It's funny, though, that you've confused your opinions and fears with facts.




First of all, WMD has a very different definition than a shoe box sized bomb that someone could smuggle in hand-carried luggage, clothing or a body cavity. Second, as we found out from the last circus, the government has propensity to lie about the presence of WMDs, so it would follow that they would lie about other explosives. Third, if terrorists actually had their hands on real WMDs in the United States, they'd be taking out targets from safe distances with military grade hardware, not trying to smuggle C4 in a pair of loafers. And finally, the TSA has never caught a single person in any of its screenings carrying a bomb through a checkpoint. If attempts were being made, I'd have expected it to be all over every major news outlet in the English speaking world at least once in the last 9 years.

So yeah, I'm going with 'the Bogeyman is made of paper.'

You certainly do know a lot about fear and paranoia.



Nothing you do keeps me safe in any way, and even if it did, I wouldn't want you doing any of it. Do you understand that at all? You are part of a giant work-fare organization (and the fact that the stimulus money is being used to pay for all this 'equipment, training and experience demonstrates that) which is designed to provide the illusion of security to people who rarely venture outside their own home towns, but love to vote. It's also designed to line the pockets of people like Chertoff who have a major financial stake in setting up rules that cause the companies they hold stock in to make huge profits and pay out to shareholders.

I know you're proud of what you do. That's part of the problem that many people, including huge numbers of frequent flyers, have with the TSA and the people that it employs. The mindset that is selected for is so at odds with the American spirit that it's disheartening and embarrassing. It's time to dial the fear back a notch or three. There is absolutely no reason for us to have spent the last nine years on 'elevated' alert as a country, and even less for it to be constantly 'high' at airports.

I look forward to the day that ends and we go back to life as normal. That the scale goes down to green and eventually it's forgotten like the fallout shelters of the cold war. Do you have any desire at all for that day to come?

I have no problem at all with people who are licensed to conceal firearms doing so on an airplane. By and large, the people who possess such licenses are less likely to engage in criminal activities than even police officers.

Why should I be afraid of them?