I flew back from Milwaukee to Orlando yesterday. While passing thru the security screening, I noticed four TSA agents chatting and having a good old time while the line to go thru the the detectors got longer. Then, just before our flight boarded, three more agents showed up at the gate. One had a dangerous-looking chemical tray and was sticking her sampling probe into the bottles of water people were carrying on. The other two didn't seem to be doing anything--until my zone was called, that is. One of them stopped me just as I was about to present my boarding pass. He said he needed to question me...where was I going? (At the boarding gate to a flight to Orlando? Duh!) Did I live in Florida? (None of his business IMHO). Had to re-present my ID and boarding pass (only the third time after arriving at the airport).

People tend to give TSA a "pass" because they're "assuring our flight security". Baloney! There have been too many examples where people who try can breach TSA security quite consisntly. Then here's the anecdotal observations of inefficiency like mine.

I have a spending reduction proposal...cut the TSA budget by about 15%. Then see how things work and maybe cut it 10% more!