It’s been a long, busy week already and I’ve still got one more day left. I worked in the office this morning, flew home this afternoon, got flowered and ballooned at the airport (Super-HURRAY!) and then settled in to work again for a little bit. Too many long days this week. Luckily the flight was uneventful and arrived 20 minutes early.
Rant Warning Level: Red (Probability of Rant = 100%)
By the by… the threat level is still Orange or high, specifically for air travel. The threat level was raised to Orange on August 10, 2006. When was the last time it was Yellow? Oh right, over a year ago in early August when I stopped being able to bring my own water bottle through the Security check point and the requirement began to show all my toiletries and other sundry liquids and gels to the world in a quart-sized zip top bag. Oh joy. So now that this crack down on toothpaste, eye drops and hydration has been in effect for approximately 18 months, the threat level is still Orange. Why? Gosh could it be because all these silly security measures aren’t doing anything to actually provide additional security?
Seriously, making everyone put their 3.4 oz containers of shampoo and ointments in zip-top bag is not making me feel any safer. Not only that, it’s not making the flights any safer. I don’t mind a little extra process if it actually works.
“Raising the threat condition has economic, physical, and psychological effects on the nation.”
Yes, raising and maintaining a high threat condition annoys me. But that’s not all. Unnecessarily high threat levels and absurdly increased security have already had unwelcome effects on this country. We’ve seen a decrease in international tourists, our currency has fallen pretty significantly… our economy is indeed feeling the effects. I’d love to see some evidence that showing the world my moisturizer and nasal spray is actually preventing terrorism. I won’t hold my breath.
On the other hand, I had the hiccups pretty badly between dropping off my rental car and getting to my gate today and the TSA guy said it was cute. Yep, those are our tax dollars at work.
tags: airports, rant, security, silly, travel, tsa, work
