Travel is. . .

. . . Dealing with it

I traveled to Houston for the Thanksgiving holiday. I left on the Tuesday prior to the holiday amid a national brouhaha about patdowns, radioactive scanners and a national paranoia reaching, no pun intended, new heights.

People were actually -- I head on TV before leaving for the airport -- going to rally at airports to decry the TSA patdowns and the new scanners. They were actually willing to further tie up traffic at airports to prove their points. And what exactly was their point?

Only one percent -- ONE PERCENT -- of the traveling public have been selected for either the patdowns or the scanners. The rest, as I did, proceeded through TSA processes in accord with the law. And, because I traveled on Tuesday, although the plane was packed, the airport traffic pattern moved perfectly.

I heard someone say the other day "you can either get felt up or blown up" and while that's a funny line, for most travelers the drill is the same as it's been these last nine years. "Remove your shoes and jackets, take your computers out of the case, yadda yadda yadda." We comply like the robotons we've been conditioned to be while traveling. Is it a sad commentary? You betcha! But if just one crazy who has a bomb in his underwear is caught because he is in the one percent chosen for a futher check, so be it.

So don't make further waves and tie up airport traffic and personnel. Just deal with it and go with the flow.