Remember how this all played out: The feds decided they were taking over security and the private firms were out of the picture. They let al these sscreeners know they were out of a gig. They howled to their CongressGerbils about being put out of work by this decision.

Sooooooo...they made it clear that all the former security screeners were free to apply for jobs with the TSA. Had the TSA been about security, they would have immediately made it a civil service TEST with psychological screening, intelligence testing, physical agility testing and competitive placement so only the best and the brightest were hired. You would also hae had a nationwide wailing and gnashing of teeth session after so many of hte previously employed screeners were shut out HARD.

This is how we arrived at the TSA we know and loathe so well today. A few people like Bart trying to manage hordes of those who are far more suited to asking if one wants to "biggie size" it. Not surprisingly, you get a lot o the same surly, you are an interruptiuon of my workday, I make the rules and go away if you don't like it, entitlement attitude you see today at the checkpoints. The biggest difference seems to be that the guy changing the now-illegal trans-fats in the french fry machine doesn't have authoritah.

--PP