So I've been sitting in the Fort Myers (FL) airport since noon today, waiting for a flight back to Chicago.... It's been delayed because of the weather in the Baltimore/Washington area (our plane is coming from there).  All day, I've been doing my best to avoid thinking about Chicago (the weather, my work, etc.), so have been doing what I always do when I want to get my mind off of my 'real' life.  Read blogs and think about the election.  

At about 6PM today, I had a bit of a vision.  Maybe the heat down here is just getting to me, or maybe it's because I've only eaten a potato, a spring roll, and some chex mix since breakfast, but while reading the blogs and checking up on Obama's website, I had the following vision: John Edwards, in Ohio tomorrow, standing next to Barack Obama, endorsing him for POTUS.

My rationale below the fold...

Caught up the excitement of elections, I think sometimes we forget the issues.  Last year, some 'fwends' of mine were in the airport and noticed a pretty big security gap at the Baltimore airport.

Oh this is just priceless. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screeners are learning to recognize a special set of forbidden facial expressions. If your face slips into one of these during a TSA inspection, you will be taken aside and given a more detailed screening:

Travelers at Sea-Tac and dozens of other major airports across America are being scrutinized by teams of TSA behavior-detection officers specially trained to discern the subtlest suspicious behaviors.

[....]

TSA officials will not reveal specific behaviors identified by the program--called SPOT (Screening Passengers by Observation Technique)--that are considered indicators of possible terrorist intent.

But a central task is to recognize microfacial expressions--a flash of feelings that in a fraction of a second reflects emotions such as fear, anger, surprise or contempt, said Carl Maccario, who helped start the program for TSA.

"In the SPOT program, we have a conversation with (passengers) and we ask them about their trip," said Maccario from his office in Boston. "When someone lies or tries to be deceptive, ... there are behavior cues that show it. ... A brief flash of fear."

The floor is open, Kossacks: Tell us all about your favorite - and least favorite - airports, the world over. Which do you love? Which make your blood boil? And above all, why? Let's hear it.

And while we're on the topic, go and enjoy a $100 hamburger.

In an excellent diary published yesterday, Blue Patriot Woman outlined the extreme violations of civil liberties that will happen if TSA is allowed to implement their "Secure Flight Plan."  I concluded my comment to that diary by saying, "One of the first things that the next president needs to do is rein in TSA in a huge way."  I though I'd expound on that a bit more today.

I was listening to our local progressive radio station (92.1, The Mic) this morning.  Of course, they play the standard CNN radio news bits between segments.  Today, apparently, a concourse at Miami airport was briefly evacuated due to a suspected bomb detected by airport screeners.  It turned out to be a false alarm.

But what caught my ear was that CNN newscaster Bill Caiaccio referred to the incident as a "suspected IED."  (UPDATE: PJ Jefferson provides confirmation in the comments.)

Does this strike anyone else as a blatant attempt to build the right-wing talking point that "terrorists from Iraq will follow us home?"  First time I've heard this tactic used, so I thought it was important to diary and get your reaction.  

Another "Faux Event" this morning in Miami...  I feel so much safer with Homeland Security on the job!

As the embarrassing tale of the latest "terror plot" unfolds, it becomes clearer and clearer that this was yet another government-provacateur "terror plot" and not any kind of organic movement.

According to WNBC-TV in NYC via MSNBC:

NEW YORK - Three people were arrested and one other was being sought Saturday in connection to a plan to set off explosives in a fuel line that feeds John F. Kennedy International Airport and runs through residential neighborhoods, officials close to the investigation said.

The plot, which never got past the planning stages, did not involve airplanes or passenger terminals, according to the two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the arrests had not yet been announced.

The pipeline takes fuel from a facility in Linden, N.J., to the airport. Other lines service LaGuardia Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport.

US AIR Still not letting Crew and Passengers off plane, as reported just now, even though there is apparently an all clear.
ALL CLEAR, Passengers notified man does not Have SmallPox, will be able to Deplane!!
Bet he'll have a Hell Of A Hangover at the Charlotte Jail Now!!!
PLAME NOT EXPOSED, PLANE EXPOSED!!;c}

Well, not the front page of DailyKos, anyway.  As I was catching my flight from Kansas City International airport earlier today, I decided to catch up on the workings (or lack thereof) of the world with their wonderful free WiFi service.  Imagine my surprise when, after loading up the mainpage of dailykos (which loaded just fine), I discovered that the user generated content of the diaries was deemed to be "pornography" by the powers that be of that particular network:

http://i179.photobucket.com/...

Here's a story in the NY Times that should appeal to the policy geeks in the DKos reading audience (article). What's interesting about the article is that it is a proposal from the Bush administration that I think liberals should actually support (maybe a first!).

New legislation was introduced yesterday in the Senate that will make all you millionaires out there very unhappy.

If you earn more than $1 million a year, (and fortunately there are many more Republicans who make that dough than Democrats - research proves it), you are now being asked to pay your fair share of taxes.  

Imagine that.

More on the flip.

Or, the Christmas Vacation Diary.
Or, What I Learned This Christmas.

I was one of the roughly three to five thousand people stranded in Denver International Airport this Christmas.

Here's my story.

Nearly all the news media have framed Denver as a place you can't get into or out of. With a few exceptions like this Indianapolis station.

But lookit, Amtrak's running out of Denver.

Now is the California Zephyr running late? Of course. Is it crowded? Likely. Might it run out of food en route? Sure; provisioning is more art than science anyway, and abnormal circumstances throw everything out the window. But it's warm and it's moving.

Challenger John "Jack" Chagnon (FL-07) is demanding that Congressman Mica apologize to all Florida residents for his stunningly insensitive, arrogant, and patronizing interview on Orlando's CBS Affiliate Channel 6. Watch this unbelievable video at www.local6.com/problemsolvers/10228089/detail.html?taf=orlpn
Mr. Mica -- House point man on airport security - summarily dismissed taped evidence of dangerously lax security procedures at Orlando International Airport (OIA).  This is another new low for a Republican who has stayed too long in Congress. Mr. Mica not only downplays these security breaches, but even takes a flippant attitude towards victims of other airport bombings.

"Flying while brown" has been a depressingly well-documented phenomenon, with perhaps the scariest recent example being the Canadian Muslim doctor expelled from a United Airlines flight after a "drunk and belligerent" passenger decided he was a terrorist because he was praying.  But to me, this just takes the cake -- apparently even Arabic script with English translation is enough to bar you.

Ok, so outside of the fact that it is necessary to fly sometimes - whether it is for business travel or for those instances where you can't drive (of course with gas prices being as high as they are, even that isn't all that feasible), I am coming to the conclusion that flying is just not worth the hassle or the headache, not to mention the safety issues - but not necessarily what you think.

Now, my wife HATES to fly - also not for "terrorist threat" reasons, but because she just doesn't feel all that safe when she is thousands of feet off the ground, locked in a tube that she has no control over.  And I generally was able to let her know that planes are safer than driving, and that she really doesn't have much to worry about.

And then I read this and this.