No Fly Lists: Stopping Democrats at Airports Everywhere

To anyone who may be emitting smoke from your head after reading this particular post's headline: I am joking. Breath.

As you may have heard though, Sen. Edward Kennedy was recently prevented from boarding a Washington-Boston flight because his name resembled that of a suspected terrorist on the government's "no-fly" list. Kennedy resolved the conflict by making a number of phone calls, including a call directly to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge -- the resolution process still took three weeks. Kennedy complained after his ordeal on behalf of the American public that most people don't have the luxury of calling Tom Ridge in such a situation.

The Washington Post is now reporting that Rep. John Lewis (D-Georgia) encountered a similar problem. However, Lewis found a different way to resolve the issue: he reserved his ticket under the name Rep. John R. Lewis. And guess what? -- poof! -- no matter red flags! This frightens me in two ways. One, that a name as common as John Lewis would appear on a "no-fly" list with no additional information is a gross oversight on the part of the groups that are supposed to be protecting our us and our way of life. Two, that a simple middle initial and perhaps a new name prefix (i.e. Dr.) is proof that the list is useless. The criteria for barring a person from a flight should extend beyond a name. There needs to be more information for the airline personnel -- yes it is airline personnel, not security personnel that check the lists -- to check to ensure both that they catch a possible terrorist using an alias and that any flag that is raised by the name of an everyday traveler is in the end no more than a brief inconvenience for the traveler. Otherwise look out for Dr. Usama Q. bin Ladin on you're next flight.