1 Just another stick for the raving libertarian fire in me. I don't know, just guessing here, but I suspect the legislation that established the TSA probably is loaded with protections barring lawsuits against the TSA or its employees.

2 It's not policy. You give some people a little authority and they abuse it. Give the Left any authority and you'll curse the day you were born.

3 But the tweezers thing is policy. So, not only is the policy crazy, but the implementation gets even crazier than policy suggests it should. I mean, I've never been asked to take off the jewelry on my earlobes. Totally unnecessary. I was once asked by a security screener at an event what the metal item was in my pocket. "I don't need to see it," he told me. "I just need to know what it is." (It was a lipstick tube.) I also don't want to put too fine a point on this, but ANY WOMAN who has breasts of any heft whatsoever has to wear an underwire bra. Once the TSA has decided it can hassle people for body jewelry, it's well within its rights to make me take my bra off, which is just silly. From then, it's requiring those with pacemakers and artificial knees to rip them out. We cannot take the attitude that "all my piercings are in conventional places, so this isn't a problem." It's a big problem.

4 Tweezers can be machined to use as screwdrivers; same with small pocket knives. If you have a separate plastic handle made for it, you'll have the torque of a full-size version. Why? To assemble/disassemble something you're not supposed to. With a handle, those little tweezers/knives can be made into formidable weapons. Not all underwire bras use metals. Plus they sell "frequent flier" bras that avoid the use of any metal, even for the clasps/hooks/closures. Then there's always something like the Bra-llelujah(Spanx). Seems like they need mechanical engineers in the bra-biz, with a knowledge of Aramid fibers and such. When faced with a problem like airport security or global warming, "engineer" types like you and me look for workarounds, not taxes or grumbling. This is as good a time as any to show you some amazing new materials/uses coming up. http://www.flixxy.com/smart-materials-demo.htm