The NY Times has a gem of an opinion piece written by a pilot about the inanity of airport security and the TSA. While I personally find very little difficulty in flying beyond the torturous experience of queuing up through security, I find the various policies absolutely frustrating. So, now the TSA is going to ban certain types of batteries. What the heck? Battery bombs? Yes I'm well aware of the purported problems with lith-ion batteries catching fire, but come on already.
Unfortunately, once freedoms and rights have been given up to the machine that is government - controlled as it is by inane people - those rights are almost impossible to regain. What is so easily given can be only extricated from the fingers of government at the threat of either great violence or great protest. Oops - now we sound like terrorists.
Personally I'm tired of living in a society filled with drones who trust their government and expect it to create for them a nice cozy safe world. My water bottle is not explosive. My nail clippers are not a weapon - my fists and feet can do far more damage by themselves. A trained person can cause more damage with a credit card than with a nail file. They can kill you with a pen much quicker. For what it's worth, I can probably knock a flight attendant out with my large Bible. Where will all of this finally wind up? With us being required to strip from our street clothes, put on hospital gowns, be handcuffed and escorted into a seat where we are enchained for the duration of the flight? Con-Air here we come. Silly, you say - but that's security.
