What Does It Say That I Could Post a TSA Outrage Every Day?
By Mary Theroux • Tuesday June 26, 2012 4:01 PM PDT • 13 Comments
If there weren’t any other issues to follow, I could find something egregious about TSA to post on virtually every day.
Today’s outrage: a female TSA agent laughing after she spilled a man’s grandfather’s ashes on the floor of the airport.
The TSA’s own website says human remains are to be opened under, “no circumstances,” but must pass through the X-ray machine at the security checkpoint. Yet when John Gross tried to take his grandfather’s sealed and properly labeled remains through a checkpoint at Orlando’s airport yesterday,the TSA agent opened the sealed jar and started poking through it with her finger, and then she spilled it.
Gross says about a quarter to a third of the contents spilled on the floor, leaving him frantically trying to gather up as much as he could while anxious passengers waited behind him.
“She didn’t apologize. She started laughing. I was on my hands and knees picking up bone fragments. I couldn’t pick up all, everything that was lost.”
All of these anecdotes add up to one conclusion, a systematic and cultural disdain for the dignity and sanctity of individuals. What image comes to mind when you think of a uniformed agent laughing at such an outrage? Does it wear a swastika? Is this the country we wish to live in? If not, do we withdraw from the spheres such thugs hold, conceding the ground to them, as per those who advocate “Stop flying”—or do we withdraw our consent from their governance?
Tags: Civil Liberties, Civil Society, Fascism, Law, Liberty, Natural Law, Peace, Personal Liberty, Terrorism, The State, Transportation 
“... or do we withdraw our consent from their governance...”
What does that mean? The TSA was not formed with the consent of the people; it was created by administrative fiat. The people had no say in the TSA’s mission, rules, proscriptions, and procedures. We didn’t elect the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. In 2008, the people voted-in a Democratic Party President and Congress, but the TSA worsened more rapidly (nudie scans and public groping) despite that change (which was no surprise to me).
I am among those who protest the TSA by refusing to fly. The airlines have the power, money, and lobbyists to sway the government; I don’t. Boycotting the airlines is more likely to be effective than complaining about the TSA to my Representative and Senator. It would be nice if the DHS could be dismantled by a referendum, but our Constitution does not provide such a remedy.
MingoV | Jun 26, 2012 | Reply
Drive a road vehicle if practical.
richard | Jun 27, 2012 | Reply
If Americans boycotted flying for a week, it would change.
In answer to the question posed in the title: we are sheep, we are submissive, we have failed ethically.
david | Jun 27, 2012 | Reply
The only time I will EVER fly again as long as this Nazi brown-shirted division of this Nazi-bent government is still around is when I leave this country PERMANENTLY!!!
Deborah Delp | Jun 27, 2012 | Reply
and concede the ground to them, Richard?
bob ross | Jun 27, 2012 | Reply
There is no good reason Americans should tolerate this! This all began because the immigration department did not do its job! No American executed any crime associated with flying? Their logo and attitude smacks of Nazism.
I would drive, walk, ride a bike, or even ride a horse. Don’t fly. What price dignity?
Edwin Becker | Jun 27, 2012 | Reply
This govt. entity is off the chain. They need to be dissolved!
JDM | Jun 27, 2012 | Reply
Why are you surprised. TSA gets most of its employees from the local/state unemployment offices and basically trains them on the job. They probably had not gotton to the “preserve all created materials and effects” section with her training yet. You can’t expect much from TSA.
John Tieso | Jun 27, 2012 | Reply
I totally agree. Until people stop flying and the airlines are hurting nothing will change. If I can’t drive there I don’t go there!
George Jenks | Jun 27, 2012 | Reply
If you like the TSA, you’re going to love Obamacare!
John Kindel | Jun 27, 2012 | Reply
I live in California, and am going to Indiana in July for my niece’s wedding.
I’m taking a train.
Not that I don’t like to fly, because the 2 times I’ve flown (once in a single-engine Cessna & once in a medivac chopper), the actual flying part was fun. The second ride, paying attention to the flight allowed me to forget, for a minute, that my girlfriend had just died in the fire that left me a bit crispy. . .
I’m taking a train because of the TSA.
I’ve never allowed anyone to lay their hands on me without consequence, and some drooling TSA goon is not going to get a pass on that – any part of them which touched me would get broken. So, for their safety, I’m taking a train.
Someday, if I have to go somewhere a bit less important than family, I might get an airline ticket – just to expose, in a very blatant and public manner, just what a malicious, undereducated pervert the average TSA agent is.
It shouldn’t be hard – I’ll just take my Sacramental equipment with me. I just hope they understand when they’re told, “Those items are Consecrated to my God. Should any uninitiated touch them, it requires copious amounts of their blood for reconsecration.”
James | Jun 28, 2012 | Reply
Can I contribute to your fund? It must be tough to be as poor as you and not be able to leave the country. Where are you going? Not Europe–they all have more social-friendly policies. Not much of South America, the same holds true. Perhaps Africa? By boat, I assume.
In any case, good luck and bon voyage (that means safe journey–in French–gasp). I commend you on doing one of the few things in your life that will positively affect this country–leave.
David Jones | Jun 28, 2012 | Reply
David Jones, I assume you were speaking to Deborah.
Maybe she will come to Australia where I have lived since 1974, an American born in Florida. Maybe you could further improve the United States by making sure I never return. Perhaps a donation? Heh.
It could seem quixotic but I am an Oathkeeper, ex-army and still respect the oath I swore for America — which seems to have vanished in recent years.
Novista | Jul 4, 2012 | Reply