Man, I've been busy.

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been running a little ragged.

It started with helping out with a float for the Atlanta Pride Parade.  The Libertarian Party of Georgia made its third annual appearance in the parade and also hosted an outreach booth in Atlanta's Piedmont Park.  The parade was on Sunday and took about 12 hours out of my weekend.  Totally worth it, though.  We gathered a few hundred new subscribers to our weekly online newsletter "Georgia Libertarian Online".  The LP Float had the world's largest QR code on either side that took the scanner directly to the LP Georgia sign up page.  I think we had about 125 people scan the code while we eased on down the road.

Monday morning following the Pride weekend, I hopped on a flight from Atlanta to Harrisburg, PA to visit a customer.  The outbound airport experience was nothing out of the ordinary.  I fly so much that I know most of the TSA agents by name, all 300 of them.

I ended up working in my client's manufacturing plant about 70 hours over the next 4 days.  My feet and back are still sore a week later.

My return trip started out ok, but as I approached the TSA screening area, the agents stopped using the magnetometer (walk through metal detector) and fired up the Microwave Oven Naked Body Scanner. Now, I have no use for the security theater that goes on in airports these days and have no intention of having my DNA scrambled in a Jiffy Pop popcorn cooker, so I "opted out" and had an "enhanced pat down".

This was no "pat down".  I am a former Federal Law Enforcement Officer and have been trained in the art of searching suspects as part of an arrest.  I truly thought a cavity search was coming. I asked Barney Fife how he liked poking and prodding the genitals of complete strangers.  That got a smirk.  I then recited the 4th Amendment of the US Constitution to him.

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

This only pissed him off.  He attempted to tell me that it didn't apply, since I was not under arrest. Hmm, I think he confused that pesky Constitutional Amendment with the Miranda Act.  Obviously, pointing out his mistake led to a little Constitutional Convention of our own with the TSA agent, his supervisor and local law enforcement. I offered all of the participants a parting gift from my briefcase (Campaign for Liberty Pocket Constitutions with a foreword by Congressman Ron Paul) and made my way to the gate.

The following Saturday, I was honored to take part in a round table discussion for television on "We Speak".  The subject matter for the show: Constitutional Powers - Expressed Vs. Implied.  It was a ton of fun teaching the Executive Director of the GA Democratic Party a few things about why her interpretation of the General Welfare clause is just plain wrong, but that will have to wait for another post.

I spent this week catching up, so I apologize for my absence.

A New Year brings new ways for the government to infringe upon our rights.

In a brave stand against the TSA, a Charlottesville, VA man stripped naked at a security checkpoint in Richmond yesterday. On the chest and stomach of 21 year old Aaron Tobey were written these words: " Amendment 4: The right of the people to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures will not be violated".
Mr. Tobey was witnessed at the checkpoint "absent of shirt and pants in full public view, exposing language regarding the 4th amendment, on his chest and abdomen". He was promptly arrested for disorderly conduct, given a citation and released. The article did not mention if he was allowed to continue on his journey via air.
As frustration grows amongst air travelers who are very vocal to the airlines, many airports are considering dropping the TSA in favor of private security firms, a move that many Libertarians, such as myself, consider the right thing to do.
We all must remain diligent and steadfast in our rights and challenge the unconstitutional behavior of the Federal Government every time it occurs or we will find ourselves one generation away from totalitarianism.

More Security Theater Delivered By The TSA

A report from ABC News this morning reveals just what we all thought about the TSA in the first place. They are ineffective in doing anything other than violating our rights.

"Last fall, as he had done hundreds of times, Iranian-American businessman Farid Seif passed through security at a Houston airport and boarded an international flight.

He didn't realize he had forgotten to remove the loaded snub nose "baby" Glock pistol from his computer bag. But TSA officers never noticed as his bag glided along the belt and was x-rayed. When he got to his hotel after the three-hour flight, he was shocked to discover the gun traveled unnoticed from Houston. "

John Pistole, new head of the TSA has admitted that in tests at several airports, where guns, bomb parts and knives are placed "control baggage" to test the TSA Screeners, anywhere from 70% to in one airports case 100% of them are missed and allowed to flow through to the passenger.

How many billions of dollars have we wasted on these theatrics? It's time to stop and time to abolish the TSA.