Well it is a BFD. At ORD I never have a problem because I look like everyone else in Chicago. At some other airports any dark haired brunette with a beard is profiled. It makes no difference if you are Indian, American Indian, Mediterainian, Mexican, Jewish etc. It would not be terrible if it was just heightened screening but they become just plain rude and antagonistic! Most times they will try to intimidate you. They become abrasive and it is up to you to prove that you are not a terrorist with a full body pat down. We become second class citizens.

Here is a true example. A co-worker is a portly Southern gentelman. At checkpoints he gets a pass and I do not. He carries a laptop, external hard drive, portable printer and all of the associated cables to make it all work. He also has a 25 pound "The South shall Rise Again" belt buckle. They wave the wand in front of his belt and let him go on. I don't set it off and I go into secondary screening.

I actually had to prove the profiling to him which he just could not believe. I told him "Watch this" After clearing the metal detector I reached for his bag. TSA politely asked if the could look through the bag. They said it was entirely random of course. I said sure and as the TSA employee walked off with the bag. I grabbed my bag and tried to walk past. I mentioned that it wasn't my bag anyway.

They threw it back and ripped my bag out of my hand. So much for random.

At MSP all non-blonds seem to get secondary screening.

Has any Indian, American Indian, Mediterainian, Mexican or Jewish person etc. caused a hijacking or terror incident in the US? I think not.

But Timothy McVeigh did. He was a clean cut blond person. So even tho clean cut blond persons have a history of violence they are not profiled.

All TSA has to do is make sure no weapons get past. There should be the same scrutiny for ALL passengers. Period.

The Lockerbie incident was caused by a woman who unknown to her brought the bomb on board. Hence the "Are you carrying any thing given to you by persons unknown to you?" silly question. Unfortunately she knew the guy as it was her finance. I do not see any profile for a blond woman with low self esteem. [rant off/]