Dirty Greek - Airline no-fly list a bust

The earth I tread on is not a dead, inert mass. It is a body, has a spirit, is organic, and fluid to the influence of its spirit, and to whatever particle of that spirit is in me. She is not dead, but sleepeth.

- Henry David Thoreau

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Dirty Greek - Airline no-fly list a bust

Inalienable Rights : Airline no-fly list a bust

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Not that we didn't warn them! Now, think about the following story:

^"WASHINGTON - The Senate Judiciary Committee heard this morning from one of its own about some of the problems with airline "no fly" watch lists. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., says he had a close encounter with the lists when trying to take the U.S. Airways shuttle out of Washington to Boston. The ticket agent wouldn't let him on the plane. His name was on the list in error.

After a flurry of phone calls, Kennedy was able to fly home, but then the same thing happened coming back to Washington.

Kennedy says it took three calls to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge to get his name stricken from the list. The process took several weeks, in all.

Ok, it's bad enough that this happened to Ted Kennedy (and no, I'm not going to go into a conspiracy theory about how it was done on purpose). Kennedy was able to make some phone calls, get Ridge on the horn, and get it fixed... and it STILL took several weeks to fix.

Imagine you're you, however. A normal person. Not rich, not high up in the echelons of government. Imagine you're trying to fly home for the holidays, and you can't because you're incorrectly placed on a no-fly list. How long does it take YOU to get the issue resolved?

If it can happen to Ted Kennedy, imagine what can happen to a normal person? Inexcusable.