That's a frightening comparison! I believe the politicians (congress and the White House) are doing this under cover of the 9/11 attack. Sad fact is that's OUR money they are spending freely.
I don't know about other folks but my pet peeve is the nonsense going on in airports under the guise of extra security. What a waste of our tax dollars. For example, on a flight to Hawaii (from Orlando, through Salt Lake City) a woman six rows in front of me pulled a 7" pair of scizzors out of her bag while sewing. Many on the plane were in disbelief as none of the crew bothered to do anything about this potential weapon. How did she get it passed security screeners? Why was she allowed to keep it once it was obvious she had it with her? Lucky for us she was a tourist and not a terrorist.
Next example, on return from Munich through Phila one needs to go through security to get from the international terminal to the domestic terminal. After placing my carry-on on the belt and walking through the metal detector immediately after my wife, I went to retrieve our carry-on bags. Mine was not there. As I looked arround, the screener had it near the x-ray machine. I asked him why? He said it would have to be hand checked. There were some drinking glasses with wire decorations on them and I guess that wasn't easy to figure out by the screener. After waiting patiently for about ten minutes I asked the screener when they were going to check the bag. He gave me the bag and said "no one is available to check the bag at this time so just go ahead". Boy, I sure felt secure after that!
As Ben Franklin once said: "They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety... deserve neither safety nor liberty."
True in the 1700's, just as true today.
By the way, I felt Bush was doing a reasonably good job in most areas up until now but I am quite dismayed by those numbers. I guess we will have to see how the next two years play out.
(Message edited by traveler on July 25, 2003)