The Transport Security Agency in the US, which is supposed to handle security for those of us who are using US air space, is at it again. Th is time, the TSA goons were not forcing a mother to drink her own milk meant for her infant child. No Sir, we've learnt our lessons with that one!!

The recent victim of the brainless TSA agents was a lady who had metal jewellery attached to her nipples, which obviously set off the X-ray alarms. Not content with the explanation that the metal objects were jewellery, the unyielding TSA agents used pliers to remove the objects from the lady's nipples before she was allowed to board the plane.

As we said, the brain mass, if any, of these nut heads must be close to zero and we just wonder where TSA management manages to recruit these creatures. The zoo?

Following the British Airways' chaotic and embarrassing move to its new terminal at London's Heathrow Airport, the airline announced that it has parted company with two of its senior managers.

Europe's third-biggest airline in March cancelled hundreds of flights and misplaced tens of thousands of pieces of luggage following the opening of the new US$8.5 billion Terminal 5 at Heathrow. Among the fall guys for this chaos was former cargo director Gareth Kirkwood, who had only recently taken up the position of director of operations. Th e other executive who took the brunt for this massive disruption was David Noyes, director of customer services. Although BA declined to say whether they had chosen to go or been asked to leave, we must assume that it was the latter that forced these gentlemen out.

As Kirkwood only recently moved from Cargo to Operations and thus must have had little or no influence on decisions that had been taken years ago when the T5 project was designed, the consensus in the industry is that the move to oust Kirkwood has been most unfair. Th e general feeling is that, instead, British Airways' CEO Willy Walsh should have received his marching orders.

We hear that the George W Bush Presidential Library is now in the planning stages. The Library will include:

• The Hurricane Katrina Room, which is still under construction.

• The Alberto Gonzales Room, where you can't remember anything.

• The Texas Air National Guard Room, where you don't have to show up.

• The Walter Reed Hospital Room, where they don't let you in.

• The Guantanamo Bay Room, where they don't let you out.

• The Weapons of Mass Destruction Room, which no one will be able to locate.

• The Iraq War Room. After you complete your first tour, they make you go back for a second, third, fourth, and sometimes fifth tour.

• The Dick Cheney Room, in the famous undisclosed location, complete with shooting gallery.

• Last, but not least, the plans also include an entire floor, which is devoted to a 7/8 scale model of the President's ego.

To highlight the President's accomplishments, the museum will have an electron microscope to help you locate them.

Well before the proposed mega-merger of Delta Airlines and Northwest Airlines, which was announced last month, the political know-it-all geniuses in the US Congress and Senate were already issuing dire warnings that they would shoot down any merger in the troubled US airline industry, because the (desperately needed) consolidation process would not be in the interest of the airlines or the travelling public.

One can safely leave it to political critics of the proposed merger, such as Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.) to vehemently oppose what is probably the last chance of survival for most of the US legacy carriers. Oberstar, who is also chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, seems to lack any basic understanding or knowledge of what is going on in the US or for that matter, the global airline industry.

The man and his bi-partisan colleagues must have been living on the moon ever since the industry was hit by the disastrous, and if we may add mostly speculative, hikes in fuel prices, which have caused havoc among all carriers, big and small. The clean-up among the weaker and not-so-weak airline players, is in effect a long-overdue process in an industry, which is marginally profitable at the best of times.

While the merger of Delta and Northwest is a no-brainer to ordinary folks, political creatures in Washington, DC, who are conveniently forgetting that all but one of the USĄŻ major airlines has been through Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the past few years for a variety of reasons, are nevertheless going to fight the expected wave of necessary mergers in the US airline industry.

Oberstar has already described the merger as "probably the worst development in aviation history" which will lead to a "cascade" of other mergers that will leave the US with just two or three mega-airlines. Ironically, that is exactly the medicine which has been prescribed for this ailing industry.

Oberstar also predicts that the "cascade" of mergers could drive LCCs out of business. How that process would develop is, like most of his other statements, fuzzy and unclear. But that lack of clarity is symptomatic for politicians.

We have been hearing rumours lately which are too crazy to believe. That's why we're keen to share them with you, the faithful Bellyache readers, so you won't be surprised when the following occurs:

Australian-based SkyAirWorld a modestly sized Embraer operator out of Brisbane, the rumours say, has been acquired by Tiger Airways, the low cost operator owned by Singapore Airlines. Th e main reason for this move is, and again we stress these are rumours, that Singapore Airlines, which up till now has been unable to get traffic rights from Australia to the US West Coast, plans to use the SkyAirWorld traffic rights to start an A380 service on the Pacific route to circumvent the pressure Qantas is exerting on the Aussie government to block SIA's attempts to get a share of the most lucrative sector in the world.

It may be a rumour, but watch this space. Stranger things are happening in this industry!