I've been flying since I was a small child, and until now I have never been afraid to fly.

Of course, it's not the actual flying that I fear so much as an insane, out-of-control government which is now treating American citizens to humiliating and invasive searches as a condition of boarding a plane. This appalling personal account illustrates what these bureaucratic fiends have in store for you if you don't cooperate:

I began to make my way to the stairs to exit the airport, when I was approached by another man in slacks and a sport coat. He was accompanied by the officer that had escorted me to the ticketing area and Mr. Silva. He informed me that I could not leave the airport. He said that once I start the screening in the secure area, I could not leave until it was completed. Having left the area, he stated, I would be subject to a civil suit and a $10,000 fine. I asked him if he was also going to fine the 6 TSA agents and the local police officer who escorted me from the secure area. After all, I did exactly what I was told. He said that they didn't know the rules, and that he would deal with them later. They would not be subject to civil penalties. I then pointed to Mr. Silva and asked if he would be subject to any penalties. He is the agents' supervisor, and he directed them to escort me out. The man informed me that Mr. Silva was new and he would not be subject to penalties, either. He again asserted the necessity that I return to the screening area. When I asked why, he explained that I may have an incendiary device and whether or not that was true needed to be determined. I told him that I would submit to a walk through the metal detector, but that was it; I would not be groped. He told me that their procedures are on their website, and therefore, I was fully informed before I entered the airport; I had implicitly agreed to whatever screening they deemed appropriate. I told him that San Diego was not listed on the TSA's website as an airport using Advanced Imaging Technology, and I believed that I would only be subject to the metal detector. He replied that he was not a webmaster, and I asked then why he was referring me to the TSA's website if he didn't know anything about it. I again refused to re-enter the screening area.

he turned to me and began to explain that he was going to do a "standard" pat down. (I thought to myself, "great, not one of those gropings like I've been reading about".) After he described, the pat down, I realized that he intended to touch my groin. After he finished his description but before he started the pat down, I looked him straight in the eye and said, "if you touch my junk, I'll have you arrested." He, a bit taken aback, informed me that he would have to involve his supervisor because of my comment.

It's a shame to see a once proud and free people being reduced to abject peonage simply because of a few nutcase terrorists who are willing to blow themselves up. I find it supremely ironic that when the terrorists have had their attempts at carnage aborted in mid-flight, it has usually been done by the very passengers that our lame excuse for a government so distrusts.

I don't know what more to say other than repeat myself:

If we're going to talk about giving up some rights for the safety of everybody, doesn't it seem logical that the fewer people who have to give up rights, the better?

Instead, there seems to be growing tacit acceptance of an absurd proposition -- that it is better to let people who want to blow themselves up fly and look up everyone's butthole than look up the buttholes only of people who want to blow themselves up.

[...]

What am I missing here?

Is the goal to move toward a world where people who believe in religious suicide have a right to fly, and to better facilitate this we will all bend over to accommodate them?

The only thing we can do is boycott the bastards.

Perhaps the new Congress will have the balls to stop funding the petty tyrants who insist on fondling ours under color of law.

MORE: Don't miss M. Simon's earlier post on the subject of TSA screening. A young woman (described as "smoking hot") was singled out for backscatter screening (which she refused) and then when she refused to allow the screeners to squeeze her breasts she was placed in handcuffs, her ticket was ripped up.

This is happening in the United States of America.