Good for Senator Paul. It's about time the anti-TSA activists in Congress showed some fire to back up their criticism.
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Republican Senator Rand Paul was detained at an airport on Monday for setting off an alarm and refusing a patdown, prompting his father, U.S. presidential candidate Ron Paul, to accuse security officials of being part of an "out of control" police state.
In a harshly worded attack on the Transportation Security Administration, which handles security screenings at U.S. airports, Ron Paul, known for his strident libertarian views, said the TSA "gropes and grabs our kids and our seniors and does nothing to keep us safe."
After Rand Paul refused the patdown, he was escorted out of the airport security area in Nashville, Tennessee, by local authorities, the TSA said. Paul missed his flight to Washington, but was later rebooked and rescreened without incident.
As favorites of the anti-Washington Tea Party movement, Paul and his father, who is a U.S. Representative from Texas, have helped lead the charge against what critics call excessive federal intrusion, from healthcare to body searches.
At a Senate hearing last June, Rand Paul challenged TSA Administrator John Pistole over his agency's random patdowns of travelers at airports, including the case of a 6-year-old girl from his home state of Kentucky.
"This isn't to say that we don't believe in safety procedures," Paul said. "But I think I feel less safe because you're doing these invasive exams on a six-year-old. It makes me think you're clueless that you think she's going to attack our country and that you're not doing your research on the people who would attack our country."
On the campaign trial, Ron Paul has called for the abolition of the TSA on the grounds that it wastes taxpayer money and violates personal liberties.
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Related story:
A partial list of our previous TSA stories:
- PHOTOS - Rumsfeld Groped By TSA
- TSA Strip Searches 3 Year Old Boy: Video
- Video: TSA Gropes 6-Year-Old Girl
- Baywatch Babe Targeted For Naked Body Scan
- Roxi Copeland - I'll Be Groped For Christmas - TSA Special
- Screw The TSA - Wear 4th Amendment Underwear
- "You Touch My Junk, I'll Have You Arrested"
- Video: George Carlin On Terrorism & Airport Security
- Hillary Clinton On Getting A TSA Patdown: "Not if I could avoid it!"
- TSA Search & Harrass 9 Year-Old Boy And Other Train Passengers AFTER Their Trip
- How Matt Kernan Beat The System By Demanding His Constitutional Rights
- Miss USA Susie Castillo Molested By TSA
- Rep. Paul Broun: TSA Gropes Grandma, Kids, Skips Man
- Physician Parents Threatened By TSA Before 6 Year Old Daughter Was Groped
- Video: Obama Tells Airport Groping Joke; ACLU Fires Back; Jesse Ventura Sues
- Adam Savage From Mythbusters TV: "TSA X-Rayed my junk, but they missed two 12-inch industrial razor blades in my coat"