Monday, January 23, 2012

Note to Napolitano

Here's a short addendum to the training manual for your TSA gate goons:
They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.
It comes from the United States Constitution, Art I, Sec 6. Should you be unfamiliar with the document, Madame Secretary, let me simply point out that Article I deals with the legislature, and the pronoun at the start of the sentence quoted, describes Senators and Representatives, aka Congress-critters.

Sen. Rand Paul Detained by TSA, Misses Flight

If you are passing through "Grope-n-Grab", required to sit in a chair, miss your flight, then by any logical definition of the term you are being detained. For a TSA spokesperson to say that wasn't a detention is disingenuous at best.

The Constitution was thinking of political activists stopping an elected official from discharging their duties for purposes of obstructing governmental action. I don't think they ever thought that the executive branch might interfere with the legislative branch in such an egregious manner.

I'm also reluctant to jump to the conclusion that there is a linkage to the fact that the junior senator is the son of an opposition party Presidential candidate.

No, my default conclusion is that this is just one more example of total incompetence by a bureaucracy staffed with affirmative action goons delighted with their authority to intimidate, embarrass, harass and interfere with the rest of us. From the top down the TSA is a misguided solution to a problem that hasn't adequately been defined yet.

5 comments:

bongobear said...

Agreed. The TSA started out with good intentions and morphed into the giant Blob-like bureaucracy we live with today. I recently retired after 27 years as a professional pilot and the TSA was by far the worst part of my day.

foxone12 said...

Seems we are rapidly becoming a police state. I don't say that lightly. Do we even know our rights anymore, or who can tell us to do what and enforce the order? Plus, the TSA goons are just flat nasty spoken and nasty acting. No courtesies. No 'please' without a sharp edge to it. Visitors to our country, who are used to politeness at home, are surely sorry they came.

Hippo said...

Can't believe Senator Paul let them get away with that. If I were a Senator and that happened to me, I would throw a hissy fit the like of which those TSA goons could not imagine in their wildest dreams and some heads would roll. But that's just me.

MagiK said...

Police State, if that can happen to a Congress Critter think what can happen to a mere mortal CITIZEN.

PickYourBattles.Net said...

Enjoyed this blost post Ed.