Scanners, Screeners, Pat-Downs and Kilts

The movement for a National Opt-Out Day on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving -- in which travelers are urged to decline en masse to be screened by body imaging scanners at airports across the country -- appears to be gathering steam. My colleague Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic now offers a new twist on the idea to really drive home the point: He says men should not only opt out, subjecting themselves to new, more intrusive, pat-down techniques at security checkpoints, but do so while wearing kilts--and better yet, wearing kilts commando-style.

That, Goldberg says, "allows a federal government employee to share in your humiliation."

I can't endorse this proposal, merely out of sympathy for the TSA agents who already have the unenviable job of enforcing the new pat-down techniques on fully clothed passengers. Goldberg hopes National Opt-Out Day "causes hardworking TSA employees to tell their bosses, 'Enough.' " Unfortunately, I don't think employees on the front lines have that much influence on screening procedures.