Well I'm glad to reprt that the Transportation Security Administration has seen fit to restore the most basic of all Human Rights, that of allowing ordinary commoners to bring cigarette lighters onto a plane again. Hooray for the incredible benevolence of our TSA Overlords!
[hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"][a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 191);" href="vny!://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2007/07/tsa-to-lift-ban.html"]vny!://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2007/07/tsa-to-lift-ban.html[/a]
"Lifting the lighter ban is consistent with TSA's risk-based approach to aviation security. First and foremost, lighters no longer pose a significant threat." [/p] [em]Q. Are lighters not a threat anymore?
A. Lighters are not a serious threat. Lifting the ban is a common sense, risk-based security decision. This change allows officers to focus on finding explosives and IED components. TSA collects 22,000 lighters a day."[/em][/p] Actually, TSA says it's currently snagging an average of 22,978 lighters [em]every day[/em] (that works out to 8,386,970 this year), and it's costing taxpayers $4 million annually to dispose of them.[/p] These numbers raise a few questions that people might be asking: [/p]When and how was it decided (and who decided) that lighters were no longer a "significant threat"? Less a threat than 4 ounces of shampoo or toothpaste or breast milk?
[/p]Help us out here, TSA.[/p][hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"] [/p]What changed? I guess the laws of physics have been repealed, since suddenly, magically, lighters are no longer a threat. Or maybe they never really were. Naw, that's crazy talk! See, they were a threat, but now they're not. It's all clear to me now....
