True Tales of Homeland Security

[Atman]

My wife and I spent this past frigid Saturday night in Boston, our club-hopping plans severely curtailed by the effects of sub-zero weather and an incident I'm about to describe. We did manage to meet up with some friends, though, and shared some interesting stories of their travels to visit relatives over the recent holiday break.

I really don't think it is proper for me to divulge much about them, as they are not here to approve my account, and they would be recognizable to quite a few people likely to read the likes of DU, just through a cursory description. So please excuse the rather obvious attempts at neutralizing gender references. But, a couple seemingly trivial things are germane...one of these two works in the bio tech field, one of only a small handful of researchers in the nation doing this particular type of work. Like many scientists I know, my friend can appear a bit flighty when "off-duty" and free to think of lesser concepts than the future of the world, and nailing the next research grant.

So, it wasn't really a surprise Saturday when we were told that the cold would be the lesser of our problems if we planned on clubbing...Friend had lost driver's license nearly three weeks ago, and being a twenty-something, was almost sure to get carded everywhere we went. We'd have to alter our plans to hit only seedier clubs with looser doormen. Or...but wait...something Friend said just struck me as odd...

"You lost your license three weeks ago?" I asked.

"Yes, and I have no idea where. I think it was..." Friend continued, with an explanation that suddenly didn't seem that important.

I interrupted, asking rhetorically "But didn't you just fly to your folks' homes over Christmas? Like, twice? How did you get on airplanes without an ID?"

"I didn't need a license, they accepted my student ID. Funny, huh? It has no age, no address, just a picture and the school logo. We just walked right through, didn't even look twice at us or our stuff," was the reply.

It should be noted that this is a mixed-race couple, with a 15-year age difference. Red-Flag worthy, is what I am politely trying to say, as I racially-profile my dear friends... with no ID, the Orange Alert, the holiday...is it just me, or does this kind of make you raise your own alert status?

Feeling safer yet? Read on, the weekend wasn't over...

Our Friends having since departed, my wife and I opted for indoor activity Sunday; you can't cruise Newbury Street when it is 5 below zero, so we went to Legal Seafoods at the Pru for some brunch. This is of particular note; The Prudential Center is Boston's Empire State Building...not the tallest building anymore, but close enough, and a landmark in and of itself. The point is, we're sitting having lunch at the base of a major financial/tourist center in one of the high-profile cities. We'd already mindlessly submitted to a ridiculous excuse for a vehicle search upon entering the parking garage...pop the trunk, look at our baggage, move along sir...and now, as we sat sucking on bloodies and blue points, a piercing yet muffled electronic horn begins to blare, and flashing strobe lights start popping from alarms all over the massive dining room...

...and continue to flash, and the horn continued to blare, and the servers continued to serve, and the diners continued to dine...

A few people looked up, me and my wife among them. We heard a passing waiter say to another guest "This happens all the time." But then fire trucks started pulling up outside. And guys started running into the entrance below us. Now, a computerized voice reminding me of Terry Gilliam's "Brazil" announced "A breach has been reported in the Retail Sector. Boston Fire Department is investigating. Please stand by for further instructions."

This went on every few minutes while everyone ignored the hubbub and snarfled their scrod. After ten minutes or so, the alarms stopped and the computer voice announced "The Boston Fire Department has investigated the threat in Retail Sector, and has determined All Clear." As if anyone noticed...it would take more than a skyscraper crumbling above my head to make me leave a cup of chowda this good! "But how would we know if something was really wrong?" my wife rightly asked.

"Personally, I'd watch for running and screaming. That's when you'll know something bad has happened." She wasn't amused, but I think she suddenly joined me in realizing the folly of trying to make sense of a perpetually undefined "heightened alert."

I took a bite of an absolutely fabulous crab cake, and thought about my ID-less traveling friends, and my car being searched, and the men who'd walked these sacred grounds 230 years before me, forging out the basis for a society whose ideals we've all but discarded like last week's orange alert.

A lifetime ago. When Boston was in a different America.

[SheilaT]

1. Interesting.

On one hand, a lax security at airports, on the other, too much "security" in a commercial center.

We are already living in a police state. Get used to it.

[pansypoo53219]

2. all the easier

to keep the sheeple afraid and unnerved, but keeping airlines in business.

smoke and mirror maladministration.