Reuters (01/05/10): Authorities shut down a California airport on Tuesday after a suspicious amber liquid in a passenger’s bag tested positive for explosives. U.S. Transportation and Security administration screeners turned up five Gatorade bottles full of what they called a ‘suspicious-looking liquid.’ Swabs of the bag and bottles tested positive for the explosives TNT and TATP. When the bottles were opened, two of the screeners smelled a strong chemical odor, complained of nausea and were rushed to a local hospital, where they treated and released, Kern County Sheriff’s spokesman Michael Whorf said.
Kern County Sheriffs deputies, fire crews, FBI agents and members of a ‘joint terrorism task force’ responded to the scene and spent the day questioning Ramirez before further tests showed that the liquid was honey.”
How many important-looking 20, 30 and 40 dollar-per-hour government officials in pretty costumes does it take to open a jar of honey?
How many 20,000, 30,000 and 100,000 dollar vehicles does it take to surround and subdue a man armed with five jars of honey?
How many emergency medical personnel and resources does it take to keep TSA screeners from dying of hypochondria?
If you can be grilled for a day under the kleig lights by a platoon of government agents for packing five rounds of honey jars, will a live round of 22 long rifle ammunition get you a week of waterboarding?
I’m sure there’s a joke in here somewhere, but fear the joke is on us.