Here's the question of questions:

why should a screener ever have to touch a laptop? They are put through on one end and they go through on the other.

To this date, not one terrorist has ever used a laptop as a sharp pointy object, projectile, detonator, or whacker. Therefore, we can also safely say that in almost all probability, a laptop will NOT be used in such an event.

That being said, up until this date there has not been one legitimate reason for A SINGLE PERSON'S LAPTOP TO HAVE BEEN HANDLED BY A SECURITY AGENT. We can say this for many other aspects of "security" as well.

SIGH --- this is a hopeless battle. All we can hope is that Bush loses the election and we get a president who actually cares about the quality of American life.