this is the Law of Diminishing Returns with a vengeance: reason and common sense replaced by the Theatre of the Absurd.

And you thought 'profiling' was unacceptable!

The Lack of the success of the Underpants Bomber, enroute to Detroit, USA, has oddly made Obama vulnerable to Republican accusations that Obama is soft on terrorism.

This has resulted in a massive US security over-reaction that is flowing through (via US prescribed international airline rules) to Australia.

Australia is ever compliant to US alliance pressure in the security (War on Terror) field.

Talking to Austraian ex Sky Marshals - The Australian Government significantly reduced its budget for Sky Marshals - who carry guns on planes - to stop terrorists - because of the absence of an ongoing terrorism on aircraft threat within Australia.

Notably the Sky Marshals were put on Australians as a direct result of America's 9/11. Most Australian Marshals were taken off because Australia is not America.

We also don't have a limitless (tax payer funded) security budget to allow airline imaging staff to view the crotch areas and rectal cavities (the main area of interest) of fellow Australians

Once upon a time, I used to like flying and did a lot of it. Nowadays my work no longer takes me overseas, and domestic air travel is just too much of a hassle and is unpleasant, anyway.

If I have to go anywhere these days I drive. I get to see much more of the country, even if it does take longer - and it's far better in terms of greenhouse emissions.

The irony is that it's much more dangerous than flying. Go figure.

The “underpants bomber” wouldn’t have been travelling if the incompetent US authorities had taken notice of the maniac’s own father! Because of security service incompetence, they now want to look inside everybody’s’ underpants. Now, that’s a real knee-jerk reaction to one instance that could have been handled without anyone ever hearing about it. Instead, we now have media types roaring about penis size, and cartoons captioned, “Your are right Mr. X, you do have nothing to hide” and a laughing female security guard wiggling her little finger in the air.

Suddenly, Rudd is concerned about terrorists boarding ‘planes in Australia. There would be more chance of a terrorist blowing up a plane to Australia than from Australia; after all, Rudd is the one telling us how nice the people he allows permanent residence here are. But, follow Obama he does : introducing full-body screening, new scrutiny of visas issued in certain as yet unnamed countries, and he has discovered the ‘home-grown’ threat.

The author is right. Australia is lot different from America, and Rudd’s emulation of Obama’s America will only irritate and inconvenience ordinary Australians going on holidays or about their business.

Our socialist, control-freak Government is of more concern to us than the likelihood of someone blowing up aeroplanes.

I totally agree. Worse is the upshot that someone eventually has to pay for the tricked out air travel theatre. That will be the passengers.

The whole thing is symptomatic of the security industry sponsored by our nanny over-governments who want us to be so safe and secure we comply. Like an audience member reluctantly and excruciatingly dragged into a ho-hum show.

I just want to modify my comment "absence of an ongoing terrorism on aircraft threat within Australia" to a minimal risk of it.

There is always a possibility of terrorit action. Funding a rational and rationed response is the hard part.

One bloke who notably erred on the side of denying a terrorist threat was ex Labor Senator Evans, who as head of the International Crisis Group, flew into Australia in September 2005 to instruct us Aussies that JI in Indonesia was a spent force. That was about a week before the Bali II bombings.

"The strikes came one week after the head of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, Gareth Evans, downplayed the JI threat in a speech delivered at the University of NSW. Evans described them as having been “effectively smashed” by Indonesian police and intelligence forces with Australian support." http://www.risq.org/dutch-article476.html

Risks can be minimal but never say never.