On the road so blogging will be limited. But last night I had dinner and a few beverages with The Everlasting Phelps. Talked about guns, libertarians, gizmos, and lots of other stuff. Good guy.

In my early morning stupor to get to the airport, I grabbed my wallet and other stuff I usually carry with me. Since it was 4 in the morning, I wasn’t thinking and also grabbed my pocket knife. Now, it is the newest member of the TSA’s knife shop. The .gov could make a ton selling those things.

And, as with every time I travel, my bag was one of those searched so I got the courtesy your papers and effects have been searched without a warrant, without probable cause, and unreasonably notification in my bag. It’s always a nice surprise to get to the hotel and discover that your constitutional rights were violated.

Also, the TSA folks aren’t too bright. As I approached the line where the metal detectors are, I was handed a yellow piece of paper. This paper indicated that because I was the last person in line, that I would be searched in private. Seems like a made up criteria to me. If you’re a terrorist, get in line first. Any way, I approached the metal detector with my yellow sheet. They had the little plastic bins set out to put your watch, lap top, and other stuff to scan. This is the point where I volunteered the info that I had a pocket knife. Big mistake. They wanted it. I asked if there was a place to store it until I returned and there wasn’t. They suggested I could put it in my car. Of course, I’d miss my flight if I did that. I should have just kept my mouth shut and dropped it in my carry on. They’d have never found it.

Back to the plastic bins. There were three bins set out. I put my lap top in the first; watch and change in the second; yellow piece of paper in the third. They never searched me but the guy behind me (who happened to be standing next to the yellow piece of paper) was pulled into the private cubicle. Poor guy but there’s how to get out of being searched.

Rest assured, had I been pulled into the private cubicle, I’d have told them to fuck right off. If you get the yellow piece of paper, pawn it off on some other poor sap.

I love flying.

Blogging may be light today and tomorrow.

Posted in uncategorized on April 20th, 2005 by SayUncle | RSS 2.0 |