{"id":624,"date":"2010-06-28T11:17:23","date_gmt":"2010-06-28T11:17:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/apagansblog\/2010\/06\/6-year-old-placed-on-terror-list-and-something-to-do-about-it.html"},"modified":"2010-06-28T11:17:23","modified_gmt":"2010-06-28T11:17:23","slug":"6-year-old-placed-on-terror-list-and-something-to-do-about-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2010\/06\/6-year-old-placed-on-terror-list-and-something-to-do-about-it.html","title":{"rendered":"6 Year Old Placed on Terror List &#8211; and something to do about it"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--StartFragment--><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Alyssa Thomas, a six year old, was placed on the land of the<br \/>\nfree and home of the brave&#8217;s no fly list by the Department of Homeland<br \/>\nSecurity.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>When notified of their<br \/>\nerror they refused to remove her name.<span>&nbsp;<br \/>\n<\/span>Bureaucratic arrogance and heartlessness is not a failing just of<br \/>\nFascist and Communist systems.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>We<br \/>\ngrow our own.<span>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">As the forces wanting the<span>&nbsp; <\/span>US to sink ever more deeply into authoritarianism it becomes<br \/>\nincreasingly important for citizens, particularly of unpopular minorities, to<br \/>\npush back.<span>&nbsp; <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2010\/06\/27\/alyssa-thomas-6yearoid-tu_n_626958.html#comments\">Pharos<\/a>, in a comment on<br \/>\nthe Huffingtonpost story that first alerted me to it &nbsp;suggested we write our Representatives and Senators.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>I think this might work if a modest number of people did so<br \/>\n&#8211; and pay big dividends for us all down the line.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Here is a possible letter and contact information for your<br \/>\nSenators and Representative.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>They<br \/>\nwill not likely read it, but members of their staff will, and if the arrogant<br \/>\nidiots at Homeland Security get enough queries, perhaps this policy will be<br \/>\nchanged in the direction of decency.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Details below the fold:<\/p>\n<p><!--EndFragment--><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><br \/>\n<!--StartFragment--><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Six year old Alyssa Thomas turned up on a no fly list.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>Mistakes happen.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>But when her father, a doctor in Ohio,<br \/>\ninformed &#8220;Homeland Security&#8221; that they had made a mistake, according to AOL and<br \/>\nother news sources they replied that nothing in her file will be changed. &nbsp;TSA may as well have written &#8220;We are stupid and wrong, and proud of it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Perhaps you wonder why so many of us are developing a<br \/>\ncontempt for government, a contempt that is dangerous for the long term<br \/>\nwell-being of our country?<span>&nbsp; <\/span>This<br \/>\nkind of Kafkaesque reasoning is partly why.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">There may be someone with the same or similar name, but if<br \/>\nso Homeland Security has an obligation to provide enough information that<br \/>\ninnocent people are not barred from flying or put through unnecessary<br \/>\nhassles.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>As I remember, Senator<br \/>\nKennedy was on the list at one time.<span>&nbsp;<br \/>\n<\/span>The potential for abuse, petty score settling, and simple harassment is<br \/>\ntoo great under the Bush era mentality that set this thing up. I hope you agree<br \/>\nthere is still the rule of law in this country, and at a minimum that means a<br \/>\nprivate citizen&#8217;s life cannot be made more difficult because of an arbitrary<br \/>\nand irresponsible decision by some bureaucrat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">You can find out more here<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/video\/#\/video\/us\/2010\/06\/25\/6.yr-old.on.no.fly.list.WJW?hpt=T2\">http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/video\/#\/video\/us\/2010\/06\/25\/6.yr-old.on.no.fly.list.WJW?hpt=T2<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aolnews.com\/nation\/article\/ohio-6-year-oid-alyssa-thomas-turns-up-on-terror-watch-list\/19532082\">http:\/\/www.aolnews.com\/nation\/article\/ohio-6-year-oid-alyssa-thomas-turns-up-on-terror-watch-list\/19532082<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">I ask you to please see what can be done to rectify this<br \/>\ntravesty to common sense and justice and waste of taxpayer money.<span>&nbsp; <\/span>I look forward to hearing from you what<br \/>\nyou have done to safeguard your constituents, and Americans in general, from<br \/>\nthis kind of idiocy. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Sincerely,<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Your name<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">You can find contact information for your Senators and your<br \/>\nRepresentatives here:<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.senate.gov\/general\/contact_information\/senators_cfm.cfm\">Senators<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.house.gov\/\">Representatives&nbsp;<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!--EndFragment--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alyssa Thomas, a six year old, was placed on the land of the free and home of the brave&#8217;s no fly list by the Department of Homeland Security.&nbsp; When notified of their error they refused to remove her name.&nbsp; Bureaucratic arrogance and heartlessness is not a failing just of Fascist and Communist systems.&nbsp; We grow&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[111],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>6 Year Old Placed on Terror List - and something to do about it - A Pagan&#039;s Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2010\/06\/6-year-old-placed-on-terror-list-and-something-to-do-about-it.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"6 Year Old Placed on Terror List - and something to do about it - A Pagan&#039;s Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Alyssa Thomas, a six year old, was placed on the land of the free and home of the brave&#8217;s no fly list by the Department of Homeland Security.&nbsp; When notified of their error they refused to remove her name.&nbsp; Bureaucratic arrogance and heartlessness is not a failing just of Fascist and Communist systems.&nbsp; We grow&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2010\/06\/6-year-old-placed-on-terror-list-and-something-to-do-about-it.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Pagan&#039;s Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-06-28T11:17:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gus diZerega\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"6 Year Old Placed on Terror List - and something to do about it - A Pagan&#039;s Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2010\/06\/6-year-old-placed-on-terror-list-and-something-to-do-about-it.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"6 Year Old Placed on Terror List - and something to do about it - A Pagan&#039;s Blog","og_description":"Alyssa Thomas, a six year old, was placed on the land of the free and home of the brave&#8217;s no fly list by the Department of Homeland Security.&nbsp; When notified of their error they refused to remove her name.&nbsp; Bureaucratic arrogance and heartlessness is not a failing just of Fascist and Communist systems.&nbsp; We grow&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2010\/06\/6-year-old-placed-on-terror-list-and-something-to-do-about-it.html","og_site_name":"A Pagan&#039;s Blog","article_published_time":"2010-06-28T11:17:23+00:00","author":"Gus diZerega","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2010\/06\/6-year-old-placed-on-terror-list-and-something-to-do-about-it.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2010\/06\/6-year-old-placed-on-terror-list-and-something-to-do-about-it.html","name":"6 Year Old Placed on Terror List - and something to do about it - A Pagan&#039;s Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-06-28T11:17:23+00:00","dateModified":"2010-06-28T11:17:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/#\/schema\/person\/d94ab0155d2780a0526af373b5c543f2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2010\/06\/6-year-old-placed-on-terror-list-and-something-to-do-about-it.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2010\/06\/6-year-old-placed-on-terror-list-and-something-to-do-about-it.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2010\/06\/6-year-old-placed-on-terror-list-and-something-to-do-about-it.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"6 Year Old Placed on Terror List &#8211; and something to do about it"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/","name":"A Pagan&#039;s Blog","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Gus diZerega","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/#\/schema\/person\/d94ab0155d2780a0526af373b5c543f2","name":"Gus diZerega","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/4f6\/4f6b5a87d91376eaf8d126df301ab8cdx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/4f6\/4f6b5a87d91376eaf8d126df301ab8cdx96.jpg","caption":"Gus diZerega"},"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/author\/gdizerega"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}