A women gets arrested at the Austin airport because she refused the government-mandated sexual assault enhanced patdown.

Claire Hirschkind, 56, who says she is a rape victim and who has a pacemaker-type device implanted in her chest, says her constitutional rights were violated.

[…]

Hirschkind said because of the device in her body, she was led to a female TSA employee and three Austin police officers.  She says she was told she was going to be patted down.

“I turned to the police officer and said, ‘I have given no due cause to give up my constitutional rights.  You can wand me,'” and they said, ‘No, you have to do this,'” she said.

Hirschkind agreed to the pat down, but on one condition.

“I told them, ‘No, I’m not going to have my breasts felt,’ and she said, ‘Yes, you are,'” said Hirschkind.

When Hirschkind refused, she says that “the police actually pushed me to the floor, (and) handcuffed me.  I was crying by then.  They drug me 25 yards across the floor in front of the whole security.”

Wow. The humanity of all of this.

This is what keeps us safe?

The thing is, we haven’t had a single terrorist attack since implementing “security through pornography.” But yet we have reports almost daily of indignity, suffering, pain, and torment being caused to the citizenry. Why is this acceptable? Is guaranteed inhumane treatment of all citizens on a constant and daily basis a rational justification? Is it a legitimate cost?

The TSA did release a statement Wednesday that said in part, “Our officers are trained to treat all passengers with dignity and respect. Security is not optional.”

But apparently dignity and respect are optional.

Real security may not be optional, but this sort of “farcical security” behavior is intolerable, unacceptable, and inexcusable.

Why are you putting up with it?

If there wasn’t video, you wouldn’t believe it.

Over at Gawker is video of Pat Robertson (yes, THAT Pat Robertson) calling for the decriminalization of drugs (or at least, marijuana) on the December 16, 2010 edition of the 700 Club.

“I’m … I’m not exactly for the use of drugs, don’t get me wrong, but I just believe that criminalizing marijuana, criminalizing the possession of a few ounces of pot, that kinda thing it’s just, it’s costing us a fortune and it’s ruining young people. Young people go into prisons, they go in as youths and come out as hardened criminals. That’s not a good thing.”

Ah. There’s a video on YouTube:

(That video says this was on the Dec. 22 edition of the show. Whateva… he said it.)

However you want to take the man’s comments well… given a lot of the other looney statements he’s made in the past, perhaps this is just another. Or perhaps, there’s something sound to what he has to say. And you have to consider where this is coming from and the audience that listens to him and that he has influence over. This is rather against the grain. But for once, I’ll agree with the guy.

Art Carden @ Forbes writes:

As a Christian who has written and spoken against drug prohibition, I was both surprised and gladdened [to hear Robertson’s comments]. Given his influence among Christians and social conservatives, this is very encouraging.

Governments do a lot of silly and sometimes heinous things. The American War on Drugs is both: it is silly, and it is heinous. The economic case for drug legalization is rock-solid and straightforward, and a lot of the maladies and social ills that we associate with drug use are products not of the drugs themselves but of the fact that they are illegal.

Indeed. It’s not like all that violence going down on the US-Mexico border is the result of bad George Lopez jokes or tamale importation issues. It’s drugs.

Carden continues:

As a result of prohibition, we have more violence, stronger drugs, and an army of people with shattered lives. There are important moral consequence, as well, and these are moral consequences that should be especially resonant with Christians. My friend Timothy D. Watkins, a professor of music at Texas Christian University, said it well when I was looking for perspectives on this last year:

“Part of what [being created ‘in the image of God’] entails is the ability to make morally meaningful choices. The story of the Fall in Genesis is in great part about God allowing humans to make choices that are bad for them because without such freedom morality is a meaningless concept. Prohibition is the denial of moral agency.”

Drug prohibition–and any other attempt to regulate private, non-coercive behavior, for that matter–cheapens our humanity. It isn’t like we are getting anything in return. Prohibitions generally give us the exact opposite of what their advocates intend. The war on drugs is a war that is almost all cost with scant benefits.

Well, it all depends who we’re trying to benefit. It’s sure benefitting those directly involved in “the war on drugs”, namely the drug cartels and law enforcement (and perhaps pharmaceutical companies), at the cost is great pain throughout society. But hey… what’s a lot of death and crime when there’s money to be made and special interests to protect, right?