We can take baby formula on a plane if we're willing to take a swig.

[MercutioATC]

Why doesn't the same standard apply to bottles of water?

It's not about providing security, it's about being able to state "See? We're doing something (even if it makes no sense)."

TSA carry-on regulations have NEVER made any sense. You can carry-on bottles of wine and knitting needles, but you can't carry-on nail clippers. You can carry-on baby formula if you're willing to drink it in front of us, but you can't carry-on bottled water.

It's not about providing real secutity, it's about providing the illusion <[/i> of security.

[Demobrat]

1. No it's not about providing real security.

It's about increasing government FUNDING for security.

[RoyGBiv]

6. Slight modification ...

It's about increasing government funding said to be for security ...

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2304236

[Sinti]

2. Strikes me it's about power, authority and control

You can't take the water with you if you sip it, because it's something you'd drink anyway. Baby formula, well, only babies drink that - it's probably gross. It's totally arbitrary BS - but if you wanna fly you gotta comply... personally, I'd rather drive.

[LibDemAlways]

8. Power, authority, control, and the illusion of

security. There are a significant number of Americans who go along simply because they fear for their lives. When I was relaying a story to a group of women about an elderly woman I watched being abused by TSA in Seattle, one woman cut me off with a curt, "Well she could have been a terrorist and so could you."

The Bush Crime Family in conjunction with the media whores have done a bang up job of convincing the public that 90 year old alzheimers patients are potential terrorists and the only way we can be safe is to surrender our dignity as well as our chapstick.

Meantime, while grandma is being felt-up, uninspected cargo is being loaded aboard her flight. We have plenty of so-called "security" measures - all designed to intimidate and harrass and make it appear as though the government is doing something when, in fact, it's a big, sick joke. Inspect 100% of the cargo. Screen everybody, sure, but rely more on intelligence, law enforcement, and common sense to identify potentially troublesome passengers. And for God's sake leave the 90 year old and the chapstick the hell alone.

[Sinti]

12. I agree with this entirely

This statement is really telling:

"Well she could have been a terrorist and so could you."

They want to freak people out so much as to make them believe it could be anyone. The truth is, would be terrorists are a tiny fraction of the population of the Earth. There are infinitely better ways of doing this, with less intrusion and better protection.

[noamnety]

3. Excellent point.

For a while, knitting needles weren't allowed, but sharpened pencils were. That makes sense, because of course knitting needles are used for knitting AND stabbing people, but pencils can only be used for writing.

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. The kind of bullshit hysteria that has become routine.

All the wannabe screenwriters have a field day at times like this. "Well, it COULD be dangerous!"

[MercutioATC]

5. If it were true hysteria, I could understand.

Had they made us remove our shoelaces because they could be used as garrotes, that would have been an overreaction, but it would have made sense.

It's not honest hysteria when they prohibit harmless items while allowing potential weapons, it's proof that actually dealing with a potential security problem is NOT their true goal.

[RoyGBiv]

7. Cool ...

If I mix the "baby formula" with kahlua, can I take that too. I promise I'll take a swig ... or three or four if they inisist.

[mykpart]

9. What if you just let the baby take a swig?

Would that count? What really bothers me, and I'm sure someone has discussed it here on another thread, is that 12 years ago we knew that it was possible to blow up a plane with liquid explosives, 'cause someone did a "test run." Why weren't there regulations about carrying on liquids immediately after 9/11?

[Hugin]

14. Oh, I didn't hear about someone successfully 'blowing up a plane'...

with 'liquid explosives'.

Link please...

[MercutioATC]

15. Didn't say it was accomplished...said it was possible.

More specifically, that we were TOLD that it was possible.

12 years ago.

[Hugin]

17. Well, it's possible to get hit by a meteor in the next 10 minutes...

But, I don't see a government mandate to erect 'meteor shelters'.

[MercutioATC]

20. Understood. The point (I believe) was:

12 years ago, there was an alleged plot to blow up an airplane with liquid explosives, yet liquids were not banned from airplanes.

If we have known about this possibility for at least 12 years and it's a credible threat, why haven't liquids been banned the entire time?

[Hugin]

21. Sure, it's a credible threat and it has been dealt with...

The attempt used 'readily available nitroglycerin'... Which is a detectable substance
and it would take enough to be visibly obvious to screeners to be capable of 'bringing a plane
down'. Not a 'pop-bottle' sized quantity.

By, pushing the timeline back 12 years... Is this an attempt to blame previous administrations?

[MercutioATC]

22. You're reading WAY too much into this.

The point was that we've faced this threat before and liquids weren't banned from airplanes.

Either it's not as serious threat as they're telling us or we've had incredibly lax security for the last 12 years.

[Hugin]

23. Oh, okay...

:thumbsup:

Sorry, there's been so much obfuscation and manipulation (the real terrorism) lately
I've lost my sense of motivation on many issues.

[MercutioATC]

24. NP, I know how you feel...

:)

[mykpart]

26. Sorry, I have been away. Here are some links:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5632942
" Terrorism expert Daniel Benjamin, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, tells Renee Montagne that the alleged terror plot in the U.K. is very similar to a bombing that took place on a Philippine airliner in 1994, killing one person."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/08/11/MNGL2KGOOB1.DTL&feed=rss.news

"In December 1994, Yousef tested his device using a fraction of the explosives planned for the main bombs. After walking through the X-ray machines at Manila airport with a 9-volt battery hidden in each of his shoes, he boarded a Philippines Airline Boeing 747 heading to the Philippine city of Cebu.

Halfway through the short flight, Yousef disappeared into the toilet, took off his shoes and assembled his bomb. It took just a few minutes, and then Yousef quickly tucked the tiny bomb into the life vest under his seat. The plane flew on to Cebu, where Yousef disembarked before the final leg of the flight to Tokyo.

Haruki Ikegami, a 24-year-old Japanese businessman returning home from Cebu, took Yousef's former seat. Two hours later the tiny device exploded, nearly tearing Ikegami in two, killing him and injuring five others.

The blast blew a hole in the floor and severed the cables that controlled the plane's flaps. The jet's steering was damaged, but the plane's captain dumped fuel over the sea and managed to make an emergency landing in southern Japan, saving 272 passengers and 20 crew members."

[Popol Vuh]

10. I won't fly

from any airports here now, and nor will I fly on any U.S. carrier either. I simply refuse to be subjected to that overly anal retentive intrusion. If and whenever I need to take a plane, I am flying out of Tijuana and on a none U.S. carrier.

[Jazz2006]

11. Agreed, it's always been about the illusion.

The best that our governments have EVER had to offer is the illusion of security.

When it comes to air travel, that's the best we'll ever have, in any event.

[Hugin]

13. Granpa! Granpa! What did you do in the "War on Terraismist?"

Why, I was a breast milk taster for the good ol' T.S.A!

(I can now die a happy man... I've said something crazy in all seriousness.)

[elehhhhna]

16. DOnt' get me dtarted about the steak knives they hand out in First Class

[jmowreader]

19. Watch yourself...

If word that Potentially Lethal Steak Knives are being handed out in First Class, the airlines will be required to cut the steaks up into bite-size pieces, reassemble them into steak shapes, and issue the diners plastic spoons to eat them with.

Just like the 163 people Bush signed death warrants on when he was Texas governor got to eat their last meals.

[elehhhhna]

25. dag, I really need to proof read use spellchek, huh?

My post reads like it was posted by GW.

[Bigmack]

18. Breast milk, too...

Possible scenario: Grandpa and Grandma are travelling with baby Smedley. Mama has expressed breast milk into bottles for the trip. Grandma has to taste the milk to prove it's OK.

Things are getting a little strange, Dorothy.