Another reason to take the train

Ever since flying got way more difficult after 9/11, I've been making every attempt to avoid it whenever possible.

And now there's yet another reason to take the train instead.

According to an article at CNN.com, "millions of Americans and foreigners crossing U.S. borders in the past four years have been assigned scores generated by U.S. government computers rating the risk that the travelers are terrorists or criminals."

In other words, if you travel in and out of the United States, they subjectively assign you a "terror rating".

According to the CNN article, "scores are based on [the Automated Targeting System's] analysis of their travel records and other data, including items such as where they are from, how they paid for tickets, their motor vehicle records, past one-way travel, seating preference and what kind of meal they ordered."

What kind of meal they ordered???!!!! Surely I would be viewed with suspicion for ordering my usual vegetarian meal.

And what do our motor vehicle records have to do with terrorism?

Can this Big Brother stuff get any more absurd? (Rhetorical question, of course.)