Fairbanks, too

Fairbanks, Alaska is getting scanners in time for Christmas, too.

Alaskan teleconference

I came across this letter to the editor for an Alaskan newspaper:

As someone who feels the Transportation Security Administration’s pre-flight security screenings through the use of full- body scanners (these take an X-ray and produce a detailed photo of your naked body) and the invasive “pat down” searches (which are performed if one refuses to go through a full body scan rather than a metal detector) are unacceptable, I would like to alert others in the Fairbanks community to the opportunity to be part of a national push to change TSA’s methods of ensuring travel safety.

At 9 a.m. Friday at the Legislative Information Office, Room 308, 1292 Sadler Way, Rep. Sharon Cissna, will hold another telecommunications meeting of the Alaskans Freedom To Travel USA group. For more information, call LIO at 452-4448, or email Repre sentative_Sharon_Cissna@legis.state.ak.us. Additionally, the websites http://freedomtotravelusa.org and http://akhealthcaucus.org are two sites that have information concerning TSA and travel.

According to testimony at recent congressional hearings,

82 percent of Alaska communities use air as a means of getting elsewhere on the globe. It is imperative that TSA readdress the use of body scanners and pat downs as effective techniques, especially when considering privacy and health issues. TSA has already requested funding to put scanners in all U.S. airports.

Please consider joining me at the next teleconference.

Read more: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - TSA techniques

(Some) Alaskans are getting the wool pulled over their eyes

(I personally know some Alaskans who are not, though!)


Alaskans got to have a roundtable discussion with the TSA regarding their policies, and it seems to have worked for some. The TSA has been "listening" for months and years, but their policies only become more oppressive. New flash, Alaskans: nothing is going to change (and here's some info on the terrible "risk-based security" that won you over only because they were vague on the details).

State lawmakers

This is good. State lawmakers are held slightly more accountable than federal officials, and so they are starting to take action. The local laws that have been proposed defining TSA searches as assault are fantastic. Now Hawaiians and Alaskans are banding together on their common right to be able to move freely about the country.

H/T Mark Shipman

Gate-rape as described by a rape survivor

This article mis-states a couple of things, but the author's testamonial to a custody search (aka pat-down) that left her in tears is an important story. An excerpt:

I'm not sure when I started to shake. I explained I wasn't comfortable being touched. The man laughed. I said in a smaller voice than normal, "I don't want you to touch me." The woman said she would be the one touching. She told me to extend my arms. She inspected my hair and neck first.

I started to cry.

I wanted so much to be brave. I was told I could be escorted out of the airport. "I live in Alaska," I said. Like that would explain something. As though he would know that flying isn't optional for us and shoo me though.

They seemed angry at me. The search continued. My shoulders. My arms. My back.

"Put your hands out, ma'am."

They were over my face, and I was sobbing.

Read more

Rape is about power, not just sex. TSA agents may or may not be sexually perverted, but they are certainly on a power trip when they conduct these searches.

Begging Congress to help Alaskans enjoy their right to freedom of travel

The AP reports:

Alaska lawmakers are asking a U.S. Senate committee to hold hearings in Alaska over what they consider "invasive procedures" used by the Transportation Safety Administration.

The TSA doesn't yet conduct mandatory full-body pat downs in Alaska, but the issue made headlines when state Rep. Sharon Cissna, a Democrat from Anchorage, refused a pat-down at the Seattle airport. She used a car, small airplane and ferry to get back to Alaska.

Rep. Max Gruenberg drafted the letter to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs.

The Anchorage Democrat says the committee needs to hear from Alaskans about their unique concerns since they rely on air travel more than other Americans. Rep. Bob Lynn, an Anchorage Republican, was the only one of the 60-member Legislature to not sign the letter.

TSA supporters like the claim that we don't have a right to travel by air. However, we do have a right to freedom of movement as well as a right to due process if liberty is infringed, not to mention our right to reasonable searches with a specific judge-issued warrant. There is not a valid argument that restriction certain modes of travel without due process or a warrant is consistent with this right. Citizens of Alaska and Hawaii have a particularly good argument here, as air travel is the most reasonable method for them to travel between the States. Congress has so far failed to stand up to protect these rights.

H/T Boycott Flying

Dear Southwest and Alaska Airlines...

JC Warren writes: "Using their respective web sites, I sent the following message to both Southwest Airlines and Alaska Airlines which are the two I typically use:"

Flying with Southwest Airlines is a pleasure, but getting to the plane is a total pain. I don't fly much and won't be flying at all until the TSA changes its "security" tactics. I refuse to submit to a virtual strip search or a sexual assault by some government goon. I have every confidence that your airlines could do a much better job of ensuring the safety of flights than the boobs at the TSA. Please make every effort to reign in the tyrannical behavior of the TSA. And if you're feeling especially customer service oriented, you could lobby (hard) for the total elimination of this ludicrous federal agency. Thank you.