Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Shifty-Looking Babies
Drop the rattle and nobody gets hurt! Babies have been stopped at airport boarding areas because their names match or are similar to possible terrorists on the government's "no-fly list."
Sarah Zapolsky and her husband were delayed at Dulles International Airport last month when an airline ticket agent told the couple that their infant son was on the list. The family waited 30 minutes while their son's passport was faxed off and paperwork filled out.
"I understand that security is important," Zapolsky said. "But if they're just guessing and we have to give up our passport to prove that our 11-month-old is not a terrorist, it's a waste of their time."
The same thing happened to Ingrid Sanden and her 1-year-old daughter in Phoenix at Thanksgiving before boarding a flight home to Washington.
"I completely understand people wanting to be safe when they fly, but focusing the target a little bit is probably a better use of resources," she said, and added, "It was bizarre. I was hugely pregnant and was like, 'We look really threatening.' "
Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Yolanda Clark said that although the lists aren't foolproof, they are essential to keeping passengers safe.
The list has grown since the 9/11 attacks from roughly a dozen names to more than 100,000, according to aviation industry insiders.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) have also been stopped because their names matched those on the list.
Bush Hits the BooksPresident Bush is tackling some hefty summer reading during his five-week vacation in Crawford, Tex. -- though some of the authors aren't exactly fans of the 59-year-old.
The White House reports that Bush brought to the ranch "Salt: A World History" by Mark Kurlansky , "Alexander II: The Last Great Tsar" by Edvard Radzinsky and "The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History" by John M. Barry . Oh, those sound like relaxing reads.
Kurlansky, a self-proclaimed "virulent Bush opponent," told Newsday he was a little shocked to hear the prez was reading his book: "My first reaction was, 'Oh, he reads books?' "
Barry also admits he's "not a great fan of the Bush administration," but Radzinsky was tight-lipped on his personal feelings toward the Texan. Hey -- one out of three ain't bad!
Go West for Laughs?Oh, sorry! We forgot to laugh. According to a recent poll, East Coast residents just aren't that funny.
The Kaplan Thaler Group (the ad agency behind the Aflac duck) commissioned the survey after the company's bigwigs noticed a lack of comedy shows on TV and a decline in the popularity of stand-up comedy.
Out of 1,000 people polled, 25 percent said East Coasters -- including Washingtonians -- are the most humorless. So who's the ha-ha head honcho? The West Coast. Must be the quakes. The South and Midwest follow.
DC Improv manager Allyson Jaffe is demanding a recount. "I completely disagree," she said. "There's a different type of comedy on the East Coast than the West Coast. The East Coast tends to be darker and more sarcastic.
"Comics can really work with educated humor in Washington because people here are smart and well-educated." So there!
End Notes· Coretta Scott King , the 78-year-old widow of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr ., was admitted to an Atlanta hospital yesterday for an unspecified condition. "She's here and resting comfortably," a hospital source said.
· Universal is slated to make a $15 million 9/11 movie based on the terrorist hijacking of United Airlines Flight 93, according to Variety.com. "Flight 93" will be a 90-minute real-time movie following the decision by passengers to sacrifice their lives to take control of the plane. Filming is set to begin in October.
-- Compiled by Korin Miller from staff and wire reports