Grounded: Millionaire John Gilmore stays close to home while making a point about privacy

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | Sunday, Feb. 27, 2005 | Dennis Roddy

[TheBlackFeather]

He's unable to travel because he refuses to present a government-approved ID

SAN FRANCISCO -- 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.

[AmishDude]

Privacy is so basic a right that it wasn't even thought to be placed in the bill of rights. It was such a given to the Founders that only the details of protecting it were considered worthy of discussion.

Bwahahahahaha! That's excellent. Excellent! They also thought that it was so basic that everyone give half their income to the superior beings known as "mathematicians" that they didn't think to put it in there.

Make your checks out to AmishDude.

Amazing how far we have fallen. Enjoy your chains.

Have you considered suicide?

May I suggest it?

[Old Professer]

The use of "elegance" here hinges on the previous analysis of his type, and it is in a mathematical sense where the knots are all tied and no loose ends remain to be seen.

[ArmyTeach]

Personally, I hate to fly these days. No fear of flying, but the elegance and the anticipation is gone. I expect nothing but trouble, inconvenience, and customer service at the 0 level. I fly just to get from point A to point B and only when I must. The only difference between air travel and Greyhound is that a plane will get you there faster.
But still, even thought I hate it, I would not want to fly on a plane where security measures are not in place. I just need those same security measures to apply to all airport employees, and even more stringently.

[Smartaleck]

"Like him, I'd like to know what law demands that we show our ID at the airport."

More than you want to know.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/49/subtitles/vii/parts/a/subparts/iii/chapters/449/subchapters/i/sections/section%5F44909.html

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/49/subtitles/vii/parts/a/subparts/iii/chapters/449/subchapters/i/sections/section%5F44902.html

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/get-cfr.cgi?TITLE=14&PART=108&SECTION=13&YEAR=2001&TYPE=TEXT

All aspects of security listed.
http://www.access.gpo.gov/uscode/title49/subtitlevii_parta_subpartiii_chapter449_subchapteri_.html

http://www.firstgov.gov/fgsearch/index.jsp?offset=10&page=0&dep=t&nr=10&de=detailed&mw0=passenger%20screening&mt0=all&ms0=should&in0=domain&dom0=gpoaccess.gov,%20gpo.gov&db=www&rn=1&parsed=true&sid=161795222

http://www.airsafe.com/analyze/usinfo.htm

[Old Professer]

"He was such a quiet man"
"Never heard any disturbance over there, he was a really good neighbor"
"He used to cut his invalid neighbor's yard while he mowed his own, always waved at me when I went to the mailbox"
"Who would have thought that he was a serial rapist and a monster?"

[Publius Valerius]

Although you mock, this was a very real debate between the groups of founders that favored a bill of rights and those that opposed it.

Those that opposed a bill of rights did so on the grounds that they thought an enumeration of rights would serve to basically eliminate any rights that weren't listed. The 9th and 10th Amendments were a compromise.

Looking back, though, it appears that those opposed were correct, although query as to whether the lack of a bill of rights wouldn't just have allowed the government to trample all over those eight things listed, anyhow.

[Badray]

If there is a fire in the theater, should he not yell "FIRE"?

[AmishDude]

It doesn't matter which law it is, if any. The fact is that Southwest Airlines affirmatively makes it part of their policies. If there were such a law, then Southwest Airlines would be the ones to challenge it. Instead, they embrace it and the first opposition to the policy should go against Southwest. If Southwest opposed the policy, then we would get somewhere. What you have is a bunch of people who are flummoxed by the behavior of this anal orifice.

[Mark was here]

There are no classified laws related to public transportation, and only anarcho-sheeple would assume otherwise.

FROM THE ARTICLE - This is what we are talking about...

Ann Davis, a spokeswoman for TSA, tacitly acknowledged the strange rabbit hole into which Gilmore has fallen. The Department of Justice, in its first response to Gilmore's suit two years ago, declined to acknowledge whether such an instruction existed. Later, it admitted its existence. Then the government asked a judge to hold a hearing in secret and preclude Gilmore's lawyers from seeing the regulation they sought to challenge, the contents of which seem to be pretty widely known.

If there were no classified laws like you claim then why would the government ask for a secret hearing?

[Old Professer]

I was born at home as well and I have my original birth certificate; my dad went to the county courthouse and certified a healthy birth of a bright but obstreperous baby boy.

[jjmcgo]

Please re-read the story. There is no claim by the airline that it is enforcing its own policies. The airline clearly stated it was acting in accordance with law, then couldn't produce the law because it is a secret law that the government won't show you.
Once again, this is not a story about an airline claiming it is acting within its "rights." It is a story about an airline not having discretion but rather acting on government orders.

[yer gonna put yer eye out]

I'm sure it does

[Old Professer]

Waiting for someone to not realize riding in a public conveyance is not a right. ;-)

So Rosa Parks had no legs on which to stand?

[Smartaleck]

"At the very least, conservative Americans should demand that all laws that apply to us (be they legislation, or bureaucratic regulations, or judicial decisions) be on file and easily available."

They are.

The US Code, CFR etc are all electronically available for searching.

[Old Professer]

They said much the same about Thomas Paine and Benjamin Franklin.

[Old Professer]

Another poster who blithely ignores the 9th and 10th amendments, I see.

[Cultural Jihad]

Personally, I hate to fly these days. No fear of flying, but the elegance and the anticipation is gone. I expect nothing but trouble, inconvenience, and customer service at the 0 level. I fly just to get from point A to point B and only when I must. The only difference between air travel and Greyhound is that a plane will get you there faster.

Free your mind, and fly wheresoever you want to. ;-)

[Old Professer]

On miltary duty you are not a citizen, you are government property.

[yer gonna put yer eye out]

What YOU are missing is that one of the reasons old ladies and children are also searched is that whining, "my rights" liberals have accused the TSA, and any other organization with some authority, (which causes them to bristle), have to endure the threat of lawsuits if they are thought to be PROFILING.
So, the Liberals have got their way...now EVERYBODY gets searched!

[Sofa King]

DMVs can give out non-drivers license ID's for people who need them but can't drive.