Your Papers, Comrade

I know this won't be a revelation for most of you, but Safeway has pissed me off again.

Tino found some wine that he wanted to buy -- some $3 wine that is actually from France, thus making it a reasonable proposition. As we were checking out, it was clear that I was doing the purchasing (I'd swiped a card through the machine), but both of us were asked for our I.D. for the liquor purchase. Excuse me? There are so many situations when this would pose a problem. What if my 19-year-old brother went shopping with me. I would then be prohibited from buying alcohol for my own consumption just because he was with me! This seems sick and wrong to me.

The other day in my sunny suburb the cops were randomly pulling people over and checking licenses.

Why isn't it front page news that our hard fought freedoms in this country are now horribly reduced? This is EXACTLY the sort of thing the constitution was meant to prevent. The Man is not supposed to hassle you without provocation.