United States v. Deborah Davis

"Meet Deborah Davis. She's a 50 year-old mother of four who lives and works in Denver, Colorado. Her kids are all grown-up: her middle son is a soldier fighting in Iraq. She leads an ordinary, middle class life. You probably never would have heard of Deb Davis if it weren't for her belief in the U.S. Constitution."

"One morning in late September 2005, Deb was riding the public bus to work. She was minding her own business, reading a book and planning for work, when a security guard got on this public bus and demanded that every passenger show their ID. Deb, having done nothing wrong, declined. The guard called in federal cops, and she was arrested and charged with federal criminal misdemeanors after refusing to show ID on demand."

"On the 9th of December 2005, Deborah Davis will be arraigned in U.S. District Court in a case that will determine whether Deb and the rest of us live in a free society, or in a country where we must show "papers" whenever a cop demands them. "

I really hope she wins that case. Before I continue, you should also know that......

"The bus she rides crosses the property of the Denver Federal Center, a collection of government offices such as the Veterans Administration, the U.S. Geological Survey, and part of the National Archives. The Denver Federal Center is not a high security area: it's not Area 51 or NORAD."

Note that the 'public' bus she rides only 'crosses the property' of the Federal Center. She doesn't work there, nor was she visiting. She had no intention of going to the Center itself. It just happened to be along the normal bus route.

Now, you may say to yourself, "but these are dangerous times, with terrorists and all". You may also say, "If she had nothing to hide, why would she object?". I would say, "because she's not obligated to, in an allegedly 'free society'.", and I'd also say that to harrass 50 year old white women, when we're supposed to be at war with younger, male, Middle-Eastern, Islamic radicals, shows the same type of bureaucratic incompetence that we see everyday at airports, when obviously non-terrorists are forced to take off their shoes. Now I'm not advocating profilling, but plain common sense should exclude a great majority of citizens from unnecessary searches.

The real reason for these types of intrusions has nothing to do with protecting anyone against anything. It's purpose is simply power and control. They didn't say they wanted to check her ID because they thought she could be a threat to anyone. They didn't check her name against any list. They were not looking for anyone specific. They were doing it just because they wanted to, to get us used to complying unquestioningly to authority.

The main thing for all of us to know and understand, is that no government authority can 'make/keep you safe' no matter what they say, no matter how many freedoms they remove in the name of State Security. All they can actually do is exert power and control over your lives.

If they were serious about protection against terrorists, they'd look after more vulnerable areas, but they don't. There's no need to smuggle 'WMD' into the country when we have so many unguarded facilities that contain dangerous materials that could kill thousands. Nuclear facilities located at colleges across the country, for one. A TV news magazine sent people to such facilities to see if they could gain access. Most of the time they were successful, and they did so without force. But as their hidden cameras showed, while these people gained access through simply asking to see the nuclear material (incredible !), terrorists would have had no trouble at all simply shooting the few people they would have met along the way.

Another area of concern is the railway system. Not the passenger trains, but the cargo trains, the ones that routinely transport hazardous material, toxic, and nuclear waste, through many cities. These trains are completely unguarded. They say that by not labeling the cars as carrying dangerous material, it makes it harder for terrorists to find. But they started that practice long before 9/11 because people were complaining about having such material transported through their cities and towns. If they don't know, they don't complain. But even if the facilities that ship and receive those materials are guarded, the shipments aren't, so all a terrorist would need to do is monitor those places from the outside and collect information on shipments arriving and leaving. They wouldn't even need to rob the trains of the material or highjack them, simply derail them, or use some explosives on the tracks at the right time. When so many people live literally only feet away from the tracks, you can imagine the damage caused by nuclear waste filled boxcars.

I bring all this up to show that while the government likes to make a big show of their anti-terror precautions, those precautions are mainly for show. They do this just to make you feel safe, and make them look like they're doing whatever it takes. Most all of what needs to be done, would be transparent to the average person, and have very little if any affect on our civil liberties. But you wouldn't feel safe that way. You need to 'see' security checkpoints. You need to 'see' guards. You need to 'see' people searched, to feel safe, and they know it, and feed on it.

Some time ago, the President kept saying that the terrorists hated us for our freedoms (sounded stupid to me), yet he, with your complacency, have done nothing but eliminate freedom after freedom. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, 'Freedom does NOT mean being free to do whatever you want, as long as it's in compliance with authority'. That type of 'freedom' is always in abundance in dictatorships. Freedom means being free to do what you want, without any governance or regulation, as long as you're not comitting a crime. If you can only do what is specifically allowed by law, you are not free.