In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
America the Watch List
Why doesn't the government just build an electrified wall around America and turn it into one big Alcatraz? Your name could show up anywhere, and when it does, watch out, even if you're Senator Edward Kennedy. You know how many people in this country have my name? Do you know how easy it is for someone to steal it? Don't you think this is exactly what real terrorists are doing? The government sure thinks so. So what are they doing about it? Compiling great big lists of everyone with that name and targeting you. What's to stop the Justice Dept. from getting ahold of every name on every petition opposing the administration's views and putting them on an Enemies List of potential "terrorists"? Nixon used to do this: he'd sic the IRS on anyone who signed such petitions and have their income taxes audited, going all the way back to the statute of limitations, which in those days was seven years. But this crowd has already gone much much further than Nixon ever even dreamed about. If Ted Kennedy can't fly, what's next I wonder? What about you and me? Are you going to keep your mouth shut and pretend to be invisible for the rest of your life, out of fear of your own government, hoping they don't show up at your door one day and cart you off?
Instead of acknowledging the craggy-faced, silver-haired septuagenarian as the Congressional leader whose face has flashed across the nation's television sets for decades, the airline agents acted as if they had stumbled across a fanatic who might blow up an American airplane. Mr. Kennedy said they refused to give him his ticket.
Mr. Kennedy said his situation highlighted the odyssey encountered by people whose names had mistakenly appeared on terrorist watch lists or resembled the names of suspected terrorists on such lists. In April, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the government on behalf of seven airline passengers who said they had wrongly been placed on no-fly lists or associated with names on the lists and could not find a way to clarify their identities.
Just days after Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge called Mr. Kennedy in early April to apologize and to promise that the problems would be resolved, another airline agent tried to stop Mr. Kennedy from boarding a plane yet again. The alias used by the suspected terrorist on the watch list was Edward Kennedy, said David Smith, a spokesman for the senator.
Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union said they did not know how many people had been mistakenly placed on watch lists. But they said the sluggish responses from the airline and the government to Mr. Kennedy's efforts to clear his name demonstrated the absurdity of the no-fly system.
"It demonstrates all those things that we found problems with in the first place, " said Reginald Shulford of the A.C.L.U. "If you're Ted Kennedy, you can call a friend," Mr. Shulford said. "If you're an average citizen you cannot. You can complain to the Department of Homeland Security, but to no avail."
Doesn't that make you feel warm and fuzzy all over? It's like the 1919 Red Scare Palmer raids, McCarthyism, and Nixon rolled into one big crushing ball.
I knew it was only a matter of time before Democrats became "terrorists" -- or maybe we were targeted for termination from day one.
- Michael 9:15 AM - [PermaLink] -
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