Kafka's Cops live

A friend points me to a New York Times piece detailing some of the horrors of the anti-terrorist bureaucracy. In his note my pal mentions Kafka, leading me to wonder if that genius's name cracks the consciousness of enough modern skulls to make a difference.

(Kafka wrote of accused persons who might be guilty, or might not. The prisoner himself had no idea because the charges against him were secret. It was permissible because the bureaucracy said it was permissible.)

The Times report pegs itself on the case of a woman who, five years ago, was found to be on the no-fly list, questioned, detained, and turned loose without explanation. She sued, and a portion of her case against the secret government which compiles such lists has survived in the courts, despite the best efforts of the government.

The point is not that bureaucrats sometimes err. It is that any human is owed the minimum civility of a statement of why he is under suspicion and, if the accusation is found baseless, an apology for the bureaucrats' bumbling.