2008 Woodie Awards
Welcome to the Policed States of America
Patriot Act Provision finds citizen in shackles.
Issac Stolzenbach
Issue date: 4/15/05 Section: Opinions
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According to a quote from The Baltimore Sun, spokesmen for the Baltimore County Police Department, Bill Toohey, made a comment that proves the horse has been beaten, charred, and defiled into glue, "It's a sign that we're all a little nervous in the post-9/11 world." Bah! How's about I detain some random individual off the street, put him in a headlock, and chain him up to a pole-all in the name of citizen's arrest? We'll see how well it goes over when I tell the fellow and the authorities, "Sorry, I was nervous . . . it is after September 11 and all . . . no worries, right?"
Bolesta went to get a radio put in his son's car at Best Buy. Best Buy ordered the wrong radio, and when it would not fit they apologized and told Bolesta when they received the correct part, they would install it for free . . . for the inconvenience. When that day finally came the installation went off without a hitch, but later the manger called Bolesta and said that he would need to come back and pay the installation fee, or the store manager would be forced to call the police.
Feeling a bit jaded, Bolesta went to his local SunTrust bank and withdrew the $114 installation fee-a fresh stack of $2 bills. When he did the honest thing and returned to Best Buy to pay the installation fee, the staff called the police because they felt that a stack of two-dollar bills seemed suspicious. Beware of terrorists wielding two-dollar bills. The police handcuffed the gentleman, placed him in leg irons, and chained him to a pole while they waited three hours for the Secret Service to arrive and investigate. When the SS arrived they of course found that the bills were legal tender and released Bolesta. But what's to be done about the embarrassment of being chained-up in front of a store in the town you've lived in for the past eighteen years? Nothing. Because under the Patriot Act, law enforcement officials are authorized to detain any suspicious individual: Welcome to the Policed States of America!
This situation is a by-product of the fascist-like power law enforcement has been granted under the provisions of the Patriot Act, HR Bill 3162, enacted in 2001. The Patriot Act is up for renewal in December of this year, and it will take a great deal of screaming and hollering to stop that from happening. Measures of the Act permit unauthorized detainment of individuals, searches of homes/businesses/personal property with or without a judge's signature, and spying on individual library records. What happened to all that wacky balance of power stuff?