When I was traveling with my baby from Toronto to France I was positively laden with liquids (open bottle of water, yoghurt cups, sippy cup with milk, sippy cup with juice…).

When they asked if I had any liquids I patted my bulging carry on and said, “Yes, lots!”

“Are they for the baby?”

I nod

They wave me through….

I’ve had similar experiences flying into the US. It’s absurd.

The whole thing is just crazy and my heart really goes out to parents with babies who aren’t breastfeeding and really *need* those liquids. Planes get stuck on runways, there is nowhere to sterilize bottles, and babies dehydrate easily.

It is absolutely insane.

@61, 62
Tenn- I thank you for your replies. I congratulate you on your achievements (salutes across the web).

@#55, 57, 58
Your comments are curious. I have read and re-read my original text. I was clearly speaking about the awards.

The reason I asked the question was because I am sensitive about people claiming military awards. I think Tenn has responded well.

It also follows that a person who can show that they have a rightful claim to military awards are credible people when it comes to making a public allegation.

Or perhaps she is just used to it and you’re not so much smarter than everyone else after all?

To cut a long story short, I arrived at the airport with minutes to go before the plane left, grabbed my boarding pass from the check in desk, and passed through three security checks where they cross-checked the boarding pass against my passport (which the airline had insisted I go home to collect).

I got to the gate to see the plane taxiing away from the air bridge. Damn.

Then I looked at my boarding pass. It was made out in the name of one Ms Wendy Kennaugh.

It had been “checked” by security three times. Not only did they not notice that the name was incorrect on each occaasion, but they couldn’t even spot the gender discrepancy. I have a beard. It would be difficult to mistake me for a Wendy.

- Andrew

But of course there’s more to it than that. Military, law enforcement, and security are areas of spending that, once enacted, are tough to roll back politically. Charges of being weak on national defense/crime/security mean this money will continue to be spent, but for no actual purpose. At which point you must look to see who is getting the money for the security and what ties they have to government.

It’s only partly a show for our amusement. The rest is to distract us while they pick our pockets.

But in Canada you had the same rules as stated by the Canadian Air TSA. http://www.catsa-acsta.gc.ca/english/travel_voyage/list.shtml

How did you work around this on your flight from Toronto to London?

When my mother went to China last year, she was very careful to adhere to the no liquid rule, the tour group leader was insistent. But some others in the group ignored her and flew with 1L bottles full of plain water in their bags. I asked at the check-in counter, the rules are only strictly enforced when you’re going to a western country like Europe or America. Don’t worry if your flight is within Asia.

During the tour, on domestic flight within China, the locals brought in all sorts of weird stuff including live chickens.

BTW: the trip to and from China was on a Chinese airline. I forget the name.

The alternative being that parents get to carry rice milk in tetrapaks instead of sippy cups?

Why are we ruled by retards?

Obviously because the majority of the population are either retards or just sheep who believe everything they read in the tabloids (Fear! Panic!). This means they vote for retards who run our countries in retarded ways.

it is better than the alternative

I believe the alternative he means is sensible security measures which actually work rather than just wasting time and money, reducing our freedoms and increasing general levels of stress, fear and paranoia. Heaven forbid…

Anyway, Heathrow is just about as bad as it gets in Europe. Too close to the US i gather.

No, actually, I don’t wish that.

That’s Thomas Jefferson, IIRC. I suspect that the founding fathers, even though they themselves were far from perfect, would find too many aspects of our day to day interaction with government as absolutely appalling.

Medically-necessary liquids are exempted from the size restriction. I would think in this case that the rice milk was medically necessary.

1. need to be seen as doing something – its easy to create something like the TSA. Although I believe its actually ineffective. I just provides a visual crutch for the insecure or ignorant.

2. litigation risk and political fallout. Its like the nanny state cottonwool world some people demand of their governments. Look at the US, if you look at some of their disclaimers or some of the cases brought against corporations I can see why this is done. Just sue McDs if your tea is too hot. For gods sake.. tea is meant to be hot so it brews properly, you let it cool before you drink it!

3. and.. a feeble understanding of risk. What I mean is the perceived risk vs actual risk. Then again this rolls back to the points above. So is it the dog wagging the tail or the tail wagging the dog.

Looking in to the UK, the amount of molly coddling there means that children grow up with no experiences at judging risks for themselves.
Yes, I understand a parents does not want their children to say, fall over. But sometimes you have to learn not from instruction, but from experience.

The government should address the actual risks..
not the perceived risks of the masses.

BTW, there is a controversial documentary/reality show called “Boys and Girls Alone”. It follows 10 boys and 10 girls (around the ages of 10). Think of it as “Lord of the Flies”. http://www.channel4.com/programmes/boys-and-girls-alone One interesting comment from one of the mothers who withdrew her boy (sorry paraphrased).. “we want our men to be strong and independent, but we are not equipping our boys”.

“a dozen ribbons / medals / insignias”

on your uniform. Is that correct? Ribbons. Medals. Insignia. Are American high school Army cadets really eligible to wear a dozen ribbons, medals and insignias? Even if we allow for half of them to be on your outer uniform and half of them to be on your inner uniform isn’t that still a lot of decorations for a high school kid to be wearing? What were the decorations awarded for please?