Problem is, there are a lot of patriotic Americans out there for whom "common sense" includes a reduction in the number of marshals to the 33 who were flying on September 11.

Of course, their paychecks aren't completely dependent on the current climate of fear, cowardice and paranoia that grips our government. Yours, of course, are, so of course to you, "common sense" means whatever is in your best interest. Completely understandable. The difficulty is in distinguishing the selfishness (marshals' desire to sit on airplanes every day doing essentially nothing for pretty good pay with which to feed their families) from honest concern about our nation's safety.

My guess is that many of today's sky marshals really don't want to go back to the Border Patrol (or the other dirty jobs they occupied prior to their current cushy gig). Who can blame them?

Working outdoors in AZ, NM, TX or CA, trying to stem the endless tide of illegal immigrants or sit on airplanes, often in First Class, "protecting" everyone everyday. Plenty of wannabe-Mr Incredibles would, of course, choose the latter.

But that doesn't mean the current system makes any sense, let alone evidences "common sense."