I Can't Keep This Inside Any More...

I appeared on the TSA Watch List about a year after it came into existence soon after 9/11. Every time I was flagged and delayed, I repeatedly raised holy hell with everyone in the entire chain: Ticket counter agent, manager, TSA rep, and occasionally even my Representative in Congrees and my Senator. After about 9 months of this, to remove me from the list.the TSA asked me to submit an extensive form to provide MORE data, which I refused to do. This form was actually longer and more detailed than the forms I submitted for my security clearances with multiple US government agencies! If they couldn't even connect those dots, they certainly didn't deserve to get MORE information from me. It was their data that was bad, it was entered without my participation or consent, and I had no reason to help them fix their mess. In fact, I had every incentive to make their errors as costly as possible for as long as possible, to encourage them to get a system that WORKED. So I sim...

I just turned 61, and I can't recall a time when the American population was more divided. Even during the Vietnam War and the riots of the late '60's and early '70's, the divisive issues were relatively few in number compared to today. The most general divisive statement I can recall from those days was: "Don't trust anyone over 30." Back then, we could disagree about specific issues without denigrating or rejecting the entirety of the other person. I see that sensibility fading, especially during the past decade. Rather than having opinions on issues, we are now seemingly forced to join one camp or another. The ability to be a complex person with diverse beliefs is fading: Uniformity of identity is becoming the rule rather than the fringe exception. The main problem, as I see it, isn't just what "they" believe versus what "we" believe. The main problem is the "echo chamber" where we hear only those who agre...