Taking liberties with the Bill of Rights

With the holidays among us, we are in prime time for traveling. Those of us who may choose to fly are in for some new, questionable security measures this season. Just in time for Thanksgiving travel, the TSA has introduced new screening methods that involve your choice of an x-ray screen that can see through your clothing, or a full-body pat down. No problem, it’s all in the name of your safety, and if you don’t like it you can always leave and drive. Not quite. According to an article in the blog Socialism is not the Answer there are new rules, if you start the screening process, but for some reason you decide you do not want to go through with the screening, and would rather leave, you are now subject to detainment and up to an $11,000 fine. I understand the logic behind requiring people to be subject to search in order to fly, although I do feel that should be a mandate that comes from the airlines rather than the government, but I do not think requiring people to submit to a search even if they choose not to fly is constitutionally legal. For the TSA to believe that someone leaving the airport is reason enough to detain someone. Although it comes as no surprise that the government would attempt to play on the fears of the public in order to take more liberties than they are allowed, it is still amazing that they would attempt to perform an unlawful search when the Bill of Rights contains an amendment that protects from such actions.

More political correctness

Interesting how a name change is supposed to solve the problem. It seems like a waste of time to change all the wording to make the aggressors feel better. What happened to calling a spade a spade? Now we have a new set of politically correct terminology. God forbid we offend people who could care less and will always have a bad opinion of us anyway. I just don't see how the rhetoric changes anything or solves any problems.