U.S. to ban flame sources aboard airliners?

Enough already! Now, I know it isn't good for me, but I do it. Nor is it even acceptable in polite company any longer. When I am flying I can certainly forgo a smoke from, say, here to Houston, and again from Houston to Costa Rica (which is where I like to go) ... but what about those five looong hours when I am in the meanest airport in the country? Well, maybe not the meanest, O'Hare is pretty bad too. There aren't even two sticks to rub together, at any airport I've flown to, from or through.

What does it say about our current “airport security” when I watched, aghast, as a large family of middle easterners (OK, I only assume they were family), in full regalia, literally glide through screening in Houston last November. Seriously. Granny, in her burkha, wasn’t even sent thru the metal detector! And they want ME to not be able to have a quick cigarette in sub-freezing temperatures when I am finally able to find the “designated” smoking area in the windiest, coldest possible spot? Puhleeze! I wouldn’t mind not carrying a lighter with me, but if I can't even buy one for a few hours use during a layover?

Driving south through 2 states, Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua and the full length of Costa Rica just to get to my final, preferred destination sounds better all the time.