Most. Incompetent. Administration. Ever.

Donnie Darko director investigated for terrorist links

According to his official biography, Richard Kelly is the director of the acclaimed Donnie Darko, the writer of the less acclaimed Domino and a contender for the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes film festival. According to the Department of Homeland Security he is a suspected terrorist who may now be prevented from travelling to Cannes next week.

Kelly, 31, appears caught in bureaucratic limbo after his passport was reportedly "held under review" by the US government. Sources suggest that the film-maker has been confused with another man, "James Kelly", who is on the terrorist watch list. Kelly's full name is James Richard Kelly

Born in Virginia, the son of a NASA technician, Kelly made his feature debut in 2001 with the black comedy Donnie Darko, starring Jake Gyllenhaal. His latest picture, Southland Tales, is set in a dystopian Los Angeles paralysed by economic and environmental collapse. Ironically, the film is implicitly concerned with security measures taken by the US government after the events of September 11 2001....

Let's see: A few months ago we found that the no-fly list included Dr. Robert Johnson, a Democratic congressional candidate from upstate New York. Before that it was James Moore, coauthor of Bush's Brain, a book on Karl Rove. Before that, it was Senator Edward Kennedy.

James Kelly, Robert Johnson, James Moore, Edward Kennedy. I see a possible explanation here: The people running this program are too freaking stupid to tell people apart who have very common names.

Either that or they figure they can do whatever the hell they want to you if you have a common name and you're (a) a Democrat, (b) a Bush critic, and/or (c) from Hollyweird but not rich and famous, which means you're automatically a pinko but you're not too newsworthy to harass.