Today is New Law Day in Indiana, the day when things that were fine, moral, and upstanding yesterday become evil and a cause for SWAT teams and prison terms.
For example, yesterday, if a little old man with a "Proud WWII Veteran" baseball cap and a cane came up and set beer down on the cash register, you could use your judgment and guess that he was probably over 21 and go 'head and ring him up. Yesterday, a regular customer who looked like she might be under 21 could place the beer there, and you could use your judgment and say "Oh, okay, I know her; I saw her ID yesterday."
Today, however, using your judgment becomes a Class B misdemeanor. You could get arrested for not checking that WWII vet's ID.
And as everyone knows, if you resist, you could get shot.
For not checking that WWII vet's ID.
And this seems sensible to some people.
First comes the concept of drinking ages. Then comes the concept of "carding". Then comes the concept of mandatory "carding". But that's okay because soon we will have mandatory cards.
So we can threaten to shoot people for not checking ID. (Because we all seem to forget that that's what backs up all laws: The power of the state, which is a polite way of saying "the threat of naked force".)
And this seems sensible to some people... What a world.
They had just passed a law like this in Tennessee before I moved up here, and it was good to get away from it, but the crazy seems to be following me.
YOU!!! YOU BROUGHT THE CRAZY!!! BURN THE WITCH!! BURN HER!!!
ReplyDeletebesides. She turned me into a newt.
>>the crazy seems to be following me.
ReplyDeleteJINK!
I've already kvetched to Ron.
ReplyDeleteHe reports that he wants to "see how it works" and then possibly modify it next session.
The road to legal Hell is paved with good intentions.
Shootin' Buddy
Typhoid Tam! Mandatory quarantine! (Send in the tactical medical squad.)
ReplyDeleteComes soon the time when the adult citizen will never be legal to walk the street without a valid ID on him.
ReplyDeleteI do not approve.
Sorry to hear that, Tam. That law (TN version) is one of the reasons I've decided to move as soon as I can afford to--I'm going to FL, where they have their own lunatic ordinances, but carding 90-year-olds isn't one of them.
ReplyDelete"...but the crazy seems to be following me."
ReplyDelete"Crazy" appears to be pandemic...
I decided not long ago that when a server at a restaurant tries to ID me, I no longer will render them a tip.
ReplyDeleteSeems mean spirited at first, but the fact of the matter is that not many teenagers try to cop a cold one at an Applebees; yet I'm one of the many who has to be treated like a crook because theoretically it happens.
If they can't tell from the size of the tribe that I walk in with that I'm "of the age" - not that I'm defending the drinking age - than I don't have to tip their stupidity.
You can all use my "cris de coeur" : "Please, make the stupid stop!"
ReplyDeleteThe "buying of booze" or even drinking age should be 18, if you insist, or not a legal matter, even better.
I ordered a beer in a bar once, the bartender asked me my birthday. I assured her I'm not only over 21, I'm over twice 21. She replied "Oh, no, it's not that, I thought you might be eligible for our senior citizen's discount."
ReplyDeleteRim shot.
Hey, maybe you could ask Elena Kagan what she thinks of this law.
ReplyDeleteI think I know what her "opinion" might be.
Probably the same as Stevens.
ReplyDeleteOr, heck, half any of 'em. This sounds like the kind of thing that seemed to sail right on past SCOTUS during the good ol' days of the Rehnquisition.
Rehnquisition?
ReplyDeleteYou mean when the Supreme Court was scaling back the scope and authority of the Commerce Clause under Chief Justice . . . L. Neil Smith? No, wait it was Justice Ron Paul? No, no, no, I remember who wrote Lopez it was Chief Justice . . . oh, what was his name?
Shootin' Buddy
Move west.
ReplyDeleteSB,
ReplyDeleteI mean the Rehnquisition where the Fourth Amendment took it in the shorts for 20 years, but that's okay 'cause it only affected dopers and rummies and they don't count. Hell, they don't even deserve representation.
What does search and seizure have to do with this federalized carding statute?
ReplyDeleteShootin' Buddy
Do they at least ask for ID when you vote?
ReplyDeleteroy, yes, here they do. Indiana Supreme Court upheld the Voter ID act yesterday.
ReplyDeleteOff to the SCOTUS it goes.
Shootin' Buddy
You are surprised that the crazy followed you? We are all here reading what you write aren't we?
ReplyDeleteYou should be used to crazy following you by now.
This brings to mind the Far Side cartoon in the old West town where the guy points at the dog sitting there minding his own business and says, "Lets go and tie him up!" or words to that effect.
ReplyDeleteJim
This is now the country we live in.
ReplyDeleteYou MUST ID even someone obviously an octogenarian if they seek to buy a beer. Yet, a little less than half the country is horrified that cops in AZ MIGHT ask for ID if dealing with you as a criminal suspect IF they think you MIGHT be in the country illegally even though FEDERAL law requires all aliens to carry proof that they are in the country legally.
I don't get ID'd at the liquor store since I am obviously (dang it) over 21, but in a grocery store they have to do an override on the register to avoid doing an ID check. It seems they are set up to REQUIRE entry of an ID number to complete a transaction on any alcoholic beverage but most stopped ID'ing customers obviously over age because it pissed them off.
BTW, purchase of tobacco products in OK also requires an ID number or an override and most convenience stores proudly declare that they ID anyone who looks less that 30 when 18 is the age of legal tobacco purchase.
A few years ago, I almost got jammed up on the job for refusing to take a police explorer out to do sting purchases of alcohol and tobacco at convenience stores. The kid was to try to make a buy and see if they ID'd him or not, but hell, he had a bigger mustache than mine and he was only 17 (Sam Elliott, Jr?) so he looked to be 28 or so! They got someone else to take him.
I've been drinking in public places since I was 15, and I've only been carded twice.
ReplyDeleteOnce in New York City when I was 18 and legal. Downside was the store guy annonunced I was 18, thereby killing my chances with a college woman who thought I was a Senior like her. I went back the next day just to complain. He commiserated but that was about all.
Next time, I was 55 and still the youngest in the group. We all got asked for ID. My friends all laughed, I gave the server a big hug.
It evens out, I guess.
Stay safe
CTone said...
ReplyDeleteI decided not long ago that when a server at a restaurant tries to ID me, I no longer will render them a tip.
So you give the poor waitress a choice between your $10 tip or a $1500 fine, loss of her job and loss of her alcohol servers permit?
What a choice, really outta make her happy to see your smiling face.
Yep, sorry, I can't see stiffing the server for their tip just because they're obeying the law.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to change the law, stiff your lawmaker, instead. Maybe his/her replacement will be more amenable to freedom and liberty.
Og: You got better.
ReplyDeleteLOL
From Heinlein: "When a place gets crowded enough to require ID's, social collapse is not far away. It is time to go elsewhere. The best thing about space travel is that it made it possible to go elsewhere". (Time Enough for Love, 1973).
ReplyDelete"Beam me up Scotty...Scotty?...Scotty?...Scotty where are you?"
Money talks. If every time someone went to the store for anything, they dragged a bottle of booze to the counter and refused the ID request by saying "you keep it, I don't want it under these conditions", the vendors will raise hell with the politicians. A lot of people will have to do this, for it to work.
ReplyDeleteWhy do I get the feeling you work in a liquor store?
ReplyDeleteI don't.
ReplyDeleteGee, over on Western Rifle Shooters, they're talking about civil disobedience - in the how? where? when? sense.
ReplyDeleteSeems like a good candidate.
Ah, yes, one of my favorite memories of Knox-vegas. Watching / listening to my sons order and get carded, and ask me "What are you having, Dad?"
ReplyDeleteThen having the beertender reply, "Dad's not having anything until I see some ID."
We all resemble each other and pointing to / pulling up my gray hair did nothing to alter the situation.
"Senior Citizens discount?" OW! OW! OW!!
One of the few good things about living in this benighted Godforsaken part of Southern FL is that there a lot of geezers here, who won't put up with this nonsense.
ReplyDeleteMy generally unemployed-looking unshaven visage always gets me a pass at the Publix, the beard being all gray as a consequence of having had to live here for entirely too long.
Neal Boortz is certifiably insane for voluntarily paying money to live here after, oh, say, 1958 or thenabouts.
WV: abliquis. Sounds like a real word. I wonder what it means.
"Most of what government helps me do doesn't help me," said Robinson.
ReplyDeleteHow true it is....