The TSA's deepening sense of paranoia doesn't seem to make sense. Unless they know something we don't.

I'll just have to walk to Europe, then. They'd have a tough time justifying that, given the rate checked luggage is lost. My brother in law flew to China on business this summer. His luggage was lost. He went to all his important meetings in his travel outfit -- shorts and a T-shirt. He was not a happy camper.

Checked luggage does seem to get lost at a highly alarming rate, and I too hate having to put stuff in the hold (and when I do its always bare essentials still with me). But it still wouldn't surprise me if they stop alowing you to carry luggage on with you, its the next logical step with what they are doing.

I agree with your line of thought, but disagree with the word "logical." Logic has little to do with this. It is more like paranoia.

It might not be logical to us but the logic still remainsfrom there point of view as its the path their actions and decisions lead them all. If anyones watched Yes Prime Minister it contained a clasic example of how the same person can make two entirely logical, yet at the same time completely opposed answers to the same question. In this case the issue of National service and if someone on the street would answer yes or no to being in favour of it:

Sir Humphrey: "You know what happens: nice young lady comes up to you. Obviously you want to create a good impression, you don't want to look a fool, do you? So she starts asking you some questions: Mr. Woolley, are you worried about the number of young people without jobs?"
Bernard Woolley: "Yes"
Sir Humphrey: "Are you worried about the rise in crime among teenagers?"
Bernard Woolley: "Yes"
Sir Humphrey: "Do you think there is a lack of discipline in our Comprehensive schools?"
Bernard Woolley: "Yes"
Sir Humphrey: "Do you think young people welcome some authority and leadership in their lives?"
Bernard Woolley: "Yes"
Sir Humphrey: "Do you think they respond to a challenge?"
Bernard Woolley: "Yes"
Sir Humphrey: "Would you be in favour of reintroducing National Service?"
Bernard Woolley: "Oh...well, I suppose I might be."
Sir Humphrey: "Yes or no?"
Bernard Woolley: "Yes"
Sir Humphrey: "Of course you would, Bernard. After all you told you can't say no to that. So they don't mention the first five questions and they publish the last one."
Bernard Woolley: "Is that really what they do?"
Sir Humphrey: "Well, not the reputable ones no, but there aren't many of those. So alternatively the young lady can get the opposite result."
Bernard Woolley: "How?"
Sir Humphrey: "Mr. Woolley, are you worried about the danger of war?"
Bernard Woolley: "Yes"
Sir Humphrey: "Are you worried about the growth of armaments?"
Bernard Woolley: "Yes"
Sir Humphrey: "Do you think there is a danger in giving young people guns and teaching them how to kill?"
Bernard Woolley: "Yes"
Sir Humphrey: "Do you think it is wrong to force people to take up arms against their will?"
Bernard Woolley: "Yes"
Sir Humphrey: "Would you oppose the reintroduction of National Service?"
Bernard Woolley: "Yes"

Logic is subjective. We might disagree with it, but the people making the decsions don't chose (generally) to do things because they are illogical, they chose to do what is logical given the path they have already taken...

But that would have the effect of doing it in the three ways that are anathema to most government agencies. Cheaper, more effective, and less intrusive.

Is it paranoia?

Sure as hell is thanks, for good reason or did we forget already the results.

The El Al idea is the best so far.
National ID cards and retina scans and background checks for all passengers is a start. The see through x-ray the brits are testing is the next step as well. At least A..holes without clearance may stick out a bit more.

The end of deregulation will put an end to profit driven airlines and airports cutting corners, hell they can't run profitable airlines anyway.

Nobody screws with El AL because:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/15/60II/main324476.shtml

The same needs to happen in north america or else 911 will happen again.

As for all of the paranoid anti gvnmt nuts out there. You live the way you do because of the gvnmt, they are far from perfect but you could live in Somalia so it ain't that bad is it. <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

Flip

I had to laugh, on my flight yesterday, my seatmate pulls out her knitting and says to me "Isn't it funny, I'm allowed to have these big old knitting needles and they ban those tiny nail clippers."

Looking at those needles, I had to agree.

Very intersting article and it proves beyond doubt that they certainly have the tightest security in the world. The situation in the USA however is quite probably that a grerat many people would rather risk another attack than give up that much freedom. We value our individual freedoms quite a bit and many people feel that to give them up to that extent may be worse than death itself. In otherwords, we'd rather just play the odds and take our chances rather than enter a police state as is the case in Isreal. Please note before you attempt to flame me that I do not necessarily agree with this philosophy. I'm not quite sure how I feel to tell you the truth. Im simply stating that by living in this county I know that many people do in fact feel ths way.

The "see through x-ray" thing as you call it (its actually a passive millimetre wave camera produced by Qinetiq) is very cool and you can expect to see that appearing in airports everywhere reasonably soon (unless lots of people complain about the fact that they get to be seen naked by the opperators). In a few years a similar technology to this, but using THz frequencies should hopefully be produced which will enable them to run a kind of chemical analysis scan of a person through their clothing, totally non evasively to detect the prescence of any contraband molecules such as illegal drugs and / or explosives. Works by the nature of molecules rotational and vibrational bonds being in the THz range. Of course they have to first build quantum cascade laser capable of operating at a decent power output in that frequency range, but that should be only a couple of years away, and there are a few other potential hurdles to avoid (such as the THz wavelengths being very close to the seperation of most fabrics producing annoying defraction effects). When thats working (assuming its not canceled due to potential health reasons) its really going to be an exponential leap forward in detecting ANY kind of contraband going onto an aircraft.