Apparently, the federal government is reserving for itself the right to harass, grope and fondle the American flying public. The Screening Partnership Program, which allowed airports to hire private contractors who worked under TSA oversight rather than using Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screeners, is being stopped just a month after the TSA said its position on the program was "neutral." Last Friday, TSA chief John Pistole announced that he didn't see any advantage to the program and so will not expand it, although the 16 airports that currently use the program will be allowed to continue.
The "opt out" program started making headlines in December after the TSA sprung its strip search machines and "enhanced pat down" procedures, or "sexual assault" if done by anyone else, on an unsuspecting public. Rep. John Mica (R-FL) encouraged the opt-out program, saying private contractors are more responsive to the public than impossible-to-fire federal employees. At the time, the TSA didn't oppose the program, with a spokesman saying, "If airports choose this route, we are going to work with them to do it."
When told of the new TSA stance, Mica indicated he would launch an investigation, saying, "It's unimaginable that TSA would suspend the most successfully performing passenger screening program we've had over the last decade. The agency should concentrate on cutting some of the more than 3,700 administrative personnel in Washington who concocted this decision, and reduce the army of TSA employees that has ballooned to more than 62,000." No doubt preserving that bloated 62,000 number is one of the reasons the TSA made this move.
Senate Report on Fort Hood
"A new Senate report on the 2009 Fort Hood shooting blames the FBI and Department of Defense for failing to recognize or act on alleged shooter Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan's extremist views," ABC News reports. It took a Senate report to figure that out? The report said, "DOD possessed compelling evidence that Hasan embraced views so extreme that it should have disciplined him or discharged him from the military, but DOD failed to take action against him." Now, if Hasan had been associated with the Tea Party rather than Islamic jihad...
News of the Bizarre
A "Black Widow" suicide bomber planned an attack in Moscow on New Year's Eve and her night ended with a bang -- just not the one she expected. According to Russian authorities, the woman received an unexpected text message on her cell phone, which caused her suicide belt to detonate prematurely, killing her in the privacy of her safe house. No one else was injured. Around here, we call that a "self-solver." By the way, the text was a spam message from her phone service provider wishing her a Happy New Year.
The "opt out" program started making headlines in December after the TSA sprung its strip search machines and "enhanced pat down" procedures, or "sexual assault" if done by anyone else, on an unsuspecting public. Rep. John Mica (R-FL) encouraged the opt-out program, saying private contractors are more responsive to the public than impossible-to-fire federal employees. At the time, the TSA didn't oppose the program, with a spokesman saying, "If airports choose this route, we are going to work with them to do it."
When told of the new TSA stance, Mica indicated he would launch an investigation, saying, "It's unimaginable that TSA would suspend the most successfully performing passenger screening program we've had over the last decade. The agency should concentrate on cutting some of the more than 3,700 administrative personnel in Washington who concocted this decision, and reduce the army of TSA employees that has ballooned to more than 62,000." No doubt preserving that bloated 62,000 number is one of the reasons the TSA made this move.
Senate Report on Fort Hood
"A new Senate report on the 2009 Fort Hood shooting blames the FBI and Department of Defense for failing to recognize or act on alleged shooter Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan's extremist views," ABC News reports. It took a Senate report to figure that out? The report said, "DOD possessed compelling evidence that Hasan embraced views so extreme that it should have disciplined him or discharged him from the military, but DOD failed to take action against him." Now, if Hasan had been associated with the Tea Party rather than Islamic jihad...
News of the Bizarre
A "Black Widow" suicide bomber planned an attack in Moscow on New Year's Eve and her night ended with a bang -- just not the one she expected. According to Russian authorities, the woman received an unexpected text message on her cell phone, which caused her suicide belt to detonate prematurely, killing her in the privacy of her safe house. No one else was injured. Around here, we call that a "self-solver." By the way, the text was a spam message from her phone service provider wishing her a Happy New Year.
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