Bin Laden's Long Reach, or The Terrorists Have Won

Ever since the 9/11 attacks, airport security has been "heightened" to ridiculous extents. Why can I not take a bottle of facial lotion in my carry-on because the container it's in (not the actual amount of the liquid itself) can contain more than 3 ounces?

It has happened to me and, I'm sure, countless other folks who fly.  Vacationers used to be able, with nary a thought, to just get on the plane, fly to one's destination, and step off the plane...

Things have changed. Since the 9/11 terrorists, security (through the auspices of the TSA) at airports, domestic and international, has been restructured in such a ridiculous way that could still be easily defeated if one really had a mind to do it...

I'm not going to detail how this can be accomplished, but I do mean to talk about how it has become a true pain in the ass experience for everyone I've ever known who flies.  Peter's remained relatively unscathed by the TSA, merely annoyed and delayed by their so-called “thoroughness” though they are, in my opinion still an incompetent agency).

The young man who searched through my underwear and toiletries picked out a few items that he bagged separately (like I'm going to need them that way?), and others that he tagged for removal (toothpaste, facial lotion, though there was less than half of the 6 ounces of toothpaste left in the tube and less than 3 ounces in the facial lotion bottle). I ought to have insisted that he weigh the items to verify that they were greater than 3 ounces, oughtn't I?  However, I was too flabbergasted to say very much. Peter's carry-on was chosen for a random search, and I joked with him that TSA did that so that he wouldn't just be standing there, bored, waiting for me to get my luggage searched...

It wouldn't have happened had I just checked my bag. I complained to Peter that I could have, probably should have, checked my bag, but he worried that we'll miss our connecting flight from Las Vegas to San Diego because our layover will only two hours, and Las Vegas airport is big...

So I'm pissed. I'm pissed at the TSA for handing the terrorists victory:   it is now impossible for civilians (I cannot speak to military personnel) to travel without facing major inconveniences. Inconvenience: that's their phrase for harassing and delaying all passengers.

Nothing, in my experience, that is good has EVER come to light via religious faith. Religious fervor breeds contempt for the Other (everyone who does not share their specifically distorted, completely nonsensical, strict views that are completely based on their interpretation of some “holy scripture” they find unassailable). Do they not understand that they are imperfect humans as well? Imperfect beings who can make mistakes? The holier-than-thou sentiment becomes the blindness that is religious faith.

Although Islam is the currently favored flavor for terrorists at this time, Christians (Catholics) have had their share of wielding power in the service of self-serving doctrine (think: the Crusades). Muslims are currently on their own religious crusade to either convert or kill all non-Muslims. I don't buy the excuse that terrorists are somehow removed and different from everyday Muslims, because by identifying themselves with a religion that advocates hate and violence, Muslims have not a leg to stand on in any moral debate.