In an effort to keep myself abreast of all things involving “homeland security” and any ridiculous oppression that has grown out of it I came across this little gem. And it just happens to involve a breast or two.

Ava Kingsford, 36, of San Diego said she was flagged down for a pat-down search at Denver International Airport last month as she prepared to board a flight home with her 3-month-old son.

Kingsford objected when a female screener with the Transportation Security Administration told her, "I’m going to feel your breasts now."

"She was patting me down, and frisking me, and basically covering all parts of my body, my legs, and wanding me with the security wand. And when I thought she had completed her search, she looks at me and said, 'I’m going to be feeling your breasts now,'" Kingsford said. "I was stunned, and I said, 'I beg your pardon?!'"

Kingsford said when she told the screener that she was uncomfortable with it, more security agents and police officers arrived. They told her that she couldn’t board her flight without submitting to the final step of the search.

Some readers will read this and think, “what is wrong with that? If it keeps us safe it isn’t bad. We must do this in order to stop terror!!”, I have to encourage you to wake up.

What happened to this woman was ridiculous. And do you really see what is being said by all this. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you are doing if you want to board a plane you must be felt up by security personnel if they so desire.

Now if you are male, stop dreaming of becoming an airport screener (they wont let opposite sex do the touching here anyway at least I hope not) and put yourself in this woman’s shoes. Would you want a male screener to tell you in order to board a plane you must let him touch you? And I don’t mean your breasts.

"I was shaking, I was sobbing. I couldn’t believe that this was happening to me. It was surreal. It was like out of a movie, with these guys yelling at me, telling me that, yes, she has to feel my breasts or I’m not getting on my airplane," Kingsford said.

They wanted to do this in public view, so I guess voyeurs hit your local airport. It’s reported that they escorted the woman to a private area to do the touching after she said she was uncomfortable with it, and she still told them she was uncomfortable with someone touching her breasts. She pulled her shirt down enough to show them she wasn’t hiding anything. Did that work?,…of course not.

"And then they said, 'That’s it. We’re not going to complete the search and you’re not boarding your plane,'" Kingsford said. "They escorted us out and said they didn’t care how we got home, it wasn’t their problem."

She and her fiance ended up renting a car for the 15-hour drive home.

Did anyone in oversight think this was wrong?

The Transportation Security Administration said its screeners did nothing wrong.

So there is nothing wrong in treating people like this?

[Bob Kapp, customer service manager for the TSA in Denver,] said a few people have been a little bit alarmed by the procedure. But he called it "a sign of the times" that is probably here to stay.

More from the victim…

"I don’t see how they can get away with feeling women’s breasts. I don’t see how they can say it’s part of their new security policy. It’s an infringement, a violation, in my opinion. It’s just wrong," Kingsford said.

Kingsford said she had nothing to hide, and the TSA agents could plainly see that.

"I was wearing a pretty form-fitting tank top. There’s nothing really to be hiding. You could see my figure. I didn’t have any packs. She had patted down my torso. She had completed the torso pat down and wanded me with a security wand but some reason she said she wanted to see my breasts," Kingsford said.

"It was uncomfortable and I felt violated. And the way we were treated when I didn’t concede was like I was a criminal. It was an awful experience," she said.

Sign of the times indeed.