Why is it that we all - myself included - believe these stories? Why are we so quick to assume that the TSA is a bunch of jack-booted thugs, officious and arbitrary and drunk with power? It's because everything seems so arbitrary, because there's no accountability or transparency in the DHS.

If you ask amateurs to act as front-line security personnel, you shouldn't be surprised when you get amateur security.

Surveillance is the business model of the Internet.

Chaos is hard to create, even on the Internet.

ID can be hijacked, and cards can be faked. All of the 9/11 terrorists had fake IDs, yet they still got on the planes. If the British national ID card can't be faked, it will be the first on the planet.

And honestly, if anyone thinks they can get an accurate picture of anyplace on the planet by reading news reports, they're sadly mistaken.

Technical problems can be remediated. A dishonest corporate culture is much harder to fix.