I don't recall the first guy calling out about me requesting the pat down, but I was the only one I saw before and after.

I was asked whether I wanted to do it in private, however. I actually preferred the public pat down, right there in front of everyone between two lines of screeners. The process was involved. They had to put on gloves and open some kit for chemical swab inspection I assume. But it definitely took a while and actually seemed to involve two people.

They were very nice though and when I asked if I could be inspected by a woman, the one guy said, "oh, we're not that liberal. Some countries are. Do you want me to contact my superior?"

Well here I fall in line with everyone else. I just wanted to move this forward. I was with my wife, who was fuming at me for slowing things down, so that may have been why I declined to see the superior. I'll leave that for one of the rest of the Agonist travelers to pursue.

I'll share an approach that I considered taking. If they ask why, you want to be patted down by a woman, well that's private. Keep in mind that for all they know you were molested as a child by a man. Or you could simply be homophobic. Real homophobes probably cannot admit that but that's another issue. Whatever the reason, you don't need to say to a stranger because really that's potentially as invasive as the pat down itself. The reason is private.

It also should be no big deal for the woman who has to do the patdown on a man. She's a professional doing her dob. End of story there.

So after I declined to see the superior I did make a comment of possibly being homophobic. He nodded and generally was very nice and professional. At the end I complemented him and his buddy for being so professional. They joked that really they probably should be more gruff and mean.

But I agree, Sean Paul, it is all about making the process as unpleasant and slow as possible because really, if 1 out of 10 people were to choose patdowns, the system of the moment would grind to a halt.

Oh wait, it's not on your list...
In any case, yes, TSA agents are afraid of losing their jobs as anyone else. They are given procedures to follow by their superiors, and that's what they do. There are probably some sadistic psychos, but I suspect it's more that they are frustrated you are giving more work to do than punishment to enforce rules...

Welcome home, the new Amerika. Yes sheep everywhere, how sad.

To be fair the Texas House voted very strongly to illegalize the no-predicate TSA gropifications and it brought out the nasty with an extreme letter threatening Texas with a total blockade (so much for state level opt-outs of TSA airport coverage, it's all theoretically optional).

Some weasel police state shilling commissioner teed it up so the Senate would kill it, but the House situation shows bipartisan anger becoming more organized and nearly hitting major thresholds of resistance.

I would advise people to look at the nastygram, now you see the thuggin inherent in the system - http://www.scribd.com/doc/56237206/TSA-Letter-to-Texas-Lawmakers-over-the-groping-bill
--
Hongpong.com

have been trained as good little authoritarians. Check out the comments in your local paper the next time the cops make a situation happen and then maim or kill someone in response to that situation. Police brutality apologists (fans?) greatly outnumber those who have misgivings about such things.

All I can guess is that there's enough poison in the TV to overwhelm most people's feeble mental defenses.

_______________________________________________________________

"There'll be one corporation selling one little box
It'll do what you want and tell you what you want
and cost whatever you got" — Greg Brown

You obviously don't understand that these things are just little tests to decide on which list your name is to appear. Just like the idiots who thought they could dance in the Jefferson Memorial on Memorial Day.
Big Brother is taking names and keeping score.

I experienced problems in Canada, but it was because of all my photography equipment. They are very wary of people coming there to work without a work permit. Took about a 1/2 hour to get them to believe I was there as a tourist, not a photojournalist. However, I did sell some of those photos to some travel guides and through stock photo sites.

Outside of my past experiences returning to the US, I have not really experienced problems anywhere else, except for a recent Transnistria border crossing. They actually refused to let the bus in and sent it back to Kyiv, while detaining US citizens. The driver's papers were not in order. After some discussion, I paid a little fee. Then, I caught the next bus coming through a couple of hours later and got over the border.

I recently traveled to Russia. Flying from the U.S., I refused the scatter machine, so I got the pat down. Flying back out of Moscow, I didn't know what potential rights I had, didn't know the language, and so I meekly went through the machine. I found my reactions interesting, the irritation in the U.S., the feeling of intimidation abroad.