Bill of Rights – Security Edition
Sacrificing Essential Liberty for Safety… One Card at a Time
Posted by deancameron on February 18, 2010 under Good News, The TSA | 
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This is stunning.
A “funny” TSA Agent in Philly pulls a “prank” on a passenger.
Special thanks to the group on Facebook: F*** The TSA
Posted by deancameron on September 30, 2009 under Freedom Fighters, Good News, Libertarian, The TSA, U.S. Constitution, USA PATRIOT ACT | Be the First to Comment
Downsize DC is embarking on yet another grassroots campaign (it’s what they do) to roll back the wildly unconstitutional USA PATRIOT ACT. (I exaggerate to clarify)
The good news is that some parts of the PATRIOT Act could expire at the end of the year. This provides an opportunity to roll back many of these dangerous provisions. Toward this end Senator Russ Feingold introduced the JUSTICE Act (S. 1686) on September 17, Constitution Day. JUSTICE stands for the Judicious Use of Surveillance Tools In Counterterrorism Efforts.
Posted by deancameron on July 22, 2009 under Freedom Fighters, Good News, Libertarian, The TSA, U.S. Constitution | Be the First to Comment
dean cameron, steve bierfeldt, matt holdridge
I’m on the left, Steve’s in the center and another Campaign For Liberty hero, Matt Holdridge, is on the right. This is us backstage at the Penn & Teller Theater at the Penn & Teller show at the beautiful Rio in Las Vegas, Nevada.
He is so nice, soft-spoken and modest. If you haven’t listened to the audio of the incident, you might want to. Goodness gracious.
Posted by deancameron on July 17, 2009 under Good News, Libertarian, The TSA, U.S. Constitution | Be the First to Comment
The freedom fighters at Downsize DC have a great campaign going on. Downsize DC wisely points out that 200 times more “innocent American civilians” have been killed in automobile accidents than terrorist attacks in the U.S. and that our leaders have grossly overreacted to the threat of terrorism.
Take a look:
Posted by deancameron on May 23, 2009 under Good News, Libertarian, Self-Promotion, The TSA | Read the First Comment
Penn & Teller put airport security to the test
Updated 5/15/2009 9:27 AM
Penn & Teller are the resident headliners at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
By Harriet Baskas, special for USA TODAY
Like many travelers, the infamous, eccentric, libertarian-leaning magicians known as Penn & Teller have a gripe with airport security. “What really bothers us about the TSA is not the men and women employed there,” says Penn Jillette, the taller, more talkative (at least on stage) member of the performance team. “We’re just against the idea of people allowing themselves to give up freedoms when confronted with fear.”
Jillette says both he and Teller used to really love being on the road. They’d been touring since the mid-1970s, but after the events of September 11, 2001, the experience lost, well, some of its magic. “We were both getting older, I wanted to have kids, and that was certainly part of it. But we also just seemed to be getting our hearts broken every time we went through airport security. We’re often recognized and we are always treated very well by the TSA employees, but it bothered us to see other people getting hassled and it made being on the road much less fun.”
So in 2002, the pair leaped at an opportunity to become the resident headliners at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Their fast-paced, awe-inspiring magic shows include guns, wood-chippers and nail guns, and are laced with laughter-inducing and, at times, biting commentary, but rarely will you hear anything overtly political. They do, however, have a few bits that touch on basic issues of rights. A long-running bit that entails wrapping the flag in the Constitution and then lighting it on fire is as much a chance to make people think about the First Amendment as is it to dazzle the audience with expert sleight of hand. And a brand new bit for which Penn & Teller purchased their very own TSA-style metal detector creates a platform for discussing the Fourth Amendment, the section of the Bill of Rights that addresses unreasonable searches and seizures.
“The bit is essentially comparing magicians, who earn their living by doing things that are sneaky and disingenuous, with bad people who do things that are sneaky and disingenuous,” Jillette explains. And because he’s confident that not too many people who see their show will read this column, or remember reading it when they visit Las Vegas, he gave me the OK to tell you what happens:
In addition to that real metal detector, Penn & Teller bring out one of those wands we’ve all had waved over us at the airport when the change in our pocket or the wire from our bra causes the machinery to beep. An audience member is invited up on stage to make sure the equipment is working, and when Jillette’s pocket beeps he hands over a playing-card-sized piece of metal that just happens to have the Bill of Rights printed on it with the Fourth Amendment highlighted. Jillette says it usually elicits a big laugh when he gives the audience-assistant the mini-metal Bill of Rights and tells him how much fun it will be if he keeps it in pocket when going through the security checkpoint at McCarran International Airport.
Read the rest of the article: Harriet Baskas writes about travel etiquette for MSNBC.com and is the author of the airport guidebook Stuck at the Airport and a blog of the same name.
Posted by deancameron on April 15, 2009 under Good News, Libertarian, Self-Promotion | Be the First to Comment
Early May, 2009, the fine folks at the Penn & Teller show at the beautiful Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, will be selling Bill of Rights – Security Edition cards at their merchandise booth.
