And keep in mind that, of those 1 in 75,000 people who ARE found with something that could be remotely considered a threat, the number of them who were actually planning on USING the item to cause harm is probably close to, if not, zero. I know *I* wasn't planning on taking down the plane when they confiscated my eyelash curler!

I'm not qualified to offer suggestions that involve technology (puffers, scanners, or whatever). What I CAN say is that it is an impossible, and in fact ridiculous, goal to try to reduce the risk of travel by air to zero.

Airplanes are no longer an attractive target for terrorists - and that's without all the theatrics and civil rights violations that are going on at TSA checkpoints today. Reinforced cockpit cabins and raised passenger awareness have already completely neutralized any possibility of a terrorist taking over a plane with something as simple as a sharp object. And while explosives could still be a threat, the absurd physical assaults being perpetrated on the flying public would not stop a determined terrorist from bringing some aboard. The ways in which they could do so now are so numerous, I can't believe that the TSA is even bothering with their crazy antics. A terrorist could simply shove it up an orifice, or obtain a prescription for medicinal liquids and just carry it on disguised as a medical liquid...and those are only the two most obvious. Hell, the underwear bomber would still be able to walk right onto a plane TODAY!

There are so many more attractive domestic targets these days, that would be WAY easier for a terrorist to blow up than an aircraft. Heck, just walking up to a crowded checkpoint, getting in line, and then blowing himself up would be far more effective...and would pack an emotional wallop, reminding all Americans that we will never be secure! There is absolutely NOTHING preventing a terrorist from doing that...NOW!

And there are other forms of travel that make more attractive targets. Just look at Israel - how many buses have been blown up? Look at trains - a terrorist could easily blow up a train and cause numerous deaths. And why stop at forms of travel? Look at Bali - the bombings of night clubs still reverberates over there. Heck, a terrorist could just go stand in line at Disneyland and show us Americans who's the boss by blowing up hundreds of families. Why would a terrorist bother with a plane these days?

And yet, nobody is asking the DHS to start screening people on the streets, in lines at amusement parks, or at malls. Nobody is demanding that disabled grandmothers allow their hoohahs to be groped by strangers in order to go into a movie theater. So why are we doing it for airplanes?

I'm not suggesting that we should take away ALL security procedures for boarding an aircraft. But there needs to be a hard-and-fast litmus test: does it violate our civil rights? (And nobody with a brain can logically argue that what they are doing right now doesn't violate our rights - the only argument is that the end justifies the means.) Is it an effective method of actually stopping a real threat (as opposed to stopping me from curling my eyelashes). Does it MAKE SENSE?

I will leave it up to better minds than mine to find technologies that will help reduce risk without robbing us of our dignity and civil rights.

The random puffers sound promising (I don't know anything about them). Metal detectors should continue to be used - we don't want to make it easy to get a bomb on a plane. But stop confiscating boyscout's Swiss army knives, or technician's tools. Stop with the liquids ban - a determined terrorist could get past it so easily already, it's just plain silly. And for God's sake, STOP THE SEXUAL ASSAULTS!