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Mother's Milk, Mastectomies and Mineta
(August 15, 2002) Back in March we talked about 'The Underwire Threat' (click to read) and airport security. It seemed then that women were being subjected to groping and ogling by airport security screeners in disproportinate numbers. That triggered a mass of e-mail from women that have had the lovely experience of having their bras inspected by the crack security agents at the airport. As far as I could figure out, the mystery of the underwire bra eluded the Department of Transportation. As a result, many women were - and still are - subjected to unnecessary and humiliating searches at airports across the nation, while Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta insists that we would not profile likely terrorists - say young adult Arab males who pay cash for one-way tickets.
It mattered not - and still doesn't - that women were being profiled as a result. Mr. Mineta made no comment on the subject even though it was the subject of many media reports. Former Transportation Security Chief Magaw ignored it and Homeland Security Advisor (that is all he is) Tom Ridge was even more dismissive. Oh, sure, they were all enraged when a member of Congress was searched. But women being searched in large numbers for little or no reason was beneath the radar for these three blind mice of government.
Well not only has that situation continued to exist, but the outrages are growing in severity. As the headline suggests, women are still being ridiculously targeted by the mostly male screeners.
Before we look at the cases above, it is important to acknowledge that airport security needed and still needs a lot of work. I am not all that bothered with having my briefcase gone through over and over. I have gotten used to explaining the mass of gun catalogs and publications. I have even gotten used to explaining that they are pictures of guns. It is a fairly small, although silly, price to pay. But stay the hell out of my shirt.
The last week has seen a couple of incidents that surprised even me.
Mother's Milk - A nursing mother is forced to drink expressed breast milk from three bottles at security by a male guard, despite the baby, the bag and the rest of the baby gear. Also in direct violation of the TSA regulation. Also contaminating the milk.
Picture the scene. Security checkpoint. Woman with baby in arms. Airport screener rummaging through the diaper bag. He comes across 3 bottles of milk. Well that should raise the red flags right there. Get a SWAT team! Imagine having bottles when one has a baby. When the woman stated that it was her breast milk that she had expressed for the flight, the guard did not believe her. He insisted she taste the milk in each bottle before she could proceed. This woman was given absolutely no choice.
So babies and breast milk now pose a security threat in the land of Tom Ridge and Norman Mineta. However, moronic, insensitive, uneducated screeners are just fine. Remember, it was Mr. Mineta that eliminated the need for an actual high school education to qualify for what Ridge tells us is a vital function. And it was both of them that lightened up the requirement of speaking English.
Think that one is bad? Wait.
Mastectomies - A woman who had recently undergone a double radical mastectomy (the surgery sometimes requires implantation of a steel rod) is stopped at security since the detector beeped. The security geniuses, despite the woman presenting her medical ID card indicating the surgically implanted steel rod, forced her to remove her blouse and bra so they could see for themselves. The airline not only refused to apologize, but they actually cited non-existent TSA regs.
So the security goons were not happy with just a quick feel of women with large busts. Now they are engaging in intentional humiliation. For the record, this was a female screener. That does not make it better. It makes it worse. At least we could have blamed male insenstivity. But for a woman to demand to be shown is nothing less than intentional humiliation.
Here we have a woman, coming off of serious surgery and a surgery that has a profound impact on any woman. She had just had both breasts removed. And these miserable morons want to see if she has a weapon under there. I can tell you from a family experience with mastectomy that having to show ANYONE the incisions and scars is a horror. The kind that it is hard to get past. And yet, the security wizards blew right past any kind of dignity and demanded this woman step into the little cubicle and remove her blouse and bra.
I have a great respect for this woman. She went ahead and followed the direction of the goons and goonettes. She allowed this ridiculous search. And then she cried all the way to her destination. On arrival, she tried to tell the airline what had happened. She asked to speak to a supervisor or manager. She got neither. She got a letter telling her it is federal policy to verify such things. Nonsense. It is federal policy to RESPECT such things and not intentionally humiliate a good citizen.
Mineta - So there we have it. Mother's Milk, Mastectomies and Mineta. Why Mineta? Because he is responsible for this ridiculous nightmare of Orwellian proportions. Because he has the authority - with a phone call - to put an end to this victimization of women in our airports. As I type this, there is still a preference to search women and senior citizens.
More importantly, as you read this, rather than address the righteous grievances of women who have been fondled, groped, ogled and humiliated, the idiotic Norman Mineta is busy lobbying the Senate to not allow our pilots to be armed. For some reason, it is more important to this pale shadow of a man to look into women's shirts then it is to secure the cockpits of airliners.
Questions rattle around my head like brass hitting concrete when I hear these stories: How many weapons slipped through while everyone at security was busy groping and ogling? How many legitimate threats slipped past while Mineta's army of morons and idiots had their little fun? And how much longer will we have to deal with Mineta and his raging incompetence and unequalled arrogance?
E-mail President Bush at president@whitehouse.gov and let him know how bad these incidents are. Let him know just how bad his Transportation Secretary is and make sure to let him know that Tom (who, me?) Ridge is worse. Ridge wants the military to be able to look into your blouse.
I will hazard a guess that most of you support and understand the need to heighten security everywhere to try to prevent terror attacks. I just wonder how many terrorists can hide in a bra.
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Reach Tom Ridge at: Tom Ridge |
Reach Norman Mineta at: Secretary Norman Mineta |
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