The guy had, according to the Washington Post, a bag or condom filled with PETN explosive hanging down from his "torso." A pat-down or a sniffer dog or a "puffer" gate would have detected it ("Is that explosives in your pocket or are you glad to see me?").

Why was he allowed on board with a syringe and without a note that he was diabetic?

Granted, so far the dumbasses have proven that they can't light their shoes on fire but they CAN do a great job setting their crouch on fire. In both cases passengers have (as they have with drunks and psychotics) proven that they can and will solve the problem themselves -- the spirit of Flight 93 lives on.

The "first line" failed, the "second line" failed, so it was left to the passengers to take action. This sounds typical to me.

I don't fear Obama as much as I feared Cheney and Co., but I do think that there are people in DC and elsewhere scrambling like crazy to CYA.