Spiff, you'll love this site:

http://www.schneier.com/blog/
This guy, Bruce Schneier, knows what he talking about, just read 'Airline Security a Waste of Cash' - an exert - "I know quite a lot about this. I was a member of the government's Secure Flight Working Group on Privacy and Security. We looked at the TSA's program for matching airplane passengers with the terrorist watch list, and found a complete mess: poorly defined goals, incoherent design criteria, no clear system architecture, inadequate testing. (Our report was on the TSA website, but has recently been removed -- "refreshed" is the word the organization used -- and replaced with an "executive summary" (.doc) that contains none of the report's findings" ....
http://www.schneier.com/essay-096.html

December 2006 covers:

Monkeys, Snowglobes, and the TSA
The TSA website is a fascinating place to spend some time wandering around. They have rules for handling monkeys

TSOs have been trained to not touch the monkey during the screening process.
And snow globes are prohibited in carry-on luggage:

Snow globes regardless of size or amount of liquid inside, even with documentation, are prohibited in your carry-on. Please ship these items or pack them in your checked baggage.


Automated Targeting System
If you've traveled abroad recently, you've been investigated. You've been assigned a score indicating what kind of terrorist threat you pose. That score is used by the government to determine the treatment you receive when you return to the U.S. and for other purposes as well.

Sneaking into Airports
The stories keep getting better. Here's someone who climbs a fence at the Raleigh-Durham Airport, boards a Delta plane, and hangs out for a bunch of hours.

Best line of the article:

"It blows my mind that you can't get 3.5 ounces of toothpaste on a plane," he said, "yet somebody can sneak on a plane and take a nap."

And here comes the scary bit : "The retention period for data specifically maintained in ATS will not exceed forty years at which time it will be deleted from ATS. Up to forty years of data retention may be required to cover the potentially active lifespan of individuals associated with terrorism or other criminal activities. The touchstone for data retention, however, is its relevance and utility."

But you have to look at it from a positive angle: If you want to claim miles to be credited to your frequent flyer program, in 2040 you could claim miles back from 2006 (if you have the right source inside the TSA)