They are the foot soldiers on the front lines of the war on terror. You never know which 75-year-old grandmother could be hiding 3.6 ounces of liquid and a torch lighter in her orthotic shoes, so the Transportation Security Administration makes it their mission to screen them all. Al Qaeda could be on the very next commercial flight out of Biloxi, so no precaution the TSA takes is too strong. These brave men and women put themselves in harm's way across the country every day. The next disgruntled Continental passenger selected for secondary could very well be strapped with explosives and nails, ready to pull the cord and take out himself and everyone else in sight at Checkpoint B2.Some might say that our money is better spent hunting down the real terrorists or installing explosive-detecting x-ray scanners that can actually distinguish latent explosives from toothpaste. But our security interests are best served by issuing screeners, er, officers snappy new royal blue uniforms, complete with real badges and police-style striped trousers. For those of you keeping track, it's the third generation of uniforms since the TSA was established in November 2001 (fourth if you consider when the TSA had to replace the logo patch when TSA moved from the Department of Transportation to Homeland Security). Commercial airline passengers pay $2.50 per flight segment so that the TSA can do its job, but much more importantly, so the TSA can look spiffy. My favorite part is where they have to put the TSA values on the patch to remind themselves of what it means to run airport security. I guess that "Abusing Power Through Needless Harassment Of Low-Threat Passengers" was too long to fit.
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