[[image:treeavitar.jpg:logspirit:left:0]] ~ logspirit

Significant numbers of American citizens have been stopped from boarding airplanes throughout the United States under the new “no-fly” policy. Those detained and then grounded were members of organizations such as the Center for Constitutional Rights, Peace Action, a San Francisco-based antiwar magazine called War Times, and Ralph Nader’s Green Party presidential campaign.

Not all “no-fly” citizens are left wingers. A top official for the Eagle Forum, an old-line conservative group led by anti-feminist Phyllis Schlafly, said several of their group’s members have been delayed at security checkpoints for so long that they missed their flights.

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Writing about his no-fly nightmare in the Fairfield County Weekly, art dealer Doug Stuber, who had run Ralph Nader’s Green Party presidential campaign in North Carolina in 2000, was pulled out of a boarding line and grounded. He was about to make an important trip to Prague to gather artists for Henry James Art in Raleigh, N.C., when he was told (with ticket in hand) that he was not allowed to fly out that day.

Asking “why not?” he was told at Raleigh-Durham airport that because of the sniper attacks, no Greens were allowed to fly overseas on that day. The next morning he returned, and instead of paying $670 round trip, was forced into a $2,600 “same day” air fare. But what happened to Stuber during the next 24 hours is mind-boggling.

Stuber arrived at the airport at 6 a.m. and his first flight wasn’t due out until nearly six hours later. He had plenty of time. At exactly 10:52 a.m., just before boarding was to begin, he was approached by police officer Stanley (the same policeman who ushered him out of the airport the day before), who said that he “wanted to talk” to him. Stuber went with the police officer, but reminded him that no one had said he couldn’t fly, and that his flight was about to leave.

Officer Stanley took Stuber into a room and questioned him for an hour. Around noon, Stanley had introduced him to two Secret Service agents. The agents took full eye-open pictures of Stuber with a digital camera. Then they asked him details about his family, where he lived, who he ever knew, what the Greens are up to, etc.

At one point during his interrogation, Stuber asked if they really believed the Greens were equal to al Qaeda. Then they showed him a Justice Department document that actually shows the Greens as likely terrorists — just as likely as al Qaeda members. Stuber was released just before 1 PM, so he still had time to catch the later flight.

The agents walked Stuber to the Delta counter and asked that he be given tickets for the flight so that he could make his connections. The airline official promptly printed tickets, which relieved Stuber, who assumed that the Secret Service hadn’t stopped him from flying. Wrong! By the time Stuber was about to board, officer Stanley once again ushered him out the door and told him: “Just go to Greensboro, where they don’t know you, and be totally quiet about politics, and you can make it to Europe that way.”

In Greensboro, after Stuber showed his passport he was told that he could not fly overseas or domestically. Undeterred, he next traveled an hour-and-a-half to Charlotte. Of course, at Charlotte the same thing happened: “Get this terrorist out of here” was the mode the cops were in. Then Stuber drove three hours to his home after 43 hours of trying to catch a flight.

Stuber concluded that the Greens, whose values include nonviolence, social justice, etc., are now labeled terrorists by the Ashcroft-led Justice Department.

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For the Full Article go to:
http://www.interventionmag.com/cms/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=278 

I guess You just can’t be too Green these days. After all, if You care about the Earth, You just might want to save it from Corporate Rapers and their Anti-Democratic Fascist Puppet Governments - Hell, You might even ORGANIZE an educational gathering. So, You can’t be trusted. As long as You don’t care about the Earth, or make noises about Civil Liberties and Constitutional Rights, or promote Peace, or criticize Tax Cuts for the Rich - as long as You’re just a silent, eviscerated (no guts), conformist, Bon Voyage!  Thank Bush, send him pretzels and beer.

[[image:treeavitar.jpg::left:0]]  ~ logspirit