Original
Message 1/5
Date: 23-May-06 @ 07:35 PM -
Passports
Hi
I finally got round to filling out a passport application form today (though my passport is still valid, the Bio-ID-bigbro farce kicks in at the end of the month and I wanted to delay 'choosing' to participate for as long as possible, or 10 yrs).
As I was putting my current document into the envelope, it occured to me that it wouldn't take a genius (enter brand of fanaticism here) terrorist to work out that distinctive envelopes addressed to the passport office might contain valid passports. Maybe I should cut it in half or deface the personal page I thought. But what if that means problems in replacing it?
I decided to call the office and ask.
A bloke calling himself Ryan answered and immediately asked for my name. I told him my first name and asked if I should send the passport in a complete or spoilt condition. He interrupted to ask for my surname. I repeated my question. He repeated his, adding that he had to 'log the call'. I said 'You can put Smith'. He said 'How do you spell that?' I said 'X'.
Sensing that the conversation was going awry, I asked for his name and surname, along with e-mail address and home address and mother's maiden name and his date of birth. He said he wasn't allowed to give out personal details over the phone. I said neither was I. He agreed to fetch his supervisor. Some piano music (bit cheesy over a phone, but not bad) then he returned to say 'just post it in'!
Great! Why does everyone need to know all our details before even acknowledging us? We are a nation of berserk Box-ticking bureaucrats. And what the f*** is going to happen with the ID cards? Will they just be posted through the regular post. Alky Ada and other anti-prohibitionists only need an operative in the (a?) postal service and they can swipe all the identities they need!
God's teeth, this extreme incompetance so regularly demonstrated by our glorious leaders is really beginning to pluck my pubes!
I am that I am. I have no need to prove other than that I wish to. My right to be is sacrosanct. Habeous Corpus? Arse!