In article , newsuser@bf-net.ch says...
>
>Am 26.02.2008, 19:18 Uhr, schrieb Mike O'... :
>
>> A light-hearted response obviously, but you do realise that Osama (or
>> Usama) is one of the most common Moslem names?
>
>Thank's Mike, we found out, that the OP was just spamming his site.
>Oh, _I_ do know about names... but that is not preventing from overeager
>immigration... Again, I never had problems visiting the US, but do you
>know how many names are on a "bad-list".
>--
>Urs from Berne, Switzerland in the heart of Europe
Actually Urs,
Considering some of the recent news stories (if one can believe them) many of
the names on the No Fly List are actually ones that are very common in the US.
Several belong to members of Congress, and they have encountered problems.
I was strip-searched three times, prior to a flight to San Francisco, and the
latter two times, were AFTER I had gone through the security checkpoint. Now,
I am a "frequent flyer" on that airline, was dressed in a business suit, had
flown that same route twice in the previous month, and had paid for my ticket
with an American Express Platinum card, that I had held since 1974. My name is
very common in the US and UK. Several great architects and novelists have had
the same name. On that same flight, there were three "middle-eastern" men,
wearing ankle-length wool coats (it was 102F in Phoenix that day) and all were
clutching shopping bags and looking around "fertively." No one bothered to ask
any of these three any questions. To me (every the zenophobe), all looked like
folk that I see on the video tapes about "death to infidels... " Still, after
I had to disrobe three times, the flight completed fine, with no incident.
One's name may, or may not, call them out of line. And, since "profiling" is
frowned upon, it is more likely that a great-grandmother, named Sally Smith,
is called out, than someone named Osama Bin Whatever.
Just an observation,
Hunt
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