Take it from a professional complainer, policies that are unfair/bad/discriminatory don't get changed unless people do complain.

As has been said over and over again and I'm paraphrasing a bit, let the TSA go on with their little show, but make it consistent. I don't think we will ever be able to do away with the theater but many, many people complaining constantly TO THE RIGHT PEOPLE will help bring consistency.

Despite our so often hearing from the public that "it's o.k. as long as it makes us safer", I'm becoming convinced that there are an awful lot travelers out there who see, as we do, the waste and the uselessness, but don't have the time to write a well thought-out complaint to their congressperson or who complain to the TSA - and we all know how effective that is - who don't know who to complain to or are simply afraid to complain. Unfortunately, it will take significant numbers of people complaining before congress will listen.

Do those of you who travel for a living have enough intestinal fortitude to go to your employer and say: "I've had enough of this"? Over in OMNI there's a thread from an individual trying to hire someone willing to travel and the difficulty he/she is having finding someone willing to do so. Could it be that no one wants to take a job that requires them to endure long "security" screening lines and the possibility of public humiliation?

I once said to a board of education regarding a proposed dress code change: "I don't care if your dress code says all students must be naked, but the policy must apply to all students." (The school system had proposed that children in middle school not be allowed to wear shorts in hot weather because they were "different" than elementary school/high school students.) Many, many parents complained among themselves about the proposed new code, but I was the only one to put in writing my strong objections - and the fact that this issue made the NY Times helped a bit too.

End of rant.

As an aside, from the NY Times today:

Egyptian officials, giving their first detailed account of a deadly terrorist strike at this Red Sea resort, said Monday that all three explosions were suicide bombings and suggested that police checkpoints may have forced two of the bombers to set off their explosives early, before reaching targets packed with Western tourists. Remind you of anything?