"On 1 March 07, I was scheduled to fly on American Airlines to Newark, NJ, to attend an academic conference at Princeton University, designed to focus on my latest scholarly book, Constitutional Democracy, published by Johns Hopkins University Press this past Thanksgiving."
"When I tried to use the curb-side check in at the Sunport, I was denied a boarding pass because I was on the Terrorist Watch list. I was instructed to go inside and talk to a clerk. At this point, I should note that I am not only the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence (emeritus) but also a retired Marine colonel. I fought in the Korean War as a young lieutenant, was wounded, and decorated for heroism. I remained a professional soldier for more than five years and then accepted a commission as a reserve office, serving for an additional 19 years."
"I presented my credentials from the Marine Corps to a very polite clerk for American Airlines. One of the two people to whom I talked asked a question and offered a frightening comment: "Have you been in any peace marches? We ban a lot of people from flying because of that." I explained that I had not so marched but had, in September, 2006, given a lecture at Princeton, televised and put on the Web, highly critical of George Bush for his many violations of the Constitution. "That'll do it," the man said. "
If this account is true, and if it's true that just going to a peace march puts you at risk for being on the terrorism "no-fly" list, I'd say Congress had damn well better hold hearings about this at once, and find out just exactly what powers the federal government are exercising against law-abiding citizens who happen to oppose administration policy. We could be deep into Nixon territory.
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Ben - I'd kinda sorta agree with you, but then there's those pesky facts that keep getting in the way. By April 1, 1999, the Republican Congress had approved the $79.3 million dollars spent investigating the Clintons over Whitewater and Monicagate - two ultimately fruitless cases, unless you find outing a dude skeezing around behind his wife's back worth the more $39 million spent on the Starr Report or the over $47 million to put the dangerous McDougal clan behind bars. They also approves $8.7 million investigating Cisneros, $19.2 million on Espy, and $2 million apiece on Babbit and Herman. Who??? Exactly.
None of that excuses tin-foil-hat paranoia over no-fly lists, naturally, but you certainly can't say that allegations of that kind against Clinton's administration wouldn't have whipped a significant segment of Congress into a frenzy. I hate reductio ad Clintonum as much as anyone. Nothing that happened then excuses anything that happens now, no matter which side of the argument we find ourselves. I guess what I'm sayin' is... I'm just sayin'.
The story is true. I double checked it and found an interview with Murphy at www.princeton.edu/~paw/archive_new/PAW06-07/11-0404/moment.html in which he mentioned the incident. While on a cruise ship, I had three Customs agents wake me and my family at 6:00. They said only that they had come looking for me. I thought I was going to be Gitmoed. And I am a sixth generation American. I hope all you Repubicons are comfortable living in a police state, sort of like the Soviet Union. I guess as long as you're at the top of the heap making money off it, it's all right with you?
Restore the Constitution: And my kidney theft example from above is even more true since I tripple checked it! You have Murphy's word for it and no other sources or evidence. Murphy's only evidence for his story is an anonymous ticket agent who does not actually know how people get on the list. It is not even clear that he actually was on the list in the first place, just that he thinks he was. There is no evidence at all for his bizzare claims that the government is tapping his phones. The story is true in that an airline employee probably said these things to Murphy either in jest or because they believed them to be true. This does not prove that the people in charge of the no-fly list have any idea of who he is or that he was targeted. "I thought I was going to be Gitmoed." Take off the tin-foil hat already and don't cry wolf so often. When there really is a wolf people won't believe you.
Till next time ... when someone starts crying into their tinfoil cap about their "no preach hate from the pulpit list." Remember, it's all delusional and paranoid.
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