New Security Measures Are Absurd

So another Al Qaeda-trained terrorist tries to blow up a plane and we need new security measures. Fair enough. But from what I've read so far, the measures that have been taken are ridiculous. They're absurd, amusing, and scary all at the same time if they are true.

Some airlines are prohibitting passengers from leaving their seats one hour before landing - just for this one hour time period. OK - I get it. This crazy nut case got out of his seat, went to the bathroom to plan everything, and then tried to detonate a bomb to blow up the plane about an hour before the landing. I suppose the presumption is that if he's not allowed out of his seat, during this one-hour period then this never could have happened.

How stuuuuuuuupid is that? I guess if he gotten our of his seat 2 hours prior then there would be a new restriction for staying in your seat for 2 hours, instead of one hour.

The other equally crazy restriction is that now passengers are not allowed to have anything on their laps during the final hour of flight. This especially includes pillows and blankets because that it was the terrorist used to shield his bomb. Nuts! Again, couldn't he have tried this half-way through the flight, and couldn't he have attempted to hide everything under a trench coat to get around this rule?

The problem with these new restrictions is that they assume the next guy will try something EXACTLY the same way as the last one. What if the next terrorist beats someone with his i-Pod? Will all I-pods be banned?

I know it sounds crazy, but I have a better solution: profile passengers. C'mon - we all know who we're looking for. Does anyone really believe that a 80 year old Japanese woman should be checked just as often as a 25 year old man from the middle east? An even more radical solution is if a father of a crazy nut son says his son is talking about blowing up American planes - then don't issue him a visa!