WASHINGTON - November 15, 2010 - You want to feel up my junk, mister air security worker? Let me help you with that.
That's the basic idea behind a clever twist to the "National Opt-Out Day" campaign, which seeks to backlog the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) with as many forced frisks as possible on November 24.
Campaigners are calling for the national day of action as a response to the TSA's use of backscatter x-ray machines that take nude pictures of flyers at security checkpoints.
Since the Department of Homeland Security ordered enhanced screening measures, anyone who refuses their random assignment to the backscatter machines has been subjected to invasive pat-downs that, in many cases, have seen screeners groping passengers' genitals and breasts. Not even children are exempt from this government-ordered molestation.
Many fliers choose to opt-out over concerns about the health effects of exposure to x-rays, or because they do not wish to be seen in the nude by a stranger.
Techniques being employed against Amerikan travelers are actually more invasive than methods used by the U.S. military to screen Afghan civilians. Military policy holds that overly invasive searches of Afghans might inflame anti-Amerikan sentiment and violence in the region. That's apparently not a concern with Amerikans.
The twist being suggested for "National Opt-Out Day" is this: If you feel the screenings are humiliating, let the government share your embarrassment by wearing a kilt; and if you're, ahem, ballsy enough, join the protest by wearing it like a true Scotsman, without underwear.
