Ted Kennedy put on No Fly List

I'm not the biggest fan of Kennedy but he raises a good point- if it
took a senator weeks and many calls to get off the list, what would it
take and how long would it take an ordinary American to get off the
list?

-lance smith


Here's the link and the text of the Reuters story:

http://news.excite.com/odd/article/id/422423|oddlyenough|08-20-2004::08:48|reuters.html

Aug 20, 8:46 am ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sen. Ted Kennedy, the archetypal liberal
Democrat from Massachusetts, is often called names by Republicans. But
until this year he had never been viewed as a threat to U.S. air
travel.
Kennedy -- one of the most recognizable figures in American politics
-- told a Senate committee hearing on Thursday he had been blocked
several times from boarding commercial airline flights because his
name was on a "no-fly" list intended to exclude potential terrorists.

The Senate Judiciary Committee heard Kennedy was eventually allowed on
the flights, but it took numerous calls to the Department of Homeland
Security to clear up the mistake and get his name off the list.

Noting it had taken him weeks to resolve the matter, Kennedy wondered
aloud how difficult it might be for ordinary Americans to have their
names removed if they were also mistakenly placed on the watch list.

A Kennedy spokesman said the whole thing had resulted from a simple
error and had not been politically motivated.

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge personally called Kennedy "to
make sure that the situation was remedied," said a spokeswoman for
Ridge's department.

It only took him a few minutes but he has the most recognizable face in
politics, the phone numbers for everyone in DC, and he's been taking that
flight nearly every week for 43 years (as he pointed out).

It would take you and I weeks, if we were ever able to fly again at all. If
it happens to one of us, they will probably yank our pilot certificate at
the same time. Good luck ever getting off the ground again.

--

Roger Long



"lance smith" wrote in message
om...
I'm not the biggest fan of Kennedy but he raises a good point- if it
took a senator weeks and many calls to get off the list, what would it
take and how long would it take an ordinary American to get off the
list?

-lance smith


Here's the link and the text of the Reuters story:


http://news.excite.com/odd/article/id/422423|oddlyenough|08-20-2004::08:48|reuters.html

Aug 20, 8:46 am ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sen. Ted Kennedy, the archetypal liberal
Democrat from Massachusetts, is often called names by Republicans. But
until this year he had never been viewed as a threat to U.S. air
travel.
Kennedy -- one of the most recognizable figures in American politics
-- told a Senate committee hearing on Thursday he had been blocked
several times from boarding commercial airline flights because his
name was on a "no-fly" list intended to exclude potential terrorists.

The Senate Judiciary Committee heard Kennedy was eventually allowed on
the flights, but it took numerous calls to the Department of Homeland
Security to clear up the mistake and get his name off the list.

Noting it had taken him weeks to resolve the matter, Kennedy wondered
aloud how difficult it might be for ordinary Americans to have their
names removed if they were also mistakenly placed on the watch list.

A Kennedy spokesman said the whole thing had resulted from a simple
error and had not been politically motivated.

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge personally called Kennedy "to
make sure that the situation was remedied," said a spokeswoman for
Ridge's department.

lance smith quoted:

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge personally called Kennedy "to
make sure that the situation was remedied," said a spokeswoman for
Ridge's department.

Was Ridge *really* making sure that "the situation was remedied"?

Or was he merely interested in avoiding a repeat incident for Ted?

IMWTK

"Robert Briggs" wrote in message
...
lance smith quoted:

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge personally called Kennedy "to
make sure that the situation was remedied," said a spokeswoman for
Ridge's department.

Was Ridge *really* making sure that "the situation was remedied"?

Or was he merely interested in avoiding a repeat incident for Ted?

I think the proper term is "sucking up."


IMWTK

Recently, lance smith posted:

I'm not the biggest fan of Kennedy but he raises a good point- if it
took a senator weeks and many calls to get off the list, what would it
take and how long would it take an ordinary American to get off the
list?

It may not be possible.

Here's the link and the text of the Reuters story:

How can some of this just "slip by" people?

A Kennedy spokesman said the whole thing had resulted from a simple
error and had not been politically motivated.

How would a Kennedy spokesman know this? It sounds like a political
appeasement to me.

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge personally called Kennedy "to
make sure that the situation was remedied," said a spokeswoman for
Ridge's department.

Why would Ridge have to check with Kennedy to make sure of such a thing?
He should have complete access to the system that created this "simple
error", and should know for a fact whether the situation (obviously not
the ability to make such "simple errors") was remedied. Calling the victim
of such errors should yield no useful information whatsoever, as the
victim would only know whether they were stopped on a particular flight,
not whether the "situation was remedied". Are we really that gullible a
people?

Neil