Welcome to the Twilight Zone, 2005 edition: Clark County (Nevada) Superintendent of Schools Carlos Garcia is living a nightmare. He has the same name as a person on the "watch list" and despite proving over and over when he flies that he is not that person, he remains on the list. What he's learned is there is no way to get off the list.

Garcia said he's worked the bureaucracy, written the letters and reported his problem with minimal results. All he's received so far is a TSA letter he's now supposed to carry with him when he travels by air. He's still barred from obtaining his boarding passes electronically, he can't use the ticket kiosks at the airport and he's stuck waiting in line at the ticket counter while agents flip through their computer screens to make sure he's not the watch list Garcia.

The delays have almost caused him to miss flights and it's doubled the time he's stuck in airports. Garcia said he can understand being pulled aside once or twice, but he's been singled out every time he flies Southwest Airlines, which is a carrier used often by the district for travel to and from Washoe County for state government business.

Garcia asks an obvious question:

Why can't they just look at my frequent flier number or view who's purchasing the ticket?" asked Garcia, who does the bulk of his traveling on district business. "My tickets are being purchased by the CCSD. To my knowledge, the CCSD (Clark County School District) isn't purchasing tickets for terrorists."

Garcia is now asking his Congressman, Minority Leader Harry Reid, to intervene.

If he can't help me, then I think we're living in scary times," Garcia said.

Scary, indeed. [hat tip reader David R.]