And One For May

OK, this one is angry.

First, who can tell me where this quotation is from?

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated.

Anyone?

Well, a few weeks back, I was standing around, minding my own business, in a peaceable assembly of people (that's a hint, if you haven't gotten the reference yet), when up come a collection of duly appointed representatives of our government, and they frisked basically everyone.  

If you don't know the reference yet, (a) it's the 4th Amendment to the Constitution, and (b) get familiar with the Constitution.

So, what was I doing that made the government think they could reasonably search my person?  That's right, I had committed the incredible crime of "standing in an airport."  

No.  This was not at the security station.  I had already passed through that area, and been forced to take off my shoes, and separate out my liquids (not that I bring any, any more), and pass through a metal detector (not really an issue), and had completed that little trial without incident.

I was waiting for my plane at the gate with about 100 other folks (it wasn't a full flight), traveling from Austin back to Phoenix.

This practice does nothing to protect me from terrorists.

What it does is get me used to living in a police state where my Constitutional rights mean exactly dick.

The Executive Branch is charged with enforcing the laws.  Tell me, President Obama, why aren't you enforcing the 4th Amendment?  Yes, the oath got screwed up at your swearing in ceremony.  But I hear you went back and did it properly later, which says to me that you are at least partially aware of the Constitution and the rights it guarantees to the people.

So tell me.  Were these duly appointed representatives of your government breaking the law?  Or is "standing in an airport" now a crime?  Because if situational proximity is basically grounds for search and seizure, that's a damn slippery slope.

Comments

[MrsPeel]

breach of constitution/ law / civil rights is an every day thing here in the UK....plus, I grew up in a dictatorship (well, two, but to me it was like a long, tedious and dangerous at the same time, fearful time in which I would sleep every other day in a different police station, no matter if it was Argentina or Brazil) so....unfortunately, I know more than well the way you are feeling....:(

hope the family and work is all going well :)

[White Roses]

Oh, fam and work is fine. So fine, they're not worth writing about, because it would be boring.

I'm sure you have a lot you could tell me about living in a real police state and not just the minor annoyance state that I'm describing here. So, please, don't take this as me making any kind of real comparison.

Besides, it may not matter anyway, because not one, but two separate Constitutional amendments are currently navigating their way through the elephantine digestive tract that is our Congress. The goal? To amend the Constitution such that marriage is defined as being a union between a man and a woman.

Thankfully, we've already solved all our other issues, so this is clearly a valuable use of Congress's time.

Just in case you think I'm joking, here's some links to the bills in question:

HR. 37

HR 1269

[MrsPeel]

ohhh I know you aren't joking.....(will go have a look anyway)

sad, utterly sad.

and no, I know you are an intelligent being, and I do not think you are making comparisons or anything like that, I do understand that I get even more angry because I lived all that in the early 70s.....and one would expect that by now the lesson should have been learned...but, you know what I'm always saying....

I don't believe in ANY of them, because power corrupts, and I have seen brilliant people corrupted horribly...

I was actually gonna comment with you and BD....you know what Freecycle is, right?yahoo world groups, one in almost each neighborhood in almost each country where people, via emails give away or ask for stuff, the idea being keeping it from going to the land fields.....

Right, I m in a couple of groups of around here.They have another sister group, for non material things, where people post the craziest things to normal, down to earth stuff like: can someone teach me guitar? I can teach you Spanish in exchange...

well, some guy is very, VERY intense about the World Government theory, kind of in a paranoid way... so intensely that, when the moderators posted the Earth Hour day, he came back shouting to all winds that everyone should start turning on every light they have...and started giving us lots of links which (I have to admit, I got a bit scared of the idea) I stopped reading ...until I can know what people I respect and admire think about this....

Do you know about this World Government  taking over our lives, convincing us that it is for our good, when in reality is them cashing in, a very small group, including people who financed Hitler, who have been plotting for years?

(well, that is the VERY simplified version, I haven't slept and the discussion was going on in march...but he infiltrates his ideas every rime he can....)

I would be really interested in your opinion....(if you have the time, otherwise, no worries :)

[White Roses]

Here's pretty much everything you need to know about this whole World Government thing.

http://www.cracked.com/article_17469_5-pathetic-groups-that-people-think-rule-world.html