Why Opt-Out Day Is Especially Important for DC Residents

"Enhanced pat-downs," a TSA euphemism for touching your genitals, breasts and buttocks. Whole-body scan, shorthand for an X-ray machine, whose safety has been questioned.

On National Opt-Out Day, this Thursday, November 24th, you'll have a chance to voice your opinion about TSA's new security procedures by opting out of being scanned and asking to be patted down instead.  Pat-downs take longer than scans, and while they're invasive (some passengers have described having their groins touched like being "molested"), pat-downs don't expose you to potentially harmful radiation.

For DC residents Opt-Out Day is particularly important. Other Americans can to write their representative and senators, but we can't. We have no voting voice in Congress. So if you fly on Thursday, just say no to being scanned.

Good Morning: More Pushback About TSA Groin Checks

Good morning. It's always good when it's Friday! Look for a high on Friday in the low 50's with ample sunshine. It's getting chillier, folks. The days of 60's are mostly over till next spring and most nights are going to be in the 30's.

Passengers are complaining  about TSA's "enhanced" pat downs. One male passenger at the Ft. Lauderdale airport reported that the screener, "put his hands between my underwear and my skin, you know and did a 360 all the way around touching certain sensitive points in the back and in the front."

This photo in the Denver Post sums up what the pat-down is like.

Passengers who opt out of the whole body scanner, either a millimeter wave machine or the potentially dangerous X-ray scanner, are patted down. One X-ray specialist at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine said, "They say the risk is minimal, but statistically someone is going to get skin cancer from these X-rays." Some passengers have described the alternatives to the scans, the "enhanced" pat-downs like being "molested."

This TSA warning sign was designed by Oleg Volk. It's a fair warning.