He was shouting "The government is barmy!"

He was fined $50 for a breach of the peace, and sentenced to 20 years for revealing a state secret.

"My goodness, I'm really impressed with the quality and efficacy of these airport security arrangements... I'm impressed..."

I wonder if he used the coat icon?

.. you can now be detained if you say something that is "suspicious" i feel that somebody has been a little overzellious there,

I guess Bin laden/AL Qaida has succeeded beyond his wildest dreams by getting under the American's skin, helped in no small measure by the media Propoganda & frenzy whipped up by the Bush Admin.

Such paranoid knee jerk reactions are proof enough of that!

Its more like a war on peoples psche now. All your thoughts are belong (& to be controlled by) to us, even if inappropriate!

is enough to get you arrested for speaking back to a US flight attendant a few months ago.....wonder what it was this time? Dain Bread?

I got held at George Bush Intercontinental (Houston) for 45 minutes at gunpoint, to have every item in my laptop bag chemical tested for explosive.

Then to have the counter assistant say... it was a false positive.... A FALSE POSITIVE.... I was shitting myself surrounded by guys with machine guns pointed at me without explaination...

Obviously my laptop and a copy of Jackass the movie were going to cause a terrorist incident.. either that or me wearing a green day t-shirt upset them...

Mine's the coat with the wires hanging out the back.

Al-Qaeda training can now be done by mail as all they will need to disable the transportation system is a group of people distributed around the country making suspicious comments in airports.

Anyone who remembers the IRA's bombing campaigns in the UK will know that the governmental response at the time, whilst often hugely overblown in its treatment of Irish people, was essentially to ensure "business as usual" for as many people as possible.

Since 9/11 the US, and by extension the UK because we now apparently take the lead from them in this area, have operated quite the opposite policy, and it is a disaster. They and we now jump at the slightest squeak, talk up every threat, and promote the idea that if one terrorist attack is prevented then this policy is justified.

No, it isn't.

We need to say to anyone who wants to change us via terrorism that while we will do our best to stop them, we will not change our lives to achieve that. We need to say that you can continue to blow us up, but you will not change our minds. We need to tell them that they will not make us run scared by threat alone. To make a difference they will have to penetrate our defences every time. A threat, or a failed attempt, should have no impact on our lives.

It seems cliched and obvious to say it, but terrorists win when we react to them, in any way. Yes we should continue to act to prevent acts of terror when we discover them; but we must get far better and facing down the threat, telling and showing them that we are not scared of them, and that we will not capitulate.

Otherwise we have already lost.

Too true, just reminds me of the student woman who was busted for walking thru an airport with circuit boards stuck to her in various places. Some kind of art stunt. You see circuit boards = Bomb triggers.

And to a lesser extent the whole Boston Mooninite fiasco a year ago - Some comedy channel publicity stunt involving an LED illuminated cartoon character billboard thing, hung in various places throughout Boston - put the whole city into DEFCON ONE! TERROR ALERT TERROR ALERT TERROR ALERT.

You see LED illuminated cartoon characters = Bomb.

The TV and print press, and various government departments all contributed towards it.

Idiots.

If we change the way we do things in response to acts of terror, abandon our principles and crack down on our citizens we lose.

We have abandoned our principles and cracked down on our citizens.

Therefore, we have already lost.

Quad Erat Demonstrandum.

Jokes and (especially US) security people don't mix.

Few years ago on BBC "airport" series there was as wise-guy with a violin case who when asked by security what was inside thought he'd be funny and said "I come from Chicago and we keep guns in these" ... and was the shocked to find police were called, he was arrested, cautioned and informed that the airline (one of the big US ones) had placed a lifetime ban on him. And this was well before 9/11 etc.

Similarly I heard someone describing how before flight from US to UK they'd been pulled over for random security screen. After placing all bags, items etc on counter for search she noticed mobile phone was still on so she picked it up saying "I better turn this off before I get on the plane as we don't want it to crash" (meaning she was following rules on no mobiles on in flights) ... however US security interpreted this as a direct threat to the flight (and told other family members travelling with her this) and immediately pulled her off the flight. Fortunately she was travelling with BA so after several hours of grilling by security pilot from next BA flight interviewed her and rapidly concluded there was no problem and was happy to allow her on the plane but added that due to what US security had sad there was still a questionmark as to whether Heathrow would allow a plane carrying her to land ... in the end it was all ok.

Maybe security do need to take everything seriously but there's a point where some common sense should come into the equation!

... are pretty suspicious to be honest.

A. Yeah baby, I got something explosive in my pants for you.

Of course, your average terrorist who has spent the best part of a year planning his own fiery death is prone to making stupid mistakes just like this. You'd think that stopping someone who behaves suspiciously would be a waste of limited resources, surely the terrorists are trying extremely hard NOT to draw attention.

BTW, I use Linux, I roleplay and I listen to 'Heavy Metal' so I am pretty much never getting into the USA (unless I cross the border from Canada).

He probably ticked the box where it reads "Are you or have you ever been a member of a terrorist organisation?"

"LOCAL LAWS AND CUSTOMS

Do not make flippant remarks about bombs or terrorism, especially when passing through US airports."

He himself said nothing, it was his dvd with classic Dr Whos and the Daleks were intoning w-e s-h-a-l-l e-x-t-e-r-m-i-n-a-t-e y-o-u . Obviously resonated with the security peeps.

Anyway, the only way to survive a trip to the land of the brave and home of the free is to switch everything off and go zombie during the journey. Name rank and number is all. No jokes, no smiles, no thinking, no silent insubordination, no emotion. Zombie role: big polished shoes, white socks, an ulcer, and BO.

Once you're thru the gate, though, way-hay!!

(Paris, showing us how to think during the trip...)

No, easier than that. New budget terrorist kit:

1 x packet of Post-Its

1 x biro

Instructions for use:

1) Write suspicious comment on Post-It

2) Stick to backs/fronts/sides of random passing people

3)Errr...that's it.

If you'd said "Dihydrogenmonoxide" I might have let you off with a caution, but O₂H sounds...expolosive.

To gitmo with him!

That you're still allowed to take such a potectially explosive liquid as water onto a plane. Lets face it, if an aeroplane toilet is the equivalent of the sort of chemical lab required to make a liquid explosive, then seperating water into its, highly explosive, components using one shouldn't be too hard.

no no I did not make a suspicous comment no no do not drag me away plese noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

I recently flew from Manchester to Amsterdam via Gatwick. I had the full security check at Manchester and then, even though I went through flight "transfers" at Gatwick I had to go through the security rigmarole again not once but twice, a seperate x-ray of my shoes after having gone through the x-ray / metal detectors the first time.

Contrast this with my Experience at Amsterdam. I walked into the airport, walked straight to the gate for my flight where I went through a normal x-ray / metal detector. No long queues for everyone in the airport to get through just a simple x-ray machine and a metal detector dedicated to that gate.

I know I didn't feel any less safe at Amsterdam but I did feel a little more relaxed!

Obviously he had just seen his mate and called across the lounge: "Hi Jack".

I'm off to delete all Johns from my address book.

"I know I didn't feel any less safe at Amsterdam but I did feel a little more relaxed!"

Hm... Maybe it was something in the air? Airpot security indeed...

He probably said: "security sucks"

Coming back from the US once, I was singled out for a brief pat-down, then I was asked what I had in my pocket. I replied "gum" and took out a mangled packet of chuddy to show him. At the time, being a worn out unit of airline cattle, I wondered why he gave me a funny look. On a later connecting flight when I had chance to think about it, I shat myself.

"Don't bother visiting America, go somewhere else instead!"

PS "The Ring of Steel" in London was more commonly known as "The Ring of Tissue Paper" given how easy it was to get through...