I dislike the TSA for the dog-and-pony show that it puts on -- the smiling faces with sewn-on badges telling the little old ladies that they need to be felt up, the stupid and arbitrary list of prohibited items, lack of cargo screening. Those are some of the things I think the TSA has got cranial rectosis over.

The basic security issues that the TSA executes (simple x-raying and having people walk through the magnetometer) I'm all for. Not to belittle the catching of such IED, but isn't this the most basic of items to have been caught? You guys are trained to catch these things, right? Again, not belittling the people, but this seems to be akin to congratulating someone for breathing.

Again, I'm glad the TSAer caught the IED -- good job. But to give him/her employee of the month or extra credit for doing his/her job would solidify what some people say here that some people in the TSA are just waiting for "the big catch."

I mean, for the TSA's job and the job of the folks pre-9/11, this is what they're there for. I'm all for the attentiveness to detail, but the inane and arbitrary policies is what we all ***** about here. I'm sure the folks who manned the checkpoints prior to the TSA caught items before as well (after all, they used the same equipment the TSA is using now, right?). The difference is the heightened awareness of security right now.