I think the whole bloody thing is just a big illusion.

I flew back to work monday with a Cold Steel SRK, three lighters (two were Zippos, one was a refillable butane), a large metal cased flashlight, and three ziplocs full of various unlabeled over the counter pills in them in a unlocked checked bag. When I got to my destination, I found the usual TSA note in the bag, and all my stuff was still there.

But my real point is that everyone in the security chain is human and capable of being compromised. It happens all the time elsewhere, why would we think it is any different with the airlines. People can be bought, extorted, blackmailed, and threatened into doing things they are not supposed to do.

Those TSA agents at the airport back home live in my community. I can find them anytime I want to. I can isolate them from whatever form of protection they think they have, and I can apply all sorts of dastardly tricks until I find their weakness and then they will do whatever I want them to (not that I ever would, I am just proving a point here folks).

Once you understand that the illusion has nothing to do with controlling criminals, you will be able to see what the true purpose of instigating these programs really is. Folks, that ain't paranoia, that is the cold hard reality of it. It's the same face I saw from the terrorist ops in Baghdad.