Now this is taking the shoe carnival to a new level: "I am sorry sir, but your shoes appear to be dark grey, we will have to seize them." I am sure that people running around in their stocking feet in court rooms makes the country safer, but I am having a hard time imagining how. But in these times, I have no trouble believing that everything you said about the restrictions is true.

Bart, as I have said many times before, the TSA cold use 45,000 more of you. Why are aren't in chage is beyond me, unless if it;s because you're just too competent and honest to be in charge.

This kind of hting is what makes people hate the TSA, there are too many people writing the rules as they go along and far too few people willing to sand up for what is right.

This is the kind of thing that as a journalist I would LOVE to do a hidden camera piece on, airport maintenance idiots taking trophies home. I would love to see an airport manager justify this kind of nonsense.

Keep the faith, you're one of the good guys. BART FOR SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY!!

--PP

Personally, I believe that the new security policies are designed by the administration to help stimulate the economy.

If you force people to throw things away that they need, they will be forced to purchase replacements.

This buying helps to spur the economy.

Ha... that falls along the same line of "why dont they just print more money?"

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Seems like there are thousands of pieces of human evidence to the contrary passing your checkpoints every day.

So, when was the last time a full explanation of the liquid/gel/etc. ban was scrolled on CNN or during a primetime network program?

Of course they know they'll be screened and some things are banned. They just don't know what.

I think you probably do your job quite well, and I'm not trying to argue with you. But I do think there's a point to made about people being unaware of their own blind spots and assuming their point of view is universal. Why does it matter? IMHO, attributing stupidity, naivete and/or willful ignorance to people who simply don't share your perspective is disconcerting in a public official of any stripe.

Here's a for-instance on the differing point of view I mentioned: The horse show world was rocked earlier this month when a major breed association declined to name a national champion because the vast majority of the top contenders had been doped or abused. You probably didn't know that. Yet the 4.6 million people who work in the U.S. horse industry, not to mention most of the 2 million horse owners, are fully aware and probably can't believe you don't know. The Associated Press carried a story about it, after all, and a Google News search turns up more than 10 pages of results on the incident. Who cares? Well, the horse industry has a $102 billion annual impact on the U.S. economy. Most people don't know that, either.

Here's another: Quick, how many people in Africa died of AIDS last year? AIDS, like terrorism, can attack anyone, and it's been all over the news since the mid-1980s, after all. Many doctors and all epidemiologists could tell you the stat. I can't, and most other people probably can't either. That doesn't make them stupid, naive or willfully ignorant. It simply means they have a different POV than doctors and epidemiologists.

Rant off, and my apologies.

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Some folks who are involved with aviation take a different view of the TSA. Enjoy!

http://www.klydemorris.com/strips.cfm?strip_ID=1637

http://www.klydemorris.com/strips.cfm?strip_ID=1575

Just examples. For those who don't know Klyde Morris, this strip picks on anyone and anything in aviation. TSA is just one of the groups that gets skewered with great regularity.

And this string goes on and on because your inability to fathom that there ARE people out there who either forgot they have a prohibited item in their bag or don't know the list.

Not everyone makes a living by feeling up complete strangers and rifling through their bags every day.

Take off the blinders; there is a real world out here.

Perhaps you should have refilled the empty bottle with an "alternative liquid."

That would have been justice at work.

Shanna who??? Guess I know which group I belong in...

I did NOT know that, now I do. Good to be informed ^

From:

Keynote Lecture
Conference at the Steinhardt School of Education
New York University, 2 March 2006
Allan Goodman

Although I cannot locate the statistics, the number of United States citizens who cannot identify the President is astounding - and if you think that everyone who goes to the airport for a flight should know what's banned, you've got your head in the sand.