What is this country about? Freedom of only one kind?

[super ego]

(Ed. Note: Nancy Oden is a top U.S. Green Party
official and a 
member
   of the party's coordinating committee. An organic
farmer, peace
   activist, and all-around firebrand, she lives in
Jonesboro, Maine.)
     
   "Just a few weeks ago I had a piece in the Bangor
paper. It's on our
   website, greenparty.org... I submitted it under my
name alone. It's 
a
   fairly radical piece; that's what I do. I'm a
political and
   environmental activist.
   
   "I walked into the Bangor airport. What I saw was
National Guard 
folks
   all over carrying machine guns... The atmosphere
was very tense...
   This was Thursday... I went over to the American
Airlines ticket
   counter way down at the end. Nobody else was there,
except the 
clerk.
   I gave him my name. He didn't even ask for photo
ID. It was almost
   like they were expecting me. He put it into the
computer. He stayed 
on
   the computer a long time, like 10 minutes.
   
   "He put an S on the boarding pass, for search. He
said, 'You've been
   picked for having your bag searched.' ... I said to
him, 'This 
wasn't
   random, was it?' He said, 'No you were in there to
be searched, no
   matter what.' I went over to baggage to put my bags
through the 
X-ray
   and then went into the boarding area.
   
   "There was this National Guard guy there. He yells
over at me, so
   everyone can hear, 'Bring your bags over here.' You
know how they 
are
   when they're all puffed up with themselves. He
said, 'Hurry up,' so 
I
   slowed down some more.
   
   "I put my bags on the table. The two women
employees were standing
   there. [I tried to help them with a stuck zipper.]
He grabbed my 
left
   arm, he started yelling in my face, 'Don't you know
what happened?
   Sep. 11, don't you know thousands of people died?'
I said, 'You 
can't
   do that.' He went to grab my arm, and I said,
'Don't touch me.' I 
saw
   an older airline guy shake his head, 'No,' and he
backed off.
   
   "That insulted his little manhood. He could not
force me to listen 
to
   his idiot ideas on Sep. 11, whatever it was he
wanted to say. So he
   was angry. I hadn't done anything except pull away
from him... I 
think
   he was trying to provoke me. They did the wand
thing, they were 
done,
   and I heard him say real soft, 'Don't let her on
the plane,' like he
   was talking to himself.
   
   "Then I go to get on the plane since we're all done
and everything,
   and the American Airlines ticket guy says,' You
can't get on the
   plane.' I say, 'Why not?' ... He says, 'Because
this guy says you
   didn't cooperate with the search.' ... I said,
'Didn't you see him
   grab my arm?' He said, 'No, your back was to me.'
   
   "He said, 'Maybe we can get you on the 4:00 plane,
it's the last one
   today.' I felt, okay, let's put up with this
aggravation now and 
I'll
   go to Chicago and we'll see what we can do... Then
this little guard
   guy, it wasn't enough to stop me, wasn't done with
me. He said, 
'Come
   with me.' I followed very slowly, I sat down for a
while. I said I'm
   carrying these bags; I need a rest... It's called
passive 
resistance.
   
   "He went and found the airport police to come and
talk with me. He
   went and got six other National Guard guys and they
all approached 
me.
   Here are these six untrained, ignorant,
   don't-know-how-to-deal-with-the-public,
machine-gun-armed young guys
   in their camouflage suits with their military gear
hanging off of 
it.
   
   "I looked up and started laughing, 'Is all this for
me, guys? What 
is
   this about?' There was this big burly guy, he was
in front. He said,
   'You didn't cooperate with the search.' ... I said
what he did was
   grabbed my arm, and I backed away... He said he
only hit your arm. I
   said even if that's all he did, he's not allowed to
do that. He 
can't
   hit my arm and demand I listen to him.
   
   "They had the airport policeman tell me, 'You're
not flying out of
   this airport today.' ... Of course I had
cooperated; why do I care 
if
   they search my bags? ... What I didn't like was
being singled out
   because of my political views. They couldn't arrest
me because there
   was no reason for that. They had people who saw
there was nothing to
   arrest me for. They wanted to get back at me
somehow because I was 
not
   a subservient female, because I questioned their
manhood.
   
   "I went to the American Airlines guy and said, 'Is
this just today?'
   He said, 'I don't know.' One clerk said, 'You could
drive to Boston
   [five hours away] and see if you can get out of
there.'
   
   "I never made it out of Bangor. I had to turn
around and drive 100
   miles back home... The fact that they gave the
other airlines my
   name... They told me they did that... That's
incredible."

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