The Transportation Security Administration is having image problems. Instead of dealing with core issues they have decided they need new uniforms and badges.

Polls find that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is one of the least popular agencies in government, ranking down in the depths of hell with the IRS. Passengers complain about rude treatment, inflexible rules, long lines and seemingly illogical and inconsistent policies. One thing they don’t tend to take issue with, however, is the uniforms. They don’t say things like, “Please make the screeners look more like real police.”

The TSA is comprised of lazy slobs who serve no purpose other than to make every person passing through an airport feel as subservient to bureaucratic whims as is possible. In a place where artibitraty rules are more important than common sense of course there is an atmosphere of barely repressed discontent. I’ve thought more than once about punching a TSA agent right in the mouth and I know I’m not alone.

The new uniforms and badges will only make the situation worse. Until TSA learns that the vast majority of people passing through their queues should be treated like honored guests and friends instead of suspects, the hatred of the organization and its stupidity will continue.

To be fair, I’m sure that many of the employees of the TSA are nice people once you get them out of those dumb uniforms. But many of them are just fat jackasses who enjoy lording it over “regular” people trying to get from point A to point B. The TSA know as much about real security as I know about building a particle accelerator. If the United States had efficient trains like Europe, no one would fly. It just isn’t worth the hassle.

The new uniforms and badges will just waste money, like the TSA in general.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://youtube.com/v/bqOLjEli6yY" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

No self-respecting firearms instructor stores a weapon with any type of system remotely resembling the idiotic one the TSA has devised. Only from the minds of bureaucrats who don’t know shit about weapons.

When you allow strangers to be completely entrusted with your safety you set yourself up for disaster. That’s why I’ve always felt somewhat uncomfortable with public transportation. Sure, the pilots have a vested interest in a smooth, uneventful flight. The TSA idiots on the ground, however, don’t really suffer if the plane crashes or is hijacked, etc. They just make up some new rules for all the rest of the flying lemmings to follow. Sometimes, the stupidity of these rules gets people killed.

If the TSA was a practical, efficient organization several things would happen based on this video. First, senior administrators at TSA would find out the individual or board responsible for the disgustingly stupid locking mechanism policy currently in place. They would dismiss those persons. Then they would change the policy. Pilots should be allowed to carry the weapons from point to point. In the air, on the ground and everywhere. The weapon should be a part of their daily routine. That is the best way to ensure responsible handling.