Our dogs aren't participating in Daylight Savings Time. Joni starts whining without regard to "falling back." Newt and Quigley begin to shake, stretch, and walk around soon after the third time Suzy yells at Joni to shut up. Whoever has the least amount of patience finally gets up and caters to the little darlings. I wonder if they are smarter than we are.

DST has been practiced in theory since ancient times; Ben Franklin was an early American advocate. In 1966 it was standardized over most of the country. One spring weekend we were leaving the movie theatre in the dark and heading to our favorite secluded place for some fun. The next Friday night we were driving around in broad daylight, desperately hoping the sun would disappear before our date's curfew. Things were tough for a couple of years until we got old enough to get our own places.

The original idea was to adjust time to allow for more daylight in the summer and conserve energy. The energy part has never been confirmed, and two times a year the country loses millions in productivity as we all try to adjust to a time change. People with pets and teenage boys are hit especially hard.

A more realistic idea might be to get workplaces to adjust schedules to take advantage of the daylight, and farmers and others who work by the sun could keep doing what they do. But government doesn't worry too much about sensible proposals, and they usually aren't willing to correct past mistakes. That would be an admission of guilt, and they are too busy coming up with other bone head proposals to distract us from real issues.

Yet, with so many examples of stubborn refusal to reverse direction; the war on drugs, No Child Left Behind, and a Billy Ray Cyrus comeback, there is a shining example of flexibility from a surprising place. The Transportation Security Administration has decided small bottles of liquid are no longer dangerous.

Starting in January, travelers will be allowed to carry shampoo, lotion, and cherry flavored lubricants onto airplanes. Way back in Ancient Times, a couple of goobers who read too much Ian Fleming decided to smuggle the contents required to make a bomb from liquids on a plane.

Their brilliant idea was to assemble the bomb in the bathroom and blow themselves up. Their cause would be better off, and they could enjoy the seventy Virginians promised in the afterlife. Alas, they were caught. Curses, foiled again.

I read several articles by experts who said the technology didn't exist to turn the confiscated liquids into a bomb without a lab, a couple of masters degrees, and many more IQ points than these guys had.

But the opportunity to show how thorough the TSA can be was too tempting, and those efficient inspectors at airports began confiscating bottles of Head and Shoulders.

Well, the national nightmare is over. We are safe to pack as many of those little bottles of stuff Wal Mart sells as we want without fear of confiscation. I knew things would improve as soon as Obama got elected. Yes, we can.