Prior to boarding my flight to the LA conference, I had my first encounter with our new post-9-11 "security" regime. It was not a happy one. You see, I, unknowingly, was in the possession of illegal contraband. I had neglected to remove from my key chain a fearsome terrorist weapon. But for the diligence of our "protectors," I would have boarded the flight with this dangerous weapon on my person. Thankfully, "security" thwarted another potential 9-11-in-progress when they detected and then confiscated it. Here is the "weapon" the U.S. government could not permit me to keep:
Curiously, the new "security" regime allows our "protectors" to just take stuff. The effect is no different than a mugging. The only way I could keep this handy tool was to reverse course, leave the "secured" area, track down an envelope and stamp, mail it to myself and then resubmit to the ridiculously invasive and insulting "security" checks all over again. This I was tempted to do, just on principle, until...
A bull-dyke with a bad attitude (she looked like a character from a bad women's prison movie) proceeded to rifle through my luggage. She made a point to finger everything at least once (gross) as she glared at me menacingly. Then, she ran my luggage through the X-ray one more time for good measure. This creep-out took about 20 minutes.
After that, I was done. I wasn't about to submit to this insanity again merely recover my confiscated property.
So, on this July 4th, remember to celebrate the death of our Bill of Rights and be thankful that you too are systematically treated like convicted criminals by your government without cause. The signers of the Declaration, needless to say, are spinning in their graves.