GO granny,
3000 Americans die PANIC PANIC PANIC
Americans kill over 16,000 Americans each year.
20,000,000 people die of starvation yearly and not a whimper.
Conclusion = Keep em scared and they will vote for you.

Yess! Melody, you go, girl. I also fly around Asia a lot and live at the moment in China. And the remarkable thing about it is there is absolutely no stress! I walk down the seediest, blackest alleyways in the dead of night, happily cart deadly weapons like nail scissors and facial toner aboard aeroplanes, defy death by not wearing a helmet while riding my bike, risk life and limb by by riding in taxis that have no seat belts in the back, dart across major road dodging traffic in a cavalier fashion, and dance the night away in disco's and clubs where there are no bouncers, security checks or closing times. Policemen don't regard young persons as 'punks' and are always happy to get people a taxi, show you to your destination or have a chat in the middle of directing traffic.

In cities that hold more people than the population of Australia, I have never seen a brawl, heard a domestic, witnessed a car pile-up, been in a hopeless traffic jam, seen a child being smacked, or witnessed an old person who was not treated with respect.

But, most of all - I have never, once, been afraid. Mind you, I am not afraid in Australia either: only when confronted with those surly security people, the police, or Centrelink employees!

P.s. I have tried to explain to my students the concept or road rage. They shrieked with laughter and thought I was teasing them.

Brilliant. Nicely articulates the root of Australia's problems.

The only solution is to get people out of their suburban lives to experience what lies beyond their borders... perhaps when they've seen how the rest of the world operates they may see the stupidity of so much of what goes on here.

Melody, you are nothing but a trouble maker after my own heart. I swear that one day I will take off all my clothes before I go through one of the metal detectors in Australia. It isn't just the airports either, you have to go through the same process to get into the Supreme Court. I have reached the age and shape where I need to wear braces to keep my trousers up and I even had to take my braces off to get into the court.

I usually wear a Crocodile Dundee hat which has a wire stiffener arount the brim. That invariably sets off the alarm and no one knows where the problem is. I suggest that we all go out of our way to find things like that to help keep the operators of the surveillance devices on their toes.

The liquid explosive thing turned out to be an urban myth as you need an array of laboratory equipment to produce the material in question.

Finally, if you think passengers are being frustrated by it all, have a thought for the private pilots of the smallest aircraft who need a security identification card to fly from airstrips even in remote areas. All this while the driver of a fifty tonne B-double can drive a load of ammonium nitrate across the Sydney harbour bridge unhindered.

Good on you Melody.I actually believe that Howard and many members of his cabinet are spooked and believe all this airport stuff.
Being gutless and in power they are also bullies. It makes Howard feel in control to corral you.
I was at an airport the other day putting on my belt and trying to find my glasses in a very full plastic tray when in frustration I turned to the suit beside me and said,'this is a Howard growth industry.'Well you could have knocked me over with a feather when he said,'the sooner he goes the better'.
Bruce Haigh

I don’t think the airport security rules are unreasonable, however inconvenient they seem. Did not the idea of banning cosmetics and liquids arise in the UK after a plot to smuggle in dangerous liquids was foiled in the UK, not the US? Australia, the UK and the USA, unlike Asian countries, are a melting pot of cultures and races – especially at airports – and are therefore more likely to be targeted by Muslim crackpots than Asian countries. That Asia is free from the same airport restrictions is not true: just last week I returned from Japan and experienced exactly the same restrictions as here.

You are a trouble maker granny, and you ought to know better at your age. Ironically, you typify Western culture with your motto of questioning authority, while in the Asian cultures you so esteem, people generally respect authority. Perhaps you could learn something?