"Opt Out" for Good: Take the Train

I'm way ahead of you one-occasion boycotters--
I stopped flying in 1988,when my Continental flight
suddenly dropped 5-10 thousand feet during a nation-
wide winter storm. Landing at Denver Stapleton,
I found an airline PR person and directed him to a
window. We looked out at my plane which was to
continue on to Chicago, my destination. I asked for
the ice to be removed from the wings. When he refused
I demanded overnight accommodations and a Greyhound
ticket to Chicago, which I got. The plane did make
it safely back to Chi, but several flight attendants
had also left that plane, I later read.

Before and since I've travelled by train; but only
by train, car or bus since 1988 for national travel.
During that 20 plus hour ride one can read, sleep, get
plans organized, thought out and written down, etc. Oh,
and seriously stretch your legs too. You can cut down on
hotel expenses by building sleeping on the train into
your schedule.

Frequent fliers/business travelers? Videoconferencing
has been on the rise, and could sharply escalate now
that many across the U.S. are personally, uncomfortably
aware of just how intrusive the TSA security practices
have become. Remember the shoe stores and their
radiation machines? You stepped up on them and saw
your foot bones. That's unnecessary harmful radiation,
(as all radiation exposure, high or low, is cumulative)
which explains why those things are gone. The new scanners
now in use at our major airports have a direct
financial connection to Chertoff, our Homeland Security
Department former boss. He and his private security firm
partners sell these very machines....CONFLICT
OF INTEREST, anyone? Chertoff was promoting these
scanners WHILE Bush's Cabinet officer.

Don't mind strangers sliding their hands up your inner
thighs, over your buttocks, and even between your
legs as part of a public inspection? Then you're among the
80% of Americans so in love with their money and middle-class
conveniences that they would permit such a violation of privacy
and dignity--the whole spectacle is pathetically nasty, really,
for anyone with an ounce of self-respect and/or modesty.
THIS IS OFFICIAL MOLESTATION, there is no other better term
to use here. If there ARE no other accurate methods to avoid
terrorism, we are NOW a third world country, all the flag-waving
and bragging to the contrary.

The day these intrusions make their way to buses and trains is
when I look for another nation to call my own....

That really WOULD be opting out for good.