Rule # 1...

...Federal Air Marshals have no sense of humor. Rule #2: Jokes about shoe bombs? Not a good idea, particularly if you're on a flight from Washington DC and you're a "diplomat." Rule #3: Diplomatic immunity apparently does NOT cover "stupid." Apparently, a minor "diplomat" from the country of Qatar has a raging case of nicotine addiction and couldn't manage the relatively short flight from DC to Denver, since he tried to smoke in one of the bathrooms. And then decided that joking about "setting his shoe onfire" was a cute idea. Really? A half hour before the jet landed, a flight attendant smelled smoke, this boob comes out of the loo and thinks that making jokes, which caused a huge uproar, including fighter jets scrambling outside of Denver, was a good idea. Maybe he needs to go back to Diplomat School. Maybe, since he's all of 27 or 28, he needs to grow up and not hide behind the "immunity" thing. Be a man and say you did something stupid. And apologize. The crew and authorities handled this quite properly. According to the story posted on MSN's website, the US will have to decide whether to ask Qatar to waive this idiot's immunity. Qatar could decline, and then the man would likely be expelled from the US. It's certainly good that this was handled swiftly and safely, but it sure is stupid. Qatar owes us the costs for dealing with someone who apparently likes sophomoric stunts.