How Liable is the Business World for the Behavior of the TSA? and How much are you willing to give up to be "safe"?

I've flown, total, maybe six times in my entire life.

I can honestly say, only one of those trips was of my own volition. The others were either business or I was not of an age to make a decision in my travel plans. I've heard people say you give up your fourth amendment rights when you purchase your plane ticket, that you don't have to fly.

I'm wondering, lately, what country I live in. I have a right, as an American citizen, to have a judge involved and reasonable suspicion proven before my privacy is violated. And granted, it may be a good ten years before I see the inside of a plan...maybe longer.

I have friends and loved ones that travel regularly, both for business and for pleasure. I'm starting to not be so jealous. It seems like more trouble than it's worth, to be honest. People seeing you naked...people grabbing your privates, people grabbing your babies privates, ignoring their screams. People being forced to remove breast prosthetics, people having their urology bags spilled on them. Rape victims being touched, touched, touched. 

CAIR releasing statements on how Muslim women can avoid the enhanced pat downs. 

So my question is this, people, if you are advocating for keeping us "safe" (more on that in a moment), who pays for the psychological trauma inflicted on a trip planned and paid for by a company? If the TSA agent decides to pull your shirt off and laugh at you, does the company that paid for the trip bear the responsibility for the sexual harassment suit? If a coworker happens to think your penis is less than noteworthy after seeing it on a backscatter x-ray, who takes the blame for exposing it? The TSA, or the company who put you in that position to begin with? It's going to happen. Someone is going to sue their boss for putting them on the plane that caused their trauma.

 Now, let's talk about these so called safety measures.

You have a 1 in 5,000 chance of dying in a car crash.
You have a 1  in 11,000,000 chance of dying on a plane. 

The same amount of people have died in a terror related event, since 1960, as have been killed by peanuts, lightning, and deer.

Do you eat peanut butter? Would you like a government agent to approve that for you each time you put it in your mouth?

Should a government agent greet each and every individual at their car every morning, to assure that they are in optimal driving condition? Do you see how ridiculous this is? People are advocating for the violation of other people's rights, based on "safety," when the reality is, your daily, un-government-approved activities are far more dangerous.

*deep sigh*

The terrorists are winning here, people. Many of us are terrified. If we are scared, they win.

Trick or Treat Safety...

Disclaimer: it is against the law to use the Megan's Law websites to harass, intimidate, or otherwise torment the nasty little deviants. I'm just saying.

Well, moving past the whole "witches are going to  poison your kids on Halloween" myth. (They aren't. Seriously.) There's actually a REAL and more present danger out there...the sex offender. They are all over the place, they are your neighbors, they work around you. So before you take your little ghosts and goblins out in search of a sugar high, don't forget to check out your local Megan's Law site. Especially if you are heading to a relative's house (as I am), and you don't have a good idea of the neighborhood.

Safety first.

 And it might not be a bad idea for you to check out the list, if you're a single lady or ever walk alone.

All my single ladies...

Dear, sweet, single friends.

I'm so glad I'm done with the dating game. When I started out it was pretty simple. Man see woman. Woman see man. They talk, connect... grow old and have babies. With a couple of steps in between or reverse, who knows. The internet was just past the dot com boom, and never in a million years would I have gone date shopping on it.

(Mr. Lovinangels might tell a different story.)

Even with the whole face to face out in the open kind of dating, there was a certain safety net in being able to look someone in the eyes. You still have an 95 per cent chance of him being creepy beyond belief, but at least you can make a slightly more informed judgment.

So, fast forward ten years, and suddenly you can find any kind of date you want online. You can hook up for a night, a week, have an affair, get murdered on craigslist, whatever your pleasure..

Needless to say, dating scams are at an all time high.

The most recent, though, hurts my heart and makes my stomach sick.

The scammers are impersonating a US soldier. This is brought to you by the same people who send you the emails that say you won the lottery or had a long lost relative who left you more money than Bill Gates (you don't answer those, right??).

The scam goes something like this: Nice looking soldier scours dating site for lonely ladies, strikes up a conversation, plans a wedding, and gets the fiancee to pay for a plane ticket home.

Hold the phone.

A plane ticket home? Doesn't the us military usually at least return the soldier to the country of origin? I know I'm not looking through love struck eyes here, and lord knows, I've been duped a time or two, but I'd like to say I'd see through this one.

The crazy thing about it, (and probably why it works so well), is $1200 is not a huge amount of money for a long con. Which is probably why it works so well. No one is going to think somebody is going to spend six months working on them to make so little.

but honey, take it from Mama Angel. If the boy wants you to forward him money so he can meet you, take your computer and head to the local PD.

I'll never say I told you so.

ah, the perils (and perks!!!) of blogging!

So...my email account got hacked this week. I'm sure it was the result of my forages into the world of "free stuff". Think about it, FREEEE STUFFFFF! Every shampoo sample saves me real money. Each little tube of lotion is one more dose I don't have to buy. I faithfully fill out the surveys they send me, of course, because I want them to continue to send me that FREEEEE STUFFFFF. Love it.

So, this week I learned about posting negativity online, without back up or proof. I had signed up for a four week review of neutragena sunscreen here and authorized use of my email to share. The next day, my dear father asks me what he should do with the five dozen viagra he ordered from the site I sent him. His wasn't the worst. Throughout the day, many of my male friends assured me that they didn't have a problem that required said drug, and a couple insuated that they'd prove it. It's all in good fun.

Ugh. No more email sharing.

Well, Matt from Tidal Labs was nice enough to email me and let me know the spammage wasn't them. *hangs head. That's what I get for ASS-uming. I still can't wait to review my sunscreen sample!

I also learned NOT to give my email address out to perfect strangers promising coupons. I did this on the site www.retailmenot.com. Someone posted that they would send you a link to a site that would give you two free boxes of a certain coffee for a certain maker I received for a certain holiday. After I read the offer he sent me, I realized it wouldn't work for me, so I just responded "thankyou" and moved on with my life. Evidently he didn't.

I received four emails from this individual. FOUR. The last one after he called the company AND RECEIVED INFORMATION ABOUT MY ACCOUNT from them. This is creeping me out beyond belief. I will post more information gladly, once the company responds to my email. WAAAAAYYYYYY TOO CREEPY.

So, my lessons learned this week may not be monetary in value, but they are treasured nonetheless.

Tomorrow we resume packing after box pick-up. For now, free stuff a-hunting and off to work I go!