From the "Me neither" file.

Matt Yglesias...

Actually preventing terrorist attacks is a valuable thing to do, but it seems to me that very intensity security at airports doesn’t so much eliminate attacks as encourage people to set off bombs on crowded city streets instead. That doesn’t strike me as a particularly high-value undertaking.

Me neither.

Quote of the day.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on whether she would submit to a TSA hand job…

"Not if I could avoid it. No. I mean who would?"

The Secretary, of course, can avoid it, and keep flying.

We should all be so lucky.

Really, we should.

Good questions…

The Gavel responds to the latest Boehner boner by wondering...

Which of these proposed federal regulations to protect taxpayers and consumers does Mr. Boehner think is “a great idea” to stop to give “breathing room” to the special interests?

SAFE CRIBS AND BASSINETS FOR CHILDREN: The Commission is proposing a more stringent safety standard for bassinets and cradles that will further reduce the risk of injury associated with these products.

TRANSPARENT GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING: The establishment of a free, public, website containing full disclosure of all Federal contract award information.

CONSUMER PROTECTIONS FOR AMERICAN AIR TRAVELERS: New action to strengthen the rights of air travelers in the event of oversales, flight cancellations and long delays, and to ensure that passengers have accurate and adequate information to make informed decisions when selecting flights.

Well?

Noteworthy.

Via Political Wire...

Nate Silver notes that from October 1999 through September 2009 there has been one terrorist incident per 16,553,385 airplane departures.

Worth repeating.

James Joyner...

We’re simply going to make people miserable for no apparent reason. There have been precisely three attempts over the last eight years to commit acts of terrorism aboard commercial aircraft. All of them clownishly inept and easily thwarted by the passengers. How many tens of thousands of flights have been incident free? And, yet, we’re going to make hundreds of thousands of people endure transcontinental flights without reading materials or the ability to use the restroom?

As much as I once loved to fly, if you can't conveniently and affordably get there by car, bus, train or boat, I can't imagine going there anymore, which means I'll probably never go to some places I'd really like to go, places that would really like people like me to come.

Guess I'll scratch the return trips to Ireland and Vietnam from the bucket list. The crazy people have won.

Hat tip to John Cole.

Good question…

…from Brian Beutler.

Why is Donna Brazile on the teevee offering her opinions on the safety of air travel?

Better question. Why is Donna Brazile on the teeve at all?

Headlines.

Still Trying to Find bin Laden

Still failing.

Unsuccessful robber shoots self in foot

Where would the shot have landed had he been successful, I wonder?

Plane crashes after flight safety meeting

In Poland. Just sayin'...