The last bedrocks of the Red Nation are starting to peel away.  They are begining to realize that Bush (and the Homeland Security edifice he created) are abusing the power that has been granted to them. We should use this to our advantage, not attack the late converts to the cause.

I think your point about empathy gets it backwards.  Most Americans want to believe that the Bush Administration and the TSA are trying to do the right thing.  They already are convinced that the Bushies and the TSA are incompetent (thanks to Katrina, Iraq, etc.), but I do not think that most Americans have internalized the truth that Bush has politicized the War on Terror (their caps, not mine).  When people find out that Conservative Constitutional law professors are getting put on the watchlist, that raises the likelihood that they will understand that dissent, not danger, is the metric for getting put on the list.

NT

".  . . . . until they came for me.
And there was no one left to speak up."

         Pastor Martin Niemoller

As long as the "privileged elite" think that none of the abuses will ever touch them, we can probably expect it to go on. That's what happened in Germany in the 1930's.

The hope is that many many good people will speak up loud and often. We continue to have lots of work to do. All of us.

Appalachia is literally being bombed away by mountaintop removal coal mining. And its no small scale occurance. Around a million acres have already been blasted away, with that set to double in the next 10 years.

Culturally, it looks and feels like a completely different country than the rest of America. I love Appalachia desperately, and am so proud of the intellectual and cultural legacy of the Appalachian region (see "The United States of Appalachia"), and its sad to see what the coal companies are turning it into.  There is high unemployment, low high-school completeion rate,  and lots of people leaving.

Not to mention that people are having to drink, clean and cook with bottled water because their wells are poisoned by coal waste. Not to mention that high school kids are dying of cancer because their schools are next to coal processing plants and right underneath sludge dams holding back billions of gallons of toxic coal waste.

Matt, I know its not really a huge part of your post, I just wanted to acknowledge the mention of Appalachia and say thanks.

peace,
jw

I'll repeat a comment I made over at TAPPED:

I have some reservations about this story. First, the exchange does not seem natural.  I'm not sure we have either the full story or a completely accurate account.  Second, is "one of the two people with whom I talked" a person who worked for the airlines or DHS, or was that a random bystander? How would this person know how someone gets in the list? Was this just rumor or speculation? Finally, do we even know Mr. Murphy is actually on the list, or was there a coincidence of names and it is a different "Walter Murphy" who is on the list?

I'm not saying the list is a good thing--it is completely wrong and needs to be ended--but with respect to this specific story, some more research is needed before we take it and begin passing it along as the truth.

I'd feel a lot better if I knew there was any kind of reasonable oversight concerning the watchlist progress.  That still doesn't mean I buy this particular story, although I don't think it matters.

Anyway, I don't think I understand who Matt is preaching to with this post.  The readership of this blog is largely comprised of people who feel strongly about the war in Iraq even though they're not fighting in it, people who fight against racism and discrimination even though they're white and privileged, people who see fighting poverty as an important issue even though they're not poor, people who see outsourcing as a major problem even though they're in no danger of being outsourced, etc.  (Of course, I'm not trying to pretend we don't also have people who have personally experienced these issues, but I hope you see my point.)

There's no shortage of empathy for problems we can't personally relate to, which is a big part of why we're liberals in the first place.

Exactly the reaction I had to reading about this.  I'm sure that it was annoying and inappropriate the way he was treated, but I found the implicit elitism of the whole thing to be a little frustrating.

Look, these procedures now inconvenience smart, rich, well-connected people.  It's important to note how far-reaching and broad the effects might be but let's remember that the overwhelming majority of people don't have powerful and influential friends who can publicize their troubles.

And that's what may have been what got him on the watch list.

To complain that it's only when big shots get put on the list that there are problems misses the point.  If EVEN people like Murphy get put on the list, think of the danger to everyone.  Murphy is a sort of canary in the mine, though it's hardly news.

P.S. I do have an alternate, "crackpot," theory.  So many persons with common Irish names--Edward Kennedy, Murphy, etc. have repeatedly had problems that it may be that the British dumped a huge database of IRA suspects/names on the list.  And of course, since it's obvious that the list is never truly edited or targeted, all these Irish names stay there forever.

If my wild guess is right then it just goes to show how uselessly idiotic the lists are for the purpose of ensuring flight safety.  In addition to a deprivation of numerous constitutionally guaranteed liberties, of course.

What bothered me about this story is the military history angle.

At first, when he mentioned that he was a retired colonel, I assumed he was pointing out the absurdity of the diligence put into placing people on the list.

But that, to my reading, was not what he was saying.  What he was saying was that, sure, some people like me may be on the watch list.  But I'm retired military so I'm different and therefor this is a terrrible injustice.  Look, here are my military credentials!!

But, apparently, if you haven't served, well, you're outta luck and he doesn't have much sympathy.

Now I understand.  Matt's observation is on point.

Who cares if the guy is an ex-marine, law professor, Alito supporter?  How is that relevant?  Does that make him more entitled to civil rights than anyone else?  Do when only get shocked or take action when its the "privileged" that have their civil rights infringed?

I think a lot of people tend to see things through a "us-good" vs "them-bad" prism.  As long as people can categorize things in this manner, they can rationalize the most absurd laws and rules, because it applies only to "them".  I think this Professor was firmly in the "us" category, and was unceremoniously dumped into the "them" pile.

Most Americans shrugged when they heard about the unauthorized wiretapping, because that only affected "them" not us.  Similarly, we ignore the denial of habeas corpus to "them", because supposedly it will not affect "us".  Jose Padilla doesn't count, because he seems to be one of "them".  Recently the NSL letters from the FBI stopped being a "them" issue, when some of "us" received them.

The Terrorist Watch List, how bad could it be, we put "them" on a watch list and it keeps "us" safe.  Now that many of "us" are being thrown on that watch list, well it's un-American.

I, for one, am usually glad when things intended to screw over "them" starts screwing "us" over,  because it forces "us" to re-look issues as a collective "we".

Of course you're right.  That's the history of these things.  Paranoia, at best, always reigns, and individual rights go right down the drain.  

Watch lists are necessary--but perhaps only for persons with arrest warrants or such.  Even then they would only be effective if there was a perfect ID system, and there isn't. Certainly NAMES aren't enough.  Anybody for national ID cards?  Lots of problems there, too.

So there is a justice issue and a safety issue.

And a competence issue.  The sad thing about these lists is that they apparently are wanting in all three instances.

Should such a list exist at all?  What I find strange is the acceptance of its existence.  No one should be on that list unless they've been convicted of a crime.  Last time I checked no one was supposed to be punished or have any rights removed until they'd faced a jury of their peers.

Ah, such quaint ideas.