My anti-Bush tshirt got me an extra background check at the airport.

[JohnOneillsMemory]

Here's a warning of what can happen to you if you fly with an anti-Bush shirt. It was the one with a big picture of W with the caption "International Terrorist." (This was the same shirt that got a kid kicked out of a high school in Michigan last spring.) It was the morning after Ted Kennedy's accusations of fraudulent war came out. September 19 was one of those days when you want to scream 'bloody murder' all day long in outrage. I was flying with a band from Shreveport, LA to Houston-the 'George Bush Int'l Airport.' I was going to perform with a band on the campus of Texas A&M where the George Bush Presidential Library is. For these reasons, I couldn't resist wearing this shirt printed with the admittedly harsh truth. I got through the usual security checks normally. One of the TSA folks even asked me what I thought of Clark getting in the race in a supportive tone. Another laughed and asked where I got the shirt. While I waited to board at the gate half an hour later, I was approached by an airport cop who wanted to see my boarding pass and ID again. He wrote down all the info from my driver's licence without a word of explanation as my co-workers stared in silence. After a few minutes, I went and found the cop at the security checkpoint and asked why my licence info was taken. He said it was for a further background check. I asked why. He said because of the word 'terrorist' on my shirt. (I should have asked if I'd get the same treatment with a shirt accusing bin Laden of being a terrorist.)Another security official in a business suit standing with him said it was a troubling word so they checked me out. I told them that people were being put on 'no-fly' lists for political reasons and not security and that my livlihood depended on flying and my security depended on their doing a good job but they were checking out the wrong guy and for the wrong reason. They thanked me cooly for my cooperation and we left it at that. BUT-when I got on the plane, a co-worker said that he when he had gone down the hall to the restroom, he saw air marshalls with a big photo spread of me taken as I went through the security checkpoint. AND-an air marshall had taken a seat behind me at the gate and pretended to read a newspaper while he tried to listen to my conversations with the people I was flying with. All for speaking the truth about W. I probably have a file now and can look forward to being searched and scrutinized from now on. And the band I work for does 'Americal the Beautiful' every show. They might change up the set-list now. I travel with a large group of African-Americans. Some try to tell me that, because I'm white, I can get away with anything and only they can know what it's like to be born with a target on your back. I'm not naive. I was raised on the liberation literature of the 50's and 60's. When I was 11 years old in 1972, I read about the Black Panthers, the assasination of Fred Hampton, Kent State, the Pentagon Papers, etc. I learned that you have to be willing to stand up and speak the truth even if it denies you the protection of anonymity. After we left the airport, one of the guys in the band bought me a drink "for having the balls to wear that shirt in Houston." Ah, friends...

[thebigidea]

1. yeah, always fun

I seem to get flagged each time I fly and get the full treatment. At leasts it gives you something to use the word "Kafkaesque" to describe...

and I'm sure its a VERY sensible policy - after all, REAL terrorists always make sure to wear one item that has the word "TERRORIST" written on it. Makes fellow terrorists easier to spot, and oh boy does it break the ice at parties.

[RobertSeattle]

2. Just don't fly with a Guy named Jack....

...As in "Hi Jack!"

[rocktivity]

3. Do they REALLY think terrorists are dumb enough

to wear the word on their shirts and discuss their plans loudly enough to be overheard while seated on the plane? Even that guy who tried to ignite his shoes, as moran-ic as that was, got on the plane without being noticed!


rocknation

[Wwagsthedog]

7. They're dumb enough to think terrorists are dumb enough

After all, they don't have a very successful track record do they?

[sweetheart]

4. good for you

More people should have the balls to wear that tshirt. I should get one myself... what tshirt is it. If they waste resources chasing down innocent people based on tshirts, the more it happens, the more they lose. Nonviolent protest... wear them down... just it hurts being human sandpaper.

We all have a file... face it. They are paranoid psychotics and we are opposition writers... No worries, the more they focus on the wrong people, the worse they will screw up... and they are so down deep in their own grave, the dirt's not makin' it out of the hole, just falling back down on them. Ruling the world through military occupation starts at home.

[Robb]

5. Er,

...So you'd like these TSA guys to waste their resources chasing the wrong people? I mean, I'm no fan, but come on!

[sweetheart]

8. secret disappearance squads

get no sympathy from me. I don't trust any police ever. They are all part of a criminal gang of evil men. I say whatever they want me to say so they don't beat me up... that is my take on police.

I have no respect for the crap job they do in airports fucking with people... in my own respect, i view all the airport intrusions as fucking with me, as i have no profile whatsoever of a terrorist besides being outspoken. I have never owned a firearm. I don't believe in violent solutions to perceived political crisis... yet i am harassed just as much as the next air traveller. They took away a good pair of nail clippers... woof!

We all have the human right to the presumption of innocence. Given that, why is it that they can't just check me out once, decide that i am a low-terrorism risk and leave me the fuck alone. Why is it that we must distrust every civil person every time they wish to travel on a bloody aircraft. Over and over in those stupid stinking queues with all the travellers eyeing each other to see who they'd want to shag if there were no rules in life.

Why, because of american wars of occupation and military conquest.. the new millenia crusade... and that is just fucking evil shit, so any protest that wastes resources is good protest.

[jackcgt]

10. Are you kidding me?

why is it that they can't just check me out once, decide that i am a low-terrorism risk and leave me the fuck alone.

Why, because then a terrorist will take his first flight without any weapons just so they'll say, "OK, you're good this time, Sir, we'll never check you again."

Also, you have a very nuanced and intelligent view of the police and the TSA workers. Do you really think that the majority of TSA workers love Bush? Here in Atlanta I would say that approx. 90% of them are black. Not exactly the profile of a Bush sympathizer. Come on. Grow up.

[sweetheart]

11. ok

Fine, i accept that people are doing their jobs, but they are part of a dark evil machine and the more the resources are drained from the machine, the better for all people on earth... and the collapse of a dark empire is never missed.

They are good folks the little helpless cogs in the big machine who have no choice but to take harassment jobs.

By the way regarding terrorist risk. On the reservation computer data archives, i'm sure there are records of me flying 100's of thousands of miles... and surely given a programmer and a little data mining, i could produce a list for you of frequent life-long global airtravellers who have no profile for terrorism... and why not offer frequent flyers such a "check-free" pass or a way to have the nazi's dig through my background, and talk to my parents and decide whether i am a terrorism risk and then get out of my face.

There is no reason for a police officer to be shaking down an innocent person... ever. Hastling people should be reserved for serious just cause.. not stupid tshirts...

Drain the resources of the american military evil police state so that it does not have the money to murder more arabs. The whole system has become nazi-evil and defending the police state status quo as "security" is banal. Truly excellent intelligence departments could end all terrorism and eliminate all airport queues and shakedowns... the whole thing is incompetence institutionalized by a criminal state. The individual people's fine that.... but police are evil.

[jackcgt]

16. I enjoy your rhetorical flair, but did you seriously suggest that

they call your parents and ask if you're safe? Oh man. No but seriously, here's what would happen.

It's so easy to identify innocent people without checking them though, right? I look innocent. If I get checked, I'm gonna raise hell. How about that? Do I look innocent because I'm white? Or maybe because I wear nice clothes? Because I am old?

The only alternative to checking everyone or checking randomly is profiling. You choose...

[sweetheart]

18. actually, i would support a mandatory identity card

I realize it creates serious privacy concerns, and such... but if every resident of the US has a proper ID, computerized profiling can eliminate most all but minor intrustions on airport checkins.

Firstly, checking the previous flight history of candidate... in my case it would be 38 years of non-terrorist flying... not my age, but the number of years i've been going intercontinental on aircraft. geesh, i ain't hyjakked one yet, when am i going to go bin laden?

With the real-american-citizen database, i could determine very quickly whether you were in a risk category between say 1 and 10... each an order of magnitude sort of like decibels. A profiled 10, should be traced secretly to determine if they are a terrorist, and if not, then they are reprofiled to benign.

Over time, we end up with a whole database of benign citizens and no need to rummage through my purse to see if my lip balm is a biotoxin.

[newyawker99]

13. Hi jackcgt!!

Welcome to DU!!

[Paragon]

6. Should give you an indication of how well Bush scare tactics are working

I'm surprised they even let you on the plane.

[sweetheart]

9. texas A&M is neocon Baradur

Sauron lives there and commands his ringwraiths in crawford to drain the life blood of all living things. As you approach the dark tower university, your will to live will be perverted and you will have bad luck. For a healthy soul, it is wise to avoid TAMU. For those trapped there, food for sauron's neocon army..

The omen is they fuck with you at TAMU... why is that? because they're neocon stock and neocons are not just happy doing their own thing... they have to fuck with people. If all the people at Tamu just keeled over from smallpox or something and it overgrew with ivy and a million years later shallow marshland with melted polar icecaps. . . it will be gladly forgotten by the human race.

[JohnOneillsMemory]

14. Ouch, Sweetheart. I met a cool student there who wasn't a dittohead.

We were driven the two hours from TAMU to Houston airport by a student who was a senior studying economics. I asked her if she knew about Peak Oil, the PNAC, Black Box Voting etc. She said she hadn't heard about that stuff. She watched CNN and Fox News. She said the students she knew were absolutely clueless about their government and one of her economics teachers was a hardcore neo-con who taught them outright business fraud and didn't believe in welfare. She was interested in labor law and understood how policies affect people's lives. She knew it would be almost impossible to find work in Houston because of the Enron/Arthur Anderson crash and burn leaving tens of thousands looking for work. So I gave her a mini-seminar on American Imperialism: I told her all about the Bush Family Evil Empire, from supporting the Nazis in WWII to the PNAC oil war in Iraq, the installing and arming of Saddam, savaging the Bill of Rights with the Patriot Act etc. She was fascinated so I gave her a bunch of websites and topics to look up for herself. I try to spread the story of the petro-Nazis who hijacked the White House where ever I go and lots of people are amazed and receptive. Moral: Don't write anyone off as unreachable and know the facts so you can tell a compelling story!

[sweetheart]

17. "I" went to Tamu

and it is neocon baradur. There are reachable people there, as in my own case... and.. as in the cases of every TAMU survivor i know, the secret was leaving that university. It is a racist university as came out on a thread here not long back. I was embellishing my experiences of being fucked with by rednecks on that campus. I plan to eviscerate them in fiction forever those evil pig fucking neocon assholes who use a public university as a path to appearant legitimacy... yet inside they are always cowardly little perverts.


I wholly respect the gross untruths of such generalizations, but please forgive as a victem of abuse venting. You go spend a few years at that school before mouthing to me about my facts... i may be flowery with words on the bloody place, but i ain't forgot.

"Goodbye to texas university, so long to the orange and the white, hello to dear old texas aggies, they are the ones who hold the real fight? the eyes of texas are upon you, that is the song you sing so well... sounds like hell, so goodbye to texas univeristy, we're gonna beat you all to chigaroogarem?.. saw varsity's horns off,..."

[JohnOneillsMemory]

25. I understand. The place scared the shit outta me.

Heavy heavy violent tribal group think. Lots of Military, football, fundamentalist, arch-conservativisms of every type flourishing in testosterone fueled vigor...I can't imagine anyone with humanist values enduring it for any period of time. I was there for two days and I'm still recovering from the willies. You have my sympathy as an abuse survivor, sweetheart. I do understand. One is tempted to say something like, 'forgive them for they know not what they do...except the bastards who do and enjoy it!'

[Iris]

12. Thanks for fighting the good fight.

I wouldn't have the guts to wear the shirt anywhere much less an airport!

[mainer]

19. ditto ditto

i'm glad there are people who have the guts to wear such shirts. All I manage to do is drive around with a Dean bumper sticker, and even that feels like an act of bravery in these times. I get pulled aside all the time at airports because I travel so much on one-way tickets for business, but I always try hard to maintain a low profile because -- well, men in uniforms scare me. Now more than ever.

[otohara]

15. My Bumper Sticker Waranted Big Wads of Spit

on my windows....nice folks those wingers

[Cat Atomic]

20. My friend got on a plane with a shirt that said, "I'm da bomb"

And he got himself an extra search as well. I think it was the word "terrorist", personally.

[Fatima]

21. That's one reason why I don't wear hijab

Might as well say "Turra-Ist" all over me...and the point of veiling is to be INconspicuous, not obvious. If other Muslims don't like it, tough.

Props to you for your courage, however...I think it's great that you wore the shirt and kept your cool thru the whole thing. I have a hot temper and I know full well I would have been in Gitmo by day's end after telling the first cop to cram it sideways. That's just how angry I am these days.

[jburton]

22. Where did your band play?

Somewhere on Northgate? I graduated / escaped in '99.

The quasi-irish bar place had a laid-back crowd upstairs with bands. I can't remember the name of it.

[JohnOneillsMemory]

24. We played in Rudder Auditorium on campus.

It was the first show of the season on campus so before our show started there was a mandated playing of a CD recording with the school chorus singing the national anthem. I told the official giving me the CD (I'm the group's audio engineer) that I wasn't happy to comply since "nationalism is in poor taste while war crimes are being committed." He didn't look receptive to my opinion to say the least. I sang my own lyrics loudly when it came to 'the bombs bursting in air,' "40,000 IRAQIS NO LONGER ALIVE THERE..."

[jburton]

28. Concert in Rudder?

You can't even have a soda pop in there!

[JohnOneillsMemory]

29. It was opera, jazz,blues, broadway, gospel,spirituals, soul

Ever heard of Three Mo' Tenors? They headlined last year in LA for the big Democratic fundraiser with Barbara Streisand and Barry Manilow. Also the Jerry Lewis telethon and the White House's national christmas tree lighting ceremony (ech.)

[baldguy]

23. Don't change you set list.

First, wear the shirt, tell your story, THEN play the song.

[LynneSin]

26. That probably wasn't the best idea

I mean I have a few including DU's "Homeland Security Suspect". I figured I don't need to advertise for more strip searches at the airports.

You're a braver person than me!

[Kamika]

27. Heres my story

This was in februari after 911 we went home from korea and the airport securitygirl saw my coke bottle in my hand held bag.. she goes.. whats that??

just my coke.

she goes "Drink it"

so i had to drink it up and everyone saw it. i swear if she hadnt been strong and a security guard (and had a gun) i would have beaten her up.

Anyway im sure glad they check asianamerican women so thoroughly because you never know if were a terrorist or not