we the sheep

well, today was the supposed demonstration day where people were going to opt out of the new porn scanners the TSA has installed in our airports. i was pretty excited to see how it would turn out; i expected huge delays at airports across the country...i was sorely disappointed. on this, one of the busiest travel days of the year, a grand total of 10 people opted out of being scanned at indianapolis international airport during the morning hours. statistics for this afternoon are not out, but i'm not very hopeful that the numbers will be better. similar reports of sporadic demonstrators, but nothing major are coming from other airports as well.

i'm sure, by now, you're all asking why i'm making such a big deal out of this. it's because the TSA is a sham. they do not make planes safer. terrorists were already ahead of this technology before it even got to our airports. they were putting bombs on freight planes, or putting their explosives in their rectums. neither of these are preventable with the shiny new scanners or groping at effect at our passenger terminals. additionally, the terrorists that are targeting us have been coming from airports outside the united states; where these methods are not used.

but the fact that the TSA doesn't make us any safer is not the most alarming thing about this. what is alarming is the people's apathy to their right to be secure in their person being violated. if a private citizen (or company) attempted to do what the TSA is doing now, they would be arrested and sent to jail for sexual assault. this is the case whether you have the pornographic scan taken or the grope (or as they call it, enhanced pat down). we didn't even subject the afghani people to anything this invasive, and a good number of them actually are terrorists. this is because we know if we tried this in afghanistan, there would be even more attacks on our installations. it seems the afghanis have a better understanding of their basic human rights than we do.

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.
- united states constitution, fourth amendment

above is the constitutional amendment that's supposed to protect us from the TSA's new screening procedures. in order for anyone to search an american citizen the way TSA does at our airports, the person (or entity) performing the search must have a warrant. warrants are to be issued by judges. in order for a judge to issue a warrant, there must be probable cause. attempting to board an airplane is not probable cause. the constitution is supposed to be the supreme law of the land. any law that violates the constitution is null and void. in order for the TSA to legally search us as they do, the constitution would have to be amended.

but would that be a lawful amendment?

we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
- declaration of independence [of the united states]

according to the declaration of independence, there are certain unalienable rights. unalienable rights cannot be repudiated. the right to liberty would certainly include the right to be secure in one's person. therefore, it was our founder's belief that one cannot surrender his right to be free of unwarranted searches.

but if that wasn't enough to convince, here's a quote that states in no uncertain terms how the framers of our constitution felt about this.

they who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
- benjamin franklin

there's a chilling thought.

it's time the american people stopped putting up with our government which is clearly unable to keep us safe. why is it every time something happens, the government cracks down on it's citizens instead of empowering us to defend ourselves? instead of imposing more onerous and ineffective security screenings, the government should have been giving every firearm licensee the right to carry airplane safe ammunition. how many planes would get hijacked if half the people flying had the means to stop hijackers? instead of one flight marshal per plane, how about 50? and they wouldn't even have to be payed!

but we keep trudging along. you want to take a naked picture of me...ok. you want to touch my genitals...ok. all is forgiven as long as i'm safe.... if the constitution was to be re-written today, it wouldn't start off saying we the people. it would (if accurate) begin 'we the sheep....'