Then they came for....

[pat]

The TSA is seeking medical records from the Department of Defense and Veterans Administration, so that it can scour them for "mental defectives" -- which they don't really define -- which can be placed on the "no-fly" list. The TSA also says this is just the beginning, as they plan to add "two new data sources per year."

I have two reactions.

The first is outrage. Veterans serve our country at great risk to their lives and health -- including their mental health. To have the possibility of someone being placed on the no-fly zone because of mental health issues, when those arose because of service to our country, is a disgrace.

The other reaction is fear.

I am bipolar. I am also the wife of a federal employee, and my medical insurance is provided by a contractor to the federal government. How soon before the TSA has my medical records? This year the veterans, next year the federal employees?

I can't even begin to go into why this is crap. I'm too upset.

People have been fighting for years to work on eradicating the belief that equates mental illness with violence. Obviously, we haven't gotten very far, at least not with the idiots in Washington.

And don't tell me I'm being paranoid. I'm not. Not given these fuckers. My best hope is that it will prove administratively impossible.

Comments

[cheshyre]

There's one other story about the nofly list in today's news.

The author of "Bush's Brain" (a book critical of Karl Rove) is on the list.

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

OK. You're way not being paranoid, and that's the scariest thing I've seen all night.

[dangerpudding.livejournal.com]

Ack.

And, um, when I get put on the no-fly list for any of a list of reasons, that same gov't will fire me for no longer being able to do my job, won't they? *sigh*

[datagoddess.livejournal.com]

*boggle*

I'm just speechless.

[tsjafo.livejournal.com]

What was I defending all those years?

[cyan-blue.livejournal.com]

Damn...

[griffen.livejournal.com]

This comment made me more sad than almost anything I've read or heard about this issue... mostly because I honestly can't think of anything good to say in response. :(

[patgreene.livejournal.com]

I wish I had an answer for that. As far as I'm concerned, you were defending the Constitution of the United States of America, which these ..... poor excuses for human beings are spitting upon.