Except for that that family of 4 chooses to pay for HBO... and if they dislike what is on the network enough they can/will cancel their subscription... last I checked the only way for me to stop funding the TSA is to either quit earning an income (and spending money)... or leave the country by teleporter.

I prefer the HBO model... vote with your dollars.

You think... the TSA is an unaccountable 'paramilitary'? #LULZ!

In the grand scheme of things often those who cannot join the military (or have finished their tour) become cops... those who cannot become cops become private security/mall cops... those who cannot become private security join the TSA.

The TSA is at the absolute lowest of the low with regards to competance or actual security.

Despite the 'S' in their name... they are screeners, nothing more, nothing less... and quite poorly paid & educated to boot.

Paramilitary? HA! The security theater must be working on you.

Bull. In both cases the devices failed to ignite properly... it was only after they failed were they beaten down.

Had the shoe bomber had a lighter (vs some matches)... or had the underpants bomber had something better than an acid based trigger... both would have had a better chance of success... not to mention there is also the possibility that both devices were less effective due to the time being worn (the shoe bombers first flight was canceled, while the underpants bomber waited until the absolute end of the flight to trigger it)... it's worth considering that both men sweated a bit during their wearing of their devices... retarding their effectiveness.

But is that because of or in spite of the TSA?

When Napolitano said "the system worked" with regards to the underpants bomber... she was right... but not why she thinks.

Just as with the shoe bomber, both attacks were thwarted not by the TSA, not by attentive passengers... but because of limited options on the part of the terrorist.
In the old days, a terrorist would smuggle on to the plane almost anything as there was virtually no security. Whether it be DB Cooper or Pan Am Flight 103 the sky was the limit.

Know what happened? We started looking for such things. All of the sudden getting a traditional bomb, gun or knife onto the plane got a lot harder... so the bad guys would have to find other means. The problem though (as evidenced by both the shoe and underpants bomber) is that some of their alternatives are not as effective as they’d like... leading to an increased chance of failure.

Don’t get me wrong... the majority of what we face at the airport today is security theater... one upshot of which is we have (theoretically) increased the chances of finding a bomb/knife/gun carrier... forcing them to try to find more difficult ways.

Body scanners are not the answer... profiling and behavioral analysis is.

It’s no wonder El Al hasn’t been hijacked in in 40+ years. They take security seriously and don’t dink around with nonsense like forcing people to take off their shoes or (likely unhealthy) body scanners.

oops... posted the above to the wrong comment...

I'm still trying to find the voting record on this... but somehow I have a hard time beleiving that this passed by only a single vote and had Scott Brown not taken the place of Kennedy... it would have been defeated.

Wait? This passed by only a single vote and had Scott Brown not taken the place of Kennedy... it would have been defeated... right?

Recently I discovered that a low cost (semi well known) Shared host I use actually stores passwords (ie login to portal, sql, etc) in a form which can be easily converted to clear text... hell, they even have multiple Show Password links and require you to share said password with them to receive tech support... so they can verify it against the clear text password they see.

I've since been on the hunt for a new host... however have discovered that the treatment of passwords in this manor is not uncommon. Hell, last night I canceled a VPS account less than an hour after signing up as I discovered that not only does the admin exhibit editorial control over passwords (he changed my initial one), but that he too stores them in clear text.

Granted... if you are smart you will use a different password per account/service... however when such a company treats accounts in such a way I can do nothing but run.

You seem to be mistaking me for a person who has any desire to argue with a moron. Good day.

Really? Not only do the words "police action" not appear in the Afganistan or Iraq resolutions... the meaning of the term "military force" is quite clear. Sorry to see that you think the words "Declaration of War" are required to make such a resolution one.