Airport security run amok

Given all the checkpoints I've been subjected to, I thought I'd seen everything. And now this

Published August 6, 2010 3:01PM (EDT)

Today's column has no words, really. It doesn't need any words. The picture you see at the top of this post, snapped by yours truly at a large U.S. airport, does all the speaking that might be required.

Funny, all the writing -- which is to say, ranting and raving -- I've done about airport security over the past eight years. This picture says it so much better.

You can savor a full-screen version here, via Flickr.

What we see is at once hilarious, sad and perhaps deeply worrying. Do I need to explain? This is the state of airport security in the United States of America, and we, as American citizens, have allowed this to happen. Not only have we become willingly subjugated cowards, we've clearly lost our minds.

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By Patrick Smith

Patrick Smith is an airline pilot.

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