Just out of curiosity...I wonder if the TSA 'academy' training includes letting trainee (and re-trainee) screeners actually handle plastic explosive disguised as a sheet of printed matter.

You know, because there are many different types of paper. Presumably if a TSO is flipping through printed matter of mine, carefully creasing each page and trying to decide if the printed matter is calligraphy or (gasp!) Arabic, s/he has the specialized training that enables him/her to detect a sheet of plastic explosive disguised as ordinary printed matter.

I think the new 'paper' and 'snack' and 'crotch' initiatives are all part of a public information (fear) campaign. TSA needs (wants) one big 'catch' (fake is OK) in any one of these categories. Then, just in time, Neffy or Pistole or one of their cronies will announce an expensive new machine designed specifically to detect threats lurking in post-it notes, paperback books, granola bars, and genitals.