"And at some level I also question the assumption that we can and/or should keep death out of our lives, as well as the assumption that "security" trumps privacy, but that's another post."
I'd like to read that post. Here are my two cents.
Innocent people die. Frequently innocent people die at the hands of evil and/or insane people. Very few of those people die on airplanes. Yes, our government should do what it can to protect its citizens and I'm not advocating looser security per se but why is this particular though uncommon way that people are killed so much more of a big deal than others?