I'm on my honeymoon now.

Edit (12/1): Because nobody seems to get this post, the sign has ICICLES hanging off of it.

Letter to Senator Hatch/Congressman Chaffetz

This is actually the second time I've ever written my senator. It's a little over the top, but here it is:

Dear Senator Hatch,

The TSA has recently begun implementing a few new security measures. First, they've begun using a backscatter X-Ray machine that some reports and newspaper articles have indicated might be of such a level to cause increased risk of cancer. Also, the ACLU (an organization that I'm normally not a fan of) has raised questions about the possibility of the machines being too invasive and the pictures being so detailed they are likely to be pornographic in nature.

However, the TSA will allow you to opt out of their backscatter X-ray machine if you agree to an apparently public pat-down bordering on physical sexual harassment, one in which 8 year old kids now get to be told that their "special parts" are only to be touched by themselves, maybe Mommy or Daddy when getting washed, doctors, . . . and TSA employees. Wait, what?

Pilots unions are beginning to fight back against this additional security, and several articles I read over the past few days began to openly wonder if people will simply stop flying. There are indications that Europeans are beginning to consider traveling to the states not worth it because of our additional security that is bordering on, of not crossing over into, harassment and doesn't seem to be making us that much safer anyway.

I'm worried that, because I'm not a pilot, I won't have anybody to stand up for me and say that the choice between either having pornographic images taken of me by a machine that may cause cancer or being groped in public by a government employee is a false dichotomy that I ought not be subjected to just because I want to go home for the holidays to visit my family with my new wife. Will you stand up for me, and help reign in the TSA from these unnecessary, invasive, embarrassing, and ineffective procedures?

Thanks for your time.

Yours,

Carl Cranney

P.S. My address is in MD but I am a registered Utah voter and you are my senator, so don't let that fool you.

Sources (for what they're worth):
Pilots and passengers rail at new airport patdowns.
Airport body-scan radiation under scrutiny.
Unions tell pilots to avoid body scanners at airports.
For the first time, the TSA meets resistance.

Also, do you think I should wear one of these when I go home for Xmas this year?



Edit (11/13), I also sent this letter to Jason Chaffetz, my congressman.

Edit (11/15): I also joined twitter so I could tweet with a group of redditors and others @ CNN and the white house. Messages as follows:
@cnn Mr. President: Would you send Michelle/Sasha/Malia through TSA screening? Naked photos or invasive genital groping, you get to pick
@whitehouse Mr. President: Would you send Michelle/Sasha/Malia through TSA screening? Naked photos or invasive genital groping, you choose