Papers, Please! Denver Feds come down on 50-year-old mom.

[Bloodblister Bob]

Public transit rider Deborah Davis refuses to show ID:

"Suddenly, the second policeman shouted "Grab her!" and he grabbed the cell phone from her and threw it to the back of the bus. With each of the policemen wrenching one of her arms behind her back, she was jerked out of her seat, the contents of her purse and book bag flying everywhere. The cops shoved her out of the bus, handcuffed her, threw her into the back seat of a police cruiser, and drove her to a police station inside the confines of the Denver Federal Center."

http://www.papersplease.org/davis/index.html

BTW, her middle son is a soldier serving in Iraq.

[Tace]

1. Wow -- I'm Really Glad She's Standing Up For Herself

She could easily become the Rosa Parks of privacy rights.

[Fridays Child]

2. Nominated!

[mopinko]

3. as a fifty year old mom, i resent the implication

that i could not be dangerous!

[Sequoia]

9. Gulp, I ride the bus.

That is so scary. This is why it's important for us in the USA to know our rights.

[indepat]

4. Welcome to the land of freedom and liberty, Bush-style

[Peace Patriot]

5. More on Deb Davis...

"One morning in late September 2005, Deb was riding the public bus to work. She was minding her own business, reading a book and planning for work, when a security guard got on this public bus and demanded that every passenger show their ID. Deb, having done nothing wrong, declined. The guard called in federal cops, and she was arrested and charged with federal criminal misdemeanors after refusing to show ID on demand.

"On the 9th of December 2005, Deborah Davis will be arraigned in U.S. District Court in a case that will determine whether Deb and the rest of us live in a free society, or in a country where we must show 'papers' whenever a cop demands them."

------------

A fascinating story. The public bus she was on stops at the Denver Federal Center (Veterans Admin., US Geological Survey--not a military installation, just Fed offices). That was the excuse. Security guard got on at that stop and said everybody has to show ID.

The terminal stupidity part of this is that a "terrorist" would have proper-looking ID, of course--forged or real--nothing a security guard could sniff out. Nor would a "terrorist" make a fuss and get arrested over such a thing.

I will be interested to find out how high up this decision (to demand ID on a public bus) went. Was it a new policy dictated from above (and how high up)? Or just some quirk of the local cop establishment, or individual cops?

I recently went through airport security (not something I do often), and, I swear, it felt like being processed into prison. The stupidity and inanity (and illogic) of the rules amazed me. (You can have four books of matches in your bag, not five. --how does that fifth book of matches make me more of a "terrorist"?). The efforts at personal humiliation amazed me. The attitude of security personnel amazed me. ('We've got you now! We can make you jump through hoops! We can do anything we want to you! You have NO POWER!). I'm certainly not opposed to airport security. What I think is that Bushism--torturing people, killing people--innocent people--has moved like a contagious disease through the ranks of Americans who wear uniforms, giving them the idea that "I am God, and you are nothing! And you WILL obey me, no matter what I ask you to do!"

I know that people of color have a lot more experience than I do of this sort of jackboot behavior among cops and others in uniform. What I'm saying is that it's gone beyond racism, and has become a generalized sadism that emanates from the top of our government. (The policy may or may not have emanated from the top--in the bus case--but the ATTITUDE DOES.)

And this disease will only be cured by people like Deb Davis, who challenge it. With Bush appointing fascists to our courts, we may have some legal struggles ahead, and setbacks. But I think we will--and we MUST--win in the end.

[pushycat]

6. Where did all this cruelty come from? Before 2000 did Law

Enforcement strip search people and force them to do the 'duck walk', shove them down onto floors soaked with motor oil and leave them for days, refuse them medication in custody, drag them out of hospitals in Canada with a catheter still in place and deliver them to a US Court with it still in? We're getting treated no better than Iraqis in Abu Ghraib and no one seems to be able to stop it.

Yes, it is imperative we find out who is issuing orders to treat us citizens like this. The top people in Homeland Security would be a likely place to start...why this is ever tolerated is unbelievable.

[sarcasmo]

7. All thanks to the Patriot Act. Homeland Security is in charge of this mess

The sad thing is more and more of us will go through this Nazi like thinking.

[Tight_rope]

8. Kick!....This shit is to real for movies.

[Canuckistanian]

10. Wonder how Neil Boortz feels about this

I'm sure it won't get a mention on his show.

[hraka]

11. Did they get the bus driver's ID?

Ms Davis wasn't entering the facility, her bus was.

[hraka]

12. Keep an eye on the website...

http://www.papersplease.org/davis/index.html
"Other legal documents from Deb's case will be added to this page as they become available."


EMAIL DEB DAVIS!! SHOW YOUR SUPPORT!! email: [email protected]

[grasswire]

13. what???????????????????????

Outrageous. Conservatives should be taking up this cause, against law enforcement.

OUTRAGEOUS!!

[Neil Lisst]

14. She's the Rosa Park of the opposition to Bush Fascism.

It is an outrage that these goons feel they can get away with this kind of treatment. I hope they are pursued until they are run out of all law enforcement and made an example for others.