Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2002 21:55:26 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at KeithLynch.net>
To: WSFAList at KeithLynch.net
Subject: [WSFA] Re: going to Worldcon
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

"Michael Walsh" <MJW at mail.press.jhu.edu> wrote:

> Re: travel ID.  From over in the SMOFSlist (trust me: boring almost
> always . . .) come this comment:

> "But, as to Seth's point about asking for the rules?  Not any more.
> Title 49, Chapter XII P. 1520.3 allows the TSA [Transportation
> Security Administration] to classify the regulations for air travel.
> So, now, you can ask -- but you can't be told."

Yes, that was one of the main points made by John Gilmore in his suit
(see http://cryptome.org/freetotravel.htm).  Secret laws are un-American.

There's also mention there of Denver's new rule that anyone with
unpaid parking tickets will not be allowed to fly from Denver's
airports.  And http://www.progressive.org/webex/wxmc042702.html
describes people being prevented from boarding for reasons they
were never told.  (Though one of them, named Jacob Laden, has a
pretty good guess.)

Flying just isn't fun anymore.  In fact, it's crapshoot whether any
one of us will even be allowed to fly, even planning a trip for
years, arranging for vacation time, showing "papers, please," being
strip-searched, and having our luggage sniffed by dogs and pawed
through by minimumum wage drones.

I want the sky back.  It's my birthright as a citizen of the 21st
century.

On September 11th, I just didn't see the point.  What does killing
a bunch of people gain anyone?  But Bin Laden understood the US
government better than I did.  With the eager assistance of Bush,
Ashcroft, etc, he has succeeded in screwing up hundreds of millions of
lives, not just for one day, but for months, perhaps years or decades.
If he's still alive, I'm sure he's laughing with glee.
--
Keith F. Lynch - kfl at keithlynch.net - http://keithlynch.net/
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