Those Who Desire to Give Up Freedom in Order to Gain Security Will Not Have, Nor Do They Deserve, Either One

"The secret societies were planning as far back as 1917 to invent an artificial threat... in order to bring humanity together in a one-world government which they call the New World Order." - William Cooper, "Behold A Pale Horse"

If people are scared of terrorism, financial chaos or global warming, they will be willing to cede their national sovereignty, freedom and liberties for global authority. - CFR Member and Former Secretary of State Richard N. Gardner, April 1974

A common creed among the Green Agenda activists has long been “order out of chaos.” They believe that people from all nations will literally beg for their New World Order if it can promise safety and security at a time when people feel under personal imminent threat. - The Green Agenda

"Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one." - Benjamin Franklin

"It is common observation here that our cause is the cause of all mankind, and we are fighting for their liberty in defending our own." - Benjamin Franklin

"To the American people I bid a fond farewell. Guard your liberties. It is the trust of each generation to pass a free republic to the next. And if I know you right, you will rouse yourself from slumber to ensure exactly that." - Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

"Most people prefer to believe that their leaders are just and fair, even in the face of evidence to the contrary, because once a citizen acknowledges that the government under which he lives is lying and corrupt, the citizen has to choose what he or she will do about it. To take action in the face of corrupt government entails risks of harm to life and loved ones. To choose to do nothing is to surrender one's self-image of standing for principles. Most people do not have the courage to face that choice. Hence, most propaganda is not designed to fool the critical thinker but only to give moral cowards an excuse not to think at all." - Michael Rivero

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke

"No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation." - General Douglas MacArthur

"I know not what course others may take but as for me: give me liberty or give me death." - Patrick Henry

"The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people." - George Washington, in his First Inaugural Address, April 30, 1789

"Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God." -- John Bradshaw

"A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government." - Edward Abbey

"Government is not reason, and it is not eloquence; it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master: never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action." - A popular Americanism of unknown origin, usually attributed to George Washington

"As soon as people drop the reins on government, government will leash the people." - James Bovard

"A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves." - Bertrand de Jouvenal

Our Airports and Us: Rep. Ron Paul Has Introduced the American Traveler Dignity Act

Editor's Note: I was in my doctor's office today when one of the staff was complaining about news reports saying flights may be delayed this holiday weekend because of protesters at airports. He said: "I don't have anything to hide. I don't know why they (the protesters) have their arms up in the air (about the body scanners). They (the TSA) can scan me, they can pat me down. I don't care as long as my flight is safe." This is the mentality of the majority, and why the rulers of this world will succeed in stripping us of our privacy and liberty.

Definition of LIBERTY
1. the quality or state of being free:
a: the power to do as one pleases
b: freedom from physical restraint
c: freedom from arbitrary or despotic control
d: the positive enjoyment of various social, political, or economic rights and privileges
e: the power of choice

Customer records refusal to be pat down by TSA agents (video)

November 19, 2010

The American Spectator - Rep. Ron Paul has introduced the American Traveler Dignity Act, which would strip away some of the TSA’s power over travelers by denying them immunity for any crimes committed in airport security stemming from their new invasive search procedures. Here’s the complete text of the bill, H.R. 6416:

A BILL

To ensure that certain Federal employees cannot hide behind immunity.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. NO IMMUNITY FOR CERTAIN AIRPORT SCREENING METHODS.

No law of the United States shall be construed to confer any immunity for a Federal employee or agency or any individual or entity that receives Federal funds, who subjects an individual to any physical contact (including contact with any clothing the individual is wearing), x-rays, or millimeter waves, or aids in the creation of or views a representation of any part of a individual’s body covered by clothing as a condition for such individual to be in an airport or to fly in an aircraft. The preceding sentence shall apply even if the individual or the individual’s parent, guardian, or any other individual gives consent.

And here’s Paul introducing the bill on the House floor:

Meanwhile, Seth Masket writes a piercing observation of people outraged by the TSA’s new measures:

That said, this is not the great civil rights battle of our time…. What’s going on in the airports is simply a form of government humiliation that has hit the professional class.

There is something to this. The uproar over the TSA’s new assaults on the freedom and dignity of airplane travelers is reminiscent of the constant whining of the professional class, led by Thomas Friedman, that the U.S. is falling behind developing countries because our infrastructure and our airports are in worse condition than theirs. The vast majority of Americans never use those airports or those roads, and would never trade even the tiny amount of money necessary per person in higher taxes for shiny new infrastructure projects. Only the relatively small amount of people who use those airports and roads on a regular basis — i.e., people like Friedman — care about how gleaming they are. The same is true for the TSA complaints. Most people do not travel by air often, and nevertheless constantly face petty embarrassments at the hands of the government, by any number of federal, state, and local agencies.

Yet there is something new and more problematic about the TSA’s assault on travelers. Even if the outrage over the TSA’s methods is a uniquely professional-class phenomenon, it’s still troubling. The professional class is by definition a group with some power. If people in a position to change things would rather suffer routine humiliation at the hands of the government than take action, whether it be legal or political, then we’re in bad shape as a culture. If, in the name of safety, the government can regularly and casually violate the personal freedom and dignity of the country’s jet-setters — without making us any safer — it seems to me we’re on a slippery slope.

The video above is an excerpt from a training video for prison guards on how to make sure that inmates aren't hiding contraband.

Airports Consider Congressman's Call to Ditch TSA

November 19, 2010

AP – In a climate of Internet campaigns to shun airport pat-downs and veteran pilots suing over their treatment by government screeners, some airports are considering another way to show dissatisfaction: Ditching TSA agents altogether.

Federal law allows airports to opt for screeners from the private sector instead. The push is being led by a powerful Florida congressman who's a longtime critic of the Transportation Security Administration and counts among his campaign contributors some of the companies who might take the TSA's place.

Furor over airline passenger checks has grown as more airports have installed scanners that produce digital images of the body's contours, and the anger intensified when TSA added a more intrusive style of pat-down recently for those who opt out of the full-body scans. Some travelers are using the Internet to organize protests aimed at the busy travel days next week surrounding Thanksgiving.

For Republican Rep. John Mica of Florida, the way to make travelers feel more comfortable would be to kick TSA employees out of their posts at the ends of the snaking security lines. This month, he wrote letters to nation's 100 busiest airports asking that they request private security guards instead.

"I think we could use half the personnel and streamline the system," Mica said Wednesday, calling the TSA a bloated bureaucracy.

Mica is the ranking Republican on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Once the new Congress convenes in January, the lawmaker is expected lead the committee.

Companies that could gain business if airports heed Mica's call have helped fill his campaign coffers. In the past 13 years, Mica has received almost $81,000 in campaign donations from political action committees and executives connected to some of the private contractors already at 16 U.S. airports.

Private contractors are not a cure-all for passengers aggrieved about taking off their shoes for security checks, passing through full-body scanners or getting hand-frisked. For example, contractors must follow all TSA-mandated security procedures, including hand patdowns when necessary.

Still, the top executive at the Orlando-area's second-largest airport, Orlando Sanford International Airport, said he plans to begin the process of switching to private screeners in January as long as a few remaining concerns can be met. The airport is within Mica's district, and the congressman wrote his letter after hearing about its experiences.

CEO Larry Dale said members of the board that runs Sanford were impressed after watching private screeners at airports in Rochester, N.Y., and Jackson Hole, Wyo. He said TSA agents could do better at customer service.

"Some of them are a little testy," said Dale, whose airport handles 2 million passengers a year. "And we work hard to get passengers and airlines. And to have it undone by a personality problem?"

To the south, the city's main airport, Orlando International, said it's reviewing Mica's proposal, although it has some questions about how the system would work with the 34 million passengers it handles each year. In Georgia, Macon City Councilor Erick Erickson, whose committee oversees the city's small airport, wants private screeners there.

Erickson called it a protest move in an interview.

"I am a frequent air traveler and I have experienced ... TSA agents who have let the power go to their head," Erickson said. "You can complain about those people, but very rarely does the bureaucracy work quickly enough to remove those people from their positions."

TSA officials would select and pay the contractors who run airport security. But Dale thinks a private contractor would be more responsive since the contractor would need local support to continue its business with the airport.

"Competition drives accountability, it drives efficiency, it drives a particular approach to your airport," Dale said. "That company is just going to be looking at you. They're not going to be driven out of Washington, they will be driven out of here."

San Francisco International Airport has used private screeners since the formation of the TSA and remains the largest to do so.

The airport believed a private contractor would have more flexibility to supplement staff during busy periods with part-time employees, airport spokesman Mike McCarron said. Also, the city's high cost of living had made it difficult in the past to recruit federal employees to run immigration and customs stations — a problem the airport didn't want at security checkpoints.

"You get longer lines," McCarron said.

TSA spokesman Greg Soule would not respond directly Mica's letter, but reiterated the nation's roughly 460 commercial airports have the option of applying to use private contractors.

Companies that provide airport security are contributors to Mica's campaigns, although some donations came before those companies won government contracts. The Lockheed Martin Corp. Employees' Political Action Committee has given $36,500 to Mica since 1997. A Lockheed firm won the security contract in Sioux Falls, S.D. in 2005 and the contract for San Francisco the following year.

Raytheon Company's PAC has given Mica $33,500 since 1999. A Raytheon subsidiary began providing checkpoint screenings at Key West International Airport in 2007.

Firstline Transportation Security Inc.'s PAC has donated $4,500 to the Florida congressman since 2004. FirstLine has been screening baggage and has been responsible for passenger checkpoints at the Kansas City International Airport since 2006, as well as the Gallup Municipal Airport and the Roswell Industrial Air Center in New Mexico, operating at both since 2007.

Since 2006, Mica has received $2,000 from FirstLine President Keith Wolken and $1,700 from Gerald Berry, president of Covenant Aviation Security. Covenant works with Lockheed to provide security at airports in Sioux Falls and San Francisco.

Mica spokesman Justin Harclerode said the contributions never improperly influenced the congressman, who said he was unaware Raytheon or Lockheed were in the screening business.

"They certainly never contacted him about providing screening," Harclerode said.

Anger over the screenings hasn't just come from passengers. Two veteran commercial airline pilots asked a federal judge this week to stop the whole-body scans and the new pat-down procedures, saying it violates their civil rights.

The pilots, Michael S. Roberts of Memphis and Ann Poe of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., have refused to participate in either screening method and, as a result, will not fly out of airports that use these methods, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Washington.

Roberts is a pilot with ExpressJet Airlines and is on unpaid administrative leave because of his refusal to enter the whole-body scanners. Poe flies for Continental Airlines and will continue to take off work as long as the existing regulations are in place.

"In her eyes, the pat-down is a physical molestation and the WBI scanner is not only intrusive, degrading and potentially dangerous, but poses a real and substantial threat to medical privacy," the lawsuit states.

The video above is from 2008, two years before the current naked body scan and sexual molestation pat down procedures. - Infowars.com, November 22, 2010

“I am a good American and I want safety for all passengers as much as the next person," Thomas Sawyer, 61, a bladder cancer survivor who now wears a urostomy bag, said. "But if this country is going to sacrifice treating people like human beings in the name of safety, then we have already lost the war.” - TSA pat-down leaves traveler covered in urine, MSNBC.com, November 22, 2010