Court trip next stop for bus rider
Finally. The 'real' newsmedia is catching up with this story. If this stands, we'll have what amounts to an internal passport that's required for travel anywhere, not just at airports. You can be stopped for identification when you're merely walking down the street.
Our country has gone barking mad. George Bush's version of America really sucks, unless you're in that top 5%. His wealthy campaign contributors don't have to put up with this crap.
There's a link to the newspaper. Excerpts follow.
Sunday, November 27, 2005
Denver, CO
Article Launched: 11/27/2005 01:00:00 AM
Court trip next stop for bus rider
By David Harsanyi
Denver Post Staff Writer
Deborah Davis doesn't consider herself a hero. Certainly not a modern-day champion of the Constitution. Yet, in her own way, she might be a little of both.
Two months ago, this 50-year-old mother of four was reading a book while riding to work on RTD's Route 100. When the bus rolled up to the gates of the Denver Federal Center in Lakewood, a guard climbed on and demanded Davis, as well as everyone else on board, produce identification.
Perhaps it was that inherent American distaste for producing papers on demand, but Davis, who had gone through this drill before, decided to pass.
"I told him that I did have identification, but I wasn't going to show it to him," Davis explains. "I knew that I wasn't required by law to show ID and that's why I decided I wasn't going to. The whole thing seemed to be more about compliance than security."
According to Davis, the guard proceeded to call on federal cops, who then dragged Davis off a public bus, handcuffed her, shoved her into the back seat of a police car and drove off to a police station within the Federal Center.
...Gail Johnson, a volunteer ACLU lawyer who practices at a prominent Colorado criminal defense firm, will defend Davis without charge. She expects the government to arraign Davis on two federal criminal misdemeanors, if not more.
The first states that citizens must "when requested, display Government or other identifying credentials to Federal police officers or other authorized individuals." The second says that citizens must comply with "the lawful direction of Federal police officers and other authorized individuals."
...Legal issues notwithstanding, you have to wonder what ever happened to common sense? What exactly were the guards, who merely glanced at the IDs, doing? Is there a "no-bus rider" terrorist list in Lakewood? And if there is, how would the guards be able to differentiate between real and fake IDs?
...If safety at the center was a question of national security, why have a public bus route running through the facility in the first place?
...So let's hope more Americans act like Deb Davis, not another partisan hack acting the victim, but an average American who questions government intrusion into our private and public lives for freedom's sake.
Our country has gone barking mad. George Bush's version of America really sucks, unless you're in that top 5%. His wealthy campaign contributors don't have to put up with this crap.
There's a link to the newspaper. Excerpts follow.
Sunday, November 27, 2005
Denver, CO
Article Launched: 11/27/2005 01:00:00 AM
Court trip next stop for bus rider
By David Harsanyi
Denver Post Staff Writer
Deborah Davis doesn't consider herself a hero. Certainly not a modern-day champion of the Constitution. Yet, in her own way, she might be a little of both.
Two months ago, this 50-year-old mother of four was reading a book while riding to work on RTD's Route 100. When the bus rolled up to the gates of the Denver Federal Center in Lakewood, a guard climbed on and demanded Davis, as well as everyone else on board, produce identification.
Perhaps it was that inherent American distaste for producing papers on demand, but Davis, who had gone through this drill before, decided to pass.
"I told him that I did have identification, but I wasn't going to show it to him," Davis explains. "I knew that I wasn't required by law to show ID and that's why I decided I wasn't going to. The whole thing seemed to be more about compliance than security."
According to Davis, the guard proceeded to call on federal cops, who then dragged Davis off a public bus, handcuffed her, shoved her into the back seat of a police car and drove off to a police station within the Federal Center.
...Gail Johnson, a volunteer ACLU lawyer who practices at a prominent Colorado criminal defense firm, will defend Davis without charge. She expects the government to arraign Davis on two federal criminal misdemeanors, if not more.
The first states that citizens must "when requested, display Government or other identifying credentials to Federal police officers or other authorized individuals." The second says that citizens must comply with "the lawful direction of Federal police officers and other authorized individuals."
...Legal issues notwithstanding, you have to wonder what ever happened to common sense? What exactly were the guards, who merely glanced at the IDs, doing? Is there a "no-bus rider" terrorist list in Lakewood? And if there is, how would the guards be able to differentiate between real and fake IDs?
...If safety at the center was a question of national security, why have a public bus route running through the facility in the first place?
...So let's hope more Americans act like Deb Davis, not another partisan hack acting the victim, but an average American who questions government intrusion into our private and public lives for freedom's sake.
posted by Ed W at 8:14 AM
2 Comments:
George Bush's version of America -- Sadly, only a handful of our representatives from either of the major parties voted against the USA Patriot Act in October 2001. The Congress finally got some cajones this last summer by voting to curtail some of the anti-privacy provisions of the USA Patriot Act.
Al Gore seems to have the same American vision that Bush has.
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