'Branded: I'm on the government's 'no fly' list' - James Moore

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Thu, 5 Jan 2006 14:47:17 EST

A question -- and James Moore on No Fly List

 

 

 

 

Article below - James Moore now apparently on the " no fly " list.

Rather than becoming victims of Bush and put on lists, some have

started a group called " PUT ME ON YOUR LIST MR. BUSH. " (Maggie -- I'm

doing a thing at work on this -- can you give me the link for that

group -- I googled it, couldn't find it) We volunteer rather than

becoming Bush's victims. Also, it's a record for our children and

grandchildren that we tried to fight what was happening. We weren't

one of the dumbed-down.

 

40% of Americans think it's okay to spy on Americans without a

warrant. They say there should be no problem if you aren't doing

anything " " " wrong. " " " " Everything we learned in history about dissent

IS patriotic, everything that Thomas Paine spoke about is apparently

lost on many Americans today. No wonder bush is underfunding

education. He likes them dumb and too lazy to read or study. Maybe

there really is something in those chemtrails releasing some type of

haze like the poppy fields in the Wizard of Oz.

 

A question to ponder -- Are people being drugged causing them dumb

down to become a nation of apathetic? Or are people just that lazy and

stupid naturally...

 

" If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot

easier...just as long as I'm the dictator... " ~George W. Bush

--Washington, DC, Dec 18, 2000, during his first trip to Washington as

President-Elect

 

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little

temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. Benjamin Franklin

 

***

 

 

 

 

James Moore: 'Branded: I'm on the government's 'no fly' list'

Posted on Thursday, January 05 @ 10:05:27 EST

This article has been read 3211 times.

James Moore, The Huffington Post

 

There are times in which it is easy to be suspicious. We can get to

that feeling fairly quickly if we even pay slight attention. I've been

trying to get over this odd emotion for at least a year. I can't find

any rationale for letting it go, though I want desperately not to have

these thoughts.

 

This week last year I was preparing for a trip to Ohio to conduct

interviews and research for a new book I was writing. My airline

tickets had been purchased on line and the morning of departure I went

to the Internet to print out my boarding pass. I got a message that

said, " Not Allowed. " Several subsequent tries failed. Surely, I

thought, it's just a glitch within the airline's servers or software.

 

I made it a point to arrive very early at the airport. My reservation

was confirmed before I left home. I went to the electronic kiosk and

punched in my confirmation number to print out my boarding pass and

luggage tags. Another error message appeared, " Please see agent. "

 

I did. She took my Texas driver's license and punched in the relevant

information to her computer system.

 

" I'm sorry, sir, " she said. " There seems to be a problem. You've been

placed on the No Fly Watch List. "

 

" Excuse me? "

 

" I'm afraid there isn't much more that I can tell you, " she explained.

" It's just the list that's maintained by TSA to check for people who

might have terrorist connections. "

 

" You're serious? "

 

" I'm afraid so, sir. Here's an 800 number in Washington. You need to

call them before I can clear you for the flight. "

 

Exasperated, I dialed the number from my cell, determined to clear up

what I was sure was a clerical error. The woman who answered offered

me no more information than the ticket agent.

 

" Mam, I'd like to know how I got on the No Fly Watch List. "

 

" I'm not really authorized to tell you that, sir, " she explained after

taking down my social security and Texas driver's license numbers.

 

" What can you tell me? "

 

" All I can tell you is that there is something in your background that

in some way is similar to someone they are looking for. "

 

" Well, let me get this straight then, " I said. " Our government is

looking for a guy who may have a mundane Anglo name, who pays tens of

thousands of dollars every year in taxes, has never been arrested or

even late on a credit card payment, is more uninteresting than a

Tupperware party, and cries after the first two notes of the national

anthem? We need to find this guy. He sounds dangerous to me. "

 

" I'm sorry, sir, I've already told you everything I can. "

 

" Oh, wait, " I said. " One last thing: this guy they are looking for?

Did he write books critical of the Bush administration, too? "

 

I have been on the No Fly Watch List for a year. I will never be told

the official reason. No one ever is. You cannot sue to get the

information. Nothing I have done has moved me any closer to getting

off the list. There were 35,000 Americans in that database last year.

According to a European government that screens hundreds of thousands

of American travelers every year, the list they have been given to

work from has since grown to 80,000.

 

My friends tell me it is just more government incompetence. A tech

buddy said there's no one in government smart enough to write a search

algorithm that will find actual terrorists, so they end up with

authors of books criticizing the Bush White House. I have no idea

what's going on.

 

I suppose I should think of it as a minor sacrifice to help keep my

country safe. Not being able to print out boarding passes in advance

and having to get to the airport three hours early for every flight is

hardly an imposition compared to what Americans are enduring in Iraq.

I can force myself to get used to all that extra attention from the

guy with the wand whenever I walk through the electronic arches. I'm

just doing my patriotic duty.

 

Of course, there's always the chance that the No Fly Watch List is one

of many enemies lists maintained by the Bush White House. If that's

the case, I am happy to be on that list. I am in good company with

people who expect more out of their president and their government.

 

Hell, maybe I'll start thinking of it as an honor roll.

 

Copyright 2005 © HuffingtonPost.com, LLC

 

Source: The Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-moore/branded_b_13272.html

 

" first they arrested the communists -- but I was not a communist,

so i did nothing. then they came for the social democrats, but i was

not a social democrat, so i did nothing. then they arrested the trade

unionists -- and i did nothing because i was not one. and then they

came for the jews and the catholics, but i was neither a jew nor a

catholic and i did nothing. at last they came and arrested me -- and

there was no one left to do anything about it. " ~ rev. martin

niemoller, nazi prison survivor