SFGate.com reports that Senator Ted Kennedy was delayed in boarding because his name appeared on a terror watchlist as an alias.

Oh, dear, God.

Apparently it took three separate calls by Sen. Kennedy’s staff to be removed from the list. In a hearing yesterday, Kennedy asked:

“If they have that kind of difficulty with a member of Congress, how in the world are average Americans, who are getting caught up in this thing, how are they going to be treated fairly and not have their rights abused?”

How indeed.

Sen. Kennedy tried to buy tickets three times in March, and was told that he could not purchase a ticket because his name was “on a list”. When he tried to determine why, he was told that they could not tell him that.

It’s almost enough to make me support John Gilmore’s crusade against useless airport security measures. Almost. He’s got a lot of interesting views, but I’m glad I haven’t had to fly with him.