war, peace and the terrorism of press credentials

White House mum on PT peace petition
By Barney Burke, Leader Staff Writer

The Port Townsend City Council was applauded by a large crowd of peace advocates after adopting a resolution calling for an end to the war in Iraq by the first quarter of 2008.

However, it's unclear if similar resolutions from other communities are having any influence on President George Bush. The Leader made three calls to the White House in recent days, but a spokesman there has so far been unable to provide any information on how many such resolutions have been received and whether the president is ever briefed on them.

It makes me think of my little puppy, Zach. He's probably about 24 lbs. He has no idea how small he is, which is a good thing, I suppose, because he's not afraid of the 100 lb. labs he runs with. He's just one of the dogs, not more and not less. It's a healthy attitude, I'm thinking.

In other news, my brother is a person of interest to the TSA not because he has a very, very common name, but because in the last 10 years the Secret Service and FBI have done checks on him at least 27 times. He knows this because he asked some state senators and members of the NJ Legislature's Transportation committee to look into the aggravations he experienced when traveling to celebrate his sister's 50th birthday.

He's a cameraman for a television news enterprise. He gets to be close to presidents, vice presidents and cabinet officials. He gets to travel overseas for his job. He's on a first-name basis with a lot of people I'll never even meet, and he's been doing his job for almost 20 years.

And now, he gets a major hassle in airport security because of Secret Service and FBI inquiries into his press credentials.

Thank you, Homeland Security! Here's to hoping someday you'll actually get it right. I'm not holding my breath.