In what is rapidly becoming my favorite weblog post genre, David Gagne recounts his experience with TSA idiocy in false authority syndrome:

You have a flight of stairs. At the top of this flight of stairs there is a security officer who confirms that the security officer at the bottom of the stairs has confirmed that you have a photo ID and a boarding pass. It is physically impossible to get to the top of these stairs without having first been at the bottom of these stairs. There is nobody magically jumping into the middle of the stairs that could have avoided the security officer at the bottom of the stairs.

Ahhhh… It’s as refreshing as the breeze you hope to encounter when you finally arrive wherever the TSA is trying to prevent you from going.

Nothing beats your first time, tho.

Update: And the award for best authoritarian mash note ever (not to mention best use of “your”) goes to this comment by Bob:

Just do as your told. I have never had a single issue with any TSA staff because I just do what they want. They have a shitty, thankless job and assholes just piss them off and then your asking for a date with a rubber glove.