I thought it a little silly today to see police cars hauling stuff. One had a trailer full of lighting fixtures. Another had its trunk stuffed to overflowing. As suspected, they were setting up a checkpoint. I had a press release waiting for me in my email. The checkpoint was to “include local agencies and the B.A.T. Mobile (Breath Alcohol Testing Mobile Unit) from Raleigh.” The release closed with a phone number media representatives interested in attending could call.
I recall the good old days when, in Switzerland, I was glad to be an American after meeting guards with guns searching cars in a tunnel. I felt the same way when when I saw guards with machine guns in the Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. Fast-forwarding ahead, I learned of Americans getting fined for “driving while poor.” I went without heat in my car a few winters while paying for the cosmetic details needed to keep the inspection stickers up-to-date. The re-icing windshield and frozen fingers were government’s idea of safety. Fast-forwarding again, to nowadays, we can get hassled just for driving while driving. I get my jollies racking up seatbelt tickets. Though I’m habitual, I can’t recall the last time I catapulted through the windshield and landed on a schoolbus, inflicting bodily and emotional injuries on small children.
