Just Don't Change Your Name to Faizal

From the "So, this is it. We're all going to die" file:

Angelic-looking Mikey Hicks, 8, of New Jersey (who, if the picture is to be believed is, for good measure, a Boy Scout), has difficulty boarding planes. The reason? Fear of flying. Not Mikey's fear, understand; the fear of the powers-that-be that Mikey will blow the plane out of the sky, perhaps with an IED disguised as a merit badge sewn onto his shirt.

Mikey, you see, shares a name with someone on the federal government's "selectee list," which calls for him--or at any rate, his namesake--to receive extra scrutiny before he boards a plane.

In the wake of the attempted Christmas bombing, it's hard to fault the Transportation Security Administration for overzealous scrutiny of those sharing a name with a person of interest. Indeed, fun as it is to mock these folks for potentially strip-searching a toddler, we actually are somewhat pleased to think that airport security personnel are demonstrating alertness.

The article, however, goes on to discuss the lengths to which people have gone to avoid the inconvenience that arises if they share a name with someone who attracts governmental interest. Some people go so far as to 'shudder' change their names!

Inconvenient, to be sure, but what's terrifying is the thought that a "cunning" terrorist could thwart the most sophisticated efforts of the anti-terrorist establishment by means of a simple name change.

And they don't even have to go as far as that: "Some travelers purposely misspell their own names when buying tickets, apparently enough to fool the system."

Enjoy your flight, Mr. Bin Looden.