Also, SocSec credited my attorney's fee to my bank account again instead of his, and no, I cannot simply send him a check, nor one back to SocSec apparently. They will have to take it out of my monthly payments. The fed bureaucracy is insane.

Damn, I forgot the good part. Apparently, many of my problems with SocSec are related to the Patriot Act. Also, I couldn't open a joint bank account with my 15 year old son because he is not old enough yet for a state-issued ID. Patriot Act.

In a bank in my hometown, there's a nice, big sign that says they have to do background checks and some other stuff due to the patriot act. It's in this plastic engraved sign and everytime I see it I think of how our world has changed, we can never go back to the pre-Patriot act, we don't want to give up the security blanket.

SC's DMV page says one can get a State ID at 5. I knew two kids in CA who had similar ones before they were old enough to drive. One was a habitual runaway whose parole officer had told him he would go straight to juvie if he didn't have it on his person when he was picked up.

I was jogging with a friend through Queensbridge Park one night last summer. We were stopped by cops in a cruiser who told us the park was shut and asked for ID. When we both said we didn't have ID on our persons since we were jogging, the cops told us it was against the law to go around without ID and that we were subject to arrest.

My quick thinking friend said, "Okay, should we, like, get in the car? How far's the precinct? Will I get home in time to go teach public school in the Bronx in the morning?" Those cops took off like they'd seen a ghost.

But even Patriot doesn't require everyone to carry ID at all times, does it? Those cops were just bullying us, right?

My son is California anyway. Used to be, a parent could just open a savings account in a child's name with just a birth certificate. You didn't even need the kid along. The ID is the reason the bank gave, but their regs say no accounts period until 16.

HJ, I don't think so but you can bet someone tried to stick it in there at some point.

Ardiril, sounds like you're ready for that trip to Boston!

Hell, when I was 13 I opened a savings account with my middle school ID and 6 dollars (my lunch money for the week). They gave me a little deposit book with my account number written on the inside. This wasn't even that long ago - 1997, I think?

What if your son became an emancipated minor?

the goofy thing is, in a lot of states, you can work at 15 (younger for things like a paper route).

But even Patriot doesn't require everyone to carry ID at all times, does it? Those cops were just bullying us, right?

Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District Court of Nevada (2004) upheld a state statute requiring giving police identification when asked, determining such laws did not violate the Fourth or Fifth Amendments.

Where such statutes do not exist, there is no such requirement.

Banks can be funny about ID. My nieces and nephews all had savings accounts opened by my parents as their legal guardians. When my nephew turned 18 and began working he just went over to the bank and changed it to his own. When my mother, still my nieces' legal guardian, tried to have my father removed from their accounts (in case he might raid them, since he has dementia and we are taking financial matters out of his hands; my mother and I have power of attorney), they wouldn't do it without his signature or a court guardianship completed against my father, at least at first. It went through the lawyers at the head office and took two weeks.

melismata; I'm ready to buy the plane tickets, but I'm waiting for someone to confirm a date.

} This is, btw, one of the shortfalls of email. {

*blush*

WHAT WHAT WHAT!???!?!??!!!!

Alas, my attempt at discrete wording has been exposed.

YAAAYYY!

Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District Court of Nevada (2004) upheld a state statute requiring giving police identification when asked, determining such laws did not violate the Fourth or Fifth Amendments.

A requirement to identify yourself (such as name, address, and birth date) is no the same as a requirement to carry ID at all times.