Slashdot Mirror
EPIC Files Motion About Ignored Body Scanner Ruling
OverTheGeicoE writes "The Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a motion in court yesterday regarding the court's ignored year-old ruling on EPIC vs. DHS. EPIC is asking the court to require DHS to start taking public comment within 60 days or, as an alternative, forbid DHS from using body scanners in primary airport screening altogether. If the court orders the latter, that would give EPIC what it originally sought in its lawsuit. Meanwhile, for what it's worth, the related petition on whitehouse.gov has a little more than half the signatures it needs to get an official 'response.' The signing period ends on August 9."
A real conservative would insist that all would-be passengers get both, of course.
Of course a real conservative would tell the government to fuck off with scanning, spying, and any warrentless invasive nonsense. And ignore liberal disinformation.
Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
In the US, self-described conservatives generally fall into at least 3 major groups:
1. Libertarians, who primarily believe that government should stay out of their business. Libertarian conservatives will oppose the TSA on the grounds that it infringes on personal liberty, and on the grounds that we have to pay for it. Other common libertarian-conservative positions include believing that taxes are too high and that people should be able to make any kind of contract that they want without government interference.
2. Authoritarians, who primarily believe that people who are in charge are in charge for good reason and should be followed. Major subgroups here would be the Religious Right, and military veterans who believe in the rightness of their cause. These folks generally support the TSA on the grounds that George W Bush was a good man and therefor must have been doing the right thing when he created it. Other common authoritarian-conservative positions include opposing abortion, and supporting the War on Drugs.
3. Group supremacists, who primarily believe that people who are like them are better than others and deserve to run things. These sometimes overlap with the authoritarians (e.g. Christian nationalists), but also include racists (which by most surveys comprise something like 10-15% of the US population). These folks vary: They like the fact that it's making life unpleasant for Arab Muslims, but dislike the fact that it's making life unpleasant for upstanding citizens like them. Other common group supremacist positions include support Christian prayers in public schools, English-only laws, and anti-Mexican immigration.
There are definitely overlaps between the groups, but you'll see arguments made from all 3 positions show up regularly in conservative circles.
And yes, liberals have similar divides. That's why boiling down all political positions to a 1-axis spectrum is stupid.
I am officially gone from
Because both sides keep re-electing the same d&mn representatives to Congress?
If you want the TSA to go away, it's time to stop being afraid to vote for an unknown 3rd party or party-less candidate instead of an entrenched Republicrat/Democan incumbent.
Ask yourself a simple question before you vote, do you really think that an uneducated, toothless wife-beater-wearing hick from Virginia will do worse for our country in Congress than people who have worked their for 20 years and base every decision on trying to keep their job next cycle? My answer is always "no" to that question, and I live in California.
Political office was never intended to be a career. It was supposed to be more like the jury system.
I swear they give me mod points to shut me up.
Oh I signed it... Get my name on the "No-Fly" list? Heck with that, I put myself on it 5 years ago before the body scanners were put in place. I've only flown once since the implementation of the TSA, and that was only due to winning a free trip to DIsneyworld.. My husband was screened for explosives both ways for having the audacity to be confined to a wheelchair. They throw away the bottle of soda I forgot in my carry-on on our way home, which also had my husband screened for so long (even without the "SSSS" designation) that we nearly missed our flight back from Orlando that we arrived over an hour in advance for.
The last vacation we took, and probably the next few; was/will be to places we can readily access in my car. Yes, I know I'm far more likely to be injured/killed driving than by flying. I have no fear of flying, but I refuse to submit to the modern security apparatus, to be irradiated or groped. I've never been a "frequent flyer" but for about 25 years or so, I flew about 2-3 roundtrips a year. We both have medical conditions which do not need to be exacerbated while causing us humiliation at the groping hands of some mouthbreathers hired off a pizza box. If and when some sanity returns to the airport screening process, we'll be more than happy to fly regularly again. But about the only thing I can see that will get me on a plane today would be the death or serious illness of my parents/siblings.
As to being bombarded by political info? Rand Paul probably already figured out that was not such a bright idea when I and many other /.'ers signed his anti-TSA petition. Thankfully my unsubscribe request was eventually honored, but that's what spam filters are for anyway. As to the risk to the current administration? Assuming a human has ever actually read all the posts I've made here and other sites, (which I'm certain have been collected and correlated automatically into several private and government databases anyway) then I think they can safely conclude that President Obama will not get my vote again, but Mitt Romney won't receive my vote either. I still don't know who'll I'll vote for, or if I'll just write in "None of the Above" but until I find a candidate from any party whose platform even approximately matches my views which run the gamut between conservative, liberal, and libertarian; no one's getting my vote for president.
So for any aspiring presidential, congressional, and other politicians who seek my vote; these are some of my core issues and beliefs:
1) Defund the TSA, maintain common sense procedures such as reinforced cockpit doors, metal detectors, and canine patrols. Also improve the vetting and screening of airport employees, vendors, and contractors.
2) End the "War on Drugs." Tax and regulate cannaboids, amphetamines, hallucinogens, and narcotics much the way alcohol, tobacco, and/or prescription drugs are at present. This will greatly reduce the power and violence of Mexican drug cartels, and reduce gang violence in America, and reduce our overall prison population. Taxes raised from this legalization should go to real education of the dangers of drugs, and not "Reefer Madness" style scare tactics. Taxes raised should also go to counseling, detox and rehabilitation efforts to those adversely affected by drug abuse.
3) Raise taxes on the wealthy and the middle class alike. Our debt cannot be controlled by spending cuts alone, we also have to raise revenue broadly. It will take someone willing to advocate such a politically unpopular decision. On this issue alone, someone like Laurence Kotlikoff would win my vote, but there's little information on what else he stands for, and not all that is, is in sync with my views. But I have to give him credit for making an unpopular but necessary step his chief selling point.
4) Improve education for all. By this I don't mean inflexible testing standards such as NCLB. But investing heavily in education from preschool to advanced degrees,
Javascript, cookies, flash, and ActiveX must be enabled in order to view this sig.