“A traveler frustrated with recent changes to airport security procedures found himself detained in Milwaukee after writing a message critical of the TSA’s leader on a plastic bag presented for screening. The message, which read “[TSA Head] Kip Hawley is an Idiot,” resulted in a confrontation with law enforcement, the traveler being told that his right to freedom of speech applied only “out there (pointing past the id checkers) not while in here [the checkpoint].” The story, which is detailed in a rapidly-growing thread on a discussion forum catering to frequent flyers, has attracted the interest of the ACLU, an AP reporter, and many others. The incident raises a number of interesting questions and concerns regarding just where our rights end.”

(and then, of course, there’s this.)

In Melbourne (and later in Sydney), he launched a daily tabloid called “MX” which is distributed free at all of the city train stations and near the tram stops in the city in the late afternoon. During the evening commute at least half of the passengers on a typical train would be reading a copy on their way home. The paper is typically filled with drivel, but has the capacity to greatly influence popular opinion with its headline stories about Iraq, Osama bin Laden, and al Qaida, among other things.

I’d like to say that our other sources of news are of higher quality, but I’m afraid that even those that started with high standards have sunken into the abyss of sensationalism and fear mongering.

Case in point: on a recent trip to the US, the TSA security people in Los Angeles airport forced me to leave the security area in order to consume the half bottle of water I had accidentally left in my carry on bag rather than consume it in front of them in the security area. When I asked the four security people who had gathered in response to my signs of annoyance if they considered this policy a bit absurd, I watched in disbelief as all four of them shook their heads “no.”