Bush to Raise Democracy Again With Putin. In Other News, US has Laws You Are Not Allowed to Read.

I found the timing the of those two recent headlines somewhat ironic.

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) will raise again Washington's concerns about the direction of Russia's democracy after tussling over the issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) last week, senior U.S. officials said on Monday.

"It's going to be a constant problem because we're serious about this," said a senior Bush administration official. "They understand it. They don't like it, but they understand it."

For the rest of the article:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=9&u=/nm/20050228/ts_nm/bush_russia_dc

In other news:

John Gilmore's splendid isolation began July 4, 2002, when, with defiance aforethought, he strolled to the Southwest Airlines counter at Oakland Airport and presented his ticket.

The gate agent asked for his ID.

Gilmore asked her why.

It is the law, she said.

Gilmore asked to see the law.

Nobody could produce a copy. To date, nobody has. The regulation that mandates ID at airports is "Sensitive Security Information." The law, as it turns out, is unavailable for inspection.

What started out as a weekend trip to Washington became a crawl through the courts in search of an answer to Gilmore's question: Why?

In post 9/11 America, asking "Why?" when someone from an airline asks for identification can start some interesting arguments. Gilmore, who learned to argue on the debate team in his hometown of Bradford, McKean County, has started an argument that, should it reach its intended target, the U.S. Supreme Court, would turn the rules of national security on end, reach deep into the tug-of-war between private rights and public safety, and play havoc with the Department of Homeland Security.

At the heart of Gilmore's stubbornness is the worry about the thin line between safety and tyranny.

"Are they just basically saying we just can't travel without identity papers? If that's true, then I'd rather see us go through a real debate that says we want to introduce required identity papers in our society rather than trying to legislate it through the back door through regulations that say there's not any other way to get around," Gilmore said. "Basically what they want is a show of obedience."

For the rest of the article:

http://www.postgazette.com/pg/05058/462446.stm


What is even funnier about this is the apparent sporadic enforcement of the alleged law. In some airports I get asked for ID. In others I don't. At one airport, I'll get asked for ID. A week later, I won't. But the fact people are saying this is a law, but you can't see it really bugs me.