OK, ya got me...from a purely factual standpoint, I guess the screeners were doing their jobs on the morning of 9/11. My objection is whether or not they were doing their job effectively (still a good question today). I don't want a bunch of stooges who sit there and mindlessly enforce directives handed down by people who've not been out from behind a desk in 20 years. The job title isn't "directive enforcer"...it's "security screener"...provide me with some actual security please.

So...on the morning of 9/11...no knives, but boxcutters are fine. That's frickin' stupid, and it doesn't take hindsight to see that. What ticks me off is that the same level of stupidity is on display 3.5 years later, with the "no lighters, but 4 packs of matches are OK" rule. Similar to the prohibition against screwdrivers/tools in carry-on (I'm a field service engineer), but pens are fine. What does TSA think I'm going to do...disassemble the plane in-flight? There's nothing I can do with a screwdriver (from an assault standpoint) that I can't do with a pen.

And there's always the amusing inconsistencies from airport to airport.

W/respect to the TSA, I've almost reached the same point with them that I have with the people behind the counter at McDonald's. Periodically your food order will get screwed up...but why get mad at the counter people? If they had a brain, ambition, etc. they probably wouldn't be working at McDonald's in the first place. It is what it is...a cruddy fast food joint. Same thing with TSA...it is what it is...by all outward appearances a government bureaucracy staffed mainly by people that couldn't get a better gig.