Why I love enhanced security pat downs.

The uproar over the TSA's new frisky search policy makes a chuckle a little. Of course, there is nothing new about people in America getting felt up by people in uniform. Ask any African-American teen.

The only thing that is new about this unwanted attention is the target. It is not surprising that once middle class white Americans start being molested, it causes an uproar.

This is why I love these pat downs. They are uniquely fair. In a time when Americans are so willing to compromise other people's rights (from Muslims who want to build mosques in New York and Tennessee to Hispanics who want to live in Arizona), this is a rare time that middle class white Americans are being asked to sacrifice their own rights.

Let's see how long that lasts.

In other words, while a white middle class women is being patted-down, it might be helpful if a woman from the other demographic stand to the side and give helpful encouragement, "You go girl!"

India's ambassador Meera Shankar frisked at US airport
India's ambassador to US has been pulled from an airport security line and frisked by a security agent in Mississippi, it has emerged.

The hands-on search took place last week even after Meera Shankar's diplomatic status was revealed. Some reports said Ms Shankar, who was on her way from a conference, was singled out because she was wearing a sari. The Indian embassy in Washington has strongly protested about the incident.
The search took place on 4 December at the Jackson-Evers International Airport, news agency Press Trust of India quoted an Indian Embassy official as saying. Ms Shankar was about to board a flight to Baltimore after attending an event at Mississippi State University. She was taken to a VIP waiting room despite staff being told that she was an ambassador, he said. She was later pulled from a security line and patted down by a female Transportation Security Administration agent. "This is unacceptable to India and we are going to take it up with the US government and I hope things could be resolved so that such unpleasant incidents do not recur," External Affairs Minister SM Krishna told reporters in Delhi.

'Stupid incident'

The incident has also embarrassed the university officials who had invited Ms Shankar to give a speech. "It was a wonderful programme, maybe the best we've had, (but) this stupid incident ruined the whole thing," Associated Press quoted Janos Radvanyi, chair of the university's international studies department as saying. "She said, 'I will never come back here'. We are sending her a letter of apology," he said. Last year, America's Continental Airlines apologised to former Indian president APJ Abdul Kalam for frisking him before he boarded a flight to the US. Members of India's parliament were outraged after it emerged that Mr Kalam had been frisked and made to remove his shoes at Delhi airport in April. Protocol exempts former presidents and other dignitaries from such searches.