Wait,

I thought they were SUPPOSED to be particularly worried about religious people donning robes and head-covers...

Can't we at least be fair? Every one of us knows that the first time the bad guys use an old lady (rather real or a disguise) or a child to get something dangerous through.... we'll all castigate them as inept and ineffective.

I remember hearing about the TSA guys who wouldn't let the old guy through security because he refused to discard a 'sharp metal object' which turned out to be his Medal of Honor. I couldn't believe how offensive and ridiculous that sounded to me, but I also realized that when one of those guys uses his 'discretion' and doesn't stick to the letter of the policy, that'll be the next disaster. They're damned if they do, and double-damned if they don't.

Bottom line for me? I'll stand in that line and go through whatever inconvenience (or so-called humiliation) they want to put me through as long as I know EVERYBODY is going to go through the same thing. Once they start picking and choosing which color, religion, age, nationality, etc. to screen, then the bad guys know better who to send. They'll adapt. Knowing the plane I put my family on is less likely to have a bomb or a hijacker on it is worth whatever the TSA can throw at me.