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I consider it a personal offense that Clinton appointees have been allowed to stay in high offices in the new Administration. What kind of message does keeping them there send as to the attitude of the new Administration about the blatant crimes committed by the previous Administration?

Norman Mineta joined the Clinton Administration as Secretary of Commerce on June 29, 2000. He was part of the Clinton Administration for 4 months.

Why is he Secretary of Transportation? Here's part of his resume:

Mineta served as chairman of the House Public Works and Transportation Committee between 1992 and 1994. He chaired the committee’s aviation subcommittee between 1981 and 1988, and chaired its Surface Transportation Subcommittee from 1989 to 1991. During his career in Congress he championed increases in investment for transportation infrastructure, and was a key author of the landmark Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 which shifted decisions on highway and mass transit planning to state and local governments. ISTEA led to major upsurges in mass transit ridership and more environmentally friendly transportation projects, such as bicycle paths. He also pressed for more funding for the department’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

After leaving the Congress, Mineta chaired the National Civil Aviation Review Commission, which in 1997 issued recommendations on reducing traffic congestion and reducing the aviation accident rate. Many of the commission’s recommendations were adopted by the Clinton administration, including reform of the FAA to enable it to perform more like a business.

He was a VP of Lockheed Martin. He is an Army Veteran. He served our country in 1953 even though he and his immediate family were interred during World War II. He's eminently qualified for that job. He's a good man, a very capable and experienced man, and he was one of the "good" Democrats in Congress who are now long gone.

I agree with you that the airlines are probably not where the threat is anymore. Frankly, the terrorists just aren't that smart - they could have brought America down to its knees with hysteria long ago if they were. Besides their lack of intelligence, though, is another factor which plays in the favor of sanity. That is, as many Muslims as there are in this country who HATE America and theoretically would like to wage war against us (I assure you there are MANY here), most people, even Muslims, when they are comfortable and content (as people living in our country generally are, physically) do not want to throw away life and kill innocent people. Things could easily snowball, though.

Thank you for your clarification of the current state of airport security - that is helpful to kep in mind. Do you have any links to add to that info?

As to Mineta - if you think anyone picked by the Clintons to run a Cabinet position (taking Ron Brown's place, at that!) is okay to leave in a position of power, then you either do not know the Clintons at all, or how they operate, or you don't have an appreciation of the inevitably destructive power of official corruption. It is ruining us much faster than all the terrorist attacks you can think of. Since you posted Mineta's "resume," you must have the former misconception, and think that Mineta is not corrupt or compromised. I would bet everything I own that he is, if there was a way to prove it (and there may be). The Clintons never, EVER appoint anyone to a position, great or small, who is not compromised, controllable, and corrupt. Never. That's the way it was in AR; that's the way it was at the White House; that's the way it is now.

But thank you for rebutting Pruden's article and my own words with thought and civility - it's refreshing.

BTW, on every leg of one trip I was taking once, I was given the wand because of some steel-toed boots I was wearing (smart, huh?). (I could have easily concealed a Derringer in each boot, BTW, but this was pre 9/11). On my last flight, I finally wised up and took off my boots and put them on the x-ray belt. I thought the security guy was going to pass out from laughing, but I figured I needed to help them do their job, instead of their just assuming I indeed had steel in the tips of my boots.