homeland security gone mad: ted kennedy grounded

[giuliano]

The terrorist trying to board for Boston, aka Senator Edward Kennedy
By Rachel Swarns in Washington
August 21, 2004

link

The craggy-faced, silver-haired Democrat Senator, Edward Kennedy, is one of the most recognisable people on Earth; his features are known to millions. Yet he has been barred from airliners by zealous agents as a suspected terrorist.

He stunned onlookers at a Senate committee hearing this week when he offered himself as exhibit A.

The meeting was discussing the problems that people faced when they were mistakenly placed on terrorist watch lists.

Between March 1 and April 6 airline agents tried to block Senator Kennedy from boarding aircraft five times because his name resembled an alias used by a suspected terrorist who had been barred from flying on airlines in the United States.

Instead of acknowledging Senator Kennedy 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 airliner.

Senator Kennedy said they refused to give him his ticket.

"He said, 'We can't give it to you. You can't buy a ticket to go on the airline to Boston'," Senator Kennedy said, describing an encounter with an airline agent to the rapt audience.

"I said, 'Well, why not?' He said, 'We can't tell you'."

"Tried to get on a plane back to Washington," Senator Kennedy continued. "'You can't get on the plane.' I went up to the desk and said, 'I've been getting on this plane, you know, for 42 years. Why can't I get on the plane?"'

The Senate chamber erupted in laughter.

In April the American Civil Liberties Union sued the Federal Government on behalf of seven airline passengers who said they had wrongly been placed on no-fly lists or associated with names on no-fly lists and could not find a way to clarify their identities.

In Senator Kennedy's case, airline supervisors ultimately overruled the ticket agents in each instance and allowed him to board the aircraft.

Lawyers for the civil liberties group said they did not know how many people had been mistakenly placed on watch lists.

But they pointed out that the sluggish responses from the airline and the Government to Senator Kennedy's efforts to clear his name simply demonstrated the absurdity of the no-fly system.

The Transportation Security Administration, which maintains the no-fly list, said passengers who had been caught up by the system could contact the agency's ombudsman and obtain a letter to show airline and security officials that they had been cleared of suspicion.

But the civil liberty group's lawyer, David Fathi, who said he is apparently on the no-fly list, noted: "By the time I show the letter it is already too late."

Mr Fathi, a US citizen of Iranian ancestry, said he had been stopped seven or eight times at airports. Once he was led from the counter by armed police and questioned extensively at the airport.

The New York Times, The Washington Post

[PatrickHenry]

Trouble is, sometimes this is an aggressive police state move against political dissidents: http://www.inthesetimes.com/issue/27/02/feature3.shtml

It appears, however, that this is only part of the story. Most of those who have been singled out for special interrogation and searches of their luggage and their persons, at least those who have gone public with their experiences, clearly are not “threats to aviation.” Indeed, many have been ardent advocates of nonviolence. Consider the experience of John Dear, a 43-year-old Jesuit priest, member of the Catholic peace group Pax Christi and former executive director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, an interfaith global peace organization. “I fly just about every week,” Dear says. “Since 9/11, I’ve been taken aside at the boarding gate every single time and searched and questioned.” He describes one particularly disturbing experience. “I got to the Southwest Airlines gate at the San Jose airport, on my way to Los Angeles, but as soon as the attendant saw my boarding pass, he shouted, “You can’t be here. You have to be searched!” “Everyone’s jaws dropped, and all the passengers backed away from me,” he recalls. The flight was delayed while Dear was taken aside and minutely searched, with more than 100 passengers looking on nervously. -------------- Others, like the Green Party’s Nancy Oden, have reported being detained by armed soldiers, or, like Green Party leader Doug Stuber, questioned by Secret Service agents, sometimes at such length that they missed their flights. In most cases, they ultimately were permitted to fly to their destinations. Asked if such people are considered “threats to aviation,” Steigman said no. He speculated that they might have gotten on the list because they committed federal felonies. Some do have records. In Dear’s case, he went to jail for ceremonially whacking an F-15 jet with a hammer in an act of civil disobedience. But none of the people whose cases In These Times has examined had any history of violence that would suggest they might be a threat to airline safety. Indeed many, like Dear, are ardent pacifists. What they seem to share is opposition to the Bush administration’s war policies and its attack on civil liberties. So what is going on here? Asked if the TSA has a second list, one not of the “threats to aviation” who would never be allowed to get on a plane, but rather of political activists who are to be singled out for intense scrutiny and interrogation, Steigman said, “I don’t know. I’ll have to look into that.” A day later, he came back with a curiously candid, if rather alarming, answer. “I checked with our security people,” he said, “and they said there is no second list.” Then, after a pause, he added, “Of course, that could mean one of two things: Either there is no second list, or there is a list, and they’re not going to talk about it for security reasons.” Some of those who have been stopped for special scrutiny by TSA agents in recent months have been specifically told that their names were “on a list.” Last spring, Virgine Lawinger, a 74-year-old nun and a member of Peace Action, was stopped at the Milwaukee airport along with some 20 other members of the group on their way to Washington to lobby the Wisconsin congressional delegation against military aid to Colombia. She says they were told at the time by local sheriff’s deputies and Midwest Express ticketing personnel that one or several of them were “on a list,” and that the TSA had instructed airport security to keep the group off the plane. Lawinger, with the help of the local ACLU, filed a Freedom of Information request with the TSA in early October, seeking to learn why she had been barred from her flight. A month later, word came back that the TSA had a file on her, though all the pages were withheld except for a copy of a news clipping from the local paper reporting on her experience at the airport. It isn’t known whether the other information in Lawinger’s TSA file contains information predating the airport incident. Barbara Olshansky, assistant legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) in New York, reports that she has been stopped and searched every time she has flown since 9/11. On three of those occasions, she was forced to pull down her pants in view of other travelers. One of those times, when she demanded to know why she was being singled out, the airline agent at the gate threatened to bar her from the plane if she raised a fuss and added brusquely, “The computer spit you out. I don’t know why, and I don’t have time to talk to you about it.” -------------- While few would object to the TSA’s maintaining a properly compiled list of genuine “threats to aviation” or preventing such people from boarding planes, it would appear that such a “no fly” list is not the one leading to all the harassment of political activists, who, after all, usually do get to fly. Nancy Chang, a senior litigation attorney at the CCR, who also has been singled out for searches and questioning at the airport, says the government is “leveraging legitimate air safety concerns into a program that targets law-abiding Americans for questioning and detention based on their political viewpoints.” Father Dear agrees. “I think what they are doing is harassing people who are opposing the war and publicly speaking out against administration policy,” he says. One hint that this may be what is going on was provided to the Green Party’s Stuber. When the Secret Service agents called in by the TSA security guards arrived at Raleigh-Durham Airport to interrogate (and run a retina scan on) him, he says they came armed with a loose-leaf binder, which they left open near him as he was being questioned. On an open page, he claims he was able to discern a long list of progressive political organizations. Among those he was able to make out clearly on the list: the Green Party, Greenpeace, Earth First! and Amnesty International. Since his interrogation in October, Stuber, an art dealer, says he has been unable to get onto a plane. Confirmation of a TSA travel blacklist is particularly troubling to civil-liberties advocates, because the names of people to be subjected to extra security investigation are being made available to private companies. Airline computers at airport boarding gates are flagging people. These lists are not being closely held within the national security or law-enforcement files, but are apparently being widely dispersed. In fact, this seems to be the new privatization approach of the administration when it comes to Homeland Security. The Wall Street Journal reported that the FBI made its list of people with even remote links to terrorism—having associated, perhaps inadvertently, with a terror suspect, for example—available to a wide range of private companies, from banks and rental-car companies to casinos. Says CCR’s Olshansky: “It’s bad enough when the federal government has lists like this with no guidelines on how they’re compiled or how to use them. But when these lists are then given to the private sector, there are even less controls over how they are used or misused.” Since airlines have always had the right to decide whether someone can board a plane, she observes that providing such a list to an airline represents a “tremendous chilling of the First Amendment right to travel and speak freely.” This week, the CCR announced that it is considering a lawsuit against the TSA. A number of those whose travel has been interfered with have signed on as possible plaintiffs, and CCR is inviting those with similar experiences to contact them. Meanwhile, the ACLU has posted a no-fly complaint form to fill out on its Web site for those who are harassed or prevented from flying. Calling the existence of such travel blacklists “an obvious and egregious violation of the First Amendment, because it permits both discrimination against a particular viewpoint and because it is a prior restraint on Americans’ right to travel,” CCR Legal Director William Goodman says, “the U.S. government appears to be targeting citizens because of their beliefs.”

[gr8fuldaniel]

From Patricks link One hint that this may be what is going on was provided to the Green Party’s Stuber. When the Secret Service agents called in by the TSA security guards arrived at Raleigh-Durham Airport to interrogate (and run a retina scan on) him, he says they came armed with a loose-leaf binder, which they left open near him as he was being questioned. On an open page, he claims he was able to discern a long list of progressive political organizations. Among those he was able to make out clearly on the list: the Green Party, Greenpeace, Earth First! and Amnesty International. Since his interrogation in October, Stuber, an art dealer, says he has been unable to get onto a plane.

Well, I am a member of Amnesty International, does that mean I should get to the airport a day early, for my interrogations and cavity searchs and will they let me carry-on a toothbrush in case I get shipped to Gitmo for further questioning about my radical ideas about peace on earth and non-violence?

[PatrickHenry]

That is my problem with this Homeland Security, TSA shit. Is it is so easily twisted into a pushy, unresponsive intrusion of people's rights to be secure in their persons(Amendment 4). If a high government official like Senator Kennedy is subjected to continual harassment, what hope for the typical dissident?

If utilizing your First Amendment rights(free speech) results in an unrectifiable persecution, then it's not much of a right is it?

This government abuses the Constitution while using that honored document to legitimize its tyrannical rule.

Maybe I'm just a cynic...heh

[giuliano]

i like that story in Fahrenheit 911 where that group of oldies for peace were infiltrated by the local sheriff's dept.

you expect that sort of thing in the communist soviet union.

[Scribbler1]

Originally posted by giuliano, i like that story in Fahrenheit 911 where that group of oldies for peace were infiltrated by the local sheriff's dept. you expect that sort of thing in the communist soviet union.

The F.B.I. used to do that stuff with the Klan, the Communist Party and I believe the Black Panthers and other activist groups. In many cases, like with the Ku Klux Klan I thought their actions were correct.

But...OLDIES FOR PEACE???

Sounds dangerous to me, Maw. Downright unamerkin!

[giuliano]

these things happen as a result of a prolonged campaign to instill fear and anxiety in your population.

[gr8fuldaniel]

Doesnt it just burn your ass that a humanitarian organization like Amnesty International (and its members) would be on a list with terrorists? This Administration is obviously up to no good if they do not endorse such organizations. Whats next? Habitats for Humanity? PTA? Girl Scouts?
I smell Fascism.
You have to remember: It was Amnesty International who outed Bush Sr. (Scandal) (CEO of Barrick Gold Mining) as a mass murderer in Zaire.

Bush Jr. acts on his resentments toward folks who hurt his Daddy. Remember Saddam?

[gr8fuldaniel]

OOOPs, double post....
Here, just to fill space....
Amnesty International

Take the torture test

[Comrade]

Am I mistaken or was the problem cleared up and Ted Kennedy was allowed to fly?
Some police state.

OHHhhhhh they're suppressing political dissent by keeping Ted Kennedy off airplanes, giving him an excuse to get tons of publicity! OHHH the HORROR, ARM yourselves my bretheren, we must remove the fascists!

[gr8fuldaniel]

Originally posted by Comrade, Am I mistaken or was the problem cleared up and Ted Kennedy was allowed to fly?

You tell me. It happened 5 times. Does he feel assured that it wont ever happen again? Do you think its cleared up? If that happens to most people its not just a practical joke by (God damn)Bush. Most people miss their flight or are held for days or even years, without a phone call, representation of a lawyer, without charges pressed and held indefinately. How would YOU feel. Too many f*cking idiots in this world dont put themselves in other peoples shoes before they do things. Think about all the innocents who are not famous. Are they terrorists because they are against the crimes of GW Bush and his goons?
SNAP OUT OF IT, you cant be serious about defending this lunacy.

[Compugasm]

They're just keeping him safe. Kennedy's don't have a good track record with motor vehicals and airplanes over water.

[Comrade]

Originally posted by gr8fuldaniel,+--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (gr8fuldaniel,)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteBegin-Comrade, Am I mistaken or was the problem cleared up and Ted Kennedy was allowed to fly?

You tell me. It happened 5 times. Does he feel assured that it wont ever happen again? Do you think its cleared up? If that happens to most people its not just a practical joke by (God damn)Bush. Most people miss their flight or are held for days or even years, without a phone call, representation of a lawyer, without charges pressed and held indefinately. How would YOU feel. Too many f*cking idiots in this world dont put themselves in other peoples shoes before they do things. Think about all the innocents who are not famous. Are they terrorists because they are against the crimes of GW Bush and his goons?
SNAP OUT OF IT, you cant be serious about defending this lunacy.[/b][/quote]

Whose lunacy? I certainly DO see lunacy here, and I also see a great deal of making stuff up, with a side of the typical Wake Up™/Open Your Eyes™/Snap Out Of It™.

Do I think Ted Kennedy being on the no-fly list to be a good thing? No, but it sounds more like a glitch than evil-police-state-suppressing-of-dissent. I'm commenting on your irrational hate for Bush more than anything else.

If someone tells people to go see F 9-11 and soon afterwards gets food poisoning, I wonder what gr8fuldaniel would say....
Was it you or Young who said Bush "sabotaged" Dale Jr's car?

[gr8fuldaniel]

I told several friends about this.
One of them said jokingly, Just shows the system is working. A lot of Republicans, are saying the same thing, not jokingly.
Another friend, A Repub, says: "Ted Kennedy is a terrorist!"
So, we can just expect more of the same. Where is the outrage?
If you are not outraged you are not paying attention

[Compugasm]

Now he knows what the unwashed masses deal with. Poor Ted, must be the only Senator without a private jet. Ask him what he's gonna do about it. Be pro-active, instead of re-active, remember Ted? The most we'll hear is a recounting of the tale more times than it's really interesting. He's cleared now, so everything is OK again in the Kennedy Compound. Another non-story and a photo-op [yawn].

[Comrade]

And a good chance for some quality Bush bashing.

[tivodan1116]

I think this is absurd. Personally, I wish we had used a little more common sense in the wake of 9/11 rather then signing random bills to placate the public into thinking that something was being done about terrorism. The entire Homeland Security department is nothing more then a repeat of jobs that were already being done. Only in America would we be attacked, realize that part of the problem was a huge law enforcement bureaucracy that was too large and cumbersome to effectively investigate and stop terrorism, and decide that the solution is to create MORE layers of bureaucracy. They should have called it "The Department of Bureaucratic Redundancy"

On a lighter note, this gives me a good opportunity to relate the funniest bumper sticker i have seen in a long time. Remember that Ted Kennedey is a staunch supporter of gun control. The sticker said:
"Ted Kennedy has killed more people with his car then I have with my guns."

[Scribbler1]

Originally posted by tivodan1116, I think this is absurd. Personally, I wish we had used a little more common sense in the wake of 9/11 rather then signing random bills to placate the public into thinking that something was being done about terrorism. The entire Homeland Security department is nothing more then a repeat of jobs that were already being done. Only in America would we be attacked, realize that part of the problem was a huge law enforcement bureaucracy that was too large and cumbersome to effectively investigate and stop terrorism, and decide that the solution is to create MORE layers of bureaucracy. They should have called it "The Department of Bureaucratic Redundancy"

It's another example of the ongoing joke some republicans like to tell about "smaller government". Or it is the definition of insanity:

Where you press a button and don't get the desired result, so you press it ten more times expecting a different outcome.

On a lighter note, this gives me a good opportunity to relate the funniest bumper sticker i have seen in a long time. Remember that Ted Kennedey is a staunch supporter of gun control. The sticker said: "Ted Kennedy has killed more people with his car then I have with my guns."

LOL!

[gr8fuldaniel]

Originally posted by Comrade,+--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Comrade,)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Whose lunacy? I certainly DO see lunacy here, and I also see a great deal of making stuff up, [/b]

What do you think is made up?
<!--QuoteBegin-Comrade
If someone tells people to go see F 9-11 and soon afterwards gets food poisoning, I wonder what gr8fuldaniel would say....
Was it you or Young who said Bush "sabotaged" Dale Jr's car? [/quote]I never said that. Murder is in his repertoire, though. Bush has that capacity, that is one bloody S.O.B.
Bush is the most murderous governor in the history of Texas. He loves to kill. Remember how he mocked that christian girl who begged for her life. I wonder if Bush mutilated her after she was dead.
Remember that smirk he had when he announced God told him to attack Iraq? The way he pumped his fist when the first bombs were dropped on civilians in Baghdad (That wasnt on TV that was a witnesses account) Like a kid in a video arcade. He is so far removed from his targets, he doesnt see them as actual human beings. There is also the black woman who pressed charges for rape, against GW Bush, she ended up dead within a year. Shot in the head.

[gr8fuldaniel]

Originally posted by me There is also the black woman who pressed charges for rape, against GW Bush, she ended up dead within a year. Shot in the head.

Am I the only one wondering if she had a little junior bun in the oven?