Ironies of Airline Tavel

Well, I was supposed to be elsewhere this weekend, but God did not want it so. A number of different reasons, not really worth going into here.

I have a morning meeting, I do that, then take the Metro to the airport. Get to the airport, and I am flagged for "extra search" or whatever they call it. Now, I can honestly say, after spending 30-some odd hours in a hangar in Charlotte, there's not much commercial travel can throw at me that I don't take with a smile. However, I find it very ironic that I have just come from a classified meeting, military CAC Card in hand, and I'm the one selected for additional screening...

Oh, and this jump the line crap at security really pisses me off. Now yes, you're willing to go through a background check and get fingerprinted and whatever, and in return you get to jump the line at security. I have no problems with that element. What I do have a problem with is the $128 they charge you for this service. Hey sure, background checks take time and money, keeping up the database, whatever. But you know what, there's an awful lot of people (myself included) who have already done all this - it's called a background check and a security clearance. If these "clear"s can jump the line for providing that info, shouldn't I be able to as well?

And what's up with the name... is this another example of the Scientologists trying to take over the world? Or maybe it's just a woman thing...