BY PAM LOBLEY

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

NOW THAT’S FUNNY

All set for travel this Thanksgiving? If you’re flying, you need to be ready to take off your shoes, take off your belt, pour your shampoo and lotion into tiny 3 oz. containers, etc. Or perhaps you’ll forget the flight and drive instead. It’s so much easier.

The TSA security checks are so onerous, proposes Charles Kenny in a column on Businessweek.com, that people have abandoned flight in favor of driving. That, says Mr. Kenny, is actually leading to more deaths, because it is statistically much more dangerous to drive than it is to fly.

Researchers at Cornell University have shown that switching from air travel to road travel has increased fatalities by 242 per month since 9/11. The study shows that “the public response to terrorist threats can create unintended consequences that rival the attacks themselves in severity.”

Compounding the public’s reluctance to fly because of fear, the TSA has made air travel a complete hassle, which further discouraged people from flying.

The annual budget for the TSA is $8 billion. As to whether they are doing a good job … well, they have a blog, "TSA Top 10 Good Catches," where several of their best “catches” are listed. These included throwing knives, inert landmines, and over 1,200 firearms from various U.S. checkpoints. The list also includes live fish, a science project and turtles.

The TSA has become a national joke. There’s the body scanners, the groping and the — remember? — TSA worker who found a vibrator in a suitcase and left an encouraging note for the traveler (“Get your freak on, girl”). Comedians everywhere have had a field day … there’s even a funny holiday video, TSA Pat Down Dinner, available on YouTube.

In his piece, Mr. Kenny does not explicitly blame the TSA employees themselves, rather he focuses on the bloated government agency, the media and even us travelers, who get up in arms over exaggerated threats — like terrorism — and real ones — like your own bathtub. Hundreds more Americans die in bathtubs each year than they do as a result of Islamic terrorism.

Of course, one always removes their shoes before getting in the bath.

Pam Lobley writes the “Now That’s Funny” column. Check out her blog: Better Living Through Chaos! Follow her on twitter @plobley.

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