Wednesday, October 30, 2002

Air travel has become an exercise in silliness, it seems to me. The problem is, the newly-federalized security-checkers at airports are looking for weapons, when we should really be looking for terrorists. What a concept! I sat at gate A10 in Midway Airport last night and watched as passengers were pulled aside as they boarded the last ATA flight to Moline. Basically NONE of the people they pulled aside (ok, maybe one) looked like any sort of security threat. I mean, I'm not a highly trained federal security guard, but I have a pretty good "tough customer" meter. We are so afraid of "profiling" in this country that we are putting thousands of people a day through a truly idiotic ritual. After going through one security check already, random passengers are fully searched, scanned, asked to take off their shoes, etc. On a 30-passenger flight to Moline, Illinois, no less.

Here's an idea: what if, on the some well-sold 727 flight, the whole passenger list just says "Hell no" to the random checks? What if they insist that the highly trained federal employees at the gate SELECT PEOPLE WHO FIT A LIKELY PROFILE? Of course, we have become such a nation of sheep that you can't get that many people up on their hind legs in one place anymore. If it DID happen, the highly trained federal employees might have no choice but to admit they really don't know how to catch terrorists effectively. Then they'd be "forced" to arrest everyone on the passenger list.
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