LOL - That Bob guy is funny and hell and right.
Tango - I can see where you are coming from, but there has always been security at the airport. No one is forcing you to fly, that is your choice.
If you choose to drive, you are required to obey the rules of the road, or you will get pulled over and given a ticket by the police.
If you want to fly, you get your carry on stuff X-Ray'd and you have to walk through the metal detector.
If you set off the metal detector, or you refuse for some reason, then you may have to go through the scanner OR you can go with the pat down.
When we left Sea-Tac, they did not have the scanner up and running, but my woman set off the metal detector because of an underwire bra which we knew going in would be an issue and we wanted to see what all the hub-bub was about.
She was called off to the side, she was scanned with the wand and the underwire set off the wand. Then a female TSA person put on a brand new pair of gloves and patted her down outside of her clothes in the most professional manner, talking to her the whole time about what she was doing, asking if she was okay with this "touching" and repeatedly saying things like "If at any time you are uncomfortable, please let me know". She didn't grope, she didn't touch bare skin, she didn't stick her hands inside any clothing, she did a pat down. When she was done, she went over and tested for explosive/gunpowder residue with a Q-tip from a sealed tube on the gloves. The test was negative and the gloves were discarded. We then proceeded on our way with no issues.
No one was REQUIRED to go through the scanner at any of the airports that we visited in our travels. It is there as another measure to check for all the normal stuff they have been checking for since 9/11.
All this mass hysteria about being invasive and illegal touching and crap is people complaining without really taking into context what flying has been like in the last ten years. They have been doing all these same issues on International flights since 2000 ( when I first flew International ) and they have been doing them on in state flights since I came back to the States after 9/11.
We fly, on average, about twice a year and have done so for several years now. There was no new added fortress of oppressive government waiting to violate our rights this time around. It was the same old, same old.
Bottom line, if you don't want to play by the rules, then don't play the game. Right now the rules say scan your carry ons and check you for metal with the walk through device. If that goes beep, you have two options: X-ray or pat down.
Or you can take the bus or the train or drive.
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