For my friends, I will be moving next week from one Midwestern state to another. Will try to get a few posts in this blog before then, but will be active again the end of August. Just a lil FYI for Cowboys, Cowgals, and metabloggers...
Peace,
cobalt

Sigh. Again I find a lead from a compatriot blogger (prometheus 6) to a story he called "perverse news" and reference it to something that makes him sigh as well. (OK, "sigh" may be an understatement, but as there is no audio available here in this antville blog, you'll just have to trust me that certain "sighs" are rather deeply inhaled and audibly and slowely expelled). See Prometheus 6 in the links of the menu. Now, here is the whole article. You may want to make sure to read it all - there is a surprising turn of events in that there are complaints from the conservative "Right" as well as us "usual suspects"!

US anti-war activists hit by secret airport ban
By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles
03 August 2003
After more than a year of complaints by some US anti-war activists that they were being unfairly targeted by airport security, Washington has admitted the existence of a list, possibly hundreds or even thousands of names long, of people it deems worthy of special scrutiny at airports.

The list had been kept secret until its disclosure last week by the new US agency in charge of aviation safety, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). And it is entirely separate from the relatively well-publicised "no-fly" list, which covers about 1,000 people believed to have criminal or terrorist ties that could endanger the safety of their fellow passengers.

The strong suspicion of such groups as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which is suing the government to try to learn more, is that the second list has been used to target political activists who challenge the government in entirely legal ways. The TSA acknowledged the existence of the list in response to a Freedom of Information Act request concerning two anti-war activists from San Francisco who were stopped and briefly detained at the airport last autumn and told they were on an FBI no-fly list.

The activists, Rebecca Gordon and Jan Adams, work for a small pacifist magazine called War Times and say they have never been arrested, let alone have criminal records. Others who have filed complaints with the ACLU include a left-wing constitutional lawyer who has been strip-searched repeatedly when travelling through US airports, and a 71-year-old nun from Milwaukee who was prevented from flying to Washington to join an anti-government protest.

It is impossible to know for sure who might be on the list, or why. The ACLU says a list kept by security personnel at Oakland airport ran to 88 pages. More than 300 people have been subject to special questioning at San Francisco airport, and another 24 at Oakland, according to police records. In no case does it appear that a wanted criminal was apprehended.

The ACLU's senior lawyer on the case, Jayashri Srikantiah, said she is troubled by several answers that the TSA gave to her questions. The agency, she said, had no way of making sure that people did not end up on the list simply because of things they had said or organisations they belonged to. Once people were on the list, there was no procedure for trying to get off it. The TSA did not even think it was important to keep track of people singled out in error for a security grilling. According to documents the agency released, it saw "no pressing need to do so".

It is not just left-wingers who feel unfairly targeted. Right-wing civil libertarians have spoken out against the secret list, and at least one conservative organisation, the Eagle Forum, says its members have been interrogated by security staff.

The complaints by the ACLU form part of a pattern of protest since the 11 September attacks, with the Bush administration repeatedly under fire for detaining people on the flimsiest of grounds in the name of the "war on terror". Many Muslims have had a hard time, especially if they have a surname such as Hussein.

Also in Americas

• Anglicans face crisis as delegates in US vote for gay bishop
• Whistleblower on Niger uranium claim accuses White House of launching 'dirty-tricks campaign'
• Four-legged all-American hero diverts nation
• Falklands war film reopens old wounds for Argentina's veterans
• US anti-war activists hit by secret airport ban
  http://news.independent.co.uk/low_res/story.jsp?story=430073&host=3&dir=70

I just have to post this entry today that I found on Wilson's Almanac (linked in the right column now)! This is amazing! Read it and cheer!
NY Times Links to Blogs, Scraps 'Public Editor' Idea

"(2003-07-31) -- New York Times executive editor Bill Keller said today he has scrapped plans to hire a public editor as a "reader representative," and instead will link the online newspaper to a network of so-called "blogs".

"Many bloggers post political and media commentary on personal web sites and often link to news stories in the Times and other news sources.

"'I figured we could save some money, and get better quality by linking to blogs,' said Mr. Keller, who recently took the reins of the so-called "gray lady" after a credibility scandal toppled the paper's former editor. 'If we hire a public editor, he'll quickly become an insider and people will think it's just an insincere, self-serving PR move. By linking to bloggers who critique us daily, we show that we respect the free marketplace of ideas, and aren't afraid of the heat.'

"A spokesman for the network of bloggers said, "We'll be glad to get the increased visitor traffic, and the Times readers will be glad to get the truth...for a change.'

Source: from the Wilson's Almanac Blogmanac:
Today's blog August 3, 2003: http://wilsonsalmanac.blogspot.com/
Original Source:
Scrappleface
http://www.scrappleface.com/