At 09:04 AM 9/26/01, Jeroen wrote: > > -----Oorspronkelijk bericht----- > > Van: Jim Sharkey [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > > Verzonden: Geen > > Aan: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Onderwerp: RE: Your papers, please . . . > > > Joshua, unless the U.S. is, indeed, looking to become a place wherein > > you are randomly stopped and must present your ID to authorities, *how* > > is it helping to acknowledge who is supposed to be in that country? > >We had a similar situation in The Netherlands a few years ago, when the >government made it mandatory for everyone to carry some form of ID. There >were some protests then, because some people argued just like you that it >would lead to random checks, in an effort from the authorities to hunt down >people who are not allowed to be here. > >Their fear turned out to be unfounded. In The Netherlands, you still do not >get randomly stopped and asked to identify yourself. If you *are* asked for >it out on the street, it is either because you were stopped when the police >perform on of their traffic checks (and then you are not randomly stopped -- >everybody is stopped), or when you are showing suspicious behaviour. > >Then again, the Dutch do not distrust their elected government as much as >Americans seem to distrust *their* elected government. > > > > Jeroen, between driver's licenses, credit cards, business ID's, and the > > multidinous *other* forms of identification people already have, an ID > > card would just be redundant. So your bit about having an ID card "so > > your family can be warned" is BS. > >If you already have ID cards, then why are you so afraid of getting another >one? Are you afraid it contains everything there is to know about you, and >everybody would be able to read it? > ><mild sarcasm> >Oh no, wait, those new cards contain some GPS hardware, so the government >can keep tabs on where you go! ></mild sarcasm> > >BTW, you could have just pointed out that you already have other forms of >identification, without calling my argument "BS". > > > > Another ID card only adds to the bureaucracy that's already here; I > > doubt that all the other forms of ID that people carry will suddenly go > > away. > >It might (at least to some extent), depending on the features of that new ID >card. For instance, I carry with me a passport, a driver's license, a credit >card, a debit card, membership cards and telephone cards. Personally, I >would *love* to trade them all in for just one card I can use as ID and >driver's license and credit card and debit card and membership card for the >book club and use it to pay for public transport and use it in a public >phone booth and <etcetera>. > >When set up properly, anyone accessing the information stored on the card >will only see that part of the data they are allowed to see. > > > > And that, too, will cause grumbling. > >First you people complain when you have to start carrying ID cards, then you >complain when you no longer have to carry them. Could you people make up >your minds about what you want? :)
Ironically, this comes from a person who a few days ago objected to a two-letter abbreviation for the "Secret Service" because of what another organization with those initials did 60 years ago. How quickly some seem to forget . . . -- Ronn! :) God bless America, Land that I love! Stand beside her, and guide her Thru the night with a light from above. From the mountains, to the prairies, To the oceans, white with foam� God bless America! My home, sweet home. -- Irving Berlin (1888-1989)
