Something sinister has happened when we are required to carry identification for no reason whatsoever.

Well it depends on your attitude. We in society absolutely need the convenience and protection afforded by a National ID program. 10% of us are already victims – some permentently scarred – because no such protection exists. And yes, that program can be subverted. Why? Where is your post disparaging the mental midget president for suspending Writ of Habeas Corpus so that he can torture, kidnap, operate secret prisons, and violate the Geneva Conventions? I did not read your strong condemnations. Why not? Why do I so often feel so alone on George Jr’s enemies list?

We need protections from a National ID program and we need to stop George Jr, et al from subverting that need into a government program only to serve government. What scares me is not the program. What scares me is your so silent response even to torture, suspension of Writ of Habeas Corpus, and even wiretapping without judicial review.

No. You have the right to not identify yourself. But everyone has the right to then deny you services because they cannot trust you. No one has said you must have ID. That ID and a service to protect your ID are for your benefit. You don't want that benefit, then fine - don't use it. Don't get a privilege to drive a car. Don't use credit cards. Carry massive wads of cash to pay for everything. These conveniences are made available to you only because you can identify who you are.

Worse still, those same conveniences are denied you if you cannot protect your identity – and someone else steals it.

I cut a deal with Homeland Security to drop a dime on you and cover my butt. :angel:

If it keeps me off the Gestapo's books... I have no issue with it.

I never made Nixon's enemies list. How does one get on George Jr's enemies list? Do I first have to be illegally wiretapped? And can I get an autographed copy with my name on that list?

Sundae Girl - you don't live in country where presidents maintain an enemies list. You live in a country where that president can kidnap and will torture you only because you might be on his enemies list. Appreciate why president Cheney said the presidency does not have enough power.

We Americans each have a chance to be famous. Maybe we could not be on Nixon's enemies list. But 30 years later, history repeats itself. How to get famous. Figure out how to get on George Jr's enemies list - and hopefully do so without getting tortured.

All you have to do to get on that list is tell the truth to enough people.

Having seen what happens to your students if they forget their college pass, I'd be seriously worried at having to carry ID.

Precisely.

But he didn't forget it. He had it in his possession at the time of the incident. He refused to present it when asked.

Can you elaborate on who these victims are? Also if you really didn't trust GWB you'd see the national ID would be just one more reason to lock people up. Akin to driving without a license, now we could have exisiting without ID.

Well....if a student refused to show his college ID then he deserved to get tasered huh?

There is never as much to a situation as one can see in a 5 minute You Tube video.

There is no excuse for tazering someone unless they pose a physical threat. Did he pose a physical threat, or was he merely a student who wouldn't show his pass?

I think he means victims of identity theft, which I suspect he has had some experience with.

He screams "Get your hands off me!" at the top of his lungs. From this, we can assume the cops were having to physically escort him out since he would not comply with their verbal requests to do so, and we can infer with almost as much certainty that he was physically wresting himself away from them (because really, who screams "get your hands off me" while calmly continuing to allow the cops to keep their hands where they are?) You fling your body around a cop, you are by definition a physical threat. I don't expect cops to have to take a beating in an effort to avoid tasering an asshole who deserves it anyway.

That makes sense. However theft is always going to happen. Especially now in the online world. A national ID will not stop theft where your national ID is not required.

I would question how he deserves it. I think, if the cops had to resort to physical violance, then they have lost control of the situation. If the university needs police to enforce their rules then that is a sad indictment on the university. He was a registered student who didn't see why he should show his pass to police whilst engaged in studies. I'm with the student on this one.

Yes, and if the state needs police to enforce their rules, what a sad indictment of society. We should be able to live with no police at all!

He was a registered student? How were they supposed to know? All students are aware of the rule that students must show their ID in the library, this wasn't some random event, students are asked to show their ID on a regular basis.

Why not just have barriers that read the barcode on the student ID at the entrance to the library? There are other ways to ensure that only registered students use the facilities, than using a police presence.

You, yourself, spoke of being allowed through the barrier without ID, simply because it was too inconvenient for you to remember to bring it along.

Physical security is only as good as the people who operate it.

I am allowed three times per semester to enter without my pass, by talking to the receptionist and giving her my student ID number (hy06dsec) and she then buzzes me through. When she buzzes someone through it's entered onto the system, three times and then they say 'No sorry, you have to go get your pass'.