The Torturer vs. Joan of Arc

The Torturer vs. Joan of Arc
by Becky Akers

Lusting as ever to provide all things for all serfs – and failing miserably –, the State furnished us with two paladins this past week. America, choose your hero:

In this corner we have a tough guy and former Secretary of Unlimited War – sorry, Defense whom Richard Nixon, no softie himself, described as a " ruthless little bastard." Said bastard lived up to Tricky Dick's praise when he pooh-poohed the cruelty of torture: "I stand for 8-10 hours a day. Why is standing [in 'stress positions'] limited to four hours [for Iraqi POWs]?" he scribbled several years ago on a memo regarding "counter-resistance techniques."

How does this paragon of cowardice and barbarity respond to sexual assault? Gleefully. " Donald Rumsfeld … was stopped at Chicago O'Hare airport for a pat down. … he smiled through the security check." Indeed, he " even wav[ed] to a group of passing soldiers." Hmmmm. You might suppose a creep's hand down you-know-where would shame a he-man into writhing anonymity, not inspire him to call his fellow brutes' attention to his humiliation.

Predictably, the corporate press ate it up. "The frisking of someone as recognizable as Rumsfeld prove [sic] that the system does not discriminate, even in favor of the very famous," lectured ABC News.

TIME agrees. "Not Above the Law," its headline burbles, while the copy chirps, "Secretary Rumsfeld did the embattled Transportation Security Administration [TSA] a huge service Wednesday" by "happily complying… There likely has never been another person to appear so happy to receive a pat down at an airport. [Note to the missus: you worried about your hubby's proclivities here, girl? I mean, he wouldn't be the first to hide his yearnings under a macho exterior.] Rumsfeld would surely be a perfect poster child for the TSA as they battle against critics who say pat downs are degrading, ineffective and an invasion of privacy."

Get it, peon? Sexual assault from your government is not "degrading, ineffective and an invasion of privacy"; "critics" (read: whackos) merely "say" it is. Rather, the State's fondling is a privilege we ought to cherish, as Our Ruler's joy plainly shows. And yes, The Torturer may have lost credibility with you, if he ever had any (and I devoutly pray he did not), but he clearly owns it in spades with the corporate media. It drools to beatify him, even if he is a Republican and even if he has achieved the highest honor possible to a person in this world or the next: "working" for the State.

OK, I'm about to lose my cookies, too, so let's turn to our other choice. She's a diminutive lady of 61, " a self-employed translator, author and radio producer" from Colorado. Hey, she needn't do anything else to win my vote: unlike The Torturer she hasn't leeched off our taxes for decades. And I daresay she's never forced any client to stand in a "stress position" while translating for him, either.

That alone should tell you which of our two protagonists Amerika jailed. Yep, while The Torturer struts free regardless of his war-crimes, cops imprisoned Yukari Miyamae overnight after she neglected to swoon with bliss at the prospect of the TSA's sexually molesting her. We don't know exactly what happened; Ms. Miyamae's account differs substantially from the media's and the TSA's. The last two have as much reverence for truth as The Torturer does, so my money's on Ms. Miyamae's version.

According to her attorney, "Ms. Miyamae says she told TSA agents she wanted to be screened by the metal detector gate. She did so out of concern for excessive radiation exposure from the full-body scanners, as she is a frequent business traveler. Her request was denied. She was soon surrounded by TSA agents. One TSA agent, a tall woman, approached Ms. Miyamae, who is only five feet tall. Ms. Miyamae felt panicked and experienced a volatile aversion to the TSA personnel violating her personal physical space. She felt endangered and threatened based upon prior traumatizing security pat-downs, repugnance at the prospect of being touched again in such a violent and undignified manner, and instinctively pushed the female TSA agent away."

Way to go, Ms. Miyamae! But for a few craven bootlickers here and there, the whole country cheers your defending yourself from these perverts! Small but mighty, outnumbered yet fighting on the side of angels, utterly heroic!

And aside from "push[ing]" her assailant, Ms. Miyamae did nothing illegal. Nor is it her fault that Our Masters have criminalized self-defense; even the sheeple instinctively recognize the gross immorality of demanding that victims submit, and meekly, to abuse. Hence, the nationwide outpouring of support for our champ. No wonder " she denies doing anything wrong."

And no wonder either that the TSA or the cops (and likely both) ramped up their reports. " 'Sgt. Steve Martos, of the Phoenix Police Department, issued a statement saying, 'A woman entered the screening area in Terminal 4 [of Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport], became argumentative [uh-oh] and refused to be screened by TSA staff. During the argument, the suspect, Yukari Miyamae, 61, grabbed the breast of a TSA employee,' Martos said."

That wasn't purple enough for other "police," so they embroidered it. " Ms Miyamae … allegedly grabbed [a TSA] agent's 'left breast through her clothing, squeezing and twisting it with both hands without the victim's permission,' according to police." Yo: when does anyone give such permission? Certainly the passengers the TSA gate-rapes don't.

And that double standard is so very glaring that the sheeple instantly discerned it this time, too. Readers of every article about Ms. Miyamae that allows comments want to know why the TSA's thugs enthusiastically grope us but have us arrested when we return the favor. They mock the propaganda that the agency's pawing constitutes "national security" while ours is a crime. Indeed, their flocking to support Ms. Miyamae's unwitting spoof of this hypocrisy has generated several stories itself.

Which is a most refreshing and immensely encouraging change from the last time a woman defended herself from the TSA. Phyllis Dintenfass was a retired schoolteacher whose hairpins triggered the metal detector in 2004. That gave Anita Gostisha, some 30 years younger and athletic, an excuse to cop a feel. Ms. Dintenfass reacted properly to this attack, just as Ms. Miyamae did: she warned the goon to leave her alone and, when words didn't work, fondled her and asked, "How do you like it?" For this, Ms. Dintenfass was arrested, charged, tried and convicted. The judge could have sentenced her to a year in federal prison; he settled instead for berating her and ordering her to stay out of trouble, fining her, and sentencing her to community slavery – er, service.

Most of the reports about Ms. Dintenfass have vanished down the memory hole, so you'll have to trust me here: an overwhelming majority of readers commenting at the time sided with the TSA. They shrilled that the agency was all that kept terrorists from blowing us out of the skies; Ms. Dintenfass had endangered every American with her disrespect of the TSA's patriots and public servants; sure, the agency might have a few problems, but that merely demonstrated its need of more money and power.

Seven years later, the TSA has savaged so many innocuous people so horrifically that Ms. Miyamae's protest has made her a superstar nationwide, not just to those of us who love liberty. Despite the TSA's thunder that "the agency will not tolerate assaults against its workforce," the district attorney in Arizona dropped the charges against our plucky gal. Vengeful Leviathan may still file a misdemeanor against her, but let's hope Ms. Miyamae's fervent and numerous fans scare Our Rulers enough to scotch those ambitions, too.

" She's surprised by all this, but she is a strong woman," Ms. Miyamae's attorney told ABC News. "She feels the way the TSA treated her and others is not dignified."

In fact, the TSA considers it a crime.

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