The TSA is turning our country into a police state.
The lawmaker behind a bill Texas that would levy felony charges against overly-touchy security personnel may be staunchly Republican, but he truly believes his cause isn't one tied to the political left or right.
"We're talking about what would be a criminal act in any other place," Rep. David Simpson (R) told Raw Story on Monday. "If you viewed someone naked without their permission or consent, or as a condition of travel, it would be sexual harassment or vouyerism. If you touched people's privates, that would be sexual assault.
"This is not a left or right issue," he added. "They are treating American citizens with great indignity, and we've got to make this right."
What we're saying here is, these bureaucrats have gone too far," he continued. "We're not against national defense; we're not against security. We just don't want to do it at the expense of our liberties. The terrorists want to take away our liberties and here we have our very own government terrorizing innocent travelers. Traveling is not a criminal act. You need probable cause to conduct a search.
"Unless there's reason to believe someone has an explosive or intends to commit a criminal act, you shouldn't be treating them as a criminal and that's what we're doing. It's un-American and it needs to stop. C.S. Lewis once wrote ... that tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive, and I agree with him. They're trying to make us think we're safer, but we're not."
"It needs to stop somewhere," he insisted. "If we don't nip this thing in the bud it's gonna come to our sidewalks, to our football games. The DHS was considering as recent as five years ago doing covert scanning of the public, but they've denied pursuing that any further. That they would consider it shows they have no regard for the Fourth Amendment."
Link:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/03/08/exclusive-if-we-dont-fight-tsa-like-security-coming-to-sidewalks-football-games-texas-rep-warns/