I have a brand new 2007 Volkswagen GTI Fahrenheit limited edition. It’s time for the 5,000 mile scheduled service, so what happens? On the Volkswagen Information System computer, a message Service Now! displays whenever I start the ignition. I don’t want to bring my car to the dealer and pay for an overpriced synthetic oil change and other overpriced services. I rather select my provider of choice, but that doesn’t stop the annoying service message from appearing. I figured there must be a way to turn it off, and I was right! Here’s what you do:
Before turning on the ignition, hold down the odometer reset button
Insert key, turn on ignition (keep holding the button down)
Hold for about 10-12 seconds, then let go
Press the clock’s “M” button once (do not hold down)
Turn off ignition.
This should do it. If it doesn’t work the first time, try again. Be patient, it will work.
Contrary to popular belief, you do not have to show ID to fly any domestic flight, even in a post-9/11 world. I have always wondered what would happen if I was on vacation and lost my wallet – how would I get home? It is not the law to show ID to board a domestic flight, rather it is a TSA Security Directive. This Security Directive cannot and will not be disclosed to you because it is classified as “Sensitive Security Information” or SSI. So there is some law that we are being held to without knowing exactly what that law is. This is tyranny. However, the TSA itself has documented that this is not required [PDF].
However, what is known is that you have a choice of showing identification or alternatively using the “selectee” option. The “selectee” option requires the person to walk through a magnetometer screening device, being subjected to a handheld magnetometer scan, having a light body patdown, removing his shoes, and having his bags hand searched and put through a CAT-scan machine. Some may consider the patdown and bag searches a violation of their Fourth Amendment rights, but the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has dismissed this as being a violation in Gilmore vs. Alberto Gonzales, et al [PDF].
When you go to check in and the airline asks you for your ID, don’t simply “refuse”. Instead, ask for the “selectee” option lieu of identification or simply state that you lost your ID. When your boarding pass is printed, it will be printed with “SSSS” on the boarding pass. This will let the TSA know that you will be subject to additional screening in lieu of showing ID. Do not use a kiosk to print your boarding pass.
Before you go off and test this, let me finish. You have the right not to show ID to any government official, however as a matter of policy, the airline itself may require it.
Here is a list of how some major airlines handle this:
Southwest – Will quickly and efficiently (no questions asked) print you out a new boarding pass with “SSSS” or mark “No ID” with a stamp and some numbers on your boarding pass if you tell them you want to fly without ID as a selectee. As per their policy, they have the right to require ID, but not the obligation.
Northwest – Will quite happily give you a special, machine-printed SSSS pass if you tell them you have forgotten ID.
Delta – As per their Refusal To Transport rule, you have a choice: submit to a search or produce proper identification .
If you read the airline policies, it seems clear that they may enforce their right to require ID if you refuse to furnish ID. So, it is best to say that you lost your ID to the airline, then you may refuse it to the TSA or any government official. By that time, you will already have “SSSS” printed on your ticket, so it won’t even matter.
This is the type of blog title that I would file under the Clichè Buster category, but this clichè actually has a lot of merit. It’s true that all of the little things that life hits us with can certainly add up, and when they do, it becomes a load of stress. Combine that with real issues and it can be much worse.
I find myself sometimes getting stressed over small things that are really no big deal. Maybe it’s when a few small things add up… The thing to remember is that there are 2 types of “problems“. There are those that you can control and those that you cannot. Either way, worrying is an emotion that doesn’t help either type of problem. All worrying does is intensify the negativity of the situation and can wear you down.
I know, I should talk. I worry. But every once in a while, something happens that allows me to take a step back and realize that things aren’t that bad and that life is truly beautiful. Life happens. Deal with it. Not by worrying, but just by doing all you can do. That’s all you can ever expect from yourself. Try to be picky about the things that consume your mind. And the next time I’m stressed out, I probably will need someone to tell me that everything is OK and help me to put things in perspective. We all need that sometimes.
My wife saves me from worrying myself into oblivion. And when she is weak and having a bad day, I try to help her see my crystal clear perspective. When we are both stressed out and going crazy, well, that’s where the red wine comes in.
Are you aware of the attempts of the USA, Canada and Mexico to create a North American Union, which would be somewhat modeled after the european union? The initiative is called the Security and Prosperity Partnership Of North America (SPP).
Our currency will be gone, in favor of the Amero, our sovereign border will be gone, there will be a new higher court above the superior court, and life as we know it in the USA may cease to exist as we know it. The SPP denies this (http://www.spp.gov/myths_vs_facts.asp), but start to read and it all looks pretty fishy.
As a matter of fact, this has already started. They have already started building the “NAFTA Super Highway” from southern Mexico, through the US, to Canada. Not to mention, there is talk of implanting RFID cards in people so that they can be tracked across the border and on these new superhighways. It all sounds like some great conspiracy theory, but there is certainly some truth to some of this. This topic has peaked my interest.
I gotta say, it makes sense of some things that I never got about Bush. As a Republican, why won’t he seal the borders of the USA? Why would he try to give illegal aliens amnesty? Why does he support free trade in north america while it hurts the middle class?
Conspiracy Theory?
In fact, this very issue has been largely ignored by the mainstream media. The only main person in the media to bring this up as an issue is Lou Dobbs. Normally, I would think that this entire thing is some vast conspiracy theory. I don’t think it is. Look around and begin to research. The possibility of the end of the sovereignty of the United States of America could very well be at risk. And it could be happing right before our eyes.
