The head of the TSA is not elected and not of much use to anyone else who wants to get elected, since everybody hates him. He is also -- in principle, at least -- responsible to the public as a whole, not just his shareholders.

Shopping mall security guards have ZERO training. TSA employees have a little bit of training. Not enough to teach them that 100 ml is OK even though it's 3.2 oz, but some. Rent-a-cops are really only watchers; they have another line of defense, real cops. TSA employees are the last line of defense.

The last thing I want is airport security handed over to the lowest bidder whose only obligation is to maximize profits for his shareholders. Some things are WAY too important to be left to the free market, and looking out for public safety is at the top of the list. TSA employees may be one step above rent-a-cops, but at least they ARE one step above rent-a-cops.

They work better than any other system, period. They don't have to irradiate you and they don't have to grope you. Admittedly Muslims and some other people consider them unclean, but they don't even have to touch what they're sniffing. The training takes time and money, it's true, but I have to wonder how many sniffer dogs could be trained for $14 billion...

Put a $10 bill, or the local equivalent, in an envelope on the company bulletin board. On the outside, write, "I need change for $10 please" without any indication of who you are. Do this every six months or so. If you ever come back and find that the envelope is empty, your company is too big. You have hired a thief who does not care about his or her fellow employees.

People don't sue because they have legal grounds. They sue because they think they can force the other side to spend so much money that they'll cave. Most lawsuits are settled in favor of whoever has deeper pockets. Being in the right isn't enough; you have to be in the right and rich. Otherwise it's better to keep your head down... sadly. If the US ever gets around to tort reform (yeah, right), this situation may change.

Some of us even like to give our adult political opinions. If it's about computers, high technology, science, engineering or about the people who work with any of the foregoing, it's news for nerds. Get used to it.

He's intelligently using his strengths where they will most benefit his purpose. Compare with other celebrities who have huge egos and are media whores, e.g. Paris Hilton. How many of them use those qualities as a way of drawing attention to lies and duplicity at the highest levels of the US government? No, instead they use them to make money.

If you're not a media whore, you're a pretty stupid and useless kind of activist. Assange is doing something interesting and worthwhile with his whoredom.

It's actually rather clever of him to serve as a lightning rod for Wikileaks, while the actual work continues to go on. Right-wing congressmen can call for his assassination all they like; even if it were to happen it would not affect the publication of the leaks. In fact, it would almost certainly trigger the mass publication of the unredacted material. "The personal strengths and weaknesses of a leader are no true indicator of the merits of his cause."