And He’s Not Even Walking Yet
Dec 28th, 2005 at 10:27 pm by Susie
So imagine leaving for a trip to Italy, and you find out your nine-month-old infant is actually a terrorist:
Zapolsky, who did not want her son’s name made public, said she was initially amused by the mix-up. “But when I found out you can’t actually get off the list, I started to get a bit annoyed.”
She isn’t alone.
According to the Transportation Security Administration, more than 28,000 people have applied to the TSA redress office to get on the “cleared list,” which takes note of individuals whose names are similar to those on the terrorism watch list, but even getting on that list does not guarantee an end to hassles related to the no-fly list.
The TSA does not reveal how many or which names are actually on the list, and complaints do not get names removed, since those names are also those of suspected terrorists. The best that innocent travelers can hope for is a letter from the TSA that it says should facilitate travel but is no panacea.
[Via Philly Bits.]
Is anybody ever going to tell us how this ridiculous list is put together? What the procedures are for getting on it, and getting off of it? Or will it forever remain a gigantic mystery?
A former law school professor of mine, who’s about 75 years old, keeps getting pulled out of lines for strip searches. Little tiny old Jewish guy. His politics are decidely liberal, though certainly not radical– the US government used to send him on trips overseas to lecture foreign countries on democracy and the bill of rights. Back when we cared about such things.
My father has to go through a physical search every time at the airport because he has both a pacemaker and hardware in his knee. Another little older (68) Jewish guy. He says that they’re getting bolder and bolder– that this last time, they got to third base….