UNREASONABLE SEARCH

Today is October 6, 2010. It was 34 years ago today that Cubana Flight 455 was hijacked resulting in the death of 73 people. This event, among others, led to the practice of "AIRPORT SCREENING". I am writing this to ask each of you to demand an end to illegal searches in the name of safety. Prior to 1970, US Airports had minimal security. A series of hijackings and the bombing of flight 455 led to increased airport security in the 1970s.

Airport Screening is the popular euphemism for unreasonable [illegal] search of airline passengers. This failed process has led to the collective "ends justify the means" thinking regarding terrorist attacks. Remember, the 9/11 hijackers ALL went through the airport screening process and it FAILED to catch them. In over thirty four years of searching at a cost of trillions of dollars, the TSA and the former private screeners have not caught a single terrorist.

Worse than the illegal insult of constant search and the cost which could have sent every child in Amerika to college, Airport Screening has spawned the NEW SEARCH INDUSTRY. Today you can't go to Disneyland without being searched. Dodger Stadium searches people too. In the coming years, you will not be able to go to a grocery store or be able to take a piss unless you agree to be searched. This costly unnecessary stupid invasion of privacy has to stop.

Every holiday period, Thanksgiving at LAX comes to mind, the TV News shows some dumb lady waiting in a long line to be "screened." They only allow the lady on TV who agrees to say the following: "OH, I don't mind the wait as long as it makes it safer for everyone to fly." In reality they had to reject the 50 other people who complained that Unreasonable Search is protected by the Fourth Amendment.

The Fourth Amendment is pretty clear: " The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Amerikans fought to defend this fundament right and we need to fight again to end unreasonable search and prevent it from expanding.