Ah, if I only had a use for one. If only.

Bethster, there is a poster on FlyerTalk known as Former BAG. A few years ago she was my girlfriend (hence the name: It stands for Former Beautiful American Girlfriend).

I have seen her at night and in the morning. I have seen her in rainstorms and snow. I have also seen her right after she got out of the shower.

There was only one time that I ever saw her when she looked ugly. She was the manager of a department store and the rep of one of the cosmetic companies gave her a complete facial make-over. She wound up looking like a painted clown.

Every other time she was, indeed, beautiful.

My UIG (Used Italian Girlfriend) also looks a lot more attractive without make up than she does with it.

I imagine that make up does help some women but the great majority are simply giving in to the advertising hype which has convinced them that they are so ugly that they have to hide behind a "new face".

Wrong. In most cases, their natural beauty far outshines anything that Revlon or Estee Lauder can put in a package.

Dovster - you're full of it, sorry. These women you talk of may not wear (or need) make-up but there are plenty of other facial and body products they likely use that are more than $10, not usually available at your local CVS, not allowed by TSA to be carried on and difficult in general to replace even at great cost.

My make-up is the least of my concern, that's fairly limited and can be replaced with products from CVS, albeit for more than $10 (that'd be the mascara alone).

The context was someone asserting that sexual lubricants were only for gay sex.

Anyway, haven't you heard of the mile high club??

While your attempts at poetic flattery are not lost on me, you are missing the point.

I should not be deprived of ANYTHING because I am a law-abiding, tax-paying, voting, hardworking AMERICAN CITIZEN.

Not a terrorist.

Not a criminal.

Just a plain old ordinary American citizen who wants to get to Point A to Point B in relative safety and something remotely passing as comfort.

And while doing so, I want to drink from my OWN bottle of water.

And while doing so, I want to be able to carry on the little things that make me me (remember, an American citizen, and not a terrorist): cologne, mouthwash, a pill box for my prescriptions, a bottle of nail polish.

And while doing so, I want to be free of the racist hysteria that so many of my fellow Americans seem only too quick to affect, causing planes to be delayed or diverted because someone had a twitch.

Being naturally beautiful or not has nothing to do with it. Having the freedom to do as I please as a law-abiding American citizen is. Whether or not Revlon is my best friend or not is not the issue. Being forced to comply with absolutely ridiculous restrictions that punish me for a crime that I did not commit nor would ever commit is. Your personal opinion as to a woman's physical attractiveness does not matter. What does matter is that I believe the TSA and the airlines are putting me, as a woman, at a disadvantage in my business by treating me with the suspicion you would afford to a common criminal (although not John Karr, apparently). A business that, I might add, I have worked my manicured fingers to the bone to keep afloat and make profitable.

Sorry...your argument doesn't "fly" with me.

Very well said!

Bruce

Hear, hear ^ ^ ^

mike

And you're absolutely right. This about more than lipgloss - it is about our dignity, our rights and our presumption of innocence.

Bethster Could not have said it better ^ ^

So what about non-American citizens? Do they even exist in your world, and if yes, do they have any human rights, too?

While the "woman" points don't apply to me, your thoughts are very well said. ^ ^ ^

If the USA can't even allow it's own citizens to avail themselves of what should be recognized as basic human rights (i.e., hydradtion), there is little point in considering the actions toward non-citizens.

Strange country.

That's a cheap anti-American shot that is wholly undeserved. "Do they even exist in (my) world"? I've been all over the planet, so spare me the typical non-American-toward-native-American condescension.

The topic of discussion is the restrictions as they pertain to AMERICAN passengers and our rights as AMERICANS.

When you fly in and out of American airports, you abide by our rules, just as I would expect any American, myself included, to abide by yours. If you have trouble with our rules, you certainly have the right to protest them. However, right now we Americans have far enough to worry about protecting what remains of our own rights than having to worry about yours. We'll leave that to you to handle.

You see, we have this pesky thing called the Constitution, and this other bothersome document called The Bill of Rights. Don't make it an American/anti-American argument, because it simply isn't one. I wouldn't barge into a discussion about Australian airports and whine about no one seems concerned with my rights as an American.

Let's keep this topic on-topic....and the topic is the ever-changing TSA regulations.

It's not about American's, non-American's, the constitution or other political matters.

Thanks for your cooperation.

__________________

Cholula

Travel Safety/Security Forum Moderator