No Free Speech Here!

For those of you who don't read Slashdot, you might want to read this article. A frequent flyer was traveling through Milwaukee's airport, and had written "Kip Hawley is an idiot" on the clear plastic baggie that TSA wants passengers to use. For those who don't know who Kip Hawley is, he is the Assistant Secretary who is the TSA Administrator. The TSA screener at MKE got very upset by what was written on the baggie, detained him, and summoned law enforcement. The TSA screener claimed that the flyer didn't have any First Ammendment rights once he entered the secure area.

This isn't the case of somebody yelling "fire" in a crowded theater, but is a clear-cut case of political expression. While this might be akin to wearing a "Support Nancy Pelosi" shirt to a Bush rally, this particular TSA screener forgot that as a government employee, he made an oath to uphold the Constitution. That means tolerating polticial speech that he may not like. Sadly, the TSA usually fails to respond to complaints, but I hope that in this case, they fire this employee, or at least send him somewhere where he doesn't have to interact with the public.

While there are good TSA employees out there, my own personal experience has shown me that the number of bad TSA employees is excessively high. Many of them are incompetent, don't follow TSA's own regulations, are rude, or think that they can do whatever they want with impunity. I actually feel less secure knowing that most of these individuals are on the job.

I keep a card with my address inside my suitcase, in case my bag ever gets lost by the airlines. I think I'll add the text of the First and Fourth Ammendments to it, in the event that the TSA screeners have idle time while they're pawing through my underwear. If you don't hear from me, perhaps you'll come visit me at Guantanamo?