Yesterday the American Civil Liberties Union has challenged the government's no-fly list in a federal lawsuit filed here behalf of 10 people. The complaint alleges that the list has illegally kept innocent citizens or legal residents from traveling and violates their constitutional rights. It says the system of determining who should or should not be allowed to fly is broken, and has left people stranded as they traveled abroad. There are hundreds of people stranded overseas right now with no idea how they got on the list and no way to get off it and on a plane bound for home. Only one person has been able to Beat The Reeper thus far. Only one... and he did it through sheer relentless persistence. If the ACLU wins this round, American citizens will be able to find out if their names are on the List and take steps to redress this governmental crime. And of course those stranded in limbo will at long last be able to board.
Can air travel possible get any worse? The humiliating searches, interminable delays, surreal restrictions, the stale nuts…? And now this: Maggots falling from an overhead luggage locker forced a US Airways flight to return to the gate at Atlanta airport. Passenger Donna Adamo said, "And as they're telling us to stay calm and seated, I see a maggot looking back at me and I'm thinking, 'These are anaerobic, flesh-eating larvae that the flight attendants don't have to sit with.'" The plane was cleaned and then continued on to Charlotte.
- KBOO