The U.S. "no-fly" list. A real success story, yes sir.

Remember that delightful "no-fly" list that the U.S. is using to (allegedly) make air travel safer. Apparently, it's getting a mite out of hand:

There are now 80,000 names on the U.S. government’s secret terror (”no-fly”) watchlist, according to a new report. Before 9/11, just 16 names were on the list, and by the end of the year the number jumped to 1,000. By 2002, the list had 40,000 names.

Note in that article how even prominent U.S. politicians end up on the list, and note the difficulty even they have getting themselves removed. How easy do you think it would be for Joe Average to have his name cleared once he's been added?

And why should we Canadians care? Don't forget that the U.S., just this year, wanted to impose its no-fly list on all Canadian domestic flights if they happened to pass through U.S. airspace. One suspects it would be awfully tempting for U.S. authorities to add the names of Canadian "troublemakers" to that list just to make their lives miserable, even if those Canadians had no intention of entering the United States.

Oh, come now, you think, would the Bush administration really be that childish, petty and vindictive? (Pregnant pause.) You didn't really just ask that question, did you?

I'LL JUST BET this guy would have something to say about that no-fly list.