The TSA (Transportation Security Administration - a post September 11th creation) determined that it is unsafe to have passengers carry on items such as toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner and deodorant. All at a time when we're trying to teach our junior high students to improve their personal hygiene, the federal government is prohibiting it. Incredible.
So instead of enjoying air travel, those of us who used to anyway, are forced to endure a flight full of B.O. and bad breath. We are also forced to have two sets of toiletries, one for air travel and one for home use. If you ask me, the TSA teamed up with Wal*Mart to sell more conditioner, which we will all now buy (but only in 3 oz quantities) so we don't have to check our bags. Have you seen the lines to check bags? It would be faster to drive to Florida than to check my bag.
The good news is that not everything is banned. There are several very useful items that are allowed as carry ons. Here is a partial list taken from here:
- ...bone marrow, blood products, and transplant organs;
- ...prosthetic breasts... (THANK YOU!)
"You are not limited in the amount or volume of these above items you may bring ... However, if these items are ... larger than three ounces, please perform the following:
- Declare you have the items to one of our Security Officers at the security checkpoint.
- Present these items for additional inspection once reaching the X-ray. These items are subject to additional screening."
I'll bet they are. We also have to remove our shoes to go through security. Its like those guys that walk on the hot coals, but instead of hot coals, we have athelete's foot and fungal infested carpet. I have to work myself into a mental state like those karate guys before they punch through the cinder blocks.
So, if the terrorists' goal was to inconvenience our lives and make us spend copius amounts of money to prevent a future "attack," they have won. We hire overweight and under qualified people, who would otherwise be working at the terminal 1 McDonalds, to be in charge of regulating how much shampoo and C4 I can carry on.Thank you TSA, and God bless America.
