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raw story wrote:Professor who criticized Bush added to terrorist 'no-fly' list

A top Constitutional scholar from Princeton who gave a televised speech that slammed President George W. Bush's executive overreach recently learned that he had been added to the Transportation Security Administration's terrorist watch list. He shared his experience this weekend at the law blog Balkinization.

Walter F. Murphy, the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Emeritus, at Princeton University, attempted to check his luggage at the curbside in Albuquerque before boarding a plane to Newark, New Jersey. Murphy was told he could not use the service.

"I was denied a boarding pass because I was on the Terrorist Watch list," he said.

When inquiring with a clerk why he was on the list, Murphy was asked if he had participated in any peace marches.

"We ban a lot of people from flying because of that," a clerk said.

murphy wrote:There were two American Airlines people there. And I don’t know -- you know, I can't remember now who was saying what, because the more I thought about it and realized it wasn't my mistake that I was in there, I began having a little smoke come out of my ears. But one of the two people I talked to asked, “Have you been in any peace marches?” And then, before I could answer, he says, “We ban a lot of people from flying for that.” And then I said, “No, but I did give a speech attacking George Bush.” And he said, “Oh, that will do it.”

clocker bob wrote:Murphy was interviewed by Amy Goodman this morning:

transcript

murphy wrote:There were two American Airlines people there. And I don’t know -- you know, I can't remember now who was saying what, because the more I thought about it and realized it wasn't my mistake that I was in there, I began having a little smoke come out of my ears. But one of the two people I talked to asked, “Have you been in any peace marches?” And then, before I could answer, he says, “We ban a lot of people from flying for that.” And then I said, “No, but I did give a speech attacking George Bush.” And he said, “Oh, that will do it.”

Minotaur029 wrote:This sort of stuff used to fill me with rage...

It's hard to see the point of pointing out how openly evil the Bush Administration is anymore...

We know the Bush administration lies. We all know that. They have been caught in their lies. But it doesn't matter.

Many of us who are academics, as well as many on the left, and many who are well-informed, knew that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq as well as no connection between 9/11 and Iraq. Now, even the mainstream media knows this. We all know about the torture--the images from Abu Ghraib have circulated widely. We know about domestic wire tapping. And, let's not forget the stupid scandal from a few years back involving paid politicos pretending to be journalists. We know, in other words, that the administration blatantly lies, and lies frequently. But it doesn't matter.

Some might say that with a Democratic Congress that it does matter. After all, there is oversight, subpoenas. But, let's face it, despite the crimes and criminality, this President will not be impeached. Nor will he and his administration be tried for war crimes. Both of these are necessary for justice and for anything like the future of something like justice, constitutionalism, a republic, not to mention democracy, in the US future.

So, does it not matter because they are immune? above the law, like Nixon liked to say? I don't think so. Bush has always been this way. He always thinks that his words make reality, that they constitute it, that the facts that they rest of us know are simply reality-based (yes, that term is now an insult).

I think Theweleit might have an insight applicable to this situation. In the second volume of Male Fantasies, he describes an SS camp commandant masturbating during the public flogging of an inmate--he "grows larger and more whole with every movement." I think the Bush administration grows larger and more whole at every revelation of their violation, their illegality. Or, better put, at their decisive willingness to do what they will regardless of law and opinion. Describing the prisoners forced to watch the flogging, as well as witness the self-satisfaction of the commandant (and other SS guards), Theweleit writes:

they embody the concrete utopia of a disempowered public morality. The fascists incorporate all authority figures, including parents, into themselves. For them, the age of concealment, of renunciation, of dying is past: they need to conceal nothing. "Look at us," they seem to say, "this is what we are, men who take what we need, who should never be seen to have any kind of inhibition."

Andrew L. wrote:

Minotaur029 wrote:This sort of stuff used to fill me with rage...

It's hard to see the point of pointing out how openly evil the Bush Administration is anymore...

Another academic, Jodi Dean, has recently been reflecting on the empowerment of the naked emperor on her blog:

We know the Bush administration lies. We all know that. They have been caught in their lies. But it doesn't matter.

Many of us who are academics, as well as many on the left, and many who are well-informed, knew that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq as well as no connection between 9/11 and Iraq. Now, even the mainstream media knows this. We all know about the torture--the images from Abu Ghraib have circulated widely. We know about domestic wire tapping. And, let's not forget the stupid scandal from a few years back involving paid politicos pretending to be journalists. We know, in other words, that the administration blatantly lies, and lies frequently. But it doesn't matter.

Some might say that with a Democratic Congress that it does matter. After all, there is oversight, subpoenas. But, let's face it, despite the crimes and criminality, this President will not be impeached. Nor will he and his administration be tried for war crimes. Both of these are necessary for justice and for anything like the future of something like justice, constitutionalism, a republic, not to mention democracy, in the US future.

So, does it not matter because they are immune? above the law, like Nixon liked to say? I don't think so. Bush has always been this way. He always thinks that his words make reality, that they constitute it, that the facts that they rest of us know are simply reality-based (yes, that term is now an insult).

I think Theweleit might have an insight applicable to this situation. In the second volume of Male Fantasies, he describes an SS camp commandant masturbating during the public flogging of an inmate--he "grows larger and more whole with every movement." I think the Bush administration grows larger and more whole at every revelation of their violation, their illegality. Or, better put, at their decisive willingness to do what they will regardless of law and opinion. Describing the prisoners forced to watch the flogging, as well as witness the self-satisfaction of the commandant (and other SS guards), Theweleit writes:

they embody the concrete utopia of a disempowered public morality. The fascists incorporate all authority figures, including parents, into themselves. For them, the age of concealment, of renunciation, of dying is past: they need to conceal nothing. "Look at us," they seem to say, "this is what we are, men who take what we need, who should never be seen to have any kind of inhibition."

jayryan wrote:i made two anti-bush posters and ended up on that list, too.