LR3,
I know the screening officers are an easy target. Yeah yeah the usual quips about goons, nazis, gorillas blah blah blah. The fact is though, whether you paid 20 bucks or 200 bucks per hour, under the current regs the results would be the same. That is, those items that are currently on the prohibited list would still be enforced. It is the legislation that needs to be changed.
Also, contrary to what you say about screening being the only job they could get. You might be surprised that many of screeners in regional areas are in fact professional people. I don't think they "get off" on pushing pilots around. But just maybe they get a little defensive at the none too cooperative attitudes shown to them.
It's a pain in the butt! It sucks! but at the moment we're stuck with it and I can't see it changing any time soon.