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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mac Con Ulaidh who wrote (9084)	11/5/2001 11:40:21 PM
From: E	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 281500

The wand often grazes you. Me, I should say. I dare say if they are suspicious, it might touch you more than normally. Of course you shouldn't be thrown against a wall, but that wasn't suggested. Touching was. I think if the wand grazed her as they were doing a thorough search (and she hasn't said she was struck with it, the issue was touching, not abusing; and maybe the security person was the one "set on edge," by an "angry manner," we don't know) why is that "going too far"? The person doing the scan is some lowlevel airport employee trying to do a thorough job, presumably. I agree-- she knew about September 11, knew how tense people are in the wake of it about security, and nonetheless had a mind set, as she went to get on that plane, that made her make a big, self-important fuss over a wand and a National Guardsman touching her as she wiggled about, or whatever she did to register her indignation at the search. The important question is why, how, and if she was flagged on that computer. If she was, indeed, flagged, she probably had a right to be upset. But she was, is my impression, an idiot in how she handled it with the locals doing their jobs, imo. She should have nailed that statement down and found out the name of the person who told her she was flagged, for example. I once had my purse searched in a store because they thought I had been near the cigarette machine too long (i don't smoke) and someone had been stealing from it and they'd been looking for the person using a hidden security camera. I hadn't been messing with their machine, but being sympathetic to storeowners who get shoplifted blind, was happily cooperative. A friend was surprised, when I told the story, that I wasn't at all annoyed. She would have protested and been outraged. And I had much more right to refuse to have my purse searched than the Green person did not to be scanned as the scanning personnel felt was necessary. I mention this because I think her mindset wasn't as mine would have been. I won't be complaining about a wand being shoved up my arse, if it helps keep the flight safe for me and my fellow passengers. But if my name is flagged on a computer, I want to know why. Edit: I just heard Chris Matthews say he was pulled out of a line at the airport and frisked, and had every pocket of his luggage searched, a spot check. Frisking is definite touching. He wasn't complaining. The issue is the computer.