The nation’s terrorist watch list has hit one million names, according to an ACLU tally based on the government’s own reported numbers.
“Members of Congress, nuns, war heroes and other `suspicious characters,’ with names like Robert Johnson and Gary Smith, have become trapped in the Kafkaesque clutches of this list, with little hope of escape,” said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. “Congress needs to fix it, the Terrorist Screening Center needs to fix it, or the next president needs to fix it, but it has to be done soon.”
That’s one million names, but many times that the number of people this pointlessly excessive list routinely sweeps up in our nation’s Bushian paranoia. I happen to know one of the thousands of Robert Johnsons on the list, and he has indeed been taken aside by airport security for extra interrogation and inspection. (Though it could have just been his graying hippy ponytail that sparked their suspicion.)
So what exactly is the point of a terrorist watch list that nearly everybody is on? As I once joked after trolls gloated about the consequences I’d suffer for writing a satirical post in response to the clearly bogus plot to blow up JFK Airport… if one really wants to shut down air traffic out of New York City, just put “David Goldstein” on the terrorist watch list.
At one million strong, this list is either inaccurate and overly broad to the point of being useless… or we as a nation need to do some serious introspection about how we’ve managed to piss off so many people to the point where over one million domestic air travelers have dedicated their lives to murdering American civilians. (Though perhaps, domestic air travel itself these days is motive enough.)
UPDATE:
David Cohen emails to say:
You wrote today, “if one really wants to shut down air traffic out of New York City, just put “David Goldstein” on the terrorist watch list.” Well, the name “David Cohen” is already on the list. It doesn’t lead to extra searches any more–now they just check my ID to verify that my birthdate doesn’t match the one they’re looking for–but I can never check in electronically any more. If I try to print a boarding pass at home or even use one of the kiosks at the airport, the screen tells me to slowly back away and put my hands on top of my… well, I have to wait in line at the ticketing area and have my identity checked out. I wonder how many other David Cohens have to put up with the same thing; and I really pity the ones who share a birthday with the fellow they’re hoping to catch. Isn’t it surreal? “David Cohen.” We’re all terrorists now.
Wow, a million people out to get us.
What a joke.
In other news the McCain campaign is busy scrubbing away its links to Troy King.
http://www.opednews.com/articl.....4-645.html
What’s wrong with THIS president fixing it. If he can’t get the ball rolling, we can only conclude that the democratic congress approves of this incompetent, psychopathic boob in the white house.
# 3: Bush is already on vacation for the remainder of his term.
He’s never been able to keep focused on a job more than a handful of years anyway, and he’s used to getting bailed out before the long-term consequences of his incompetent management come home to roost. Note that:
(1) Bush lost interest in flying after a couple of years with the Texas ANG, and arranged to work on political campaigns instead (which apparantly involved playing golf during the day and drinking parties at night;
(2) Both of the oil-related companies his father set him up in had to be rescued in buy-outs by his father’s friends after a few years each.
(3) After the oil business, Bush’s father’
s friends got him into the baseball ownership business, where he provided the “public face” (and family political influence) while the other guys put up the money and handled most of the real business affairs. Bush got out of that business, using the profit he made from selling out his interest to claim he was a “successful businessman”, to run for governor before the consequences of his payroll decisions pretty much sank that club’s performance for the next decade.
(4) Shortly after winning re-election as governor of Texas, he began his presidential campaign (unofficially for most of that time).
So five years has pretty much been the maximum shelf life in any endeavor. It seems especially fitting, since his Presidency started to collapse in 2005 when the Katrina disaster revealed the extent of the Bush Administration’s cronyism, out-sourcing of important federal responsibilities, and bald-faced denials in the face of well-known facts, and other revelations thereafter showed the extent of his incompetence and agressive partisonship to an extent contrary to the national interest.
So maybe the best thing that could happen is for him to be on vacation for the remainder of the term. At least, that limits the amount of damage he can do. As long as he doesn’t keep insulting important allies while on any foreign trips (like he did to the Italians while in Japan last week for the G-8 Summit).
i too am on that list and very proud…not as UB of course
Wonder how long it takes to run a passenger’s name through a list of one million people, to see if it comes up as a name to watch for? That time, multiplied by the number of travelers, would become enormous and might mean many names are not being checked, simply because of the time. If that’s true, that’s not good, either.
One of the supposed targets of terrorists is our banking industry. But who needs Osama when Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will do it for you??
Perhaps we should start calling him “Billion Buck Chuck.”
And you guys said Democrats aren’t anti-American terrorists…
RE 6: you are flagged when you buy the ticket and they are ready for your arrival….it usually has taken an extra hour or two to get searched. needless to say i am not flying as much as i did…it is much easier to cross the boarder and fly canadian
Bush is fantastic!
What, then, is your proposed solution, Goldy? Eliminate the list entirely? Eliminate TSA, all together – I’d be okay with that one, myself. Something else?
Unfortunately, as long as you have national media demanding the “something be done”, and scaring the crap out Ms. Soccer Mom, the inevitable response is going to be inefficient “overkill”. This is hardly the first, or even the most egregious, example of the phenomenon.
9 What’s that old joke about going to charm school to learn to say “fantastic” instead of “bullshit”?
Gee, remember back in 2000, when the big problem with the airline industry was merely overbooking and flight delays?
We still have those problems, of course – but millions now have to deal with the do-not-fly list (name similarity compounds the problem), arrival times at airport are recommended to be in excess of two hours before the flight to account for screening, airlines charge fees for checked luggage, restrictions on toiletries in carry-ons, laptops and shoes removed for inspection at screening stations, etc., etc.
Gee, hasn’t our life improved????(voice dripping heavy with sarcasim)
iBurn @10,
How about a watch list that is focused on actual terrorists, and that is a little more sophisticated than simply a name and a birth date?
As for TSA, I don’t want it eliminated, but I’d love to be able to carry a fucking bottle of water through security, considering there is absolutely no realistic way to mix liquid explosives on a flight.
re 7: Thanks for the timely info. I hadn’t realized that the economy had been sunk by a letter from Sen. Charles Schumer — a Democrat, no less!
Goodness gracious!
7 TRM
Yes, it’s just so much better when Republicans keep bank failures secret until they occur.
Well, of course TSA is a screwed-up, inefficient, poorly-run agency that cannot competently carry out its core mission. It was created, organized, staffed, and overseen by the Bush Administration.
Latest Rasmussen Poll–
40% Say Victory Possible in Iraq, Up Eight Points From Year Ago
Monday, July 14, 2008
The number of Americans who believe it is possible for the U.S. to win the War in Iraq has increased over the past year.
Forty percent (40%) of American voters now say victory in Iraq is possible. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that a slightly larger percentage—44%–disagree and say victory is not possible. Republicans, by a 3-to-1 margin, say victory is possible. Democrats, by a similar margin, say it is not. Unaffiliated voters are evenly divided. A plurality of men say victory is possible while a plurality of women say it is not.
Those figures reflect more optimism than was found a year ago. In July 2007, just 32% of American voters said that victory was possible and 54% disagreed.
This is a significant shift…considering the MSM has provided such little coverage of the positive effects of the surge.
Even O-blah-blah gets it.
His problem is he must appease the NutRoots and Goldy’s Northwest Division of Lunatic Moonbat Atheist Progressives.
@16 And you think that TSA is going to magically become perfect if the Dems take over?
Why isn’t it any better now, since y’all have had control of the purse strings for the last two years?
Focus on terrorists? HAHAHA. That would be profiling.
” … over one million domestic air travelers have dedicated their lives to murdering American civilians.”
I doubt very much this is true, but I know of at least one domestic would-be terrorist who thinks murdering American civilians is a good idea: Former GOP legislative candidate Mark Griswold.* Here’s what he posted on the local jihad blog:
“Congratulations Speaker Pelosi, now let the bombs fall where they may. My prediction: terror attack on domestic soil passenger aircraft within the next six months. Casualties in the 2-300 range. And, unfortunately, maybe that’s just what we need. It’s obvious people don’t remember what happened 5 years ago. Posted by FullContactPolitics at November 8, 2006 10:52 AM”
http://blog.usefulwork.com/cgi.....ry_id=7430
* “FullContactPolitics” was ID’d as Griswold by HA Sleuth Richard Pope, who found a post on Sucky Politics in which Griswold used both his screen name “FullContactPolitics”) and his real name, which is a dead giveaway if there ever was one! Griswold got his ass whomped by Speaker Frank Chopp, 85%-15%. You gotta wonder about the nutcases making up the 15%. They must have a sex offender halfway house in Chopp’s district.
17 Cyn
Gee, did the poll define ‘victory?’
And it’s still true that about 70% of Americans oppose the war in Iraq, and two thirds want us to leave (percentages higher in Iraq).
19 MS
No, it’s called ‘probable cause.’ But as a Republican, you are required to have no knowledge of this concept.
18 IB
Do you even know how the federal government works? Quick tutorial: Bush runs the Executive Branch, in which the TSA lives. Congressional oversight runs through the Homeland Security Committee, chaired by Joe Lieberman. Get it yet?
Don’t let the real mark confuse you. Schumer didn’t make the bad decisions by the heads of the bank.
In the never ending campaign to bash bush schumer wrote a letter about the bank going under. In 11 short days 1.3 billion dollars were withdrawn from the bank. Boom, crash goes the bank.
It’s like how the left keeps using the recession word. 2 consecutive months of negative GDP. All the liberal talk about recession and still bush has kept us from even 1 quarter of GDP.
Hmm, stock market (DJIA) closed at 11055.19, losing another 45.35 points today. In the past, a 45 point drop would be considered worthy of some reference in the news, but these days it’s considered normal.
On of McCain’s proxies was on the news over the weekend, and was asked by the reporter if McCain’s economic policies were different from Bush’s. After strident assurances that they were, the fellow couldn’t identify a single point in which McCain and Bush differed over economic policy.
Of course, McCain’s between the horns of a delima when it comes to the economy. The Bush neo-con base insists that he remain wedded to their orthodoxy – make the Bush tax cuts permanant, use deficit finaning to continue the war in Iraq and to pay for the tax cuts themselves, privatise social security and virtually every other remaining government function. But to win the election he’s going to have to convince people that there is distance between him and Bush on these issues. That should be entertaining when it gets to be time for the debates.
@23 DL
Do you know that funding is controlled by the Congress?
re 24: So, avoiding recession is merely a PR problem!?!
Who knew!
I hope I didn’t mislead you. No, it’s not a pr problem.
The point I was trying to make that a recession is defined as 2 quarters of negative GDP.
And under bush we still haven’t had a single solitary quarter of negative GDP.
I don’t care if you call it a rescession or swiss cheeze. We are seeing foreclosure rates we haven’t seen since the Great Depression, banks are going under, and even FHA and FreddyMac are likely going to need a taxpayer-funded bailout! Consumer confidence is dropping, the DJIA is barely in positive territory over the 7-1/2 years of the Bush administration, the budget deficit and federal debt are at record highs.
If it walks like a skunk, sounds like a skunk, smells like a skunk….
rhp @ 29
Were you this upset when all of the dot.coms were booming and then busting? Or did you just chuckle and say, “stupid kids… there goes another one?”
A lot of folks speculated and overreached in the real estate market. They were presented with the opportunity to get a bigger, better house than their finances normally allowed. Instead of thinking things out (or getting sound financial advice), they grabbed the deal before someone took it off the table. They saw that $100 bill flapping around in the middle of the highway and they stupidly ran into traffic to grab it.
@30 A complete misrepresentation of what went down. In other words, you’re a fucking liar. But you already know that.
TRM @ 30: Well, that’s the White House official position now. They say it’s not a complete abdication of their regulatory responsibilities to oversee financial markets, especially with respect to it’s effect on the housing market. They say it’s just individual irresponsibility. In other words, it’s the victims who are at fault, not the perpetrators of the fraud, or the government which failed in it’s duties.
Like most Republican fables, it has a small element of truth which is expanded to beyond all recognition to encompass a large class of persons for which the facts do not, in fact apply.
It flies in the face of the experiences I’m seeing every week in my debt counseling sessions at my church. I’ve got young people who were told that this was their last time to buy a house in this lifetime because next wmonth the prices will be out of reach, they’le never be able to buy again. These young couples weren’t buying mega-mansions, they were buying three-bedroom bungalows, suburban 1950’s & 60’s ramblers, or 1970’s tri-levels. Most had dual incomes. Most received oral assurances they were approved for traditional mortgages, only to be told 24 hours from closing that they didn’t qualify for traditional mortgages and were pushed into sub-prime loans to prevent the deals from falling through, with assurances they could re-finance after two years pre-payment penalties expire and the balloon payment comes due. Fact is, most of them COULD have qualified for traditional mortgages then – they were victims of lending fraud by perpetrators out to make a quick buck. But NOW they can’t qualify, under the more stringent standards and higher interest rates they are now facing. More importantly, because of other foreclosures in the neighborhood, the value of their house has declined – they are now “under water”, and can’t re-finance at any interest rate. They come to their church looking for solutions, and they are referred to me to try to assist them in finding one.
But they are told by the government that it’s all their fault. They will just have to lose their house. And the bank that’s left holding the note will have another property in foreclosure. Which will further depress prices in the neighborhood, placing other homeowners “under water”.
That’s the big difference between the stock market and the housing market. If the stock market crashes, people lose money – often money which they never had, because it only existed in an imaginary “value” which never materialized because the stock wasn’t sold at it’s highest price. But in the housing market, STABILITY and PREDICTABILITY is key. Because the consequences otherwise is that large numbers of hard-working people become homeless. Moreover, trouble in the housing market ripples through the entire economy in ways you don’t see in the stock market or other investments. Besides, the stock market has had margin rates in effect since the reforms of the 1930’s.
Sure, there were some real estate “flippers” who followed the “greater fool” theory, and got caught standing when the music stopped. I have no sympathy for those people – they tried to make a quick buck by gambling that the price of housing would keep rising, and they lost the gamble. There are also people who DID perpetuate frauds, finding “straw man” buyers to bid up the price for a house, skim off the equity, and then leave the shells for the bank to try to salvage. Again, those people should be in jail if they committed mortgage fraud. There are also some who skimmed off their own equity for consumer purchases unwisely, and got caught when the interest rates rose. But those are not the people I am seeing, and I doubt they are the lion’s share of the people who are adversly affected.
But when the government sits passivly by, and to some extent actively encourages a system which puts homeowners into the riskiest mortages possible, then that government shares a good share of the blame.
Rescession or Not????
Source: MSNBC: Wall Street Bears are Back in Charge
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25680599/
We now know why Puddylicker’s wife was on the list!
Steve @ 31
So you’re saying that people did NOT get in over their heads with mortgages they couldn’t afford (or take the time to read the fine print of)?
rhp @ 32
Where there was fraud — real, by-the-law fraud — it should be punished. Who is saying that lenders that committed fraud shouldn’t be prosecuted?
Similarly, where the loan applicant “fudged” or “goosed” their income and/or asset numbers and then got stuck… too bad.
How do you propose we deal with cases where the lending agent said [wink, wink] “I need to see at least X dollars” or where s/he tweaked the numbers on the app — with the full knowledge of the borrower? What about where both parties knew that the “friendly” appraisal wasn’t what it should be?
bybygoober: I don’t do ugly white womins. That’s your style.
Let’s separate the issues.
(1) The first issue is governmental oversight of the credit market. My biggest complaint is that the Bush administration, with the cooperation of the Republican Congress & Phill Gramm, completely neglected their oversight and administration responsibilities.
“Neglect” may be too passive of a word, because it implies they would have done something if they had not been too lazy or involved in other things. In this case, it appears that there was an intent to create the situation for the benefit of certain financial interests, with reckless disregard of the consequences. Kind of like “manslaughter” – as measured in terms of a degree of intent, it falls short of intending to murder the housing market, but higher than mere neglect. I represents a maliscious or reckless disregard of the consequences of their actions.
In short, what they allowed to happen was for a market to develop in sub-prime mortgages which was even LESS regulated than traditional mortgages, and carried considerably higher profits, and where the risk was passed off to governmental (FHA) & semi-governmental agencies (Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae) where the taxpayer would bear the ultimate risk (if bailout options currently being floated are any indication).
And what happened is that the profits to be made from these loans drew mortgage money from the traditional markets into the sub-prime markets, like a big sucking action. Lots of buyers were told that there simply wasn’t money available for traditional mortgages, that the sub-prime mortgages (most of them with pre-payment penalties, teaser APRS, and a two-year balloons) are really the only mortgages available anymore.
(2) Now the second issue is that within that regulatory environment (or lack thereof), there are thousands (if not millions) of individual situations.
(a) In some cases, the mortgage broker committed fraud by intentionally deceiving people into believing they had a traditional mortgage, and then switching them at the last minute to a sub-prime mortgage.
(b) There are also some real “sharks” in the water – lenders who prey on the desperate and write deals with the intent to create a default so they can accelerate the balance and foreclose, thereby skimming off the profit. Some courts can overturn these contracts as “unconscionable”, if the borrower has the resources to fight them – which rarely is the case.
(c) There are some straw man purchases intended to skim the equity, as I mentioned in my earlier posts.
(d) There are some real estate agents, mortgage brokers, lenders, appraisers, etc. who will manipulate the lender’s income, credit report, appraisal, etc. to make the deal work at the higher numbers. Sometimes this will be done with the borrower’s knowledge, sometimes not.
(e) Sometimes borrowers use the “signature only” loans with only a credit check and no income verification – “liar’s loans” as they are called in the industry. Speculators used these types of loans to buy multiple properties with the intent to flip them quickly for a profit.
There are lots more, and many variations on the scheme.
But note that regardless of the source of the problem, the CONSEQUENCES are the same – increasing foreclosures drive down property prices, putting innocent homeowners “under water” at a time when they MUST refinance (due to balloon clause or APR adjustment), or who must sell their home and move due to a job change. This further feeds the downward cycle as their homes also join the ranks of the foreclosures, driving down values even more for their neighbors.
THAT’s why there is a need for active government oversight in this market, a task the Bush administration wholly failed to perform.
But the Bush administration isn’t admitting any fault in the problem. They aren’t looking at large-scale fraud, regulatory violations, or other fault on the part of the big lenders. Instead, they have already passed judgement that the problem is principally the borrower’s fault, and are going to prosecute a few cases of mortgage fraud against minor individuals to make the point.
Considering the Bush Administration’s participation in the crisis, and their public pronouncements once they were forced to admit it was a problem, I almost envision the French Colonel in Casablanca: “I’m SHOCKED, I say SHOCKED to find that gambling is going on here!”
link to the watch list…i always check it before i fly, since i am a critic of USA’s foreign policies, which in this day and age could make me an enemy:
http://www.ustreas.gov/offices...../ofac/sdn/
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.
Pastor Martin Niemöller
and you all think of course that the democrats will do a better job? that the government should come in and rescue us? as far as the “recession” that really isnt, i will believe we are in one when people quit lining up to watch the latest movie release at $7 a ticket or more, and quit buying the new Wii or playstation. sorry that hasnt happened yet. the government doesnt need to rescue us from our own stupidity in the area of mortgages. people were allowed to buy homes that they never should have bought in the first place and now want someone to take care of them. not everyone is qualified to buy a house so they shouldnt be approved for a loan. if that practice ends then we wouldnt have so many foreclosures would we? i truly do get tired of all the bitching and complaining that goes on by the armchair quarterbacks. yes the american people have a short memory of what took place 5 years ago. we do not have the intestinal fortitude to see to the end something we start. it is the instant gratification that we americans seems to have to have. when the going gets tough we quit. yes war sucks, it always has and always will. it will never be popular with anyone i dont care what side of politics you are on. life is not always fair. get over it and quit complaining. the democrats will not fix anything and the republicans will not fix anything either. the politicians are liars no matter what side they are on. deal with it