I recently flew from one end of the country to the other. One end of I-90 to almost the other end of I-90. Here are some tidbits about flying in America in December, 2001:

1) The airport is a very spooky place. When you have only a handful of people in a facility that's designed to handle thousands at any given time, it's just plain eerie.

2) Lots of people in uniform. Cops. Sheriffs. Soldiers in combat fatigues. *That* is spooky, too. Welcome to your police state, Mr. and Mrs. American. Thanks for trading my freedom for your sense of security.

3) Checkpoints. Have ID on you at all times; you will be asked for it frequently. Show it, but don't hand it over. Every time someone asks to see your pass, as to see their credentials. I was reminded to do that by one of the guys at one of the checkpoints, which was funny and ironic and sad all at the same time.

4) Checkpoints, part II: you're checked at the check-in counter, checked on the way to the metal detector, checked by the metal detector (and, this is no lie: the detector is set to go off if so much as a zipper from your pair of jeans passes through it), checked by the hand held detector wands, have your personal computer checked separately, have your computer bag checked for nasty residues, and from that point on, it's pretty routine.

5) Computers: your computer will be run through the big scanning machine separately from your computer bag. At least they put it in it's own little tray, to make you feel safer about it. (I backed up my hard drive before flying, having heard about this new practice from a friend who flew recently.)

6) The airport is empty, but the airplane is not. This, I don't understand. Flights are not as crowded as they used to be (nobody's in the middle seats, at least on the flights I took), but they're anything but empty. I was surprised by this, given how empty the airport felt.

7) Airplane food, as bad as it still is, is made even worse by having to use flimsy, flimsy, flimsy plastic forks and even flimsier plastic knives to try to cut it. I think on my next flight, I'm going to consider smuggling some *good* plasticware on board. I don't think it would set off the hand-held metal detectors....

What does all this mean? I don't know. But, I sure don't feel any safer by having men and women in military regalia crawling up my ass just because I want to travel within the nation I call "home." I fear that even darker days are ahead for us in America....