thoughts on the news of the day: airports

hmmm…..
“No sir I am not carrying a gun
No sir I don’t have anything from anyone
Yes sir my bags have been with me all the time
Yes sir I am happy to be stepping out of line”

These words are the beginning of a prophetically funny song written by David M. Bailey, a singer songwriter who penned the lyrics in the aftermath of 9-11-2001. The song is now affectionately known as “the butt song” and if you want to know why, check out the remainder of the lyrics on his website www.davidmbailey.com.
I remembered them today because I read an article this morning about the new tactics to foil would be terrorists in airports. Now the security forces are trying what has been called “chat-downs”. The security agents who examine your ticket and ID are now engaging in conversation at some airports to determine if the person is a legitimate traveler. Questions such as “Where are you going?” How long are you going to stay? Is anyone traveling with you?” are meant to give the agents clues as to whether the traveler might be lying or not. Body language and eye contact during the answering of the questions might possibly tip off a questioner.
It sounds pretty annoying to me. But then again, I am a friendly kind of person so it might not be so bad. I think we should all keep our sense of humor about these new chat downs – maybe someone will even write a song about them.
hmmm…..