They actually confiscated a LIGHTSABRE as a 'replica WEAPON'??? Are these people totally out of their frickin' minds??

Aren't they hollow - if so they could have more than 3oz of liquid in them

One of these days, someone's going to fill up a bunch of water bottles with gasoline or something, they'll end up in a dumpster or trash bin, and the whole thing will catch on fire.

Think of the terminal dump you'd get then.

I thought their power came from some type plasma energy. It might be a secret, as the source is somewhat silent on how the energy is created...

http://www.starwars.com/databank/technology/lightsaber/

I hate to bring this to your attention but for all the talk about how dumb TSA people are, why are sooooo many things still having to be taken away? So much is in newspapers, on TV, and their web site tells what is banned. We may not agree but I'm wondering who the real dummies are. I have given up carrying liquids, gels and etc. I use hotel provided or buy small sizes at the other end, it makes getting there easier.

Glad it works for you. Hotels do not provide everything (e.g. toothpaste) and not everyone has time to waste nor the inclination to go shopping at every stop.

Because many don't understand why Grandma's home-made jelly could be an explosive? ;) Or perhaps because the TSA website can't even get it right?

To me it's rather sad that you now have to take the time to buy what you shouldn't have to at your destination. I'm sure that the TSA would love for everyone to do this as it would make their job easier.

I refuse to give up. The TSA can go to hell and take their chemistry-defying restrictions with them.

What choices? TSA is not going away and the rules don't seem to be changing anytime soon. You could check a bag and have that kind of stuff in it. I really doubt the carry-on devotees will consider this an option. Buy tooth powder? Tried it; don't like it. Hotels usually have gift shops, even machines that have small toiletries. Going back to my original question "Why is so much still having to be taken away? Where do bottles of cognac fall in to items of necessity? For the record, since 9/11, I have had nothing taken away. Lucky? No, its called planning. Since 2001m I have brought back 84 bottles of wine from France and have never lost one.

I'm not going to check a bag and I'm not going to give in.

I suggest all travelers fight the TSA and their asinine restrictions. If enough people tell the TSA to go to hell, we will rid our airports of this disease.

Many of us cannot do the former, for a variety of reasons. In my case, it is due to allergies. As a matter of fact, the first thing that I do on arrival in a hotel room is to return the soaps to the front desk, since their perfumes make my allergies react incessantly.

While I frequently do the latter, the point is that I should not need to do so. As many others have pointed out on numerous occasions, the scenario posed by the government as the be-all/end-all of explosive schemes is not feasible. The easily identified "exceptions" to the liquids ban, along with the lack of proper HAZMAT handling, belittles the government's stated reasons for confiscation. Proper use of screening technologies would let travelers carry all the commonly confiscated liquids in whatever sizes they desire.

Personally, I have not been able to find any research documentation that lists binary explosives whose component compounds are:

1. Liquid in nature
2. Completely stable and harmless in solitary form
3. Completely undetectable by explosives detection equipment
4. Capable of being mixed in a non-sterile environment that is in constant and random motion

Most of the compounds that I have been able to research fail the majority of the aforementioned criteria. Meaning:

1. Unstable in solitary form, with a variety of hazard conditions for handling (e.g., caustic, corrosive, etc.)
2. Give off noticeable and identifiable odors - hence detectable by ETD equipment
3. Typically require glass containers, not transportable in hygiene-grade plastics
4. Require a controlled, aseptic and vented environment for mixing

Guys, even if you were to get rid of TSA you will have some security firms there...rememeber Argentbright? And they will be trying to enforce these same asinine restrictions also! I really don't mind checking bags but then I only fly internationally.

Sorry to ask you mid-lecture, but how is one supposed to know that a light sabre would be confiscated? I looked on the TSA web-site under light (much info about lighters but the war on lighters is so over). Sabres? Yep, there's a match but you kind of think they meant metal (or probably liquid) ones. Imaginary weapons? no hits.:confused: Science fiction artifacts? No hits. How do you and your so intellectual TSA buds know that these are to be confiscated? :confused:

True. Most people don't want to get rid of all airport security.

False! These restrictions are made based on the lies that liquids are dangerous. Once we get rid of the TSA and have private firms with accountability, BS restrictions will no longer be permitted. Security firms should be forced to put up or shut up. Since there's no scientific basis for the liquid lunacy, that restriction is gone as soon as the TSA is.

Getting rid of the TSA also involves getting rid of the asinine rules as well - and restoring *real* risk management to airport security, not Kippie's 20 layers of nonsense.

If you want to check your toothpaste, that's fine - but don't you feel even slightly concerned that the thousands of pounds of cargo sitting a few feet under you has not been screened for any explosives or other dangerous items, like poison gas, biochemical/biological agents or who knows what?