By Barbara SimpsonI've had it. I'm offended and want my government to know it. I'm tired of being treated like a criminal.
You can put me on the "being offended" bandwagon. Why not? It happens all the time and seems to work.
If a person is ticked off by something, doesn't like something, disagrees with something or just doesn't like the look of something, all they have to say is they're "offended!"
I don't want to undress in airports. I don't want to walk in stocking feet on dirty floors where thousands of feet have walked. I don't want strangers patting and touching my body. I don't want my personal items pawed through. I don't want to be exposed to machines that invade my privacy and could have health consequences!
I'm tired of being treated like a criminal by my own government in my own country. I'm offended!
It's the magic word to get action from weak-kneed bureaucrats and politicians and generally anyone "in charge" of some aspect of government, institutions, businesses, schools, churches, social organizations and unfortunately, even the military.
Their knee-jerk reaction to any claim of alleged offense is institutional collapse. It's the result of pervasive political correctness, multi-culturalism, diversity and, quite frankly, blatant gutlessness by anyone with a title.
The legitimacy of the complaint doesn't matter and, generally, no one cares. Just say it and that "something" has to stop, be changed, be derided, ridiculed or just ignored.
My message to Washington is that I'm offended because every time I travel by air, you and all your transportation security people treat me like a terrorist.
I am not a terrorist, never have been, never will be.
There's no evidence linking me to any such activities, and I have no record of any such inclinations. There is no question of my loyalty to my country and our Constitution.
I do not fit any terrorist profile.
Oops. That's the problem! You and the TSA are too politically correct (read that "chicken") to profile passengers in your legitimate concern about terrorism on airliners. As a result, you treat everyone like a terrorist.
Then again, considering what happened – or almost happened on that Northwest flight on Christmas Day over Detroit – you treat everyone like a terrorist except people who look like and act like and have terrorist connections in their history.
Decent profiling could see the clear terrorism pattern. You know virtually all such terrorism is perpetrated by Middle-Eastern, young to middle-aged males of a certain religion.
It's appalling what you'll do not to offend those certain people – specifically, those most likely to blow up airliners.
Even worse, most of them aren't even American citizens! You cater to them, but it's open season on everyone else!
That not only offends me, it infuriates me!
I was recently in the Kansas City airport and watched in horror as four TSA people focused on a frail woman in her late 80s who was in a wheelchair as they tried to get her through security.
There were only two lines, so passengers had to wait as they made her get out of the chair and forced her to walk thru the machine. She was so frail, they had to hold her up.
Finally, on the other side, they weren't done. As she sat in the chair, they patted her down, wanded her repeatedly and then made her get up and stand again!
I was shocked and approached an elderly man who waited patiently as this insulting, intrusive invasion of that woman's privacy continued. He was her husband. I told him of my anger.
He was resigned. He told me she had pins in her hip from an operation and she'd recently had a pacemaker installed.
Apparently, a doctor's letter wouldn't suffice. The man said it happens every time they travel. I apologized to him.
It's outrageous and doesn't stop terrorists.
Same trip, another airport: After the usual "security" checks – picture ID, boarding pass matched and marked, removal of coats, jackets, scarves, sweaters and shoes, carry-on items in a tray, cosmetics in a baggie, jewelry removed – then, my arm accidentally touched the side of the metal detector, setting it off. I had to walk through again.
I got through and got dressed again. Finally, as we lined up to board the plane, six TSA people showed up and went to every person in line and did another check, comparing boarding passes with IDs.
Why? It didn't make any of us safer.
I often carry a small film camera and always have it hand checked. No problem, but half the time it tests positive for explosives – or perhaps fertilizer? Maybe I'd held the camera while I was in my garden, but sometimes I hadn't.
Once, my carry-on bag didn't pass the magic test. I never did figure out that one! What a waste of time!
I'm tired of all this, especially since now we'll be even more invaded – with screenings showing us naked and requirements to remain seated during the last hour of a flight?! (What happens on a flight barely an hour long?) There are also requirements that we have nothing in our laps during that hour!
Hey, next they'll install armrest shackles and lock us in. That'll prevent any more crotch bombs like Umar's!
All this, because of our war against militant Islamist terrorists – a war Barack Obama refuses to acknowledge.
Thanks B.O. The terrorists are winning, and we're the fools.
Barbara Simpson, "The Babe in the Bunker," as she's known to her KSFO 560 radio talk-show audience in San Francisco, has a 20-year radio, TV and newspaper career in the Bay Area and Los Angeles.
