Daedalus Shrugged
by William Norman Grigg
by William Norman Grigg
Recently by William Norman Grigg: The War Party's Jihad in Oklahoma
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The function of any "security" checkpoint, as Richard Ben Cramer observes in his valuable book How Israel Lost, "is to show who's boss."
"I know of one school headmaster, a dignified older man, who passed the same checkpoint every morning, and was made to undress — not once but often — and stand naked while his students passed by," relates Cramer. "This was richly humorous — that old man was (formerly) so conscious of the honor of his position."
The elderly man's residual sense of dignity made him an irresistible target for the power-intoxicated armed bullies he confronted while traveling to and from work.
During one of his visits to Israel, Cramer asked a checkpoint guard (a recent arrival from Russia) why such humiliation was inflicted on elderly and obviously harmless people.
"Because [of] the bad attitude — you know?" replied the thug. "If they are acting like they are good, [then] we are the bad one. Then, you must show them control."
You must show them control.
You must make them submit.
Or, as one TSA commissarina repeatedly bellowed when 71-year-old Robert Perry complained about his mistreatment at an airport checkpoint: "I have power! I have power!" That outburst was triggered when Perry — who, like the elderly Palestinian described above, had been forced to disrobe in public — plaintively asked to speak with the supervisor of the tax-devouring chair-moistener who had abused him.
Each time a TSA drone places hands on a captive, he is committing an act of criminal assault. This was proven, in principle, when a victim of TSA-inflicted sexual molestation retaliated in kind against her assailant.
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In 2004, 62-year-old Appleton, Wisconsin resident Phyllis Dintenfass was singled out for "secondary screening" when something she wore set off the metal detector at the Outagamie County Regional Airport. Mrs. Dintenfass put up no resistance as TSA supervisor Anita Gostisha used an electronic "wand" to scan for metal objects. But she understandably rebelled when Gostisha used the back of her hands to check the area beneath Dintenfass's breasts.
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According to Dintenfass, her reaction was to mimic the unwanted and uninvited physical contact while exclaiming, "How would you like it if I did that to you?"
Gostisha's version of the event is much more melodramatic. She claims that the middle-aged woman — described by all who knew her as mild and not prone to violence — "slammed her against the wall." Leaving aside the fact that this would be an entirely justified response to a sexual assault, Gostisha's version was disputed by her victim and not corroborated by any other witnesses.
However, since Gostisha is a member of the Regime's punitive caste, her person — unlike that of her victim — is sacred. Accordingly, Dintenfass was arrested and charged with "assaulting" a federal official. She was found guilty of that purported crime and sentenced to a year of probation and 100 hours of "community service."
Victorious federal prosecutor Tim Funnell insisted that Mrs. Dintenfass "punished Anita Gostisha for doing her job." U.S. Attorney Steven Bispukic piled on, protesting that TSA officers, who perform a "vital function,"are "entitled to protection from assault" — that is, they're entitled to "protection" from the same treatment they inflict on their betters. It's difficult to find a better illustration of the principle that government is simply a criminal syndicate that has achieved impunity.
At the time Mrs. Dintenfass was molested in Appleton, the treatment she endured was exceptional. As of October 29, it is the norm. The new pat-down procedures bear the ominous adjective "enhanced," an overtaxed official euphemism last pressed into service to normalize torture. TSA functionaries are now instructed to use open hands and fingers "to go over one's body, including the genital area and breasts," explains a protest letter filed on behalf of a group of airline pilots disgusted with the expanded checkpoint ritual.
The TSA insists that "security" considerations prevent them from telling potential victims what to expect next time they're sentenced to commercial air travel. Capt. Mike Cleary, head of the US Airways pilots union, was able to summarize the new molestation protocol on the basis of conversations he had with TSA personnel.
"Security" drones are now instructed "to run their hand up the inside of your leg until they meet resistance" — ideally in the form of a right cross, but I suspect the expected "resistance" would be anatomical in nature. "In addition," continues Cleary's description, "they are to use a circular pat-down routine from the small of the stomach, around through a person's crotch, and up into the small of the back."
Some comedian — most likely the perceptive and much-missed George Carlin — once speculated that football may be an elaborate ruse to justify the action of one man putting his hands between the legs of another. While that isn't true of football, a similar principle might well be at work in the TSA's new guidelines for airport molestation. After all, the fetid, Stygian talent pool from which the Homeland Security apparatus skims its population of peepers and gropers abounds in people of the sort who shouldn't be permitted to place hands on others under any circumstances.
November 15, 2010
William Norman Grigg [send him mail] publishes the Pro Libertate blog and hosts the Pro Libertate radio program.
Copyright © 2010 William Norman Grigg