Our tax dollars at work
Rant Warning: Proceed at your own risk.
Of all the ridiculous, nonsensical, protectionist, paranoid efforts and institutions that currently influence our daily lives, the Transportation and Safety Administration has got to be on the short list for Best of Show.
Have you had a chance to look over the TSA regulations governing what may be taken as carry-on luggage on an airplane? I'm planning to head back to the midwest in October, so I checked.
And now, after learning these details, consider the agency motto at the top of the page:
Right about now I'm wondering how long it will be before breathing on the plane becomes illegal.
Lord, have mercy.
Of all the ridiculous, nonsensical, protectionist, paranoid efforts and institutions that currently influence our daily lives, the Transportation and Safety Administration has got to be on the short list for Best of Show.
Have you had a chance to look over the TSA regulations governing what may be taken as carry-on luggage on an airplane? I'm planning to head back to the midwest in October, so I checked.
- Even the smallest of self-defense toys - a 5" rod on a keychain, called a kubaton-- is understandably banned; but canes and walking sticks are permitted.
- Shampoo, lotion, toothpaste and mouthwash are security risks, and strictly forbidden in any quantity; but "Personal Lubricants" are allowed up to 4 ounces. (Note to commenters: I don't want to know).
- I have to leave my tiny (2 inch) keychain pocket knife at home, lest it be confiscated as a dangerous weapon; but my footlong knitting needles are welcome without question.
And now, after learning these details, consider the agency motto at the top of the page:
TSA ... VIGILANT, EFFECTIVE, EFFICIENT.
Right about now I'm wondering how long it will be before breathing on the plane becomes illegal.
Lord, have mercy.
posted by Jane Ellen+ at
4:34 PM
6 Comments:
Some cartoons you should check out:
http://www.blogscanada.ca/egroup/content/binary/060811NakedAirc.jpg
http://images.ucomics.com/comics/tmclo/2006/tmclo060815.gif
So, let's see. I can bring my 7 inch pen, but not the kubota thing. I can poke you with either one, but the pen doubles as a writing instrument.
Um..?
Aw, c'mon, Jane, tell us what you really think. :)
At least you weren't flying on the 9/11 anniversary. (It really wasn't bad.)
We were back in Montana in August when the "liquid bomb" case hit the news. My mother packed up and mailed things like the Flathead Lake chokecherry syrup and jelly and other goodies as well the toiletries that we had brought out in our carry on luggage or bought there to mail to us when we flew to Maryland.
Then I got an eye infection and had 3 kinds of eyedrops prescribed. The doctor in Great Falls wrote it all out on a card what they were and that they were *required* for my well-being and health. (Also fortunately in only 1 oz bottles or so). The TSA people at the Great Falls airport were reasonable and sensible and didn't give me any kind of a hardtime about them.
I took my uncle on a trip a few months back. At the airport he set the alarms off. The TSA officer asked him what he had in his pockets. He put his right hand in his right pants pocked, his left in the left. He pulled everything out. The officer asked him what the pocket knife in his left hand was. My uncle told him it was a pocket knife. The officer said he'd have to take it. Then he patted my uncle on the shoulder in an affectionate manner, indicating he knew he was bordering on senility. "You can go ahead," he told my uncle. And my uncle did so as he put the pocket knife in his right hand back in his pocket.
If it was cost-effective, I'd simply road trip it.
Costs come in more then money though. 8-) The idea of driving to Montana from back east with several children including one that doesn't read much yet, (so you can't say "read one of your books" when they say "Are we there yet?" looked insane to us last month. This was compared to 2 flights of about 2/2.5 hrs each with an hour break in Minneapolis (the Mall that planes drive up to.)and the youngest one adores the 'slidewalks' there.
Maybe a future trip will be driven as a good route can have alot of interest(and the middle child after reading the "Little House" books said that if we ever went through Kansas "Maybe we could see a grasshopper attack!" 8-) )
Post a Comment
<< Home