American Idiocy: The USA PATRIOT Act Story

I sure am glad that John Ashcroft, the Justice Department, and the FAA are keeping America's skies safer from a guy who's familiar to everyone from decades of news reports; one who might tipple just a bit too many mini-bottles of Glenfiddich on his way back to Boston.

Between March 1 and April 6, airline agents tried to block Mr. Kennedy from boarding airplanes on five occasions because his name resembled an alias used by a suspected terrorist who had been barred from flying on airlines in the United States, his aides and government officials said.



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.



"He said, 'We can't give it to you'," Mr. Kennedy said, describing an encounter with an airline agent to the rapt audience. " 'You can't buy a ticket to go on the airline to Boston.' I said, 'Well, why not?' He said, 'We can't tell you.' "

Anyone who believes that this was just an example of "shit happens", and a necessary consequence of the so-called War on Terror is delusional. What they're saying here is that if anyone ever uses your name as an alias, even if that name is oh, say, "Charlton Heston" or "Bruce Willis", you will be subject to this sort of crap in perpetuity, but it's worth it to Keep America Safer. Does anyone honestly believe this? We've already had Center for Constitutional Rights assistant legal director Barbara Olshansky strip-searched in public, activist nuns denied access to planes, and women forced to drink breast milk.



I'll let you know the next time I'm scheduled to fly if they let me get on the plane.