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This may be a little stupid, but I read that they [presumed al Qaeda operatives] had mentioned the "tail of the snake" in recent messages referring to their supposedly planned attack on the US. Given their fondness for graphic imagery (remember the "two sticks and a cake" with which they described the WTC), I was wondering if perhaps this meant Florida, which is the only part of the US that could be considered a "tail."

I'm not paranoid because I happen to live in Florida, btw, nor, in fact, am I really worried about it, because I think a lot of this "chatter" is about as relevant as teenage nerds hanging out on a Matrix site. However, if there really is anything to it, I wonder if Florida (where there is also a fairly extensive al Qaeda presence, from Jacksonville to Miami) may not be the "tail of the snake."

I have a rather distrubing tale to relay. Yesterday I returned from L.A. to Chicago on ATA, and during the flight, my wife became agitated and elbowed me. I watched as no less than four people got up from their seats and headed for the bathroom, which is located right next to the cockpit door. I mean, RIGHT NEXT to it. Fine. Whatever. People need to go to the bathroom when they're on the plane. Problem is, the flight attendants did nothing about the four or five people now loitering in front of the cockpit door. And we're talking two or three rather athletic men and a couple of ladies.

I called the stewardess over and we asked her what the deal was -- that FAA regulations prohibit loitering by the cockpit door -- that these people needed to go the heck back to their seats and wait for the lavatory to become available.

Her response? "Oh we tell them that, but they never listen."

She walked away. Probably to get someone a pillow or escort some terrorist for a cockpit tour. We sat there with our mouths open -- "we tell them that but they never listen"???

You mean to tell me we have to get to the airport two hours early, practically get cavity-searched getting to the gate, and then this dimwit flight crew doesn't even enforce safety precautions because "they never listen"??

People, what's truly frightening is not the fact that our flight crew could have been incapacitated within seconds -- it's the fact they didn't care enough to assert themselves where a potential security threat existed.

BTW, my wife flew Southwest a month before, and she said they hounded people to stay in their seats if they got up with the lavatory occupied.

Chew on that.