No, what the TSA needs is to be abolished.

Nobody needs a Federal bureaucrat with an authority complex to guard his airplanes. If you can afford $30 million for a passenger jet, you can hire your own securty guards.

Welfare for the wealthy, screw it.

Schumer is an idiot. But that's beside the point. Having the TSA employ the passenger advocate is an idiotic idea. Well, maybe Schumer being an idiot is the point after all.

boobsrgood: You know what's great about living in a paranoid, fascist, marmongering plutocracy? Me neither.

What's marmongering? Is that when Bill goes off on one of his rage tangents?

So the TSA gets to appoint its own advocate? The Washington Generals have a better chance of winning than a passenger does in that setup.

Applicants are already lining up for the position...

AH-HA-HA-HA! The tag should be amusing rather than ironic. This is the funniest thing I've heard in a long time.

FTFA: "While the safety and security of our flights must be a top priority, we need to make sure that flying does not become a fear-inducing, degrading, and potentially humiliating experience," Schumer said.

Uhhh.. too late?

Chuck Schumer is an idiot, get rid of the TSA and turn it over to private companies that can actually be held liable for bullshiat their employees do on the job.

/ironic my phones auto-correct changes schemer to schemer

Hey, why not a Passenger Advocate Adgency to be a sub-agency of TSA...? Maybe add a cabinet position. More bureaucracy for the bureaucracy eaters!

/DIAF Congress

I have to travel frequently for business, and I get the grope treatment occasionally -- not as often as I would expect. When they ask me if I want to be screened privately, I smile and sweetly tell the TSO, no, please violate my civil rights out here in the open where all the other passengers can see you doing it.

While the idea sounds good on paper, if the quality of people TSA hires as advocates matches up with the quality of people they hire as TSOs, well, I don't see this going anywhere.

Now, if you make this "advocate" position a federal prosecutor, and give them the power to order the immediate arrest of any TSO who oversteps his/her bounds and treats everyone like a criminal, then by all means, hire advocates. Other than that, I don't see how the existence of a single, additional TSA employee per airport will make the slightest damn difference.

olddinosaur: what the TSA needs is to be abolished.

boobsrgood: You know what's great about living in a paranoid, fascist, warmongering plutocracy? Me neither.

Yep. Pretty much this. I haven't experienced the truly horrifying treatment that some of my fellow travelers have, but that doesn't make any of it acceptable.

fark the TSA, and fark the entire Homeland Security Department. Neither should exist. wtf does the CIA, NSA, and FBI farking do? it seems their department covers everything homeland security is supposed to, down to the warrantless wiretapping.

A politician's solution is always more bureaucracy. Gah.

I nominate:

TSA will create a toll free telephone number to register a complaint. And TSA will probably remove all public telephones and ban cellphones at and beyond the screening areas. TSA should post and give all travelers a list of rights and responsibilites of passengers and TSA employees. Expecting TSA to police itself is similar to believing LEOs are always correct. Examine the taxpayer paid settlements on the use of excessive force by police.

I can't wait to read about the antics of Advocate Andy in the pages of Blogger Bob.

FTA: "Private screening was requested by the passenger, it was granted and lasted approximately 11 minutes..."

11 minutes to pat down an 85 year old woman? "Hold on a minute ma'am...just a bit longer...almost there...ahhhh! OK, you're free to go! Have a nice flight."

/loathes the TSA

6655321: TSA will create a toll free telephone number to register a complaint. And TSA will probably remove all public telephones and ban cellphones at and beyond the screening areas. TSA should post and give all travelers a list of rights and responsibilites of passengers and TSA employees. Expecting TSA to police itself is similar to believing LEOs are always correct. Examine the taxpayer paid settlements on the use of excessive force by police.

Nah they wont ban the phones. Any one who calls will be rewarded with a free lifetime vacation in beautiful Cuba.

Melvin Lovecraft: FTA: "Private screening was requested by the passenger, it was granted and lasted approximately 11 minutes..."

11 minutes to pat down an 85 year old woman? "Hold on a minute ma'am...just a bit longer...almost there...ahhhh! OK, you're free to go! Have a nice flight."

/loathes the TSA

And I was shocked my little missive here did not go green. The sheer joy of seeing a tsa agent suing over treatment they dole out to others was just too much:TSA agent sues TSA over claim another TSA agent TSA-Agented her. Where is a Schadenfreude tag when you need one? (new window)

Remove the TSA and DHS and restore The United States of America.

Fascists.

Rodeodoc: Is he an idiot because he's a Senator or because he's from New York? Maybe he's doubly cursed, but it seems to me that as soon as someone gets elected to political office their IQ drops by about 90 points.

Chuck Schumer is actually a person of average intelligence. What happened is this: One day, at a convention, he disconnected a wire he thought went to his debate opponent's microphone, intending to later add the microphone to the pile that acts like catnip to Chuck Schumer. In fact, that wire connected Chuck's brain to his mouth, and he hasn't been right since.

I got frisked the other day while boarding. The agent was professional enough, considering the hand rape, but I was mostly pissed about losing my spot in line, and hence a place to store my bag. They didn't offer me any privacy, either.

tomWright: Melvin Lovecraft: FTA: "Private screening was requested by the passenger, it was granted and lasted approximately 11 minutes..."

11 minutes to pat down an 85 year old woman? "Hold on a minute ma'am...just a bit longer...almost there...ahhhh! OK, you're free to go! Have a nice flight."

/loathes the TSA

And I was shocked my little missive here did not go green. The sheer joy of seeing a tsa agent suing over treatment they dole out to others was just too much:TSA agent sues TSA over claim another TSA agent TSA-Agented her. Where is a Schadenfreude tag when you need one? (new window)

do you have the article link for us liters?

ThoughtSpy: So the TSA gets to appoint its own advocate? The Washington Generals have a better chance of winning than a passenger does in that setup.

Does the tsa passenger advocate get to wear a badge?

TSA = Touching Sexual Areas.

Schumer is a loud-mouth. He is a jerk. He doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut. He barely has any filter between what he thinks and what he says. He rips on people he doesn't like and he's generally a nuisance to organizations that are trying to push legislation through the system quickly.
These are the reasons I voted for him.

Hmmm... sounds like a great idea! Where can I sign up?

I'm assuming this 'passenger advocate' model will run along similar lines to the 'IRS Ombudsman/Taxpayer Advocate' program, where you get to present your side of the story to an employee of the government - a 'special' employee who, although trained, certified and paid by the agency that you have a complaint with, is nonetheless supposed to act as an impartial arbiter on the merits of your complaint. If they deem it to have any standing at all, your complaint will then be routed through various levels within the chain of command by your 'advocate' until it reaches someone with the authority to either act on it, bury it or send it back down the chain for 'further research'. Lather, rinse, repeat as necessary.

While waiting for a response, your TSA record will be frozen in place, so you can only hope that you won't need to fly at any point in the interim, because I'm certain that your account will be flagged with all manner of eyebrow-raising codes for the next TSO to review as you cool your heels in the airports' secondary screening corral.

Don't be shocked if the word 'arbitration' comes up somewhere during the process - we certainly wouldn't want the courts to come between us during our informal discussions re: the merits of your displeasure with the system in place. In fact, lawyering up is what we're here to avoid now, isn't it? We're just having a friendly little chat between two parties to discuss our differing viewpoints - any involvement by someone who is not really party to the matter will only make the job of an advocate that much more difficult.

I really am on your side here, you know.

I might just be the last person who understands what you're going through and can help to resolve your issue with a minimum of fuss all around.

You'd like that, wouldn't you? No fuss, no muss? As would I.

Then let's proceed, citizen.

/cynical?
//not after putting in some time with the Beast
///its' slashies are the real kind

lenfromak: I nominate:

[www.lasvegas-nv.com image 640x510]

"Ya can't just grab a guy's crank like that! That's not right!"

Hey, New York, thanks again for putting this douchebag in a position of authority for another six long years.

Schumer is one of the biggest idiots in Congress and he needs to go away.

The TSA needs to go with him.

I wonder, if I get pulled aside for additional screening and the agent pats down my groin area, is it okay to grind my hip area into his/her hand? I mean, the hand is there and the person obviously has no issue being in that place.

Oh, but all those banks that got bailouts paid them back, proving that we should have given them bailouts in the first place, and they're the right people to trust with our entire economic system.

/same sort of reasoning

Ed Finnerty: [disruptthenarrative.files.wordpress.com image 576x433]

No, and I wish to hell we could find someone who could unravel the mess he left.

The next time I fly I will make sure to eat as much bean and broccoli that I can before the flight. That way when I stand in line and refuse to go through the xray, (cancer survivor undergoing chemo) I will ask for a pat down praying that my colostomy bag explodes in their face. If anything the sheer look of horror on their poo covered faces would be worth the missed flight.

Ed Finnerty: [disruptthenarrative.files.wordpress.com image 576x433]


Fark no.

BlippityBleep: fark the TSA, and fark the entire Homeland Security Department. Neither should exist. wtf does the CIA, NSA, and FBI farking do?.

I've been asking myself that same question for years.

CrispFlows: steamingpile: Chuck Schumer is an idiot, get rid of the TSA and turn it over to private companies that can actually be held liable for bullshiat their employees do on the job.

/ironic my phones auto-correct changes schemer to schemer


I wonder if mercenary companies like Blackwater and electronic voting companies like Diebold ever got successfully sued...

By foreign governments yes, but why would you sue diebold? They have done nothing wrong or even suspicious, yet.

No, they did not give bush II the 2000 election.

Ed Finnerty: [Miss Me Yet? image]


Nope.