80 and still flying. My kinda mom!
Glad your mom made it safely
Our grandson flew out to CA on Wednesday and we are all glad he missed the excitement...
We over react to the absurd and ignore the important.
What a wonderful photo of the heron!
Glad your mother is safely home now. Your advice was sensible. I'm not so sure that indiscriminately taking away everyone's toothpaste, deodorant, etc.. did much except (perhaps) make it look like the powers that be are on top of things. I sometimes think that's what is behind so much of what is being done in the WOT -- gotta make it look like we're "doing something" -- only I'm not sure those things are actually much help for what ills.
Anyhow, have a good weekend one and all.
Exqusite pic!
That's one of the invidious things that this stupid "war on Terror" has done to us: we feel we must pass unnoticed, anonomous, a blank slate. It's trying to turn us into the grey shamblers of 1984.
War is Peace
The current threat is another cog in the fight against losing one more of our freedoms. Gone is our privacy (and our body wash) when we travel by air. We are all suspect and it will only get worse. I don't know about you, but the thought of traveling by car three, four, or even five days each way looks more appetizing than traveling via Homeland Security's rules. The real threat of terror is what the "terrorists" are doing to our heads.
That heron is exquisite.
Your family is safe and well. That is the best thing to have. Love the heron.
But did they let her keep her lipstick? I mean, it is a banned substance now.
The Heron is beautiful. There is something about herons that speaks to grace.
Glad to hear she made it okay but it sure is an ugly time and very disgusting that they worry that an 80 year old woman is carrying toothpaste. It seems nuts and I think like one of your readers said-- it was just to make you think they are doing something. They know who the potential bombers would be and they are not 80 year old women.
Let's all just fly naked!
Dave-- She's going to be 81 in September. I feel very lucky. She's smart and pays attention to the world. A great role model.
endment-- That's it precisely, over-reacting to the absurd and ignoring the important. I think we have just telegraphed to the world that we have no sense of security whatsoever. Your grandson was in danger on Wednesday, but our government was not paying attention. So it puts on this absurd show. I'm incensed.
bev-- It seems insane that this is all we have to show for the zillions of dollars we have thrown at the security issue: discarded toothpaste and body lotion. It's embarrassing. The surprising thing is that we weren't concerned the day before. Yikes.
sbgypsy-- I once took an online survival test. Multiple choice given certain situations and scenarios. I scored well, and got perfect answers in dealing with inflight terrorism. I like having a plan. It's a shame.
motherkitty- I think the way to beat the terrorist is to not live in fear. Interesting that both terrorists and this administration want us in fear. I say be smart and unafraid, and yes, travel by car or train!
peacechick mary-- I'm glad my mom is home. I think our country is ridiculous. Glad you liked the heron.
DivaJood-- They may have taken her lipstick. It was probably a dangerous shade of red!
Rain-- As I mentioned, I think the little show we are doing at airports right now really telegraphs to the world how unprepared we are. Taking away personal body products is really crazy, unless the administration wanted to give a boost to the toothpaste and deodorant industry.
Marci-- I could see that being both pleasant and unpleasant. Have you ever gone to a nude beach? It's not all it's cracked up to be.
This airport activity is not personal or discriminatory and is not occurring only in the USA. World-wide airport security practices are similar right now. If the carry-ons of only specific groups of people were the only ones examined or confiscated there would be many outcries of racial/ethnic profiling! Not to mention that the items of a peaceful looking "senior" could be used by terrorists to activate the plots.
Based on available information specific containers as well as liquid items in anyone's carry-on luggage could possibly have been used to create and detonate home-made bombs. Perhaps the details of the INTERNATIONAL investigation which had been underway for months will help explain some of the thinking behind the recent events. Check out the details here and here for more information about the ingredients reported to be part of the "plan."
That terrorism exists at all makes me angry and sad, but giving up shampoo and the rest of my liquid carry-ons is an easy exchange for safer flights. So is a line that spans 3 hours. But nothing is fool-proof. I also become agitated contemplating how this will affect me taking my laptop, binoculars, digital camera, purse, jewelry, etc., which are all items I normally carry-on instead of check. I may now be inconvenienced if I choose to leave them at home instead of risk losing them to airport employees who could steal them from my checked-in luggage should airport security levels require them being checked. These are now risks I must consider when packing.
I agree with a comment above - I drive instead of fly as long as time is not a significant issue. When we fly across country once or twice a year with a plane filled with enough fuel to travel 2700 miles non-stop, I am always nervous. 
I have a problem with Pharoah ants this year. And the extermination guys told me that when you tried to destroy the nest, it simply splits, and makes more nests. I think that leaders of this world should get it about terrorism and terrorists : you cannot destroy the nest. There will always be terrorists, and they will now and then outsmart the most sophisticated intelligence out there. It is bound to happen. My question is the following : what is the ratio between money spend on wars (Afghanistan + Irak) plus money spent on Homeland Security, etc. Versus : money spent in erradicating the problems at the very root of terrorism : youths in countries that have no future, nothing but war and poverty, see no end in sight for that, and hence, are turned on by the idea of becoming a 'martyr'. As long as there will be poor countries and rich countries, the haves and the haves nots, there will be very fertile grounds to make more and more terrorists, and they don't need a leader or a nest. It will spread like a cancer. And as long as ALL countries, all humans won't get it that it is about fairness, equal chances for all on this tiny planet, then, all our efforts to try to make 'us' safe are doomed. Ok, off the soapbox. I too travel and am treated like a terrorist like I cross the border. You would be in shock to learn all the items we are not allowed to bring in (goes from cat food to kindling!). It is absurd and makes no one safe. Jeez. The safest place to raise a little one might still be in a planter, on a balcony. Great pictures. Thank you.
glad your mom got home OK, robin.
i flew home wednesday evening; good thing i didn't stay until thursday morning. because something came up tuesday, i needed to work that night instead of seeing a good aunt, whom i haven't seen in a while -- so when i got stuck late wednesday, i would have tried to make it up then, except for the mom thing.
my husband was out of town wednesday night, and i'd been gone for 3 nights, and we are never gone overnight at the same time, without the kids. next year, we can do that, but there are still 2 nesting teens at home. 
it's not the end of the earth to know i have to pack stuff in luggage that i usually keep in my purse and carry-on. but what will the rules be on sunday, when i fly next? and where will it end? nobody ever felt my lip gloss or hand cream was a security threat before. i'd rather not risk theft or damage to my laptop, checking it. at least it's a short flight, because if they tried to keep me from reading material for more than an hour or so, i'd definitely go insane.
sigh.
I know I love your mom. I definitely want to still be traveling when I'm 80.
You know, even if people were ordered to board planes buck-naked, if they were intent on doing harm, they'd have already swallowed balloons full of explosives, like heropin smugglers have done, or somehow secreted the devices in their bodies.
I do not buy all this fear-mongering, but of course, there has been so much drek spewed by this administration and their foreign buddies that it's difficult to know the facts.
I am glad your mother is safe. I am very angry that we are being abused by our own government every which way from Thursday, or whatever that saying is. This barrage of spinning words is enough to make us all sick.
Robin, glad your mom survived her ordeal, and isn't that a sad sort of affairs to have to congratulate you on? Dad is going to be 80 on Sunday - he and mother are far more vigorous than I; they drive and fly everywhere and can't stand to be at home more than a few weeks at a time. I simply do not fly, period. Never liked it before and certainly do not now. I've never experienced the security measures implemented after 2001, and I don't consider it a loss of learning at all. I am so glad that the profession I worked into doesn't require it.
I do like herons though!
I don't ever fly only because I like traveling by motorcycle. I think it's ridiculous to take away your 80 year old mother's shampoo, body wash etc. I think we need to do a little profiling here. It's only muslims who are a threat, so it should be only muslims who get checked.
oh, my -- the news this afternoon...
something old -- novelist guenter grass admitting his role as a kid with SS in germany, saying his silence weighed on him, and it had to come out:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/ar.../
i151601D56.DTL
and something new -- israel accepting a cease-fire agreement:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/ar.../
i141253D31.DTL
sky-- I think what distresses me the most about how we handle terrorism is the "after the fact" frenzy. The plot was foiled. Weren't travelers more vulnerable the day before the bust than the day after? I am tired of the politicization of terrorism. Terrorism is a fact. I would like our government to deal with it seriously, sensibly and sensitively. We get none of that. We get post-traumatic fear mongering. We have had five years to consider how to handle these kinds of situations. As far as I can tell, we're handling it the same we handled it a few days after 9/11. I think we can do better than that. I also think the best thing we can do is not be afraid.
Suzanne-- You are so right. One of the ways to battle terrorism is to take on the root causes of disaffection. Without hope, there is nothing, and when you've got nothing, well you know what Bob Dylan said. I also see that treating terrorism like a law enforcement issue makes sense. What we are doing now creates enemies.
kathy a-- I don't fly, so I don't have a sense of what it means on a day to day basis. I only know that some things are done for political expediency and not in the interest of safety or security. We are not in good hands. I wish you safe flying, and hope for the best.
YT-- My mom is really a very cool woman. I feel very lucky. As I mentioned, she's a great role model for growing old well.
Wayne-- You and I are so much alike! I don't fly. I actually did fly once in the past 14 years. That's it. I won't do it again. I'm strictly a terra firma girl.
Sandy-- Sometimes I think the way we handle security issues needs a bit more scrutiny. I've heard, and as Sky mentioned above, if we profiled all Muslims, then they might recruit folks who simply don't fit the profile. I'm not sure what the solution is, but I do think we could be more circumspect about how we handle our security.
kathy a-- thanks for those links. I'll go and read them.
Whoa - i hadn't heard that about Gunter Grass! I guess The Tin Drum must've been more autobiographical than anyone thought.
Great heron picture, Robin. I'm sorry we live in a country where security folks feel thay have to shake down an octogenarian, but uniforms do have a way of dulling the intelligence of whoever wears them.
Were we saved in the "nick of time" by USDHS?-
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT
OF
HOMELAND SECURITY
?
Dave-- I'm glad you liked the heron photo. We just watched An Inconvenient Truth this afternoon, and there was an Upton Sinclair quote that I think is quite apt: It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it. We live in a time when people are paid not to understand.
Chuck-- I just read an article on Huffington Post that you might find interesting:
Bush wanted bomb detect cash removed.
I was recently not allowed to board an aircraft from Darwin to Alice Springs, after I had displayed some hypomanic behaviour on a flight from Brisbane to Darwin.
That's the trouble with having your father die in March and then your mother losing her marbles in July.
It affects your social behaviour skills and in the current climate you get kicked off a routine flight.
A Serbian Australian taxi driver picked me up at the front of the Darwin Airport and drove me around town while I told my story.
I had to overnight in Darwin before catching a flight next morning.
The taxi driver was a true gentleman and listened to me in my time of misery, as if he were Freud hiimself.
Glad your mom's home safely. I hope she didn't have a horrendous wait at the airport. Aren't we lucky to have such great moms? My mom just told me that her doc said she'd be fine flying from AZ to DC to see her best friends. She just got a new laptop so she can get the latest headlines from CNN and BBC, and she's emailing everyone she knows. She also reads my blog, so I have to be careful what I say (she still corrects my grammar). She'll be 99 next week.
The heron photo is breathtaking! Fantastic light.
robin and pam -- i hope i grow up to be your moms. xoxox
i can't believe you took that photo - amazing!
while i 'hate' these terrorists who would cause so much suffering to innocent people, i am also angry at how obsessed we as a race are with preventing other tribes from harming us. why do we breathe a sigh of relief when a plane crashes, but there are no signs of terrorism? why do we let billions of people suffer with hunger? you know what i mean...
hit return too quick... that being said, i'm very glad your family is okay.
At least she got to keep her eye medicine. When you think about it, you could add water to the shampoo, then squirt it into someone's eyes and cause some real pain. I wonder if that's why they grabbed those items?
Our country is absolutely insane if they don't know how to discern an actual threat.
Absolutely! I'm glad your mom made it home OK, but it's insane to be taking her stuff.
Now go read at Americablog what the officials at some airports do with the possibly "dangerous" items that they confiscate.
Beautiful heron.
Glad your mom is safe.
Have a great weekend yourself, Robin.
Tjilpi-- That must have been quite a taxi driver! On a more serious note though, I am so sorry that you have had your hands full with the care of your mom who has come somewhat unhinged. I wish you the best. I see that your brother has taken over on mom duty for a while. Good. You need a break.
Pam-- I absolutely LOVE that your mother has a laptop and she's nearly 99 years old. What a fantastic role model she must be. Still editing your grammar after all these years too! She sounds amazing.
kathy a-- I am well on my way.
dr c-- I highly recommend that you read John Roger's piece at Kung Fu Monkey. It's a great statement on the state of terrorism as we know it.
I'm glad you liked the photo. I was pretty please with it myself!
owl-- Yes, that must be it. The real dangers of shampoo. My sister told me that Jay Leno was giving away shampoo to his audience last night. An obvious agitator!
Grandmere Mimi-- I'll go read it, but I'm sure it won't make me happy.
MB-- Thanks so much. I like to balance the real world with the other real world.
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