US Department of Transportation: PERVERTS
Yesterday at Blue Sky Mines, we received an email from Human Resources about new procedures for urinalysis from the federal Department of Transportation (Blue Sky Mines is an interstate pipeline company and thus subject to DOT regs.) The new regs are aimed at people suspected of gaming or trying to cheat on a urinalysis test:
New Direct Observation Procedure: The direct observation procedure will change to require that individuals partially disrobe. The donors will be required to raise their shirts, blouses or dresses/skirts and lower their clothes and underwear to demonstrate that there are no adulterants or prosthetic devices; the collection would then take place under direct observation of the collector, who will be the same gender as the donor.
There you have it, ladies and gentlemen: your federal government, forcing you to strip and watching you urinate.
I understand the thought process behind random urinalysis: employers want to make sure that the guy at the controls of a pipeline valve isn’t under the influence of a drug that might cause him to screw up and create a spill or some other dangerous situation for the public at large.
And I understand that there is a scenario where an employee may try to cheat on a piss test. Obviously these are going to be chronic drug abusers, and people you don’t want on your staff.
I say fire them. If there’s evidence of cheating, fire the person. But this idea of strip searching and watching people urinate is disgusting, over-reaching, revolting, and should be absolutely NO BUSINESS of the federal government. It is a disgrace.
The Fourth Amendment supposedly protects us against unreasonable search. The Fifth Amendment supposedly protects us from being forced to incriminate ourselves. Just another example of how modern jurisprudence and anti-drug hysteria have eroded our Constitutional freedoms.
