{"id":680,"date":"2010-11-24T14:16:48","date_gmt":"2010-11-24T08:16:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/?p=680"},"modified":"2010-11-24T14:16:48","modified_gmt":"2010-11-24T08:16:48","slug":"i-didnt-say-%e2%80%98junk%e2%80%99","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/?p=680","title":{"rendered":"I didn’t say \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcjunk\u00e2\u20ac\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did John Pistole have the timing down just right? As head of the Transportation Security Administration, he waited . . . and waited for the start of the busiest travel time of the year to surprise air travelers with three options: submit to a full-body screening, agree to an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153enhanced\u00e2\u20ac\u009d body pat-down, or stay home.<\/p>\n

Thanks to our oldest son Stan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision to move to, marry in and become a father in Denmark, my wife, Bonnie, and I do a lot more air traveling than before. Much more. And in the past I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve written considerably about my conviction that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m one of the few travelers singled out constantly so others can check my stuff.<\/p>\n

I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153junk.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d That interesting choice of words comes from a John Tyner, a traveler in San Diego, whose cause has become viral after he resisted going through a full-body scan that, though less touchy-feelie than the pat-down, is more \u00e2\u20ac\u0153observant.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Tyner said to an airport security agent, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If you touch my junk, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have you arrested.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d His threat apparently has spawned a rallying cry for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Opt Out Day,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d today. That plan would assuredly bog down TSA workers and deliver a message, sort of a passenger rebellion.<\/p>\n

In addition to the numerous times I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been singled out at security and been asked the same, painfully tedious and repetitious questions, we had a pre-TSA incident years ago.<\/p>\n

Let me explain:<\/p>\n

During the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dc70s, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d spend my summers in journalism school in Columbia, Mo. My family would drive there with me, and after a week, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d take them to the Kansas City International Airport for their flight back home. In 1979 we had our 11-month-old, Benjie, in a stroller. As I dropped them off (non-ticketed people were allowed in the terminal at that time), I noticed an airport official patting Benjie, around the collar.<\/p>\n

What seemed like an affectionate gesture (and why not? He was a precious tater tot!) really was a security measure. What if this mild-mannered family from New Mexico had used their toddler as a means of smuggling in a pistol or a nuclear arsenal?<\/p>\n

Security was much more lax in those pre-9\/11 days, but it did exist. There had been a number of terrorist attacks throughout the world, but nothing yet the likes of the World Trade Center disasters.<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m among those who believe passenger privacy is important. A well-circulated photograph shows a TSA official performing an enhanced pat-down on a traveler in Denver. That image makes me believe that such closeness would convince the that the TSA has simply gone too far. Any more pressure by the TSA man would have caused the prospective passenger to levitate.<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s true, TSA officials are merely doing their job, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to imagine that the typical young woman finishing her college exams and jaunting to another city to visit family has really stowed explosives in that 4 oz. plastic bottle of lotion. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s far-fetched to assume the 71-year-old retired teacher has enough explosives tucked in his sandals to level an airport.<\/p>\n

Other than finding some other mode of transportation, does the traveler have real options? Well, we could all run for and be elected to congress. The New York Times reported Friday that John Boehner, the house-speaker-to-be, was able to avoid the full-body scan as well as the more invasive pat-down. In fact, in his commercial flight, he and his entourage were allowed to skip security checks altogether, and they went directly to the plane. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one of the perks of being a public servant.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2<\/p>\n

Something destined to keep people busy for weeks comes in the form of several weird movie titles, submitted by teacher, poet and wordsmith Richard Bodner of Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

As you will recall, a few weeks ago, I dreamed up movie scenarios and asked readers to supply the movie title (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Done with the Mind\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as opposed to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Gone with the Wind; The Perminator\/The Terminator).<\/p>\n

In Bodner\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s case, he occasionally supplies the titles and let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s us imagine what zany plot and cast of characters would justify such titles. Here are some of his submissions\/concoctions:<\/p>\n

Of local interest:<\/p>\n