Below, Sigrid posts Walter Murphy’s much-blogged about claim that he has been watch-listed because of a speech he gave criticizing Bush’s constitutional record. Those interested in the story should also read the skeptical questions raised by Wired’s Ryan Singel, a Watch List critic, about Murphy’s story, which are available here:

Woe be it for this blog to defend the country’s foolish watchlist system, but after having spent more than four years reporting on watchlists, filing Freedom of Information Act requests, and talking with persons flagged by the lists, I have never seen a single case of a person being put on the list for activities protected by the First Amendment. …

I’m not even certain that in this case Murphy’s name matched or was similar to a name on the list — which is what has snagged nearly every David Nelson in the country and what got Senator Ted Kennedy a dose of handheld wanding.

In this case, I would guess that Murphy was singled out randomly. He himself says he wasn’t flagged on the way back, which he almost certainly would have been if he were on the ‘selectee’ list. (The ‘selectee’ list directs airlines to single out that person for extra screening, while a related list, the ‘no-fly’ list directs airlines to keep a person off a plane.)

I’m open to any evidence that the government has watchlisted American citizens for exercising their Constitutional rights, but I’ve never seen it.

The left wants to believe it is living in some version of Orwell’s 1984. … Around these parts, we prefer to see the world through a Kafka and Gilliam kaleidescope.