I flew down to LA today, and after spending the night at my dad's, I'll be flying off to Tokyo tomorrow. The trip down here was more or less eventless, although it did take for ever to get through security at SMF (Sacramento Int'l Airport), probably due to the whole Be Afraid Orange deal. As I was going through the metal/bomb/sinner detector thing, I noticed a bunch of GBA ("God Bless America") stickers plastered all over equipment used by the screeners.

That got me thinking. The screeners work for the TSA, which makes them government employees. The equipment is also probably owned by the government. If that's the case, is it appropriate for there to be an excessive number of GBA stickers on these things? If people want to put GBA stickers, banners, Hitler statues or whatever on their personal property, that's fine with me (even though I find it distasteful). But when the government does it, I personally find it offensive. I'm not talking at the level of what some people call "separation of church and state", I'm just offended because I see it as an infringement upon my freedom of religion, and the freedom of many others. I see it as an official seal of endorsement from the government for Christianity and nationalism, and a sign of disrespect for other religions and more rational forms of patriotism (a.k.a criticism). In other words, I see those damn GBA stickers as symbolizing everything that is wrong with our government today.

I'm not sure where my train of thought is headed, so I think I'll get off at this stop. The bottom line is, GBA stickers offend me, but it's not like anyone really cares anyway.