“One potato, two potato, the next one is a terrorist!”
A Wisconsin man who wrote “Kip Hawley is an Idiot” on a plastic bag containing toiletries said he was detained at an airport security checkpoint for about 25 minutes before authorities concluded the statement was not a threat.
Ryan Bird, 31, said he wrote the comment about Hawley — head of the Transportation Security Administration — as a political statement. He said he feels the TSA is imposing unreasonable rules on passengers while ignoring bigger threats.
Bird, the vice president of a company that manufactures industrial equipment, said the encounter occurred at Milwaukee Airport on Tuesday, the day the TSA eased restrictions on carry-on liquids, gels and aerosols.
Bird entered the airport checkpoint with a see-through resealable bag containing small containers of toothpaste, deodorant, mouthwash and hair gel — in keeping with new TSA requirements.
Bird put the marked bag in a plastic tray along with his shoes and cell phone. A TSA screener saw the bag and went to get a supervisor, who grabbed it and asked Bird if it was his.
“It was obvious that he was already angry,” Bird said, adding that the screener told him, “You can’t write things like that.”
The supervisor told Bird he had the right to express his opinions “out there” — pointing outside the screening area — but did not have the right “in here,” Bird said.
TSA employee candidate
The supervisor called a sheriff’s deputy, who checked to see if Bird had any warrants for his arrest, Bird said. Bird asked the officer if he was under arrest, and was told that he was being detained, he said.
A supervisor said he was going to confiscate the bag, but after Bird refused, he just photographed it, Bird said.
Kip Hawley may not be an idiot. He just hires idiots — and he works for, uh, George W. Bush and Michael Chertoff.
So,
When we fly, we need to carry two things:
1. A DVD or CD – to give the MPAA’s dogs a thrill
2. “Kip Hawley is an idiot!” stickers for all my bags – to give the screners a thrill.
Anyone selling “Kip Hawley is an idiot!” T-shirts at airport kiosks yet?
Now go away, or I shall taunt you a second time!
Don’t poke the monkeys especially when they have a badge.
as a political statement. He said he feels the TSA is imposing unreasonable rules on passengers while ignoring bigger threats.
He’s right. Instead of targeting young male arabs (likley terrorists) they are checking old ladies and babies. You can thank the left and the ACLU for that. Add to that, they hire as screeners, people who would have trouble working the deep fryer at McDonald’s or ever worse, wanabe’s who couldn’t make it or ever get hired at real law enforcement. They get the uniform and badge and become power lovering assholes.
I don’t fly now, because I don’t need to. If I had to I don’t know which I would be more afraid of TSA, air crews, or fellow passengers. Notice I didn’t include terrorists.
lol, freedom of speech
#4 — You cannot thank the left and the ACLU..you can thank those who accept and implement this BS. And I can assure you the left and the ACLU are not in power.
#4 He’s right. Instead of targeting young male arabs (likley terrorists) they are checking old ladies and babies. You can thank the left and the ACLU for that.
No you can thank Norman Yoshio Mineta. He is Japanese American and former head of George W. Bush’s Department of Transportation.
During WW2 he and his family were sent to Hart Valley Internment camp.
He is the one who made sure that “profiling” can not be used as a means of security in airports..feeling that this would endanger the rights of Muslims and Arabs.
I’m sorry but the ACLU did play a large part in this. There would have been lawsuits galore, if the TSA had even remotly profiled Arabs. Not to mention every Democrat with a microphone and camera would have claimed how racist it was. I’m sorry John, in power or not, they had a big part in this.
My dad always told me, “pick your fights.” Why anyone would choose to protest like this is beyond me.
gc — you’re babbling on like you “discover” racial profiling for the first time any time the concept arises. Which, of course, in this article, it didn’t.
Your hangups predetermine your responses to a lot of Postings, regardless of topic, source or context. Like, there’s really no reason to take you all the way through the history of bigoted police practices in the United States every time you think they’re worth ignoring. It’s not worth living your daily life — off topic.
#9
I’m a Democrat and I wouldn’t have called it racist. And neither would most Democrats. And you are just talking the Sean Hannity Bullshit Points, and I kindly and respectfully ask that you blow it out your ass.
It isn’t racist. It’s stupid. From the KKK to The Weather Underground to Timothy McViegh… Arabs are not the exclusive patent holders on terroism, and anyone who things they are is an idiot and a liar and a coward.
There is a lot of BS at airport checkpoints… but it is Bush Administration BS.
Look… You guys are in charge. You are screwing up royally. Quit trying to shuck off responsibility to the party without power because you are embarrassed about how your incompetence is shining through. Just step aside gracefully and allow for real leadership to take over.
Christ, it’s gonna take at least two or three presidents to fix the mistakes of the right, and at my age I am truly pissed off that I might never liver long enough to see the USA as a great nation again.
#9, gq, I’m sorry but the ACLU did play a large part in this. There would have been lawsuits galore, if the TSA had even remotly profiled Arabs.
First you blame the ACLU then you say IF it had happened. So did the ACLU initiate a challenge to racial profiling or not? Because if they haven’t, then how can you blame them? If they have, then why would you say “IF the TSA [did]…”?
My dad always told me, “pick your fights.” Why anyone would choose to protest like this is beyond me.
Comment by Esteban — 9/29/2006 @ 9:25 am
You are quite right about picking your battles. Sometimes a person’s level of frustration and value of a battle is stronger then ours.
Whether or not you agree with his message, he did nothing wrong. Or are the freedoms Americans have now gone? Are those who purportedly are there to protect us, are now there to keep us in line?
Think whatever you want about profiling. I believe profiling has been alive and kicking forever. It just was not called racial profiling in the past. Of the 30 times I have checked in through airport security, I have always been checked thoroughly because of the way I look. I am brown skinned and have a beard and moustache. I sometimes also wear a turban for religious practices.
Get used to it, profiling is not going away. Its definition will just get broader to include more and more people. Write a free-speech slogan on your bag and you will be profiled as one of those free speech mongers.
[i]I’m a Democrat and I wouldn’t have called it racist.[/i]
You would have been the only one.
#12 — your last paragraph nails it. It’s why my father-in-law left the Republikan Party after 50 years. Though he never voted for anyone other than a Republican his whole life — he appreciated what a lot of folks accepted as Cinton’s peace dividend.
I was happily getting involved in discussions with friends in the military and the National Labs about “reassigning priorities” in a peaceful, fiscally balanced world.
The cruds in Congress and the White House ended that prospect big time!
#16: Admit it, gq, you obviously think the Constitution is only for protecting the rights of the white Republicans in power. Your ignorance is pathetic.
#16 Make that 2 – million or more.
gquaglia – next time you use liberal as a curse word, can I call you a neomoron?
#15, Lavi
Just because it happens is not a reason to get used to it.
When a wrong happens, if no one speaks up then that wrong will continue to happen.
“Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.” – Haile Selassie