"French Cops Foil Catholofascist Terror Plot"

I just have to link to this post at Reason Hit & Run by Jesse Walker, where he mentions the recent Vatican flight passengers that were forced to leave behind their holy water. Jesse asks:

Which is more superstitious, the belief that Lourdes water can cure the sick or the belief that it can bring down a plane?

It's quite a good question. And this isn't even one of those dumb rules that makes people feel more secure, everyone but the most unthinking among us knows that flights are in no danger from liquids (binary liquid explosives as plausible methods for bringing down planes was debunked long ago).

But all the effort detracts from the search for legitimate threats. But then again, the TSA has never been particularly good at finding bombs, but they're really good at confiscating nail-clippers.

I, for one, feel much safer.