Homeland Security Charade

The terrorist watch list is a pathetic joke. I've written about this recently and not-so-recently, and I'm sad to hear that the stupidity continues. A Canadian guy on the list was tired of getting pulled out of line all the time, so he changed his name:

Although Labbé wrote letters to the U.S. department, his efforts were in vain, prompting him to legally change his name.

"So now, my official name is François Mario Labbé," he said.

"Then you have to change everything: driver's license, social insurance, medicare, credit card — everything."

Although it's not a big change from Mario Labbé, he said it's been enough to foil the U.S. customs computers.

(via John Cole.) It's that last line that frickin' makes me want to cry. All that hassle and stupidity we have to put up with, and all the real terrorist has to do is a name change and they go right through. Pathetic. I swear, the people who come up with these policies should have "I am a pathetic moron" tattooed permanently on their foreheads as punishment for inconveniencing us and putting a big drag on our economy.