While I wouldn't cancel a dive trip because of the new security measures (going on one Saturday in fact), I do think it's a sad state of affairs. Moreso I think it's sad that, even when faced with the facts, so many people are still willing to have their 4th Amendment rights taken away for the illusion of safety.
Since 9/11 we've had 3 major terrorist scares involving the US and airplanes. Richard Reid (shoebomber, flight from France to Miami), Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (underwear bomber, Amsterdam to Detroit), and the recent package scare (Yemen origin via England and Dubai, heading to Chicago). The last one, obviously, has to do with package screening instead of passenger screening. Both bombers were subdued by passengers and crew, and would not have been picked up by the new scanning methods.
I can't find the # on the FAA site for international arrivals, but they do have the statistics for number of domestic departures. From October, 2001 to August 2010 there were 82,734,955 domestic commercial passenger flights in the US. Of these we've seen 0 reported aborted or succesful terrorist attempts. While certainly possible that the TSA has kept any attempts quiet, it seems highly unlikely (given publicity of the other cases and the fact that ANY stopped attempt would justify the increased security measures). Hell, the tin foil hat brigade expects a false flag attempt soon to justify the current TSA actions.
So the question becomes, have you sacrificed your rights to stop anything? We have a Bill of Rights in this country for a reason -- in fact without it the Constitution itself would most likely not have been ratified.
Some of you, understandably, don't care about the TSA taking away your 4th Amendment rights -- but if you feel that way I'd ask you to think about what happens when they take away a right you cared about? People who don't own guns rarely care about the 2nd Amendment. And those who don't get into trouble with the law (or get called for jury duty) don't need to worry about Fifth, Sixth or Seventh.
Everytime I fly it annoys me to no end that I have to take my shoes, jacket and belt off. I'm not a terrorist. Now I may be scanned by a machine that several impressive-sounding places (Columbia University, University of California, etc.) are telling me may be irradiating me, may be saving the pictures of me ("they" say they don't, but they obviously don't use Google either), or I can be subjected to an invasion of my personal space. But ... I'm not a terrorist. I'm being treated like I'm one, though. And that's the whole point -- with nonexistant threats we've been reduced to having to get grandma groped to get anywhere. To me, at least, that's a pretty crappy legacy to take from 9/11.
Although not flying isn't a choice for me, neither is acting like a sheep ready to give away pieces of who I am and what I believe in -- for any reason, much less an unproven one. So to the original poster I'd still go to Bonaire if I were you, but before you go perhaps you should
write a quick note to your congressperson letting them know how you feel?
