I was recently on a flight from LGA to ATL that was delayed slightly while a female passenger (who had only moments before shouted to an acquaintance seated a few rows back that she thought she might still be drunk from the previous night's festivities) proceeded to create a scene based upon the mysterious, heavy piece of carryon luggage she found wedged under the seat in front of hers, which had an "unpronounceable" foreign name on the tag, loudly speculating that it might be a bomb left on the plane by a passenger from the previous flight; a few moments later, her traveling companion grabbed a flight attendant and speculated that the bag actually belonged to a rather swarthy gentleman seated further up in the plane.

Turns out, Hilarious McDrunkerson was in the wrong seat, and rather than create a scene of his own, the nice non-English-speaking fellow of Hispanic descent whose seat it really was (he had put down his bag and then gone to the lav) had decided to simply sit in another seat. It was heartening, though, that instead of the kneejerk reaction one might have expected, the mood of the rest of the passengers was exasperation at these girls for even having suggested the idea of foul play and there was a serious groundswell of support for booting her and her companion on sheer principle. If anyone felt a flicker of panic while the mixup was being sorted out, they kept it to themselves. It restored my faith in humanity a bit. (Just a bit.)

And the government as well: the benign neglect that the CIA and FBI played in the lead-up to their operative Luis Posada Carriles' central role in the bombing of Cubana 455, back in 1976. At that point, bombing airliners was not so bad as long as they were Fidel's...

Don't be surprised that Senegalese are interested in the American elections: Cameroonians were as well, this summer, and very well-informed about it. In Cameroon at least, Bush is seen as a thug, as he is in other areas as well. I've never understood this claim that 'George II is popular in Africa'.

Its the airlines, FBI, TSA air marshalls that react to these incidents. A nice multi-million dollar settlement of a lawsuit might get the attention of the airline management to train their people to handle them better. Until then every wannabe hero is going to be looking for "suspicious behavior" of anyone who looks dark and unfamiliar to report and save the world.

I traveled to Ethiopia in October, two weeks before the election. Obama-fever was everywhere. Cars had Obama/Biden bumper stickers. When stickers weren't available just "Obama" was painted on the back of trucks. His books were sold on every street corner in Addis. And when people found out my husband and I were American they were excited. They wanted to know all about Obama. And they hoped we were voting for him. It was amazing.

I kind of like the new Egyptair livery.

Everywhere I went in Southeast Asia right after the election people wanted to talk about Obama. The only skeptical voice I encountered was my tour guide in Southern Cambodia who reckoned Obama is just another politician.

This is an old and politically incorrect joke but I think is still relevant:

An American tourist in Spain goes to a traditional bullfight.

Horrified (justifiably) at the cruelty and bloodiness of the spectacle he exclaims:

-This is such a barbaric country, how do you dare to mistreat the poor animal in this way. . .

The Spaniard replies:

-Did you noticed that the bull is BLACK?

The gringo says:

- Now that you mention it: Oleeeeee!

Some of the innocent people who died in planes & buildings on 9/11 were liberals.

They supported Palestinian freedom, did not support the American military industrial complex, and did not agree with US support of Israel.

Guess what?

The fanatical Muslim terrorists killed 'em anyway.

Reality check, folks: you may take turns patting yourself on the back about how wonderfully liberal, open-minded and non-racsist or non-xenophobic you are...

You may all congratulate yourself about having no problems flying with Arab Muslims...

And you may scream with outrage towards those conservatives who dare to be suspicious of Mohammeds muttering about emergency exits...

But you know what? When Mohammed and friends do indeed turn out to be bad guys and hijack the plane - and/or pull the bomb cord - being an open-minded lib is not gonna spare your life. Or that of your loved ones traveling with you.

They hate us all - no exceptions. From George Bush and Dick Chaney - all the way to Dennis Kucinich and Gloria Steinem.

These fanatical Muslims hate us all.

Yeah, even you.

Given your post, one may conclude that you fear all Muslims equally.

Just remember, Tim McVeigh was a whiteboy, and an "American Hero" at that, so I bet nobody was the least bit worried when he left that Ryder van running at the curb in OK City . . .

One could write a book about both the puzzling policies of the TSA as well as the paranoid xenophobia demonstrated regularly by an admittedly small minority of passengers on airplanes. As someone who flies fairly often and looks like he could be "middle eastern", I've been lucky so far not to experience anything like that, not even that one time I accidentally left my multitool in my carry-on. No doubt the system is far from perfect, but on that day I was treated like someone who made a mistake, not like a terrorist, and I appreciated it (in case you're wondering, they held my multitool for me until I returned... for a small fee).

Indeed, a lot of smaller, poorer countries do tend to have clean, well-designed airports with polite and helpful staff, and it helps make travel just a bit more convenient. Unfortunately, I tend to get the feeling that they are often simply pandering to the Westerners who pass through. Often just a few meters away from where the airport property line ends, you'll see the start of the heart-breaking slums and traffic which is unbearable. If only their governments put half as much effort into ending corruption and planning the residences.

As for Obama, it should be no surprise that someone who's father hailed from Africa has captured the imagination of an entire continent. We will soon see whether he can defy the odds and use that relationship to improve the fortunes of the people there.