National Opt-Out Day dopey idea, but feel free to vent here

Media hand-wringers are predicting air travel misery untold for Wednesday's National Opt-Out Day, the time set aside for citizens to protest the Transportation Security Administration's "enhanced" pat-down searches and body scanners at the country's airports.

By declining to walk through the Advanced Imaging Scanner, passengers must submit themselves to the far more aggressive pat-down searches by TSA personnel. By "opting out" of the scanner, proponents contend travelers will be exercising their rights and registering their complaint that the TSA's security policies have gone too far.

From the official National Opt-Out Day website: "It's the day ordinary citizens stand up for their rights, stand up for liberty, and protest the federal government's desire to virtually strip us naked or submit to an 'enhanced pat down' that touches people's breasts and genitals in an aggressive manner. You should never have to explain to your children, 'Remember that no stranger can touch or see your private area, unless it's a government employee, then it's OK.' "

I can appreciate the concern, but this is supposed to take place on Wednesday -- hours before Thanksgiving when weary travelers are hustling to get back home before the turkey spoils.

What a dopey idea.

Don't misunderstand. After having my disabled daughter receive the TSA frisking every time we fly, I can appreciate everyone's frustration. No one has to tell me the new TSA procedures are intrusive without doing much to improve security.

But clogging the nation's airports on one of the busiest travel days of the year is simply loony.

I hope it's also unnecessary.

After reading articles and watching televised news reports, the American public is already making its opinion on the subject clear. (One of the things the media can do well is provide a place for the people to vent their frustrations with their government.) It's also evident the federal government is hearing the roar of discontent.

Speaking of complaints, I continue to receive many from across the continent in the wake of Sunday's column on the topic.

Elderly wheelchair user Loraine Berne says, "I feel very humiliated having to go through the pat-down. I just dread having to fly because of the problems I have."

She's not alone.

Many readers have responded with tales of their own anxiety and frustration with the gradual increase of airport security and what they perceive as the general lack of common sense involved.

Toronto resident Laura Rosen Cohen offers, "What a disgrace. I also have a special needs child and I have been harassed because of the equipment we carry. These power hungry-idiots are truly giving terrorists a victory by ignoring the real threats and groping children and elderly people as part of their security theatre."

Reno nursing professor Jeannette McHugh observes, "You're probably hearing from hundreds of people who have survived illnesses and trauma only to be treated like terrorists. Everyone who has rods holding their spines together, people whose fractures have been fixed with indwelling hardware, arthritics who are pain-free only because they have replacement joints, people like my sister with multiple sclerosis who wear foot braces, and patients like your daughter who need wheelchairs, canes or walkers -- we are all going to be searched every damn time!"

Disabled military veteran Ted Inness uses a cane and invariably is directed to the pat-down line despite his instability.

"I too am getting downright sick of this BS they are calling security," he says.

If Inness falls and hurts himself trying to comply with TSA demands, I wonder who will be held liable?

While news outlets shout about the security changes, the TSA's treatment of the disabled and elderly is an under-reported story. And that's a shame.

I don't endorse National Opt-Out Day, but harried airline travelers can vent here any time.

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0295. He also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/smith.