Fascist Pigs

I hate to fly; I enjoyed traveling years ago. I enjoyed the whole process of packing up all the things I might need and feeling really prepared. Not so anymore - almost anything and everything I might want to place in my backpack are now forboden. A decent person cannot even carry a bottle of water - although everyone knows that proper hydration is key to avoiding "jet lag".

Every time I fly within the United States I get - well pissed off. Foreign carriers with destinations in other lands are not so offensive. I remember one time, way back in 1997, when I was flying from Kuwait to Germany and I purchased a sword in the duty free area of the Kuwait City airport - I had no choice but to take it on the plane with me. Nobody questioned me, nobody thought twice about it. Air travel back then was fun and adventurous. I amused myself that if I were ever to become a character on a show like "Lost" I would be prepared with the things I carried in my pockets. I still try to live the Boy Scout creed of being prepared. (the show did not exist back then but you get what I mean).

You know the drill now, just try to exercise your God given right to travel freely within your own country - you find yourself subjected to the most ridiculous sorts of nonsense. It always seems to take me 20 minutes to get through the screening. I am almost always singled out for "random" questioning. I was even pulled aside and questioned on my last return flight from Iraq. The little imp informed me that I had set off their explosives detector - "well of course you moron", I am sure that there was residue from a lot of nasty things lingering in my clothes and equipment. That did not matter to them - they don't look at people and apply common sense - they use a big fly swatter and in the process offend the rights of a lot of good people.

Two days ago I sat in the international terminal at Inchon, South Korea - waiting to board a Korean Airlines flight to Hawaii. Over the loud speaker a friendly voice informed us that "per a request from the Transportation Security Agency we would have to undergo a second security screening". This was for everyone on the flight, we had all passed though an initial screening - the full Monty in fact - prior to entering the international concourse. I had undergone one previous to that before boarding a domestic flight within Korea enroute to Inchon.

I thought to myself, as I prepared to subject myself to another unnecessary intrusion into my personal space - "what nerve". Why would the Korean government subvert its own sovereignty to the "requests" of the TSA? Why would they allow their own citizens as well as guest in their country to be subjected to the paranoid delusions of a two bit bunch of wanna be tyrants? I don't know the answer to this - I have theories but those are not important.

It seems that America truly is leading the world - into fear, overreaction and bad judgment. You may say that these little "inconveniences" are necessary; I say that they are just part of conditioning people to accept that the government has the "right" to stick its hands in our pockets whenever and wherever it pleases. This is a dangerous precedent to allow to stand and a tragic course for a "free people" to follow.

I don't think terming the people that think these things up as "fascist pigs" is too harsh or hyperbole - I think it is a description that hits the nail right on the head.

I am done venting and plan to enjoy the rest of my vacation in Hawaii - today was grand, we went snorkeling, I got back on a board for the first time in years and I enjoyed cuisine I have been deprived of for two years.