The Catholic Cricket

I’ve been a bit busy, and thus haven’t had an opportunity to comment on things, but there’s one main thought I had after the underwear bomber inspired those charged with ensuring safety on airplanes to start using those ridiculous full-body scanners.

What a waste.

I don’t know how much those things cost, but they surely aren’t cheap.  And plenty of people will not want to go through them.  On top of that, I read recently that some people are trying to use religious reasons for not submitting to such a scan (“Thou shalt not undergo a full body scan”?), and if that’s enough to avoid such scrutiny, then even the false sense of safety that comes from such technology is elminated.

Wait…”false sense of safety”?  Of course.  The thought I had upon hearing that those scanners were going to be installed at various airports was: “Then terrorists will simply go deeper.  Implant a double-bladder inside the abdomen of the suicide bomber that contains the chemicals to be mixed.”  Think of those chemical glow-sticks that are everywhere around Halloween for the kids to carry.

And, of course, what did I see recently in the news?  Female suicide bombers with explosive “augmentations“.  How will the TSA respond to these things?  Mandatory x-rays and MRIs?

I don’t know what the right response is, but I do know that these full-body scanners won’t do much to improve safety.  The cost/effectiveness of them is negligible, and the work-arounds are plentiful and simple.