You know, Israel deals with terrorists on a regular basis. Hasn't had any on planes in a long time. They do not use scanners and such. Trained people questioning travelers rather than Wally world greaters like we use here. May be we can learn something from them.

I also wonder about the over compensation. Too many stories of young kids being patted down rather inapproripately (you would arrest someone for pedifilia if they did it elsewhere), old ladies, etc. Seems like we gotta make it look like we are on top of things even if we aren't. Its a false sense of security that will end up biting us in the ass. Waaay too many stories of people going through all of the security stuff and learning AFTER they've flown that they had a pocket knife or something similar on them that they had forgotten about. Had the same thing happen to me while flying a couple of years back. While unpacking after flying (went through two security stations) I found a swiss army knife in my carry on luggage. Better blade on that than on the box cutters used to hijack planes on 9-11. Good thing they made me take off my shoes

How much business does all of this take away from the airlines? Getting to the point where its really not worth flying anymore unless it is long distance. What about all of the other inconveniences? Have we let our fear of the boogie man dictate how we live our lives? I have no problem with security and making sure problem people do not get on planes, or other public mass-transit for that matter, but lets do something that actually works.

Andrew