Two points regarding "the idiots hired by The Dept. of Homeland Security" at the airport:

1. Those idiots work a low-paying high stress job (imagine dealing w/people like Don with his pocket knife day in/out). Minimal training. Why? Economics. The flying public at large does NOT want to deal with the cost of putting real trained law enforcement professionals in those positions. Until we do that, we are all at risk. Don't blame the idiots hired by the government. We get what we pay for.

2. Knowing this, do you REALLY want these idiots making a judgement call on what is or is not a "dangerous" item? Or would you prefer them to take every item that fits their security critera away from a passenger? At sub $10 per hour, I personally prefer the latter. When in doubt, chuck it out.

We, as a nation, are forgetting the hard lesson of 911. We NEED to give up a little bit of our "personal" freedoms for our collective security. But, deep down, we don't want to give up even the tiniest bit of them because, hey, THIS IS AMERICA!, and it is easier to remember better days and hope it will all be OK. Until it isin't.

You ask me, we are going to get it again, and good. And this time, we will only have ourselves to blame.