A two-inch toy rifle, designed to be shouldered by a G.I. Joe doll, was confiscated at LAX.

A spokesman for Los Angeles International Airport said: “We have instructions to confiscate anything that looks like a weapon or a replica.”

“If GI Joe was carrying a replica then it had to be taken from him.”

I’m starting to wonder if the Bush Administration’s acquiescence in the federalization of airport security was a rope-a-dope ploy, knowing that imbecilities like this would eventually destroy all public support for it.