I really don’t know how many TSA agents it takes to change a light bulb. I have never actually seen a TSA agent change a light bulb, but I do know how many TSA agents it takes to operate a single airport security line … nine.
Last weekend my wife took me to Napa for my 40th birthday — which means serving time at San Francisco International Airport. We waited patiently for almost an hour for our turn to go through security only to learn that the lengthy wait was due to the fact that there was only one security screening machine open.
The wait would not have been that bad if the single line were due to limited staff. It became very frustrating when I counted nine TSA agents working the one line. There were TSA agents milling around, talking and laughing among themselves. What made matters worse was that they decided to open up the second line after I was committed to the first line.
The TSA agents who broke from the first line appeared to be inconvenienced about having the responsibility of operating their own line. They approached the second line in slow motion, appearing more concerned about socializing with one another than expediting the security process for us “common” people.
I have always supported our TSA agents, especially last fall when they were subject to tremendous scrutiny and ridicule over the new screening techniques they were being asked to perform. The new responsibilities came from those higher up and your average TSA agent had no say over them. I defended them on my radio show while others expressed their frustration to them in person. They are just doing their job.
All that I ask is for them to do their job with more efficiency. Pretend to care and demonstrate empathy to those who have been standing in long lines at the ticket counter, those who may be running late to catch their plane and for all of us who have to wait in the long lines to go through security.
It’s a great overall reflection of our federal government. The president, Senate and members of Congress approach their duties with a lack of understanding and empathy for what the average American is going through.
The president displays a lack of concern for what we are paying at the pump. In response, we get lectured for having gas guzzlers and told that we should all be driving alternative vehicles. The problem is that many of use are still looking for employment. We can’t afford new cars much less the gas that we have to put in our archaic vehicles.
The Left wants to blame the Right for the close call of having the federal government shutdown. The truth should be told: The President had control of both houses when the budget was due last fall. It should have never gotten this far. Instead, federal employees and the military had to live in fear that they might not get paid. Prove to us that you represent the people.
Now the president wants to raise taxes on the millionaires and billionaires. In truth, his plan will raise taxes for those couples who make over $250,000. If you make $250,000 a year, you could hardly be classified as a millionaire. Do our politicians understand that we still have to pay outrageous gas prices, plan to send our children to college and consider our own retirement?
That’s right, they don’t pay for their own gas. They are the beneficiaries of great health care and retirement plans — all on our dime. At least pretend to care and demonstrate that our plight is your number one concern.
I wonder how many politicians it takes to change a light bulb. There’s a joke there somewhere … I just can’t think of the punch line.
• Michael Weinstein is co-host of the “The Mike & Winey Show,” heard frequently on KFYI (550 AM) and online at www.kknt960.com. He can be reached at winey@mikeandwiney.com.
demo33 posted at 6:30 am on Fri, Apr 22, 2011.
Just one point I would like to make. The screeners at SF airport our not federal employees they are contractors. TSA oversees the operation but the actual screeners work for a private company. When TSA and the screening program was rolled out in 2001 5 airports were designated to have private sector screeners and SF is one of those locations
Dale Whiting posted at 6:57 am on Fri, Apr 22, 2011.
Whiney,
This is bureaucracy in "In" action. What do you expect?
Rowan Wood posted at 7:30 am on Fri, Apr 22, 2011.
"They are just doing their job." I'm sorry, but that smacks too much of lessons learned in the mid 20th Century: I was just following orders. It sounds like the excuses henchmen of any police state you could possibly name in modernt times. If you have a job that requires you to do something reprehensible, you have a moral obligation to quit that job. Until about 5 months ago, we had had a concensus from time immemorial that touching other people's genitals and breasts was reprehensible when that contact was coerced. In anticipation of the usual TSA apologists: The choice between TSA groping your most intimate body parts or not flying is not a reasonable choice and is truly coersive. The TSA is also now targeting innccent peopel in train and bus stations, as well as subway systems, and there are reports about plans to target motorists, so soon we will have no choices at all. You defended on your show a massive bureaucracy that commits civil and human rights abuses on a daily basis, and now you are complaining that they are too slow? This is how bureaucracy always works when there is no accountability and the US public, including you, has allowed TSA to operate with absolute impunity. Now you get to suffer the consequences. And being too slow is the least of our worries when faced with the TSA.
sockratties posted at 8:49 am on Fri, Apr 22, 2011.
Whiney…
It’s hard to disagree with your observations and you’re right about the TSA agents not performing their job professionally. They do have a mandate and procedures to follow. They are going to get bad-mouthed no matter how they do their job. A good example is the video of the 6 year old who was “patted down” in New Orleans last month. The internet screamers were using terms like “groping” and “sexually molesting” to describe the check, but if you watch the video it takes a serious pervert to interpret the search that way.
You have to go “up” a level or two in management to find who is derelict of duty there, but jumping to the president is just your way of bad mouthing Obama. Try applying your wish “All that I ask is for them to do their job with more efficiency. Pretend to care and demonstrate empathy…” to the Republicans in both the last and current congress.
When you try to apply the failures of the last Congress by saying “The President had control of both houses when the budget was due last fall” you only show that you have an unrealistic vision of how DC's politics work.
The Democrats did have a majority in both houses, but they are a more diverse group than the Republicans and usually less able to form a bloc to impede progress. Try to remember the president does not “control” either house.
Now, do you think those who make $250,000 or more a year are the ones who can’t afford gas or a car that’s not a gas guzzler? Your schizophrenic begging for sympathy for those who are hurting by not taxing those who make more than a quarter of a million dollars a year is ingenious at best and hypocritical when you try to use the failures of congress to knock a president you just don’t like because of who he is.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 12:37 pm on Fri, Apr 22, 2011.
GREAT ARTICLE....NOW WE KNOW WHERE ALL THOSE......LIBERALS/PROGRESSIVES AND DEMOCRATS GO TO GET A JOB = THE ..."TSA".
DOES ANYBODY REALLY MISS........."MOMMIE DEAREST".....AKA.....NANCY PELOSI ???
I DON'T EVEN THINK THAT............vice-PRESIDENT JOE "BITE ME" BIDEN ...TALKS TO ....HARRY REID........ANYMORE.....LOL.
AND MIKE...........DON'T PAY ANY ATTENTION TO THE ............P/D LOSERS THAT GO FOR THE ......LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR....PERSONAL ATTACK ..........YOU JUST HAVE TO PUT UP WITH THEM LIKE CERTAIN............"BODY FUNCTIONS".
samkat posted at 5:38 pm on Sat, Apr 23, 2011.
My question is how many cohosts does it take to conduct a radio show? Heck, it used to be that only one was required.
Rowan: My wife unfortunately has to go through a complete wanding and pat down every time she goes through an airport because of an artificial knee and wire in her breast bone. The TSA folks have always been courteous and even helpful. There are alternatives for you and the writer. You could drive or you could take a bus or even a train. I would rather suffer the extra security than to end up as compost in some building.