting he hasn't had the misfortune of being robbed of his dignity by the TSA.

I will also say that in the aftermath of the Christmas Day bombing, our TSA personnel are, properly, under enormous pressure to make sure that you don't have somebody slipping on a plane with some sort of explosive device on their persons. And since the explosive device that was on Mr. Abdulmutallab was not detected by ordinary metal detectors, it has meant that TSA has had to try to adapt to make sure that passengers on planes are safe.

Actually, plans to put these machines in place had been in the works long before the incident that occurred last December 25th, and what's more, the TSA has not refuted experts who say its procedures and machines would have have failed to detect Abdulmutallab's improvised explosive device.

Now, that's a tough situation. One of the most frustrating aspects of this fight against terrorism is that it has created a whole security apparatus around us that causes huge inconvenience for all of us. And I understand people’s frustrations. And what I’ve said to the TSA is that you have to constantly refine and measure whether what we’re doing is the only way to assure the American people’s safety. And you also have to think through are there ways of doing it that are less intrusive.

It's more than an inconvenience, Mr. President. It's a serious erosion of the civil liberties that are guaranteed to us by the U.S. Constitution.

But at this point, TSA, in consultation with our counterterrorism experts, have indicated to me that the procedures that they’ve been putting in place are the only ones right now that they consider to be effective against the kind of threat that we saw in the Christmas Day bombing.

Maybe you should stop listening to the TSA and ask the folks who are responsible for security at Israeli airports why they consider porno scanners to be ineffective.

But I’m going to — every week I meet with my counterterrorism team and I’m constantly asking them whether — is what we’re doing absolutely necessary? Have we thought it through? Are there other ways of accomplishing it that meet the same objectives?

Sorry, Mr. President. You may be sincere in your desire to protect our country — and we commend your intentions — but you need to develop a stronger skeptical reflex. Don't accept what your subordinates tell you to be the divine truth. Consider other perspectives. Read EPIC's letter for yourself (PDF).

And reach out to some of the people who have had to go through hell.

People like Tom Sawyer:

A retired special education teacher on his way to a wedding in Orlando, Fla., said he was left humiliated, crying and covered with his own urine after an enhanced pat-down by TSA officers recently at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

“I was absolutely humiliated, I couldn’t even speak,” said Thomas D. “Tom” Sawyer, 61, of Lansing, Mich.

Sawyer is a bladder cancer survivor who now wears a urostomy bag, which collects his urine from a stoma, or opening in his stomach. “I have to wear special clothes and in order to mount the bag I have to seal a wafer to my stomach and then attach the bag. If the seal is broken, urine can leak all over my body and clothes.”

On Nov. 7, Sawyer said he went through the security scanner at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. “Evidently the scanner picked up on my urostomy bag, because I was chosen for a pat-down procedure.”

Due to his medical condition, Sawyer asked to be screened in private. “One officer looked at another, rolled his eyes and said that they really didn’t have any place to take me,” said Sawyer. “After I said again that I’d like privacy, they took me to an office.”

And it all went downhill from there.

That's just one of many other horror stories.

What's ridiculous about all of this is that nobody — not pilots, flight attendants, passengers, or even the TSA's even own officers — is comfortable with the new procedures. So why are we tolerating this insanity?

Because John Pistole and Janet Napolitano say we must?

We need to start standing up for ourselves and our rights. If we accept what we're told, like President Obama, then we are letting ourselves be led down the dangerous road that leads to the destruction of democracy.

Fortunately, there are some courageous folks out there doing all they can to educate the flying public. Editorial cartoonists have piled on, producing some scathing, brilliantly-drawn critiques of the TSA. And one blogger used his Playmobil airport security set to poke fun at the absurdly invasive procedures.

We add our voices to those of the many other true patriots protesting the TSA's immoral assault on our liberties. We refuse to meekly submit and be told what's good for us. We urge readers who have to travel this week to travel prepared and be unafraid to politely express contempt for these invasive new procedures.