by Jacqueline Marcus

It’s amazing what our government has forced us to accept in the name of “security.” They’ve bankrupted our treasury to chase down a hundred or so Islamic extremists hiding in the mountainous caves of Afghanistan. The reasoning for this insanity: “We must get them before they get us.” In the last year alone, the military tab came to $100 billion dollars to find 50 or 100 extremists or “insurgents” who are fighting because they don’t want the US oil companies to steal their oil. We don’t know how many people have died from our government’s illegal, pre-emptive invasions in the name of security, but it’s estimated over a million victims – fathers, mothers and children – were killed and hundreds of thousands of victims maimed for life, including our soldiers. Meanwhile, weapon contactors profit in the billions selling weapons for an unnecessary occupation while our government officials tell us we “must sacrifice by cutting Social Security for the elderly,” which is far more frightening to those dependent on that income than an extremist hiding in a cave somewhere in Afghanistan.

Now, our deeply concerned government officials are forcing every law-abiding citizen to experience the humiliating treatment of entering a prison at the airports. We are forced to stand inside a whirling radiating scanner while images of our naked bodies are examined by strangers and if we refuse, we must be subjected to offensively intrusive pat-downs exactly like criminal prisoners on the verge of entering prisons instead of commercial airliners. And if you refuse both and decide to go home, TSA guards will chase you down and charge you an $11,000 dollar fine. The pilots association this month instructed members to refuse body-scanner screening, out of concern that frequent exposure to the machines would subject them to health risks. Passengers are equally concerned for the same reason. Inspectors near the machines are also worried that radiation exposure is subjecting them to health risks.

These changes didn’t take place because the searches prior to the body scanner machines and intrusive pat-downs weren’t working; they were working extremely well. No, these changes happened because the former Head of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, had an ulterior motive in promoting the airport security scanning machines that people are objecting to so strongly. The company that makes the machine is now one of Chertoff’s clients, but in the past, under the Bush administration, Chertoff was selling these machines to the government and to the Obama administration and they bought it hook, line and sinker... Michael Chertoff has been the leading promoter-sales pitch man for All body Scanners.”

Let’s get real. Our government officials could care less about our safety. If they did, they’d be doing something about the oil and gas companies’ terribly dangerous process of extracting natural gas known as “fracking:” Hydraulic fracturing is a means of natural gas extraction employed in deep natural gas well drilling. Once a well is drilled, millions of gallons of water are polluted, sand and proprietary chemicals are injected... in short, fracking contaminates our drinking water, rendering it toxic. In fact, it’s so toxic that a single flick of a match can create an explosion from the contaminated water. (Gasland: a film by Josh Fox: http://gaslandthemovie.com/whats-fracking%22)

If our government officials were so concerned about our safety, they’d protect the public from BP’s oil spill, the exposure of methane and the tons of toxic dispersants that were dumped in the Gulf. Instead, the Obama administration tells us that it’s all good, including the endless sea of dead fish that washed up on the shores. And what fish are left in the toxic Gulf, the EPA has given the approval: safe to eat!

If it can force passengers to enter body scanners that undress them and expose them to radiation, what’s next? Should we expect government contracts on satellite security bracelets that mark our every move in the name of “security” too, which would enrich Chertoff and associates even more at the expense of our liberties? If they can force us to enter risky body scanners in the name of security, our Fourth Amendment is completely annihilated. Body trackers are next.

Trust me, you can be sure that Michael Chertoff will never step foot in his own company’s body scanner when he flies. Nope, he’s got his own private jet, free from all body searches, compliments of the American taxpayers.

The above commentary was posted at buzzflash.com BuzzFlash provides headlines, news and commentary for a geographically-diverse, politically-savvy, pro-democracy, anti-hypocrisy web community, reaching five million people a month and growing.