Is this true? Kennedy on no fly list????

[Union Thug]

Sorry if this is a dupe, but I've never heard this before!

"At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on August 19, convened to discuss the September 11 commission’s recommendations, Senator Edward Kennedy revealed that for a period of five weeks this spring he had been repeatedly told he could not fly on commercial airplanes because his name was on the government’s “no fly” list.

The longtime Massachusetts Democratic senator (first elected to complete his brother John’s term in 1962, and now the second most senior member of the Senate) disclosed that between March 1 and April 6 airline agents had blocked him from boarding flights, mainly between Washington DC and Boston, on five separate occasions."

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/aug2004/kenn-a21.shtml

[aquart]

1. Yeah. Well, someone with a similar name.

Anyone believe that was just an accident?

[unblock]

2. i wonder how often this happens to REPUBLICANS?

i'm guessing, um, NEVER!


oh, incidently, the constitution explicitly bars the arrest or detainment of congresscritters on their way to an active session of congress. this is to prevent the government from manipulating a congressional vote by preventing selected members from voting.

kinda like how they influence presidential elections, most notably in places such as florida.

ah, the smell of democracy!

[madrchsod]

3. yes and there

is another democratic house member from georgia( i think) that is also on the list..

[Zan_of_Texas]

4. True. Delayed five times.

Sen. Kennedy's Travel Nightmare
CAPITOL HILL, Aug. 19, 2004
CBS NEWS

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/06/terror/printable610466.shtml

The Senate Judiciary Committee heard Thursday morning from one of its own about some of the problems with airline "watch" lists. Massachusetts Democrat Ted Kennedy says he had a close encounter with the lists when trying to take the US Airways shuttle out of Washington to Boston.

The ticket agent wouldn't let him on the plane. His name was on the list in error. With help from an airport supervisor, Kennedy was able to fly home, but then the same thing happened coming back to Washington. Some phone calls straightened things out. Kennedy says he had to enlist the help of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge to get his name stricken from the list. The process took several weeks, in all. And Kennedy asks what about the little guy?

The Department of Homeland Security tried to explain the incidents. A DHS spokesman said that on one flight Kennedy was misidentified as someone who needed extra screening when going through security, because he was mistakenly identified as someone on a watch list.

Another time, the spokesman says, Kennedy was tagged for extra screening under a security system that watches for such factors as a person buying a one-way ticket or paying with cash. He says Kennedy was never on a "no-fly" list, which automatically keeps a person off a plane.

[Zan_of_Texas]

5. And so has John Lewis -- 40 times!

Another Prominent Democrat Slowed By Terror Watch List


UPDATED: 5:07 PM EDT August 20, 2004
The Bakersfield Channel.com
http://www.thebakersfieldchannel.com/news/3670172/detail.html

WASHINGTON -- A second prominent Democrat in Congress said he's been singled out for extra security at airports. U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia said someone else with his name is on a federal watch list. He said he's been stopped for intensive airport searches more than 40 times in the past year.

Lewis said he couldn't buy an electronic ticket, and that he had to show extra identification to security -- which also hand-checked all of his luggage.

Months ago, he filed paperwork with the Transportation Security Administration to get off the list, but Lewis said that less than two weeks ago, a ticket agent informed him his name is still there.
Lewis is now thinking about becoming part of a class-action lawsuit against the TSA.

Lewis has discovered a way around the hassle: using his middle initial. When he does that, he sails through security. On Thursday, Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy said he had been stopped several times for the same reason. Homeland Security officials have since apologized to him.

~~~~~~~~~~
Second source:

Rep. Lewis says his name is on terrorist watch list

JEFFREY McMURRAY
Associated Press

Ledger-Inquirer.com (Columbus, Ohio)
Posted on Fri, Aug. 20, 2004
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/politics/9453337.htm

WASHINGTON - Rep. John Lewis is known for his nonviolent protests during the civil rights movement, but when he visits airports, he's treated like a suspected terrorist.

Lewis himself isn't on a Department of Homeland Security terrorist watch list, but airline attendants have told him his name is. That has caused him months of hassle and embarrassment, preventing him from using an electronic ticket to board a plane and subjecting him to extra identification checks and baggage searches. <MORE>