Andy Borowitz thinks the new developments in air travel security can help the health care effort.:
Full Body Scans to Double as Annual Checkups
In what some in the White House are calling a
“win/win” solution to the nation’s airport security and health care reform problems, starting next month U.S. airports will begin conducting full body scans that will double as annual physical checkups.President Obama announced the breakthrough solution, telling reporters, “With this all-purpose exam, we will be able to find everything from a hidden weapon to a spot on your lung.” After scanning a passenger, Mr. Obama said, “We will either give you a clean bill of health or wrestle you to the ground.”
The President added that instituting the body scan/checkup could ward off some terrorists right from the start, “because a lot of them will balk at the $25
co-pay.” But according to Davis Logsdon, who studies terrorism and health care reform at the University of Minnesota, the body scans may attract more terrorists than they deter: “If there’s one complaint that terrorists have about al-Qaeda it’s that they have lousy benefits.”
What do you think? Do you travel by air? My husband resolved never to do it years ago because of the way passengers are treated. And that was long before the ban on liquids, having to take off one’s shoes, etc. We count ourselves fortunate that we have a choice. How would you feel about undergoing a full body scan in order to fly?
imagine if you were going on a ’round the world’ trip of a lifetime and the silly people adminstrating the machinery say “oh by the way you’ve got xyz and because that you can’t fly” – for all the passenger/scanner might know – you the passenger might know or the machine might be malfunctioning on that particular day…
a bit scary if you always thought you were pretty healthy etc…and suddenly you were grounded at an airport miles from your home or some such other thing
one off-side to it all might be increased travel insurance “just in case” not a nice thought
ok it’s all about stopping nasty people but it might get to a point where the airlines are going down the tubes because no-one will fly with them…”headlines: did you know that 50 people in the last month were grounded by xyz airline because they were suffering from xyz?”
of course I have no answer to the problem 🙁
.-= Cathy in NZ´s last blog ..official last day of solitude =-.
The last time I travelled by air (over 10 years ago) we had to be frisked. It’s necessary because of terrorism. It’s a bit invasive but what’s the option? I don’t think about it too much.
Cathy,
I hadn’t thought about that aspect of it. 🙂
gaelikaa,
I was pulled out of line and questioned at the London airport about 20 years ago. I had been to too many places in a short period of time and had changed my reservation to come back a day early. So I was a very suspicious character indeed. When I explained I was on a business trip for a national laboratory they looked at the address I had put down for my “home”. In fact I had put down my mother’s address in California. That made them even more suspicious. When they questioned me about it I explained we were told never to put down our true address just in case the plane was hijacked, the hijackers might consider us to be prime hostages. They were not happy with me but let me on the plane. It was a true story and I still laugh when I think of it.
Jean, with my beard I am a sure shot for cops to spend a lot of time scanning me! On asking one guy a couple of years ago, why he was taking so long to scan me when the other guys were all going through at express speed, he frankly told me that I looked ‘suspicious’! So, I am prepared for that kind of treatment. I am going off on a couple of days flying trip to Bangalore end of this month and shall write a post on my return about the scans. Do you think that I look like Osama Bin Laden? Have you seen the latest photos that the US State department has released of digitally altered photos that show how possibly Osama looks like now? Or perhaps I look like one of the Mehsoods of the Taliban! Imagine this happening to a Hindu in India and juxtapose that to a bearded Muslim traveling in India!
.-= Rummuser´s last blog ..Faith. =-.
Rummuser,
What a great story! So much for you being the Dhadiwala Saheb (Bearded Respected One). 😀 Does that make you more or less apt to shave off your beard? When it happened to me I was half delighted that someone noticed enough to think me suspicious.
Jean, stop trying to get me to shave off my beard! I would rather go through indignities and inconveniences at airports than get rid of my distinguished look! I carry enough identity documents to prove my non terrorist credentials. Even one certificate from my late wife that I never even attempted to terrorize her though I could not give a similar certificate to her.
.-= Rummuser´s last blog ..Ranjan’s Rakhi Sister Zainab. =-.
Rummuser,
Au contraire. I was assuming your being seen as suspicious would tickle your funny bone. Another reason for keeping the beard. 😉
I’d strip naked & have body cavity searches to be safe. 🙂
I can say that because I know that will never happen.
bkehikebabe,
Apparently the full-body scanners are as good as you stripping naked. One Congressman says the little pictures they show when they talk about it in the newspapers and on TV don’t show how thorough they are. The people viewing them have a detailed picture of everything. He has refused to be subjected to one and is trying to get them changed so the scanners can see what people are carrying under their clothes without it being such an invasion of privacy. That strikes me as the way to go.