Come fly with me

As we prepare to celebrate the birth of the United States and 233 years of freedom, innovation and prosperity, it is tempting to use this forum to say, "enjoy it while you can". The impending passing of Henry Waxman's "Cap and Trade" (I am on page 328 of 1428 of this travesty) portends to drastically change virtually every aspect of our economy. This legislation will provide fodder for many backyard BBQs. Unfortunately, I am banned from starting political discussions and have had to search for other conversation starters.

A beautiful target for ridicule is the TSA and their incompetent handling of airport security. Perhaps if they spent more time focusing on securing the airport rather than pretending to be the police officers most of them are longing to be I, and many others, might see them as providing the sheerest layer of protection against possible attack. Case in point is the detention and questioning of a man carrying $4700 in cash. First, there is nothing illegal with carrying that much cash and, second, I doubt a would be bomber would feel the need to engender sympathy from those he is terrorizing by raining cash on those witnessing the explosion from terra fimra. Maybe the cash was to be meant as a lure to bring people under the plane to be squashed under plummeting pieces of airplane fuselage while they stuff their pockets with Benjamins.

The newly elected Congressman from Utah's Third District recently forwarded a bill to ban the use of the full body Xray machines that provide not too subtle views of a passenger's "junk" to anyone viewing the screen. Good for him.

Some passengers seem to be ahead of the curve of increased security violations. A US Airways passenger set the bar rather high by completely stripping mid-flight. I recall a few years ago an attempt to run completely nude flights on the East Coast of the United States. These nudist sortes were destined for nudist resorts in Florida. Mr. Wright, the textile challenged flier, must have been on a connection from one of these. Either that or he was simply tired of emptying his pocekts and removing his shoes.

One final possibility is that Mr. Wright works for Air New Zealand. This carrier is taking their new "we've got nothing to hide" slogan very seriously. I've long wanted to visit the land of Kiwis and Orchs and ads like this only strengthen that desire.



S2