My girlfriend and I recently flew to Connecticut on vacation to visit my parents. Passing through security on the way home was ridiculous, but no problem. We had packed any toiletries and liquids into our checked baggage, so we had nothing to worry about there. We arrived at the airport sufficiently early enough (something we did not do on the way to CT) and we didn't have to feel stressed out about traveling.

There was all the normal rigmarole of metal detectors and taking shoes off, and putting our bags on the X-ray conveyer belt, but there was also something new that I had never seen before. I had to stand in a small, electronic gazebo that shot me with short puffs of air. I have no idea what it did, but it was obviously the newest installment of technology that provides airline travelers with a comforting (albeit inconvenient and time-consuming) illusion of safety.

The funny thing is this: after we made it through security, my girlfriend leaned over to me and said in a hushed voice, I forgot to take the matches out of my purse! I remembered as I went through the metal detector and my bag was being checked. (less Funny-Ha-Ha, more Funny-Unsettling) We threw away the matches and went on to our gate, both of us thankful and a bit weirded out that we got through security.

As I went through my carry-on bag after we arrived at home and began unpacking, I became even more bewildered. In a pocket on the bag that I rarely use, there was a box of matches and a mini leatherman (basically the same as a swiss army knife). These items of contraband had also made it through security without a problem. And this happened two weeks after they renewed the Airport Security Crackdown.

I'm not going to say that the whole thing is bullshit, but it is so far from perfect that it does raise the question: why do we spend billions of dollars putting air puff huts into the security line if a complete moron like myself can unwittingly sneak contraband onto his plan. I think it has very little to do with actually making the airways safe, and everything to do with making people feel safe (or at least scaring people into obeying the rules, for their own safety). To fool them into believing that everything is monitored by competent security officers and under control, and yes, they should absolutely continue to spend their money at the airport.

I know that it would be unreasonable to think that they're going to catch every two inch knife and book of matches going through security, but even so, it just seems messed up to me. Anybody else a bit disturbed?