Daily Dose of Common Sense

I usually don’t just link to other commentary here (as I like to throw in my own .02, too), but there is such a great post on Gizmodo regarding the TSA that everyone should RUN to read.

Joel Johnson wrote a piece called, “President Obama, It’s Time to Fire the TSA.” Here is my favorite paragraph:

It’s been nearly a decade since terrorists used airplanes to attack our country, and last week’s attempt makes it clear that the lack of terrorist attacks have nothing to do with the increasing gauntlet of whirring machines, friskings, and arbitrary bureaucratic provisions, but simply that for the most part, there just aren’t that many terrorists trying to blow up planes. Because god knows if there were, the TSA isn’t capable of stopping them. We’re just one bad burrito away from the TSA forcing passengers to choke back an Imodium and a Xanax before being hogtied to our seats.

No one wants to die in a terrorist attack. However, look at the odds. You are more likely to be killed by a bolt of lightening than a terrorist attack. And, your chances of being killed by lightening are very, very low. (Read more about your “Odds of Airborne Terror” here.)

Think the TSA is responsible for that? From Johnson’s post:

Security expert Bruce Schneier nails the core incompetency: “For years I’ve been saying ‘Only two things have made flying safer [since 9/11]: the reinforcement of cockpit doors, and the fact that passengers know now to resist hijackers.’”

And, yet, we shake down old ladies, business men, mothers, and husbands at the airports like THEY are the criminals. It’s sad, really. And it’s only about to get worse. The last hour of your plane flight, you’ll be confined to your seat. You also won’t be able to have anything in your lap during that last hour.

Feel safer yet?

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 at 8:36 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.