Better late than never, part two

Awareness of the reach of restrictions on liberties is beginning to penetrate the major mass media. WCBS-TV in New York reported on February 5 that it

has learned of a top secret government list of Americans who are not allowed on any commercial airlines.

Now, the existence of the no-fly list may have come as a surprise to WCBS, but I'm sure to no one here. The important thing, however, is that it's getting some attention from a major-market TV station. And pretty good coverage, too, based on the written version, from which here's a fairly lengthy quote:

"The government has blacked out the information about what criteria they use to place people on these lists. So we don't know how someone gets on the list. How they can get off the list if they're on it incorrectly, we don't know. If the government monitors the list, we don't know if any of this makes us any safer. What we do know is hundreds, maybe thousands, of passengers are being routinely hassled, innocent passengers, because of these lists," ACLU attorney Jayashri Srikantiah told CBS 2. ...

"It's very scary that our government is keeping a list. That's scary," Adams said. [Janet Adams is a peace activist who was prevented from flying, prompting the story.]

Scary and all too real. The government has admitted it has a secret no-fly list of people who are not allowed to fly. And also has a secret selected list of people who are to be singled out, detained, and questioned.

Both are stored in airline databases and are accessed at check in. The lists allegedly contain thousands of names of passengers who are to be stopped before boarding commercial flights. ...

The list is now alleged to include not only suspected terrorists and those believed to be a threat to aviation security but civil rights activists say it also targets people based on their political views. A list that is thought to include members of the Green Party, a Jesuit priest who is a peace activist and two civil rights attorneys. ...

And as of today, Gordon and Adams still don't have any answers from the government but have a court hearing set for April 9th.

Hopefully, WCBS will follow up. Now, I know at least one of you is in the New York area. Maybe a call to WCBS to remind them when the time comes?