Criticize Bush, get on terrorist watch list
This has to be one of the scariest Bush stories I've heard lately. Now let me say right out that I use a more expansive version of the term "Bush story" to describe any horror story emanating from his years as President, not just incidents in which Bush was directly, personally involved.
Dr. Walter F. Murphy, an emeritus professor of political science at Princeton University, delivered a speech in September 2006 criticizing the Leader for his many violations of the U.S. constitution. I should state right up front that Murphy is no liberal. He doesn't like the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion, and he supported Judge Samuel Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court.
Bet he's sorry now.
On March 1, 2007, Dr. Murphy attempted to use curbside check-in prior to boarding an American Airlines flight at Newark, N.J. The Sky Cap informed him that he couldn't use curbside check-in because he was on the Terrorist Watch List and would have to talk to American Airlines inside the terminal. A clerk verified that he was on the Terrorist Watch List. He protested that he was a law-abiding American, a Marine Corps veteran. She asked him if he had participated in a peace march, and commented that a lot of peace marchers ended up on the list.
Murphy said he hadn't participated in any peace march, but had given that speech against Bush back in September. "That'll do it," she said. He was allowed to board his flight, but his luggage disappeared on the return flight. The clerk had told him his bags would be "ransacked."
That'll do it. What have we come to as a country if criticism of the Leader is enough to get one labeled a "terrorist"? This is more reminiscent of the former East Germany and other totalitarian states which spied on and sought to wreck the lives of dissidents. The dirty work was done by low-level employees . Their superiors had deniability. I suspect that Professor Murphy will be told eventually it was all a mistake, an error by a low level employee of the Transportation Security Administration who will be fired--they don't have union protection. And the next day, 200 more dissidents will be placed on the list.