dont you feel a lot safer??? the TSA goons seized 834 bic lighters at sky harbor airport yesterday along with 90 pounds of other advanced high tech terrorist weapons such as spray starch, toy guns, shovels, and a makita drill. or are you like me and think this is a huge wast of money and just a jobs program for government thugs that doesnt protect us from sh*t and flushes the bill of rights down the toilet? Original Article Travel reminder: Lighters, knives won't fly at airport Ginger D. Richardson The Arizona Republic Jul. 22, 2005 12:00 AM PHOENIX - Transportation Security Administration officials are reminding passengers not to bring lighters, pocketknives and other banned items onboard aircraft, now that the nation's summer travel season has hit its peak. Nico Melendez, a field communications director for the TSA, said Thursday that agency screeners are confiscating more than 1 million prohibited items each month from passengers trying to make their way through security checkpoints at the nation's airports. Some of the items are newly banned paraphernalia, but others have been on the "not allowed" list since shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. "The lighters, I can understand," Melendez said, gesturing to a table filled with confiscated items, including shovels, knives, spray starch, personal mace, toy guns and other objects. "They are new. But the scissors, they haven't been allowed for three-and-a-half years." The TSA held its news conference at the new security Checkpoint D in Terminal 4 at Sky Harbor International Airport. The terminal is the airport's busiest. Melendez said that on Wednesday, security personnel confiscated more than 834 lighters at the airport. And on the morning of the news conference, a passenger was stopped because he tried to bring a loaded handgun through security. In total, screeners seize about 90 pounds of items every day at the airport, Melendez said. "People really need to think about what they are carrying with them," Melendez said. The news conference provided an opportunity for TSA officials to showcase what is going right at Sky Harbor, an airport that has been in the news recently for a series of bizarre police chases, shootings and security breaches. The most serious occurred June 30 when a suspect in a stolen vehicle plowed through a perimeter fence at the airport and drove onto a taxiway. More than 50 flights were delayed. The incident prompted Sky Harbor officials to launch a review of its security procedures and fence-line areas. The results of that inquiry could be made public early next week, said Deborah Ostreicher, a Sky Harbor spokeswoman