Last week, Senator Rand Paul was detained by the TSA and subjected to a pat-down. The White House disputed this chain of events, but the senator stood by it. Ron Paul stuck up for his son in the coming days, and on CNN’s State of the Union, Paul went down a list of problems he has with the TSA and why it should be abolished. Candy Crowley asked Paul what he would put in the place of the TSA. Paul answered that it could easily be handled by the private sector, and insisted the government has no place being involved in it.

It’s unclear what her motive was, but 61-year-old Yukari Mihamae was arrested in a Phoenix airport for allegedly grabbing the breast of a female TSA agent. It is reported that Mihamae squeezed and twisted the agent’s breast with both hands.

Remember that Congressman who was angry that airport security randomly patted down a grandma and a child, but let a man in “Arabian dress” pass through? Well Republican Congressman Paul Broun is back, this time on Fox News, and he’s not retreating from his demand that the TSA start focusing on the “real” terrorists, which apparently might include anyone in “Arabian attire.”

Republican Congressman Paul Broun serves on the Homeland Security Committee and apparently attends the Juan Williams school of tell us your honest thoughts regarding what you feel when you see Arab-looking individuals in the airport. Broun is upset political correctness demands that we give grandma a pat down at the airport, but don’t do the same for anyone who looks like they might really want to harm America.

Lou Dobbs invited former Governor Jesse Ventura to appear on his show and both were completely disgusted with the TSA’s airport security measures. Dobbs called the practice of patting down young children at airports “outrageous,” “disgusting” and “un-American,” while Ventura used it as a launching pad to reveal his complete distrust of the entire government.

Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, a man who knows something about the dangers of advanced body scanning technology, sued Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration yesterday over the new airport security measures. In the lawsuit, he alleges that he’s been exposed “to humiliation and degradation through unwanted touching, gripping and rubbing of the intimate areas of his body.” Man, can you imagine the poor TSA agent who had to do those things to a furious Jesse Ventura?

With airport security measures increasingly strict, it seems passengers better be extremely careful otherwise your breakfast selection can get you booted from a flight. In Florida, passengers on a plane warned the flight crew of a “suspicious package” that they heard making strange noises. Turns out though, the bag belonged to a professor and contained only keys and a bagel with cream cheese.

Sure, everyone hates the new TSA pat-downs because they’re invasive, but did you know they’re also just part of the wide-spread Homosexual Agenda? That’s what Eugene Delgaudio, Virginia lawmaker believes. Of course, that’s absolutely ridiculous. Why would gay people go to all the trouble to create a universally despised practice just to touch some junk. Besides, it’s fairly likely that the pat-downs are nothing but “security theater” to force people to go through expensive screeners and…wait a second. Gay people love theater! All the pieces fit

Raw Story has some interesting quotes from Ken Wooden, the founder of the child abuse prevention organization Child Lures Prevention who claims that a part of the TSA pat down procedure could potentially help “groom” children for predators. Importantly, Wooden is not talking about the pat downs themselves, but rather a TSA recommendation that parents instructs children that the pat down is “a game.” It could be worse. They could be calling themselves “Uncle TSA Agent.”

If you’re reading this, chances are you made it to your Thanksgiving destination safe and sound—despite any delays caused by body-scanner-related confusion. Even so, there’s still a mountain of controversy surrounding the TSA’s new security screening procedures—and now PETA, the animal rights organization that never shies away from controversy, has entered the fray with a group of new ads that make light of body scanners and pat downs.

Chris Matthews certainly seems less upset about the new TSA measures than a lot of the folks we’ve heard from. Instead, he thinks the Right has been “ginning up” the controversy and that the alternate would be worse, imagining the reaction “five minutes” after a terrorist attack if the Obama administration hadn’t set up strict security measures. Really though, the reaction would be a thousand times worse if there was a terrorist attack with these protocols.

As Reddit goes, so goes the Republican Party? Today both Rush Limbaugh and Mike Huckabee have gone on record as saying that President Obama should send his family through a TSA screening as a sign of good faith, which is the same thing a popular Internet campaign was saying last week. Who would have guessed that conservatives were actually getting their talking points from Reddit? Forget Sarah Palin. Lets look forward to Zach Anner in 2012!

For a little over a week, an eternity in news cycle dog years, the uproar over TSA pat-downs has dominated the media landscape like the bastard spawn of Rod Blagojevich, Sarah Palin, and Balloon Boy. Heading into the Thanksgiving weekend news dead zone, there seems little chance its momentum will slow, but The Daily Beast’s Howard Kurtz may be ushering in the most welcome phase of this story’s arc: the inevitable backlash against the TSA backlash.

The Tea Party does not like the term “teabag.” That’s one thing that the party and Conservative pundits can pretty much all agree on. However, there are a few distinct moments when using it is okay. 1) When Rush Limbaugh is using it. 2) When he’s using it to attack Barack Obama. 3) When you’re, you know, actually drinking tea. And 3) When it’s kind of hilarious. During a discussion of all the TSA junk touching today, Limbaugh managed to his three out of four.

Looking for the perfect holiday gift for your friends and family members who have genitals so incredible and unique that airport security workers will inevitably begin hoarding fuzzy, x-ray images of them? Well, Jeff Buske, a Colorado inventor, has got you covered. Buske has invented a line of underwear with metallic inserts designed to block out the TSA’s prying eyes and protect you from harmful radiation.

The parade of TSA horror stories continued this weekend, as a YouTube video featuring a young boy being patted down has gone viral, hitting the top spot on mega-aggregator The Drudge Report. In the cellphone clip, posted by college student Luke Tait, a shirtless young boy is being patted down by TSA agents, prompting Drudge to dub the video “Hands on Boy.”

The TSA has responded to the clip on their blog, and offered some facts that differed from the account posted on Tait’s YouTube account. After the jump, check out the video, and decide if TSA’s explanation really helps at all.

What a difference a few hours makes. John Pistole, administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” this morning guns blazing in his declaration that the TSA’s controversial security procedures were “not going to change.” Now all of sudden, just a few hours later the TSA has released a statement saying the procedures “will be adapted as conditions warrant.” The statement goes on to read:

Get ready for a political Twilight Zone. In this clip from Huckabee on Fox News, The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg tries to convince former Governor Mike Huckabee that we live in treacherous times that justify the current “police state” security measures at the airport. Wonder if it was President Bush, and not Obama, who instituted the TSA pat-downs whether Huckabee’s uneasiness and Goldberg’s compliance would be reversed?

Glenn Beck really doesn’t care about Prince William’s engagement to Kate Middleton (or Prince Harry’s to Princess Leia, or Prince Jake to Princess Buttercup, or any of the other hilarious faux-mistakes he made during today’s program). However, after he was done his explaining just how little he does care about it, he explained that he does care about the media covering it instead of TSA’s new security measures. That he cares about a lot.

Airport security expert Ann Coulter has some strong opinions about the TSA’s controversial pat-down procedures.

As the outrage against the TSA body scanners and pat downs reaches a boiling point and anyone who is anyone (as well as anyone) gives their opinion, the collective Internet hive mind known as Reddit has thrown in their two cents as well as a pretty clever gauntlet; if President Obama agrees with the TSA that this is necessary, he should send his wife and young daughters through the process.

John Tyner, the man whose viral video refusal to have his “junk touched” has made him something of a folk hero, appeared on Fox News‘ America Live to respond to unfortunately-named TSA administrator John Pistole, among other things. While Pistole and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano maintain that the privacy of Tyner’s privates is a small sacrifice to make, software engineer Tyner says his hardware is off-limits.

In an editorial for USA Today, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano defended new airport security measures, just as pat-downs have come under attack via a viral video of a man refusing to have his “junk” touched by TSA officers. Napolitano assured travelrs that the new Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) units are safe and secure, and described pat-down measures for those who refuse AIT scans. According to Matt Drudge, this means “The Terrorists Have Won!”

To follow up, Napolitano also held a press conference this morning to answer questions about the policies. Video after the jump.

There’s been a lot of grumbling about the TSA’s new pat-down procedures lately—people say they’re far too intrusive, especially when it comes to “crotchal area” examinations. A man trying to board a flight at San Diego International Airport even filmed his encounter with the TSA, saying that their security screening felt like “a sexual assault.” It’s no surprise, then, that the TSA is now trying to defend itself against its detractors. This morning, TSA administrator John Pistole attempted to do just that when he stopped by CNN to discuss attitudes toward full-body scans and general security concerns with anchor John Roberts.

There’s been much written about the obtrusiveness of the new full body scanners (or body-scatters) being unrolled at airports. However, The Atlantic’s Jeffry Goldberg has found some additional disturbing facts both about the scanners (for one, he got an employee to admit he called the machines “The Dick-Measuring Device”) and, even worse, about what happens when you opt out.