Monday, June 16, 2003

Flying with the Wrong Name

My second blog entry, What's in a Name?, presented the difficulty those with the common name Muhammad Ali have boarding a plane. It turns out that David Nelson, that is any of the hundreds of people named David Nelson, will also face difficulty boarding a plane.

Throughout Southern California and across the country, men named David Nelson report they have been harassed, questioned by FBI agents, pulled off airplanes, searched and then searched again when attempting air travel.

Apparently caught up in a nationwide dragnet for a real terrorist by that name, David Nelsons everywhere are being told their names produce red flags on airline screening software. The government, however, maintains that the problem is essentially a computer glitch the airlines must solve.

posted by Walter Reade at 9:34 PM

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Beat up a white kid

I had no idea. May 1^st is Beat-Up-A-White-Kid Day.

I wonder if Michael Jackson counts.







posted by Walter Reade at 9:16 PM

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Freedom of the press in China

Chinese journalists say that on June 2 editors relayed to them the first extensive list of banned topics issued since March's National People's Congress, when a new president and premier took office.

Among the taboo subjects: military doctor Jiang Yanyong, who blew the whistle on Sars; negative comparisons of China's medical system with those overseas; a revisionist historical television drama; prostitution among female university students in the city of Wuhan; the bribery case of a municipal party secretary in Heilongjiang province; and details of a submarine accident first reported by the Xinhua news agency on May 2.

In addition, the new instructions decree that natural disasters and accidents should be reported only by local media, not by the national media.

From the June 12, 2003 issue of Far Eastern Economic Review.

posted by Walter Reade at 6:40 AM

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