Kevin,

You are right, but I tend to look at it as nessasary evils. And many things are common sense. I don't think you can live in a society with no rules. There are abuses in those rules from time to time. There are things we all don't have a lot of choice in dealing with. We can fight them, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't do a lot of good.I think you pick your battles.
In Sam's case, I didn't say it was right. Just said there might be some extenuating circumstances involved. In my own case, in South Carolina, (So long ago I think I was in a horse and buggy) I could have made a lot of noise, caused a lot of stuff about "improper stops" etc. Didn't make a lot of sense to me. I wasn't doing anything, and it was over pretty quickly. At airports, I tend to do what they ask, seems reasonable to me, and I go on with my life.
Many things I draw my conclusions from watching my Father going through a 30 year battle with the Internal Revenue Service. Things they did, unwarranted audits,harrasements, were triggered by things he did. In the end it caused a lot of problems to his health and his life. But he did it. It wasn't the fault of the government. Believe me, I think there is plenty the government does wrong, but that wasn't one of them.
In Sam's case, I am not condoning any behavior at all. It happened, he is looking into what happened and trying to find answers. If he has a case, he will probably have his day in court. And, as I said, due to recent conditions in law enforcement, it is probably going to be on tape.
Yeah, I have my opinion. that is just what it is. An opinion.

Good to hear from you,

MAB