A little advice for Nicole White, the TSA and anyone traveling with kids

Devedander, I wasn’t referring to your post specifically. :) Hundreds/thousands of people all over the net are pointing at her one emergency Xanax as proof she’s nuts, unstable, etc., they are not taking time to read previous entries of hers like you did but basing their comments on her taking a benzo at all.

I am now part of a support group that helps other sufferers of tinnitus in the early stages and one of the biggest hurdles I have found in trying to help “newbies” is the almost universal resistance in taking something like Ativan or Xanax to help them because of the stigma attached to such drugs. I myself felt the same way before I developed tinnitus. I do not believe in drug use, I won’t even take an Advil if I can get by without one and it took the combined efforts of my doctor, my friends and my husband to get me to take the Ativan in the first place, that’s how afraid I was to take it. Because of the way it’s been portrayed in the media. Scared to death to take it. I cried when I took the first one. I was so afraid I’d be an automatic addict and I didn’t know what the drug would do to me. The movies/TV makes it look like people on such drugs act horribly and irresponsibly. I didn’t want that.

Of course, I got over my fears as I found out it allowed me to get sleep for the first time in weeks. And even made the hearing distortion seem less scary the next day. As I said, eventually as the hearing distortion receded and became less frightening, I was able to wean myself off it and I no longer need to take it. :)

Unfortunately, many people who develop tinnitus and write me, utterly panicked, are equally afraid to take such drugs based upon the media and they also resist their doctor’s/family’s advice. I have to work hard at encouraging them and explain how it helped me again and again and how I did not become an addict or show up on Dr. Drew’s “Celebrity Rehab” *grins*

I just try to step in whenever I see people assume such a thing and point out that if you’re taking one or two pills a day at a low dosage because of a legitimate condition and prescribed by your personal physician, it doesn’t mean you’re suddenly an addict with a capital A. Again, this wasn’t written towards you personally, just a general, friendly message for anyone who might jump to conclusions that are untrue regarding these drugs. :)

Barbie45, Valiam is still a benzo, I wasn’t suggesting they were all exactly the same drug or that they could be combined. :)

From the Wiki: “Diazepam (Valium) was the second benzodiazepine to be invented by Sternbach of Hoffmann-La Roche, and was approved for use in 1960.”

Sheila you are really not doing yourself a favor with your rant post. It’s actually robbing you of credibility as you are making obviously flawed emotion based arguments and going to such exteremes that it looks like you have to because you cannot make a logical argument for your point of view.

I think indeed anyone who carries an “emergency xanex” can have it brought up in a questioning way. Just like someone who carries an “emergency bottle of scotch” or “emergency cupcake” might well have their sobriety or self control called into question.

You are not making sense and are coming across as someone in an emotionally compormised state. In laymens terms you sound like a teenager who’s mom just said “your curfew is now 10 instead of 11″.

Calm down, step back and maybe re read your comment… I think it would do you well to consider it form someone elses perspective.

As for who cared about her blog? Were you asking that when the support was rolling in for her? Were you asking that when the TSA was being wrongly lambasted for a horrible false accustion? Either way the answer is, some people care… and the reality is that it’s not her blog that people needed to care about, people care about the severe misstreatment of others (ie kidnapping) and won’t stand for it. It’s the abuse of this exact sentiment and humanitarian side of people that makes this event such a travesty. There is little enough good in this world that to abuse and thus devalue and possible destroy some of this good will (next time this happens less people will pay head to the wolfs cry even if it’s legit) is heinous to say the least.

How did the TSA get wind of it? The TSA has a blog, they pay attention and I am sure it was forwaded to the TSA in any number of ways for any number of reasons. Her blog is not some secret vault and twitter, facebook and the internet in general are the tools of information desemination that Nic herself depends on to give strength to her “freedom of speech”.

Why are they so quick to release video evidence in their defense? Are you kidding me? Do you know how many people out there regularly lambast the TSA for NOT proving themselves innocent? Daily hundreds of accusations get thrown at the TSA and every one that doesn’t get countered gets a position of truth in the word of rumor. I am surprised the TSA hasn’t released MORE evidence to clear themselves… and honestly when accused of kidnapping is it really a BAD thing invesitage quickly? Had they issued a standard press release and shut up would you really have been happier or would you have been out there with the others condeming them for covering it up and obviously hiding something or they would have shown it by now?

Clearly edited? You have seen the full relase of all 9 camera angles right? Now YOUR distrust is getting in the way of seeing clearly.

Why did they blur her in the video? Two likely reasons: one is yes, to some extent for privacy. She is getting a full body pat down and she has shown a propencity to get carried away with being violated (imagined or not) and there is a difference between seeing something happen walking by and showing it to the whole internet in a capturable video. Anyone can hear you talking to a bank teller at the window, but your bank wouldn’t relase audio transcripts of your personal bank info to the public now would they?

Second, if you have ever tried to take a picture of someone walking into security (as a good by shot) you will find that they don’t allow it. It’s to protect their operations so you can’t send photos or videos around to learn how to bypass their operations. Yes we all know you can just see it an experience it for yourself, but at least you have to be there to do it, this prevents any and everyone from seeing it without having to set foot anywhere near it happening and thus in no way drawing attention to themselves.

Now I have enteretained your borderline ridiculous questions and I suggest again you re evaluate your post as you are truly coming off as an irrational and illogical person, governed by emotion and not willing to accept any truth that doesn’t fit your pre exsiting assumptions of Nic’s virtues.

@Annie I didn’t take it as directed at my post, but in general. And what I said applies in general. Some people may be taking it farther than I do and indeed going too far, but my point was you did made a similar falacy. The way you worded your comment shows you assumed what you were talking about applied to the situation. As I said, a few short minutes learnign about the subject at hand would have shown you that it does not indeed apply. This woman does very much have some questionable mental issues.

You are taking your one situation, which is a legit one, and trying to apply it as somehow related to this one… when a in fact, you, your life and your situation do not parallel Nic at all as shown by her blog.

Questioning her ability to be a parent? Well honestly… I do… there are a lot of levels of questioning someone being a parent, but let me ask you this:

Look at the video. See what she went through. It was annoying, however in my experience it wasn’t even unusually long for a double screening especially involving a baby. So she really experienced just an everyday sort of event…

And totally collapsed as a reult, then followed it up 24 hours later (plenty of time to prove pre mediation of her lie) and accused the TSA (remember while she accused the TSA, really she accused a PERSON) of kidnapping her child amongst other misstreatment.

Ignoring her followup irresponsibilty to accept and own up to her situation, and ignoring her blog information that shows she regularly intakes noteable quantities of alchohol (backed up by the fact that her explanantion of her blogs title says her child drover he to the bottle) while she is taking prescription meds, and has questionable mental status (as shown in my links above)…

Ignorig all that even.. doesn’t the fact that a person being the only parent and caring for a child in busy public places is so easily broken down to a non functional state trigger a worry in you that perhaps the level of parental care isn’t sufficient?

I don’t know about straight up calling for CPS to take her child away, but I wouldn’t see a problem with having CPS evaluate her situation and maybe advise or enforce limitations on how much of the parental load she can take alone…

‘A little off’? She didn’t just misjudge a length of time (though she did do that, by too huge margin to be credible). She made up a kidnapping! She wrote a piece of fiction about events that never took place, then presented it as fact.

I’m especially troubled by the supposed phone calls she made to her mother and her husband, because presumably, both read her blog. They would know that those phone calls didn’t really take place, and then it would be clear to them that the rest of the story likely didn’t happen the way it was written, either. Lying about something verifiable like that is just silly, and that makes me think that she honestly believes the story she created in her own mind. If that is the case, she is (as I said before) not competent to care for herself, let alone a child. No one in their right mind would leave a small child in the care of someone incapable of distinguishing reality from fantasy. CPS does (and should) remove children in those situations if the other parent is unable/unwilling to guarantee their physical safety. I didn’t say he should be removed, necessarily, just that the woman needed help, and CPS should be involved in determining what should happen.

I stand by more original statement that someone this affected (for whatever reason) by a normal secondary security screening should not have been traveling alone in the first place, and certainly not with a child. If she lied on purpose, then yes, she’s a ‘horrible person’ and deserves every bit of criticism she’s received, and then some. If she didn’t, then she’s delusional, likely psychotic, and needs help. Those statements are based on her behavior, not the fact that she carries an ‘emergency Xanax’ with her.

well kudos to your brother for using common sense ; and having lots of class which this nit wit did not

What is it about talking about children.
Their precious children.
That makes people write like idiots?

The search is probably blurred to prevent “bad guys” from having footage of TSA procedures. Yes, this seems silly, but I’ll bet you it’s just bureaucratic process and CYA.

sorry Annie ; you were correct ,both valium and xanax are inthe benzo class; I live and work in DelrayBeach FL; better known as the drug rehab capitol of the world ; filled with rehab centers which have a thirty percent sucess rate; halfway houses unliscenced, which tend to be slums ; and the abuses of alchohol and drug mixing; xanax is a well tolerated drug for many disorders epilepsy being one , and anxiety disorders ; however I have seen to many people seriously abuse both; and land up in mental institutions; kinda of well kept secret ; Delray does not care for that image of drug rehab center of the world .

If someone needs to carry an emergency Xanax in their jean pocket at all times, then maybe that individual should not travel alone, with her baby, knowing that any stressful event could become traumatic.