So TSA can molest children in public now

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSQTz1bccL4

No really. That's how I want to open with this. A ten year old boy who went through the metal detector and didn't set it off is "randomly" chosen for a.....wait for it.......STRIP SEARCH.

In the video you see the child's father trying to help his son cooperate, standing with him to protect him and trying to get him to raise his arms for them. I commend him. I know he felt this was the best he could do for his son.

But for me it isn't good enough. Not. Even. Close. What parent stands there and tries to make it easier for someone to molest their child? That guy who said last week that if it wasn't the government doing it we would consider it sexual assault was correct. But take that and apply it to a child? That boy experienced humiliation, violation of his privacy, public exposure and emotional rape. I would never allow anyone to touch my daughters that way when they were kids. Not sure I would allow it now. Is this really preferable to profiling? Really? I have no guarantee that the TSA agent has no pedophile tendencies. Do you?

I read a story earlier that a few weeks ago a Denver TSA official was caught masturbating while watching full body screenings of teenage girls. I couldn't find a reputable source to confirm this but it is truly within the realm of possibilities with the rules we have in place. Do you want someone looking at your naked body for no reason? Do you want your teenage child viewed on the scanner or touched intimately by a TSA agent? I have to believe that most people/parents want nothing of the sort - no matter where they stand on politics. (Mental reference to Sting's song hoping the Russians love their children too.)

We live in a world where teachers and parent volunteers are told not to hug students/children under any circumstances because it could be viewed as inappropriate touching. But we should stand by and let TSA agents have carte blanche with our bodies and those of our children? I'm sorry but I would like to challenge the mental state and sexuality of the individual who actually CHOSE to pull a child out of line with no provocation and pat him down. I'm disgusted. I really feel sick to my stomach.

As many of you know, I am a survivor of child abuse, including molestation. I have spent my life trying to advocate for children (my own and others) and try to make kids feel safe. I have tried to let them have a voice and a safe place to strengthen them. I have helped parents stop abusing and I have held many kids while they cried. I want nothing more than a world where children are finally safe. Where adults don't take advantage of them, abuse their weakness, treat them like punching bags. Where their trust isn't violated nor is any part of their body.

And the freaking government wants to do this? They can molest a child but heaven forbid we pull a young adult, Muslim male (the profile for almost every terrorist attack in the past 2 decades) and search him. We wouldn't want to offend the Muslim, terrorist, anti-American crowd, right? The ACLU would have a field day. But I don't see the ACLU, Jesse Jackson, NOW, ACORN or any other "champion of the people" organization stepping forward here. Now ask me if I'm surprised.

So I guess we've decided that molesting children in public while their parents stand by and try to minimize the damage but still fully allow it to happen is preferable to being politically incorrect. Congratulations America. You've reached a new low. (And yes, I know Republicans are partly to blame. That is completely beside the point.)

(For the record, if it had been my child? I would have called in cops, security, child protective services, a lawyer and the local DA. We would ride in the back of a U-Haul before I allowed a child I loved to endure that humiliation. It would not happen.)