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Where is Obama's "change" when children end up on official black lists?

Antonin Alexander | 14.01.2010 21:08 | Analysis | Repression | Terror War | World

An eight-year old boy from New Jersey named Mikey Hicks, who apparently shares the same name with a person US Homeland Security considers "suspicious" must suffer the same treatment as a criminal and cannot get his name removed from the list.

The so-called administration of George W. Bush has long since come to an end. And yet under Obama's allegedly "progressive" administration, things are only getting worse for the ordinary citizen.

An excellent example is the story of Mikey Hicks, an eight-year old boy who has continually been harassed and patted down each and every time he passes through airport security. His name, despite being rather ordinary and common, apparently is shared with another person who is considered "

Despite the efforts of the family to have his name removed from the black list, neither the TSA nor Homeland Security have been willing to lift a finger to help alleviate the matter.

Instead of improving airport security and removing the red tape imposed by the previous Bush administration, the Obama government has only pushed these programs further to the point of absurdity.

The price of freedom is becoming ever more costly, and while it is unlikely that this story will awaken anytime out of the Obama dreamtime, for those in the UK who plan on visiting the US, keep in mind that in terms of treatment of foreign visitors to the US, nothing has improved and indeed, the situation is only getting worse.

Antonin Alexander
- Homepage: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/nyregion/14watchlist.html?no_interstitial

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just the way it is

14.01.2010 23:10

i guess its their country so they can do what they want i suppose

as a non-us person, i don't think i be that vocal about it. Lots of other countries have really difficult policies towards visitors, its just the nature of these things.

ladel


It is indeed their country ...

14.01.2010 23:54

... but when they treat their own law-abiding citizens like terrorists and criminals, while the world media spin the myth that Obama is some sort of saviour, it speaks volumes about what direction our planet is headed in.

And don't forget that things are getting just as bad, if not worse, here in the UK, particularly for those who are foreign-born citizens.

While other countries treat their citizens and visitors far, far worse, that is no excuse for allegedly democratic governments such as the US and the UK to treat their own citizens and visitors in such a horrible manner. And that they do to this even to children ... it shouldn't surprise me or you or anyone else, but when you experience it for yourself, when you realise that the reality is that you have no rights at all despite the political and legal rhetoric, you will never be the same again.

Antonin Alexander


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