The details on this story are very sparse, and the phrasing of the reports are very upsetting. A woman, Andrea Abbott, was traveling with her teenage daughter (exact age unknown) from Nashville to Baltimore. When it came time to go through the naked scanner, she refused for both her and her daughter. The woman’s "stearn [sic] voice" and "attitude" was an affront to the TSA thug named Sabrina Birge. Birge apparently has the equivalent of an advanced degree in physics and has had access to study the scanners which no other scientist has been given, because she informed Abbott that the millimeter-wave scanner is "10,000 times safer than your cell phone." Either that, or Birge believes everything her superiors tell her despite ample evidence that they lie and don’t protect the health of their own employees.

The heroic Abbott stood fast, stating, "I still don’t want someone to see our bodies naked.” This of course meant that a pat-down would be issued for both her and her daughter, which Abbott refused to consent to. From her own words, she clearly believes the pat-downs to be molestation and she wanted to protect her daughter.

This is where the details get fuzzy because, all of a sudden, Abbott did an about-face and "allowed" the pat-down of her daughter. It seems much more likely that she was threatened and bullied to the point where she was worn down. Knowing that something very wrong was happening, Abbott decided she should record the events and pulled out her cell-phone to do so. The TSA then — illegally, to my knowledge — ordered her to put her cell phone away, so there is unfortunately no video of this injustice. For obvious reasons, this upset Abbott and her "yelling" prompted the brave TSA guys-and-gals-in-blue to feel so threatened that they had her arrested.

No word yet on whether Southwest Airlines refunded her ticket or posted her bail, but, based on their poor track record, I’m inclined to think that Southwest did not show any support for this poor mother. The media has decided to paint this woman as unstable and plaster an unflattering arrest photo on the stories. In reality, all mothers (and fathers) should be this upset when anyone wants to take naked photos or molest their daughter (or son). There is nothing absurd or unstable about that and, if we were to hear of a private criminal requesting this of Abbott and learned that she did not fight back, we would question her character and indict her as a bad mom.

[H/T Boycott Flying]

Update: I wasn’t paying attention this morning, but the rest of the TSA’s statement about the scanner is actually hilarious now that I think about it. Birge said, "No, it’s not an X-ray. It is 10,000 times safer than your cell phone and uses the same type of radio waves as a sonogram." Millimeter-wave scanners do use radio waves, which is a type of electromagnetic radiation. In contrast, a sonogram is a picture created from an instrument that uses sound waves. Of course, I don’t expect a TSA goon to know the difference, but the fact that she lectured the mere ungrateful, disobedient, citizen on the safety of the scanners using this falsehood is telling. Thanks to Bill Faust for bringing this to my attention.

Is it just me or has the world gone completely insane? Or, was it already?

Post from: LibertarianChristians.com

Mother arrested for not wanting her daughter sexually assaulted by the TSA

Here’s a special message from www.tsatyranny.com. Even if you don’t live in Texas, you can have an effect – you can tell the City Council that you are more likely to travel to or through Austin if they can be assured that their rights will not be violated by the TSA. Or, take the example of Texas an run with this in your own state.

‘Keep Austin Free’ of TSA Scanners and Groping Pat-Downs

Austin, Texas has an historic opportunity to keep TSA tyranny out of the city’s airport—and it’s time to lend your voice in support of this critical effort!

Unlike many major US cities, Austin has yet to have the Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) full-body scanners installed in their commercial airport, and if Texas’ capital city were to forbid the TSA from installing these invasive machines at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA), it could spark a national movement for liberty.

The good news is this: On December 14, the Austin Airport Advisory Commission (AAAC)—the official body tasked with giving Austin City Council input on airport policy—passed a unanimous resolution calling upon the Council to “oppose the installation of AIT’s at ABIA and further oppose the practice of invasive body searching.”

What’s more, a broad coalition of diverse groups has risen up in support of the AAAC’s resolution to check TSA tyranny in Austin, including the Travis County Republican Party, the ACLU of Texas, the Travis County Libertarian Party, Texans for Accountable Government (TAG), the Central Texas Republican Liberty Caucus, and We Are Change Austin.

Momentum is building to see Austin become a safe-haven for liberty—and we encourage you to join our effort and take action.

Contact Austin City Council

The Austin City Council needs to hear your voice!

All those who use Austin-Bergstrom International Airport as their primary airport or would be inclined to make ABIA their airport of choice when coming to and from Texas —if Austin’s airport becomes a tyranny-free zone—should contact the Austin City Council and let them know you stand behind their Advisory Commission’s call to keep ABIA free of the full-body scanners and groping pat-downs.

We have prepared a one-page Sample Letter that you can personalize and send to Austin’s Mayor and City Council with the click of a single button.

Don’t delay—send your letter this week as part of our coordinated campaign.

Click here and take action!

Join the Effort, Spread the Word

Please forward this note to all your friends who love liberty and who desire to travel freely to and from Texas without having their rights violated by the TSA.

Spread the word about this historic opportunity to “Keep Austin Free”!

Keep Austin Free.org will be sending out e-mail updates related to the Austin TSA battle, call-to action alerts, and more. Click here to sign up, and be on call to oppose TSA tyranny in Austin.

Post from: LibertarianChristians.com

Keep TSA Scanners Out of Austin

To get an idea of what this looked like, I created a map to help:

View Antiwar demonstration 08-09-10 in a larger map

Shortly after arriving, I saw a middle-aged woman being taken away in cuffs. I immediately pulled out my FlipCam and started recording. Turns out her name was Stacy Robin Schneider and she was merely collecting signatures for an open letter/petition for TexasEnvironment.org. You may not agree with the group’s position, but for the police to arrest her for this is just stupid.

Just minutes later, I was recording a little video of the line and turned around to find Dan McCarthy interacting with a police officer, trying to move his poster closer to the corner and to the press vans. He was arrested as well, ultimately under the charge of “criminal trespassing” on what I believe was a “public sidewalk.” Here’s the footage, although the sound did not come out well (if somebody wants to caption it, that would be awesome).

This was all KXAN had to say about these arrests:

The media finally paid attention to us, and I was even interviewed at one point (though I cannot find a video online right now). It was quite interesting to see the variety of people present at this demonstration. I met people from the Socialist Worker, from immigration groups, from the Tea Party, and more. And for the most part, we all got along peaceably so that we could protest Obama’s policies, especially the WARS, together.

It was now about 2 p.m. and people were quickly flowing into the building. The back of the line quickly moved past us and thus the free speech zone now held absolutely zero value for the protesters. As the demonstrators began to disperse, I asked them to stick around a little longer while I tried to convince the police officers to allow us to move the “free speech zone” closer to Gregory Gym. So, I found an officer and respectfully made my request. He immediately said no. I asked if there was someone with more authority we could talk to. He called his Sergeant, and the Sergeant said no as well. I asked if I could appeal this even higher. He said there was a Lieutenant on duty, and I asked if I could talk with him. Lieutenant Birdett (I think that was his name) came over and we had another chat, with no positive result. We couldn’t go anywhere else. However, the Lieutenant did reveal something I didn’t know: when the president is around, the Secret service has, quoting the Lieutenant, “total control”.

“Really?” I asked him. “Can I get you to say that into the camera?” as I hastily reached into my pocket to pull out the FlipCam again. But no, he wouldn’t give me the satisfaction. Rats!

At this point, I ran into a guy with an insane sign, saying “The Obama Presidency is Christianity in Action!” Read my comments about this guy here.

I left after this because I needed to work more that afternoon, but the action didn’t stop there. Long after the line was gone, more demonstrators were arrested simply for exercising free speech. Antiwar activist Chanda Seymour was arrested for asking “Who designates the free speech zone?” and she wasn’t even asked to leave:

Just minutes later, as I understand, John Bush of Texans for Accountable Government was arrested, even though he even had a press pass (which should have, in theory, afforded him even greater protection). His response to the police’s actions was above reproach and absolutely heroic:

Finally, I recorded a recap video once I got home, so you can see better some of the signs that Dan had brought to the campus and that I made for the demonstration.

Thankfully, all of those arrested were able to go home at midnight on $20 bail.

Dan McCarthy, dragged away in cuffs

Photo credit: KXAN. Many thanks as well to all of those people who recorded the day’s events to put on display to the world.

Post from: LibertarianChristians.com

Demonstration Report from UT-Austin on August 9, 2010

Courtesy GraphJam.com. And another…

Again, courtesty GraphJam.com. I’m totally loving their site. It’s hilarious even when the graphs are mathematically nonsensical or just plain silly.

Post from: LibertarianChristians.com

How a Government Gets a Job Done

Barrel ‘monster’ gets student arrested – Weird news- msnbc.com.

When Joseph Carnevale chopped up three stolen orange and white traffic barrels from a construction site to create a massive sculpture of a roadside monster thumbing a ride, the North Carolina college student said he saw it as a form of street art.

Raleigh, N.C., police just saw vandalism…

Hamlin Associates, the construction company whose barrels were turned into a monster, doesn’t want to press charges.

“We’ve had a fair amount of vandalism, but never anyone turn it into art,” Company President Steven Hussey said. “I actually thought it was pretty neat.”

Hussey said the value of the publicity his company has received is well above the $365 cost of the traffic barrels that Carnevale used.

“It’s been positive publicity for us,” he said. “If we’d known he’d do that good of a work, we’d have given him the barrels.”

Carnevale said he’s weighing Hussey’s offer to reconstruct the monster for the company’s offices in Climax, N.C., possibly for pay. Meanwhile, at least three Facebook support groups have formed to support Carnevale, including “Don’t Charge Joseph Carnevale,” boasting more than 800 members.

Raleigh police spokeswoman Laura Hourigan said the charges won’t be dropped, despite the company’s stance.

This is pretty outrageous, if you ask me. The company loves it, so for justice sake get off the guy’s back!

The thinking Christian must understand that where no harm is committed, no crime has been committed. This is a clear case where even the supposed plaintiff agrees there is no harm. Free Carnevale!

Post from: LibertarianChristians.com

Barrel ‘monster’ gets student arrested

Well, I have a special treat for you in today’s podcast. Gil Guillory is an engineer, independent scholar, and an entrepreneur who has been developing a business plan for providing security services as a startup company. He graciously agreed to explain his ideas in an interview with me a while back, and we finally were able to match our schedules and chat via Skype.

Now, this isn’t directly a theological topic, but pay attention when Gil talks about connecting charitable agencies, such as churches, with individuals who need help. There is a real, tangible benefit to private security because it is always more personal than typical police. And given just how corrupt many police have become, it is high time to seek out alternatives.

I have met some very decent police officers in the past, but even they have told me how awful things are becoming in law enforcement. I would encourage any truly good officers to seek out people like Gil and join him in this noble venture. Listen to what he has to say and think about it…

I hope you enjoy this fascinating talk. (It’s just under 20 minutes long, and sorry about the difference in volume between Gil and I…) Feel free to comment here with questions. If we get enough, perhaps Gil will agree to do a second talk where we address them!

Right click here to download the entire audio file. [20 minutes, mp3]

Visit Gil’s GooglePages Site.

Read Gil’s LRC Articles, especially Tax Funded Policing is Socialism.

UPDATE: Many thanks to Manuel from the LewRockwell.com blog for linking to this, welcome to LRC readers once again! Please keep sharing it, folks, the Stumbles, Diggs, and retweets are very much appreciated!

Also, I noticed that for some reason the “title” of the podcast when you play it is And Your Bird Can Sing. Oops! It is nice intro music, though, wouldn’t you say? Great guitar…

Post from: LibertarianChristians.com

Podcast on Private Security with Gil Guillory