ok time for a Government rant...
I first saw it on Tech TV "the screen savers" last night. They talked briefly about a new "system" administered by the U.S. Department of Justice, and several other federal agencies, called "Tips" . Terrorist Information and Prevention System. Basically, this plan will creat a nation of "spies" the whole idea is that they will get everyday working americans to spie on other everyday working american. They plan to target mail carriers, ship captains, train conductors, truckers, utility employees, etc... and then these workers will "report" any suspicious activity they might see during their work day. At first glance this makes common sense, and appears to be a good idea, but... the openings for abuse are there. What if a disgruntled employee, happens to "target" a fellow co-worker, or even a customer who gave them a hard time? They'd report them, and now this american citizen would be under investigation. It goes back to the days of the "macarthy-ism" where hollywood was just about destoyed due to rumours, and acusations. People's lives were ruined. I don't like this idea one bit.
Next...
I saw on Cspan last night two things... one was the hearing to "expel" Senator James Traficant from congress. Apparently he was found guilty back on april 11th, of 8 felonies, such as:bribes, kickbacks, false tax returns, etc... I never heard of this guy before (not sure why) he's quite the "character". He was very in-your-face at this hearing, bragging about wearing a denim suit, and carrying in a large styrofoam glass of "something to drink" (He seemed a little "tipsy" to me). I have no information on if this guy is guilty or not, but it was a circus. He brought up some good points about how he was falsely accused, and most all of the "witnesses" who testified against him were also "criminals" that had their crimes "plea bargined" down for saying what the prosecutors wanted them to say. He also brought up another good point, that with the FBI's technology today, and the abilitt to plant microphones, and cameras they did not present one piece of "hard evidence" against him. This guy will probably go to jail soon, but will also probably serve a short sentence and then make millions off a book deal.

I'll leave with two of his quotes of this "character".... "I love America, But I hate the government" and.... "When the federal judges decided to take the word "God" out of the pledge of alligance, they opened to door to satan"

cyen out
ps> sorry for the mis-spellings.
______________________