RDU Jetblast
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...and it may help airlines grow
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-11-18/how-airport-security-is-killing-us
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-11-18/how-airport-security-is-killing-us
here is a budget cut that I can embrace
- Thread starter RDU Jetblast
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SparrowHawk
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RDU Jetblast
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Talk about not wasting a good crisis. Our leaders jumped on this bone. Time to let it go. Want to shrink govt? Lets start here!
From the link :
Yet the TSA still commands a budget of nearly $8 billion—which is why the agency is left with too many officers and not enough to do. The TSA’s “Top Good Catches of 2011,” reported on its blog, did include 1,200 firearms and—their top find—a single batch of C4 explosives (though those were discovered only on the return flight). A longer list of TSA’s confiscations would include a G.I. Joe action doll’s 4-inch plastic rifle (“it’s a replica”) and a light saber. And needless to say, the TSA didn’t spot a single terrorist trying to board an airline in the U.S., notes Bruce Schneier.
From the link :
Yet the TSA still commands a budget of nearly $8 billion—which is why the agency is left with too many officers and not enough to do. The TSA’s “Top Good Catches of 2011,” reported on its blog, did include 1,200 firearms and—their top find—a single batch of C4 explosives (though those were discovered only on the return flight). A longer list of TSA’s confiscations would include a G.I. Joe action doll’s 4-inch plastic rifle (“it’s a replica”) and a light saber. And needless to say, the TSA didn’t spot a single terrorist trying to board an airline in the U.S., notes Bruce Schneier.
yoyodyne
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Don't stop just with the TSA, the whole of the DHS is an abomination. DoD already did most of what the DHS is supposed to do.
eolesen
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Uh, actually, no. Customs and Immigration & Border Patrol all operated independently of DoD for, well, centuries...
RDU Jetblast
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that can't be right. Before the TSA, airport screening was conducted by privatetly owned firms. But a republican president thought it best to federalize the job and grow the gov't. That can't be right either.
In another Bloomberg article, the author said tsa stands for "Thousands Standing Around"!
In another Bloomberg article, the author said tsa stands for "Thousands Standing Around"!
SparrowHawk
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Of let's see what TSA really means
Thousands Standing Around
Trained Shoe Analysts
Trained Sniffers of Alcohol
Terrorist Support Agency
And the winner is?
Thousands Standing Around
Trained Shoe Analysts
Trained Sniffers of Alcohol
Terrorist Support Agency
And the winner is?
RDU Jetblast
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Hahaha! Love them all! Trained shoe analyst is the winner!
xUT
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eolesen
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As easy as it is to blame Bush... this was about as bi-partisan of an action as it gets.
1) the Aviation and Transportation Security Act was sponsored in the Senate by a Democrat -- Fritz Hollings. The House bill was sponsored by a Republican (Don Young from AK).
2) It was co-sponsored by 30 other Senators, including Barbara Boxer, Harry Reid, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Daniel Inouye, Diane Feinstein and Bill Nelson (yes, they're Democrats) as well as a bunch of Republicans including John McCain. The full list is at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:SN01447😡@@P
3) the Senate vote was 100-0 in favor; the House vote was 410-9
I know, it's popular now to just blame Bush, but you seem to forget there was considerable pressure from the airline unions and the media post 9/11, pointing out that security was being assigned to the lowest bidder, and that having individual airlines being responsible for managing those contracts was a risk, since they'd want to keep costs low.
Airlines wanted to be out of the middle-man position as well.
The simple step would have been for TSA or the airports to step in and be a contract administrator, but just like Obamacare, the rush to "do something" overcame "do it right" when it came down to creating the TSA...
Perhaps logic will again step in, but not with this Congress and Administration.
Kev3188
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Wasn't the original plan to have the TSA design/implement policy and the regulate it, with screening itself being performed by another party?
eolesen
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Don't recall. I just remember the Act being a regulatory snowball as it was being implemented...
Regardless, it's time to walk it back a bit, and stop hiring thousands of government workers.
Then again, now that they're union, that ain't gonna happen.
Regardless, it's time to walk it back a bit, and stop hiring thousands of government workers.
Then again, now that they're union, that ain't gonna happen.
yoyodyne
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Agree, however, are they any better now that they are part of that huge, inefficient DHS bureaucracy?
RDU Jetblast
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I blame bush because I remember HIM rolling out the dept of homeland security. Not a senator or congessman.
And then to have republicans tell me that that we should cut spending on "entitlements" after they handed homeland a blank ck is offensive to me.
