printI far prefer Ron Paul’s strident response to the TSA’s assault on Rand Paul than the son’s watered-down words. To CNN’s Erin Burnett, Rand said, essentially, that the TSA folks were good people bogged down by inflexible rules. He followed up with special pleading.
It is not the first time special interests—House and Senate representatives, for example—suggest a system of sectional privileges and rights, based on professional need and proximity to power. Patrick Smith, the author of Salon’s “Ask the Pilot,” has implied that because of his professional position, he should be entitled to “preferential, alternative checkpoints for pilots.”
Noelle Nikpour, contributor to Mr. Sean Hannity’s Great American Panel, is another. Nikpour, a tedious Republican strategist who talks up a storm on that forum, extended her exquisite understanding of individual rights to … people like herself and her co-panelists. You know, important sorts who fly a lot; they ought to be able to acquire a permit that’ll exempt them from being screened afresh as they scurry to their important appointments.
Rand seems to have joined these special-case pleaders in asking for wavers for frequent fliers who’ve been willing to share more personal data with the goons of the TSA.
I prefer the Ron Paul presidential campaign’s “strongly worded statement Monday afternoon, blistering the TSA for its practices”:
“The police state in this country is growing out of control. One of the ultimate embodiments of this is the TSA that gropes and grabs our children, our seniors and our loved ones and neighbors with disabilities. The TSA does all of this while doing nothing to keep us safe,” it said.
As action speaks louder than words, the lack of action from the Congresscritters is ample prove they care not a whit for the life, liberty and freedoms of the citizens. So much for the “land of the free”; what a joke!
I detest the TSA with every fiber of my being. They squander resources, do nothing to improve security, and make a mockery of our 4th Amendment rights. These TSA goons need to find real jobs. End the TSA. Now.
So Rand Paul just declared for the 2016 Repub Prez nomination. Big deal who cares. By then, I fear, he too will be financed by Sheldon Adelson et al, & indistinguishable from Gingrich.
Steve – how about we pass an amendment to the Constitution that reads:
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
…. OOPS (Rick Perry word!)
Not only did this violate the 4th Amendment (in the case of all Americans) but in the case of Senator Paul, it apparently violated Article 1 Section 6. (Via Lew Rockwell.com.)
I wonder what happened to the nice lady pictured on the side of the bus?