Written by Teresa Knudsen. First published on Suite 101 November 13, 2010.
Republished January 11, 2012 on Sweet Suite Writings
Biochemist, Pilots, Passengers Backlash against Naked Body Scans
The latest news about the U.S government deployment of compulsory naked body scanners for air travelers comes from a biochemist's warning that the body scanners have not been proved to be safe and a national protest against the scanners planned for the day before Thanksgiving, 2010.Biochemist Warns on November 11, 2010 of Unsafe Scanning Machines
As noted in the article "Biochemist Says 'Naked' X-Ray Scanner May Be Unsafe" by Declan McCullagh on November 11, 2010, a biochemist from the University of California, San Francisco, Professor John Sedat called Obama's claim that full-body scanners are safe, an "error."Sedat said that from the White House report, "...it appears that real independent safety data do not exist." Sedat notes the naked body scanner threat to travelers, particularly children being exposed to untested types of radiation emitted by the scanners.
"National Opt Out Day." November 24, 2010.
The National Opt Out Day website encourages air passengers to opt out of the government's body scan machines, which send the passenger's naked image to be viewed by a government employee. As noted on the website:
"It's the day ordinary citizens stand up for their rights, stand up for liberty, and protest the federal government's desire to virtually strip us naked or submit to an "enhanced pat down" that touches people's breasts and genitals in an aggressive manner."
Background of Body Scanners Deployment in Airports
After the failed bombing attempt on Christmas, former head of the Department of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, outlined his solution to possible similar bombing. Chertoff advised that the U. S. government purchase hundred of body scan machines from a company he now represents as CEO of the Chertoff Group.The U.S. government used funds marked to help Americans receive an economic stimulus, and instead placed machines and staff that require air passengers to surrender their 4th Amendment rights and endure a virtual strip search from machines that deliver an unknown radiation experiment.
Then, the passengers can be groped on breasts and genital areas by Transportation Security Administration staff. The TSA is now groping men, women, tweens, children, toddlers and babies, as well as elderly people.
The bad experiences of airline passengers are piling up about the body scans and the TSA actions, which amount to unreasonable search and seizure, as well as sexual molestation by government officials, as reported by CNN's Phil Gast in the November 13, 2010 article, "Growing Backlash against TSA Body Scanners, Pat-Downs."
Complaints about Government Body Scans and Groping by Government Staff
Michelle Nemphos describes her daughter's bad experience of being singled out and forced to go through a full body scanner. The 12-year-old felt tramatized when she realized what was happening with the machine and airport staff seeing her naked. In the article "Mother Upset about Daughter's Full Body Securty Scan Experience,"Michelle Nemphos sums up the issue of allowing government workers to view naked passengers, especially children.
"It's an image of a nude child that they're seeing. This is child pornography whether people want to believe this or not. People think that this is a blurry image. It is not a blurry image. It is an image of a naked person."
In the article "Airport Body-Scanners Reveal All, But What about When It's Your Kid?" Lenonora LaPeter Anton, staff writer at the St. Petersburg Times, talked with TSA spokeswoman Sari Koshetz, who said anyone can be selected from the line and given a body scan. This includes children who can hold their arms over their heads for five or more seconds. There was no TSA statement about how TSA would determine which children could hold their arms up and which children couldn't.
Airline Pilots Against Body Scans, "Pat-Downs"
As reported by CNN, " ExpressJet Pilot Rejects Body Scan and "Pat-Down," Pilot Michael Roberts, as he was preparing to travel by plane to work, rejected both the U.S. government naked body scan and the enhanced "pat-down" from government Transportation Security Administration (TSA) staff.Roberts said both the scan and "pat-down" by government workers violates his rights.
"Pat down is misleading...They concentrate on the area between...the upper thighs and torso, and they're not just patting people's arms and leg, they're grabbing and groping and prodding pretty agressively."
The Allied Pilots Association President Captain Dave Bates advises the pilots to refuse the U.S. government naked body scanners, in a letter sent to The Atlantic, published November 4, 2010, in the article "American Airlines Pilots in Revolt Against the TSA." by Jeffrey Goldberg.
Government Staff at TSA Seem to Select Women and Children for Scanning and Groping
In San Jose, at the airport, Alex Jones stated that he saw TSA workers only select women and small children to go through the government naked body scanners.Alex describes the children "...in strollers being put through naked body scanners, being bathed in radiation. It violates your Fourth Amendment."
The TSA is planning to force all passengers through the naked body scanner and the "enhanced pat-down," which includes a government agent using the front of his or her hands and fingers for groping, grabbing and squeezing the private parts of airline passengers. This "enhanced pat-down" is now being referred to as the "x-rated pat-down." The process is designed for the government agent's hand to feel everything on every man, woman and child.
A woman on the Alex Jones show describes her experience in security at Denver Airport. She and her two children walked through the metal detector. The TSA staff then wanted her to go through the naked scanner. The woman did not want her children or herself to be subjected to the radiaition and naked images of the body scanner, so she and her children were subjected to a "pat-down."
The woman was groped by a male TSA agent. "They feel your private area. They grab your breast..."
The male TSA agent then wanted to grope her two daughters, aged 8 years old and 20 months old. The mother would not allow the male to touch her two children, and requested a female officer. "I want a woman to pat down my children...They did the same thing to the kids they did to me."
"You were sexually assaulted." Alex Jones to the mother, "This is slave training...This is outrageous."
If a passenger declines to go through the naked body scanner, the U.S government TSA workers willl begin to yell "Opt Out! Opt Out!" Then, expect a lot of U.S government TSA staff to appear.
The general experience for the "enhanced pat-down" is that the U.S. government TSA staff will then place the front of their hands all over the passenger, including breast and genital area, with grabbing, pulling and twisting motions, on passengers of all ages.
References
"Airport Body-Scanners Reveal All, But What about When It's Your Kid?"
As reported by Lenonora LaPeter Anton, staff writer at the St. Petersburg Times, "
"American Airlines Pilots in Revolt Against the TSA." By Jeffrey Goldberg. The Atlantic. November 4, 2010.
"Backlash Grows Over TSA's 'Naked Strip Searches.'" By Declan McCullagh. November 11, 2010.
"Body Scanner, the Constitution, Ethics, and X-Ray." Suite 101.
"ExpressJet Pilot Rejects Body Scan and "Pat-Down." CNN. Oct. 20, 2010
" Growing Backlash against TSA Body Scanners, Pat-Downs." By Phil Gast. CNN. November 13, 2010 .
"Naked Body Scanners May Be Dangerous: Scientists." By Agence France-Presse. Friday, November 12, 2010
"National Opt Out Day." November 24, 2010.optoutday.com
"TSA Fondles Women and Children Refusing Airport Naked Body Scanners." Alex Jones. Infowars.com. Nov. 5, 2010.
