I'm on it. Sometimes it holds me up when I'm flying somewhere. I have also heard from one other "Robert Spencer" who has the same problem. I am, however, willing to put up with a bit of inconvenience in support of anti-terror efforts, as inefficient as they may be in this case. If I were, say, a CAIR official, I would already have sued after some of the airport delays I've experienced.
"U.S. terrorism watch list tops 1 million," by Randall Mikkelsen for Reuters, July 14 (thanks to Stlreader):
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. watch list of terrorism suspects has passed 1 million records, corresponding to about 400,000 people, and a leading civil rights group said on Monday the number was far too high to be effective.The Bush administration disagreed and called the list one of the most effective tools implemented after the September 11 hijacked plane attacks -- when a federal "no-fly" list contained just 16 people considered threats to aviation.
The American Civil Liberties Union publicized the 1 million milestone with a news conference and release.
It said the watch list was an impediment to millions of travelers and called for changes, including tightening criteria for adding names, giving travelers a right to challenge their inclusion and improving procedures for taking wrongly included names off the list.
"America's new million-record watch list is a perfect symbol for what's wrong with this administration's approach to security: it's unfair, out-of-control, a waste of resources (and) treats the rights of the innocent as an afterthought," ACLU technology director Barry Steinhardt said in a release....
Steinhardt doesn't note, of course, that part of this waste of resources can be attributed directly to the inability of law enforcement officials to give special scrutiny to members of groups that are more likely than others to pose an actual terror threat.
hey Robert, am I on that list?!!
"Steinhardt doesn't note, of course, that part of this waste of resources can be attributed directly to the inability of law enforcement officials to give special scrutiny to members of groups that are more likely than others to pose an actual terror threat."
You're not referring to "profiling" are you?
Oh, the horror!
Better that we perish as a nation than to risk the ire of the PC police!
"..it's unfair, out-of-control, a waste of resources (and) treats the rights of the innocent as an afterthought,"
Very much like the Modis Operandi of those who triggered the damn list in the first place. They sure love shooting the messenger don't they? while the culprits get away.
"...treats the rights of the innocent as an afterthought."
Yes, those poor innocents; the victims, victimized by our oppressive system. But then, if there weren't so many folks trying to look innocent but in reality, working clandestinely to create a world where our innocents will not be treated as an afterthought but brutally destroyed to make a point, we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place, would we?
'Sorry, this is a no whining zone.
Robert ---
You have a beard? Yes
You always have a Koran when you fly and are often reading it? Yes
That's why you are on watch list. Ironic- You have probably joked about this.
Very funny TSA gangsters video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7AWw7t5zj0
Robert, I do not think that you are on the watch list. The name Robert Spencer is on the list. Whoever the other Robert Spencer is.
I have the same name as a former NFL player. I have a co-worker with the same name as a long since dead actor. I once received a letter from the IRS inquiring if I was a certain person with the same name as mine. I had to reply with my social security number and other information. My name is not "my" name, I wonder now many Robert Spencers there are. Spencer is not a very common name, but it is not rare either, like the name Bolivar Shagnasty would be.
". . . the watch list was an impediment to millions of travelers . . ." So sez the ACLU.
I think an airliner with 250 people on board falling into oblivion is more of an impediment. It is better to impede "millions" than to sit on one's fat rear end and allow hundreds to be murdered.
The local school district, in order to be politically correct had to discipline children in a sort of quota system, so if one third of the children are hispanic and a hispanic child is suspended from school then the district has to punish an african american child and a white child also.
Maybe the terror watch list also has to be balanced so in order to put 100,000 Jihadi wanna bes on it, they have to put 900,000 normal people on it also.
It sounds like something extremely asinine and blockheaded so I have a feeling that might be why Mr. Spencer is on the list.
YOU should be on that watch list!
After all, you have used the words "jihad," "islamist," and "terror;" sometimes, even in the same sentence!
only one million? It should be over one Billion; after all there are more than that many moslems on the planet.
To begin with, the list should contain everybody with "Mohammed" (or any variation of it) for one of their names.
stickman wrote:
"Maybe the terror watch list also has to be balanced so in order to put 100,000 Jihadi wanna bes on it, they have to put 900,000 normal people on it also."
My take was similar, though somewhat different. I wonder how many thousands on that watch list are law-abiding citizens that the government knows are law-abiding citizens, but are put on the watch list anyway so that the list doesn't consist overwhelmingly of adherents of a certain, unnamed religion, which almost certainly would move the likes of cair & the aclu to file suit against the government for unlawful discriminatiion.
Very funny TSA gangsters video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7AWw7t5zj0
Posted by dennisw
That is just so wrong. And damn funny too.
Belt buckle, money clip
Coin, keys, wallet, purse
Put some deez* on it
Run it through
Word
*http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=deez+
I’m not too sure what they’re rapping there.
The other Robert Spencer was the prosecution lawyer on the Zacharias Mossauoui case. It's probably him they are after ;-)
Other than that, dennisw's explanation seems to be the only logical one.
Now this ticks me off! Just goes to show how many idiots are working for our goverment. The only reason I can think you'd be on the list is because of the name of your site with the word Jihad but if they took a look at it, would see it is against terrorism and all about protecting our country from it. What incompetence! I wouldn't be surprised if I were on that list too.
The American Civil Liberties Union should all be put on an aircraft with some of the suicide vest wearing "victims" they are always so keen to defend and sent on a flight over the Atlantic. Remote controlled, of course.
We need two "Watch Lists"
One that targets Muslims to watch (all)
One that watches out for our country by educating
about Muslims, and their MO (Robert Spencer etc)
l cannot stand all the stupidity at the airport, and so l do not fly very often. This is just like crossing over the border, the customs officials are for the most part clueless, and spend far too much time checking out people who are not terrorists material and seem to out of their way to avoid those who do appear terrorist material.
Oh my, do they think Robert is going to blow up or ram a plane into a building full of Muslims?
It's a good thing they keep an eye on those radical Judeo-Christian miscreants--we wouldn't want the civil peace disturbed by these trouble makers, would we?
My husband's name is on the list also and, as we travel a good bit, it never ceases to be a pain in the arse! We've even gone to our state senator Russ Feingold, **sigh**, and his office couldn't help us.
So, no chance of us ever checking in online or using one of those cute kiosks to check in or avoid being singled out for 'special' treatment whenever we travel.
On the upside, at least they're checking!! Let's just hope they're also checking the guys that belong on that list...
I have a pacemaker and they give me just short of a strip search every time I fly.