My question, just how willing are you to take that chance? Remember, we deal with people we do not know, in large numbers, in a venue that is a primary terrorist target. I prefer to not take those kinds of chances, I have a wife and kids.

Then we should ETD every bag and every person if you feel that way, but TSA has not seen that as enough of a priority. Billions and billions spent every year, but yet not one terrorist found at a checkpoint. Do a cost/benefit on that.

No, not a primary terrorist target- not even a secondary or tertiary otherwise we would see many more attempts since 9/11 than we've seen . How many millions of passenger miles between 9/11 and the previous hijacking in the US? Please tell us again just how many terrorists were discovered and turned over to law enforcement at TSA check points in the past week, month, year, last five years. With a budget in the billions of dollars TSA must have discovered several tens of thousands of terrorists.

What was the primary reason 9/11 was successful? Was it due to security lapses at the check points? Was it due to the inflexible SOP the airlines had in place for dealing with terrorists? Was it instead a 'perfect storm' of security holes?

Primary Terrorist Target? Name one terrorist action against any US airport terminal.

Your just full of it, aren't you TSORon?

It's a lot more than that -- to paraphrase Dwight Eisenhower when he noted that every B-52 bomber we built meant 15 000 children who were not educated (or words to that effect), all the billions that are spent on the TSA are billions that are not spent on road safety, food safety, school lunch programs, public transportation, cancer research, public health programs, etc. etc. Any one of those would translate that money spent into lives saved, so just by its mere existence, the TSA is killing uncounted thousands every year.

This whole discussion has gone way beyond ridiculous. Now some are apparently trying to blame the travelling public for packing items that an untrained flunkie might mistake for drugs. Doing this is "failing to take personal responsibility", yet the TSA isn't expected to be responsible for anything at all, because "they're just doing their jobs," (which apparently is harassing passengers based on simplistic prejudices) nor are law enforcement officers expected to "take personal responsibility" for the results provided by the drug test kits produced by manufacturers eager to cash in on anti-drug hysteria.

It's just another example of how everything has become the exact opposite of what it is supposed to be. Ordinary citizens are now expected to "take personal responsibility" for educating themselves about the ignorant prejudices of law enforcement, but the law enforcement officers who are paid with their taxes are not responsible for their actions. Instead of being willing to sacrifice our lives in order to preserve our freedoms, we are now expected to sacrifice our freedoms in order to save a few lives. The presumption of innocence has transmogrified into the need to satisfy a LEO's suspicions before being permitted to go on our way. A passenger carrying porn can have his stuff seized because "he should know" that the notice on the cover attesting that all models were over 18 at the time of shooting is probably fake. Moving funds from one place to another by private citizens cannot be done in a way that is not "transparent" to the government (and any attempt to do so is inherently suspicious), but government actions are covered by "SSI." Previously, "transparency" was a concept that applied exclusively to how governments conducted themselves, whereas ordinary citizens, operating in what was properly called the "private" sector had no obligation to reveal anything to anybody.

I will be taking controlled substances through a checkpoint in less than 12 hours. Any TSO that tries to take them from me should be charged with illegally possessing those substances.

If I had $10k+ with me, I would have every right to do so. Since cash is not prohibited, any attempt to take it from me would be theft.

~200,000 people die each year in medical errors
~40,000 people are killed in motor vehicle accidents every year
~20,000 people combined died of AIDS and hepatitis every year
~16,000 homicides every year
~5,000 people will die in the workplace every year
~4,000 people will drown every year

So that�s ~285,000 untimely deaths per year. There�s plenty of other ways to get your clock punched, but I think you see the trend. By and large we mostly ignore these threats, or we would all just never leave our homes. But then we might trip and fall down the steps going to the rec room.

Now, since 2002, ~15 US citizens were killed by terrorist activities each year. All occurred outside our borders, and I�m excluding American deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Real security does not exist. It�s a trick of light. The $7 billion we�re blowing every year for this elusive search of Freedom from Bad Things� is a total waste, and the intrusion of the government into our personal lives is sickening.

Wow, going from "suspected" crime to "off-chance" crime includes, well, everything. "TSO sees knife" = crime. "TSO sees plastic bag of dark green organic matter" = suspected crime. "TSO sees dress shirt in dry cleaning bag" = there is always an Off-Chance the pax might use the dry cleaning bag to suffocate himself or his sleeping seatmate = long shot potential crime.

Hi, Folksy.

Please correct if I am misinformed, but it has been mentioned that TSOs receive no drug recognition training. If so, absent personal experience, how do they know an illegal drug when they see one? Screener searching bag sees a rolled up baggie one-half inch diameter in bottom of bag. It did not show up on the xray as a knife, or orange for explosive, and I know of no explosive that looks like green leafy material. The baggie would have five or so layers of plastic wrapped around it, preventing a clear view of the contents. It is not a threat to aviation. What happens?

Does the screener say "the pax is overweight, thus I suspect he is a profesional chef on the way to a cooking competition. He is safety conscious enough to not bring a spice jar on the plane, as broken glass could be dangerous, thus I suspect he is carrying his cooking spice in a plastic baggie and I conclude that the "not a threat to aviation" in the baggie is oregano."

Or is it "The pax is overweight, thus proof of frequent attacks of the munchies, a clear indicator of drug use. In order to secure that career promotion Big Catch, I suspect the worse and conclude that the "not a threat to aviation" in the baggie is the illegal drug mari-juwanna, which I have never seen and never been trained on what it looks like. Bust him, Denno."

On the other note, how does TSA train for intra state travel in California, which has a liberal medical marihuana law. There must be persons with prescriptions who fly LAX-SFO. How often does TSA find legal green leafy stuff in a carry on? What happens?

I'll take that chance. The miniscule probablity of something bad happening is a very small price to pay for my personal freedom.

Deliberate opposite of the sheople thinking.

excellent point!! real security does not exist. the problem is we live in a society that demands an answer for everything and solutions to unsolvable problems. there are no more "accidents". there is always someone to blame. a bunch of lunatics blowing up an airplane CANNOT be prevented. if the president were to come on tv and say "oh well. they got another one". we would riot in the streets. we demand something be done then dont like that something. catch 22. tsa sucks. no doubt. what do we do? eliminating the program causes outcry "that nothing is being done". keeping it causes, well, you see where we are with that......

That's what they're taught to think in TSA training:

They start their jobs as LEO-wanna-be academy drop outs, and/or high school drop outs.

Then they go to TSA School, where they are brainwashed into thinking that they're making a difference and actually making America safer. There they are also taught the proper way to grope people, how to find the really cool stuff in bags, how to steal the really cool stuff, and how to act immaturely.

Upon graduation, they are given a really spiffy hotel bellhop uniform and a little tin badge (remember the Junior Police Officer days back in grade school?).

They are then sent out into the world to practice what they've been taught. From what I've seen of some TSO posters on this board, on-the-job training obviously includes advanced topics like "how to act immaturely", "how to reply without answering a question", and "how to accuse passengers of being the problem when they really aren't".

And our taxpayer dollars have funded all of this silly nonsense.

Oh very cool, but what about those who you fly with? Maybe they dont want you putting their lives at risk. You better ask them before you board your next flight.

Your personal freedom says that you can bike, drive, ride a train, walk, or flap your arms to get where you are going. Flying is not a requirement. And there are rules you must comply with in each and every one of those other modes of transportation. Do you complain about them as much as you complain about the rules for flying?

In other modes of transportation there isn't a cadre of government employees conspiring to violate our constitutional rights.

I just got back from a refreshing bike ride at a National Park. I rode with a 1 liter bottle of water that didn't cause an explosion. The highlight of my ride was passing a Park Ranger(Real gun, real badge) who waved and said "Enjoy your ride"...No asking about any "illegal, large sums of money in my pocket" or giving me a choice of a grope, or a virtual strip machine. Do you want to ride today????