Sometimes pigs DO fly :-)
It really worries me that so many Americans still seem to have their heads in the sand, acting as if all the Madison Avenue-promoted fantasy life stuff is reality, and terrorism is just a boring annoyance that they're not going to let interfere with their fun. You'd think 9/11 would have shaken people awake, but I'm increasingly concerned that it's going to take something a whole lot worse to shake a critical mass of them awake.
Last week the NYT ran an article full of anecdotes about what went on at airports on the first morning of the ultra-tight security restrictions. One lady begged and pleaded and wheedled the gate agent endlessly, because she just couldn't throw away her lipstick because it was her favorite shade. The gate agent told the reporter "She just wouldn't get on the plane without it." Solution? The sympathetic gate agent (Delta) scribbled down the woman's address, got a few bucks from her for postage, and stood in line at the airport post office after her shift to mail the idiot lady her lipstick. I'm sure the gate agent meant well, but any passenger who doesn't cooperate promptly with something like this after being told "No", should find herself being scruffed by a burly law enforcement officer and escorted off airport premises. The above scenario simply could not have happened at an Israeli airport, because a critical mass of the Israeli population was shaken awake a long time ago.
We have been a very spoiled people. That is about to change.