No Praying on Our Watch!

Well! This was unexpected!

So this 17 year old orthodox Jew kid takes his tefillin onboard his flight from La Guardia to who knows where - apparently that wasn't important - and gets the flight diverted for having done it.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the tefillin or, I dunno, haven't read a newspaper, watched the news, or been online, this is a praying device that basically looks like two little boxes with leather straps attached.

A lot of people have really gotten all up in arms about this, citing that the kid should be able to pray, and freedom of religion and blah blah blah...

For some us, the most interesting thing about this incident has nothing to do with the tefillin at all, rather that the flight was diverted to Philadelphia. For those of you who don't fly often, or have been buried beneath an aviation rock, PHL gets shut down for "suspected terrorist activity" - some real, some not so much - so often that regular travelers have begun scheduling evacuation time into their departure plans.

Nonetheless, why Philadelphia? Sure, it's a bit of an armpit, but not everyone in the airport and surrounds is there by choice. Do we get the crazy planes because we have so much experience? Or because our security is just that "top notch." *sarcasm* Hardly a proud statement, or reason for that matter.

Someone with the TSA must've known what the tefillin was. They let him through with it. Are we that suspect of our airport security personnel to do their one little job that we're gonna ruin 300 people's day by forcing them into Philadelphia? An attendant or Air Marshall or someone could've just asked.

So the kid wanted to pray on the plane. I say at least two Hail Bloody Marys every time I fly and that doesn't seem to bother anyone...