This morning with my first cup of coffee I was surprised to find my letter to the editor in the Statesman about airport security, along with two other letters offering differing points of view.
A nurse takes the position that she will submit to the enhanced pat-down rather than endure a full-body scan because she’s so concerned about the cumulative effects of radiation. Another writer initially appears to be sending TSA fan mail, then seems to flip-flop a couple of times. My wife thinks he might be speaking tongue-in-cheek, but I’m not at all sure I get his point, whatever it is.
On the opposing page, however, no ambiguity exists. Charles Krauthammer of The Washington Post expresses my sentiments better than I can and ends with, “This time you have gone too far, Big Bro’. The sleeping giant awakes. Take my shoes, remove my belt, waste my time and try my patience. But don’t touch my junk.”
Between the time I wrote my letter and it was published, the TSA announced that it would no longer require airline pilots in uniform and with two forms of ID to submit to either full-body screening or enhanced pat-downs. In the meantime, my post titled, “Airport Security – The Hidden Highway” addressed another aspect of this debacle about which the traveling public remains blissfully unaware.They don’t want you to worry.
If you haven’t been paying attention to this issue, may I suggest that now is the time to decide where you stand, and that Krauthammer’s piece in the opinion section of the Statesman is a good place to begin?
