May I See Your Papers, Please? by Jackie Juntti Did you know you have to provide "GOVERNMENT ISSUED IDENTIFICATION" to travel? I took one of my very infrequent trips on an airplane last week. I had been forewarned by one of my daughters that I would have to produce a drivers license in order to get past the baggage check-in desk. Well, this just happens to be an extremely sensitive issue with me and I said, "No way." I will get on that plane using my Costco card, which has my photo on it. I did call the airline and ask what the deal was on identification. I did this as the plane tickets were a gift from my brother and sister-in-law and I wouldn’t dream of goofing up their gift to me to prove a point. The person I spoke with on the phone was very polite in telling me that I would indeed need GOVERNMENT ISSUED IDENTIFICATION to board the plane. I asked, "What is considered GOVERNMENT ISSUED IDENTIFICATION?" She explained that would be a state issued drivers license, a state issued identification card, or a passport. I asked what a person was supposed to do if they possess none of those items. She replied, "Then you must get one of them." I told her my flight was scheduled for the next day so there was no time to get any of those items and just to whom would I talk with to discover what other options would be available? Her response was to tell me to call airport security and ask them what my options were. I did not do that, choosing instead to take my chances by just going to the airport and seeing what would happen. I love real life adventures. Upon arriving at Sea-Tac Airport I gave my daughter the usual hug and kiss and said "Bye, see you in a week"--or whatever. I grabbed my luggage and headed towards the baggage/ticket counter. When my turn came I placed my suitcase on the proper spot and handed the clerk my tickets. She looked at them and asked for ID. I opened my purse and my wallet and pulled out my Costco Card and handed it to her. Believe me, this was a Kodak moment!!!! She recovered and then explained that I needed to produce GOVERNMENT ISSUED IDENTIFICATION. The ensuing discussion was long (took about 15 minutes to get past this point to the next step) and I will just summarize that conversation for this writing. Oh yes, there were many people standing around that heard all of this. We went back and forth over GOVERNMENT ISSUED IDENTIFICATION and my comments about why did I need a drivers license, I wasn’t driving the plane--that I thought I lived in America and we had freedom here and I had no idea that we had reached the point of having to produce our traveling papers to board an airplane. Next we discussed how someone who flies only every few years is supposed to know about these socialist rules. The requirement of needing GOVERNMENT ISSUED IDENTIFICATION is not printed on the tickets or the envelopes that contain the tickets. And, as I looked around where I stood (where they sell tickets) there was nothing posted anywhere concerning that rule. She explained that I would have been advised at the time I purchased the tickets of the ID requirement. I told her I didn’t purchase the tickets, they were a gift and the tickets had been mailed to me. "Well, it is FAA rules," she said. I asked for a copy of those rules so that I could see for myself if that was indeed true. She didn’t have a copy and told me to contact FAA for one. I explained that it was odd that if that is the rule then it should be readily available for the public to see. The conversation then went to how safe she feels knowing that everyone on the plane has GOVERNMENT ISSUED IDENTIFICATION as it makes everyone safer and more secure. I remarked that false identification is not that hard to get and I didn’t understand how the possession of possibly false GOVERNMENT ISSUED IDENTIFICATION could make anyone feel safer. I certainly didn’t feel any safer or more secure knowing that all passengers carried GOVERNMENT ISSUED IDENTIFICATION. We agreed that we seemed to have different views on what constitutes safety and security. (I really wanted to explain how the FBI, BATF, CIA, had GOVERNMENT ISSUED IDENTIFICATION and I wondered how safe and secure the Randy Weaver family and the Branch Davidians felt knowing that the federal agents firing on them had GOVERNMENT ISSUED IDENTIFICATION, but I didn’t think she would have comprehended the relationship between the two at all). I finally asked her point blank if the fact that I didn’t produce any GOVERNMENT ISSUED IDENTIFICATION was going to result in the denial of my boarding the airplane. She was very exasperated at this point as I am sure they have not been taught how to deal with nice little old ladies that aren’t nasty or threatening but just asking honest questions. She then reached down below her counter area and pulled out a very bright fluorescent orange strip of card stock that was approximately 18 inches long and one and one-half inches wide. She folded the bright orange strip around my purse strap and stapled it. I was told not to remove the bright orange strip from my purse. She then explained that I would have to submit to a physical search of my purse upon passing thru the metal detection area. And, she cautioned, I must be sure that they punch this strip after my purse had been searched or, she warned, I would not be allowed onto the plane. I looked at her and asked if the searchers were aware that they had to punch that strip of bright orange paper after they searched my purse? "Yes, they know that," she replied. "Well then, I guess it is their responsibility to punch it and not mine to be sure that they do, right?" She didn’t really answer me but made it clear in motions that she was done with me and for me to proceed so she that could help the next person in line. I proceeded to the metal detection area where a long line was waiting to be "detected." I was not carrying anything other than my purse which had this bright orange flagging on it so that everyone would know I was some sort of criminal and not a compliant little sheep following the dictates of the NWO. I enjoy watching people so this gave me a lot of entertainment as I stood in line. When I reached the position of approximately seventh in line, the man that I presumed was an observer was saying something. I didn’t realize right away that he was talking to me. When it dawned on me that he was directing his comments toward me, I asked him to please repeat what he said because I had not heard him. He smiled broadly and pointed at the bright orange flagging and asked me what I had done to deserve that as they rarely ever see a bright orange strip attached to a passenger’s purse. Keep in mind that this area was crowded and that voices level had to be raised in order for the man and myself to hear each other. I made sure that my purse became very visible and, smiling, I told him (loudly) that I was guilty of not producing GOVERNMENT ISSUED IDENTIFICATION as I had thought that I lived in America and didn’t realize that I was living in Nazi Germany. This definitely caught the attention of many people and the observer smiled and said OK, he understood. By this time I was at the metal detector and placed my purse on the conveyor belt and walked thru to be "detected." A nice young black woman took my purse and asked me to please step to the side with her as they needed to physically search my purse. I said fine and followed her to a window sill. She explained that she had to call for a supervisor. When the supervisor appeared the first person began to remove the items from my purse. I love these exercises. I have a well stocked purse. In fact, it was stocked even more so than usual as I had my eight ounce bottle of colloidal silver in my purse so that it wouldn’t spill in my suitcase. I am an E’Ola distributor and I take colloidal silver daily as a preventative antibiotic (I am allergic to all but two prescription antibiotics) so I had to have it with me. I had to explain what was in the bottle, which I did. I told both of them that they were lucky I had not brought my little colloidal silver generator (for making colloidal silver myself) as it has three batteries and wires and silver probes. That would have made them all nervous and probably would have landed me in a jail cell somewhere. Both of them were very nice and polite through this process. After all items were removed and those that needed explanation were explained, the woman attempted to replace the items in my purse. After watching her attempt to repack my purse for awhile, I asked if there was any rule that prevented me from repacking it myself. She gratefully said no, so I did the chore. As I was repacking my purse the supervisor (he was of Asian decent) asked me why I went through all of this. I explained to him that I was born in America almost 58 years ago and I still believed in all of the freedoms that Americans are supposed to have. I also said that I would continue to exercise my rights as I understand them until the day I die in spite of the socialist restraints being imposed upon the people of this country. This man looked me square in the eyes and told me "thank you" and to please continue doing it. He said that he wished more people would stand against these things as I have chosen to do. I wish I would have had more time to find out where he came from and hear his story, but flight time was fast arriving so, off I went to the boarding area. I made mental notes of the expressions on the faces of the people who saw my bright orange flagging (which reminded me of the yellow star given to Jews during WWII) and wished I had time to explain to them the reason why I had it. Perhaps a few people understood. I boarded the plane without further stops and arrived in Reno on time. An amazing event took place in spite of my not having produced GOVERNMENT ISSUED IDENTIFICATION. Despite my insistence upon only using a Costco Card to get on board the airplane--all of the passengers on that flight landed in Reno safely, can you believe it? No one was harmed by my lack of producing GOVERNMENT ISSUED IDENTIFICATION. © 1998 Jackie Juntti