Flutterby™! : terrorists as idiots

I'm flying out east to visit with my family this next weekend, and I've started thinking about packing for the flight. I'll probably end up taking something that needs to get checked, but the usual "what can I or can't I take" thoughts have run through my head, and at some pint I realized that I could easily take everything necessary to bring down a large airplane through security, and that I regularly carry two out of three whenever I travel. And the third could be carried openly (For the record, should anyone from the assorted organizations be reading this, I'll likely leave those two items at home this trip, it's a pleasure trip, not business).

Which, of course, confirms my opinion that the "terrorist plots" that have recently been busted up are the work of idiots. Bruce Schneier: Portrait of the Modern Terrorist as an Idiot backs up my assessment:

I don't think these nut jobs, with their movie-plot threats, even deserve the moniker "terrorist." But in this country, while you have to be competent to pull off a terrorist attack, you don't have to be competent to cause terror. All you need to do is start plotting an attack and -- regardless of whether or not you have a viable plan, weapons or even the faintest clue -- the media will aid you in terrorizing the entire population.

(Via RC3, who says that "Bruce Schneier is the Director of Homeland Security on my federal government fantasy league team.")