MULTIPASS!!

Okay maybe an inappropriately humorous introduction to some really scary shit. Attaturk of Rising Hegemon and Eschaton fame, posted this Orwellian tale at the latter.

The story of Professor Walter F. Murphy, emeritus of Princeton University
Full text at Balkinization
"When I tried to use the curb-side check in at the Sunport, I was denied a boarding pass because I was on the Terrorist Watch list. I was instructed to go inside and talk to a clerk. At this point, I should note that I am not only the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence (emeritus) but also a retired Marine colonel. I fought in the Korean War as a young lieutenant, was wounded, and decorated for heroism. I remained a professional soldier for more than five years and then accepted a commission as a reserve office, serving for an additional 19 years."

"I presented my credentials from the Marine Corps to a very polite clerk for American Airlines. One of the two people to whom I talked asked a question and offered a frightening comment: "Have you been in any peace marches? We ban a lot of people from flying because of that." I explained that I had not so marched but had, in September, 2006, given a lecture at Princeton, televised and put on the Web, highly critical of George Bush for his many violations of the Constitution. "That'll do it," the man said. "

No further comment necessary, this speaks for itself.

The Ghost of Abramoff Present.

As pointed out by Holden (of First Draft), over at Eschaton , today

" What will those same anchors (referring to CNN coverage of Sen Johnson's illness) say when Jack Abramoff takes out Thad Cochran?"

TPMmuckraker
Email: Abramoff Associate Urged Funds for GOP Sen. Who "Never Said No"
By Paul Kiel
December 14, 2006, 3:07 PM

Washington runs on money -- no one understood that better than Jack Abramoff, who built his empire directing huge volumes of sometimes clean, sometimes dirty money from interest groups to politicians (and directed political favors back the other way).

Another man who understands the maxim is Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS), a senior lawmaker who has helped control the flow of billions of dollars from his seat on the Senate Appropriations Committee for many years....

An email obtained by TPMmuckraker and never before published provides perhaps the best example of a lobbyist hitting up his colleagues for donations to a friendly lawmaker. In it, one of Abramoff's lobbyists makes a strong pitch for contributions to Cochran in the midst of his 2002 re-election campaign because "Sen. Cochran's office [had] never said 'no'" to the Mississippi Choctaw -- the casino-owning tribe that was one of Abramoff's prime clients since the beginning of his lobbying career.