Anybody else following this nonsense? I'm talking about the full-on hands-in-the-pants, fingers 'round the family jewels groping administered by ham-fisted blue polyester costume wearing morons as a pre-requisite for flying on a plane...for your safety, of course.
A goofy African dude gets onto a plane in Nigeria with firecrackers in his own panties, and because of this our Father Government now feels compelled to view naked scans of random men and every moderately attractive woman that passes through an airport. In the event you're not content to have your genitals ogled and run the admittedly very small risk of getting cancer from the porno-scan machines (the risk of catching cancer from the machine is approximately equal to the risk of being killed by a terrorist), you can opt to be molested by one of these mouth breathers...
....
molested like this kid....
So let's say you're about to hop a flight with your attractive girlfriend, or cute 15 year old daughter, and the Trained Sexual Assailants "randomly" select the lovely young lady for a porno-scan and/or for a genital groping (and yes, genital gropings can be performed on anybody, even after the porno-scan)...you might quite reasonably at this point simply turn around and go home (do not pass through security, do not get on your flight)....
...ok, that'll be an $11,000 fine on the young lady for not completing the screening process. Yep, $11,000 is what you now owe the TSA for not submitting to the indignation, for the TSA fears (rightfully) that without significant penalty, people will simply turnaround and go home when threatened by the TSA.
It is in this $11k deterrent that we can see the TSA genital groping procedures for what they are....
Imagine this time that you're a terrorist....You've made all your prayers to Allah and you have a host of virgins waiting for you on the other side. You've stuff your underwear and your asshole with enough C4 to blow up a plane, yourself, and 300 or so people. When a minority wage earning moron tells you he needs to stroke your nuts, you basically have two choices:
a) Say 'ok', and when the moron gets on his knees in front of you, detonate. You'll take out the TSA and dozens of people...not plan 'a' for the mission, but not altogether a bad day and I'm sure your virgins await you;
b) Say 'no thank you'. The TSA will send you a bill, probably to the fake ID and address you used to purchase your ticket in the first place. You'll probably be dead by the time your alter-ID gets the bill, so it's not too big a deal.
Point being, the $11k fine is a deterrent to the innocent citizen trying to avoid the indignation, but not at all to the determined terrorist. These procedures are about gaining submission from citizens, unbridled power-tripping, not about preventing acts of terrorism.
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Speaking of preventing acts of terrorism....how many bombs has the TSA found in a decade of searching? I think the number is approximately, or perhaps exactly, zero.
How would I, master-terrorist Alexamenos, go about getting past the TSA and their genital gropes and get a bomb on the plane? Easy, I'd get a job working for the TSA. When I'm on testicle stroking duty, I'd signal my co-conspirator to bring it on...boom......so much for the illusion of your security.
This is assuming that for some reason I (master-terrorist Alex) felt the need to get on a plane to do my damage....if we learned nothing else from COD Modern Warfare 2 it's that one needn't get on the plane to cause quite a ruckus.
Anyhoo...We trade our liberty for the illusion (or delusion) of security and we get what we deserve.