So, my partner and I flew to Toronto last week to visit an friend of his from Brazil. We spent 4 days hanging out with her, eating at some good restaurants, chatting all day & wandering around the malls because there just wasn't much to do in Toronto. On Sunday we took the train to the airport; the boyfriend went out to smoke, then we checked in. At the ticket counter for Continental, the lady very nicely informed me that I'm on the TSA's "no-fly" list....handed me information from the TSA informing me how I can clear my good name. Still a bit shocked, I asked her if this affected the flight that day, and she said no, you're already checked in. Have a good flight.
Okay.....
I'm still not quite sure what this all means. Why am I on this list? My name is as common as mud, and there's always the possibility that it's mistaken identity thing. Given the political climate of the past 5 years, however, I'm more than inclined to believe this is intentional. After all, I've written my share of nastygrams to assorted Repub congressional leaders in the past few years, primarily in response to endlessly stupid actions and rhetoric committed in my name towards "building democracy" in Iraq. Never, to the best of my knowledge, did I pose a threat in these letters. And yet here we are. Why did this happen? Which vindictive SOB in congress put me on this list? And, how do I get off this stupid thing?
So far, I've called the TSA, which put me on hold for an hour...I sent them an email, nicely asking them why I'm on a "no-fly" list, but no answer so far. I'm sure they'll take their time to respond, if they respond at all...
I've haven't written a diary before, but I thought I'd submit this to see if any Kossacks out there have any thoughts about what next step I should take. I've done some googling, and my story is pretty damn mild compared to some of the horror stories out there. Still, I have no guarantee that I won't be greeted at the airport in the future with German Shepherds and goons with rubber gloves.
So what can I do to get my name off this stupid list?