PICK YOUR POISON---PAT DOWN,PICTURE, OR THE OTHER "P" WORD???

Desperate times call for desperate measures---are we getting too desperate about our security and are you ready for the current wave of public outcry regarding airline travel and the accompanying body search precautions? Or perhaps I should say, are you ready for the next invasion of your privacy----make that a literal invasion of your privacy. "Would you prefer a very thorough pat-down, Sir, or a very complete and revealing x-ray of your entire, naked body?" One man has already revolted, and may get a hefty fine to remind him of his lack of rights when traveling by air. And now comes the news that Muslim women may not have to be searched below their necks--for religious reasons, don't you know. Talk about public outcry---if Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security Secretary, lets this one pass, she may feel not only the wrath of the American public, but the airline industry's as well, if people resort to other means of travel---and even the pilots, themselves, refuse to fly under such conditions.

As I write , this issue is escalating at jet like speed. Law suits have already been filed, and the debate is raging. Has the American public finally reached a boiling point regarding just how much they will tolerate and trade off for their security? As so often happens, the crux of the matter finally becomes apparent, as the outer layers of protest peel away the more obvious objections----yes, it's incredibly invasive, highly indignant, arguably humiliating, and totally against all that we stand for in our freedom loving society----and that brings us to the very thing we, as a country most abhor---the thought of a "police state" becoming ever more possible, as little by little, security measure by measure, necessary mandate by mandate, we give up our rights---in this case, our very personal rights. It is not only counter to all that we stand for, but ironic that in order to protect our way of life, we must give up much of what makes us who we are. But is there not a different, better way to ensure that people with evil, destructive motives and means, are not boarding our planes with us? Already, theTransportation Security Administration is considering altering and easing the new pat down and x-ray procedures in response to the public controversy. However, to put it bluntly--- if a plane blows up in the sky, will we not wish we had done any and everything we could to avoid such a horrific assault? We have to do, what we have to do. Right? That is the premise, the argument, and the trigger for the pat down and x-ray procedures we now face. But have we actually done all that we can do? Like the elephant in the room, there is another obvious. but not so palatable alternative.

And now we have come to the real, not so pretty, nor politically correct core of the debate--- its name is" passenger profiling". Israel does it quite successfully. But we have been more than
reluctant to use this method, even as we stared at the black, horrific hole of 9/11 and an enemy we knew was not done with us yet. To profile was to discriminate and tread upon our very sacred laws of civil rights. There are many who still feel this way. It tears unhistorically into the fabric of our culture and our values, and so we have been willing to allow all of us to be profiled, rather than just a suspicious few---grandmothers, children, wheelchair passengers, and now even our airline crews, all are subjected to the same scrutiny. But perhaps we have arrived at a point of being forced to look with a cold and pragmatic eye at our limited choices, as the terrorists overcome our security barriers, and back us into a corner. Some say they will have won, if we become a nation of suspicious paranoid profilers. But have they not already won on a larger scale, as we all, like sheep, succumb to allowing our very private selves to be probed and x-rayed? The argument will include those who say profiling will not work, as the terrorists begin to recruit those who do not fit the stereo-typical mold. And that is true, but not yet or in very many cases. Time is still on our side.and perhaps we should use it while we can. It would seem a huge deterrent to implement at least some sort of profiling in order that not all of us are denied our basic personal freedoms. Perhaps it is time to get mad, get real, and say like the character in the long ago movie--"we're mad as hell, and we're not going to take it anymore." If that means profiling , then hopefully we can be forgiven our attempt to protect ourselves without bowing to draconian methods. It is the price of admission, and it is what it is. War? If not, it's close enough. Pat down or picture, Sir, or Ma-am ,or child? Neither, thank you--- not if there's another way. Desperate times call for desperate measures----