I'm with you, I refuse to fly again until the hysteria is over with. It was already a massive indignity to be herded like cattle, only to sit in a butt vice of a seat, be fed plastic food, and to put up with crying babies, then came 9/11. Now, everybody gets treated like crap, regardless of their heritage, all for the privilege of traveling.
That said, its possible that this system is a step in the right direction towards quickly certifying those unfortunate souls who have to travel frequently, and are the last possible threat to an airliner they depend on. Me, I fly about once ever five years (last time was a trip to Reno in 99), you could put me on a yellow list, since I don't engage in the practice often. But put the traveling salesperson (poor sod) who has to put up with indignities every week on the "pass 'em through quickly" list, he/she has suffered enough!
Continental has a system where those of us who are frequent flyers have additional lines for security. The only real advantage is that the others in the line with you are all used to the screening and know exactly what to do (or what not to do). Multiple trips though the metal detector or small knives in the bags are rare, so things go a little smoother.
It would be nice if the government did do something for those of us who are consigned to airport hell a couple of times or more per month. I wouldn't object to their doing a cursory background check, they do checks when I work in Federal Buildings anyway, and if they gave me a "Go forth and fly" card that gets me around the lines, I would consider it a good thing. Further, I'm sure that the flight crews would be real happy with a better system.