Wayne Chirnside wrote in a message to Roy J. Tellason:

 >> Therein might lie the answer.  Would you have considered flying if
 >> all that happened never happened?

 > Probably not,

 MK> There you go.  Offhand I don't think it changed my attitude that
 MK> much either.

 RJT> Well,  I _have_,  though.  It's gone from "probably not"
to "no way in
 RJT> hell"!

 WC> Same here.
 WC> The way it's implimented in the U.S. it'll never stop the hijackers
 WC> but is fine for data mining on U.S. citizens :-(

Now there's an aspect of it that hadn't occurred to me...

 WC> Saw a piece on the Democratic Underground where the U.S. could 
 WC> follow the example of the V.A. and make prescription drugs 
 WC> affordable for the average retiree or the disabled by buying in
 WC> bulk at dramatically reduced rates but as long as the drug company 
 WC> lobbyists are handing out perks and _contributions_ it'll never 
 WC> happen.

Something's gotta happen there,  it's out of hand.  I heard a bit on the
news where the state of Illinois is going to Canada for prescription drugs.
 I'm not clear on just how they're planning to do that,  but it appears to
be shaking things up some.

 WC> Oh yes another odd little tidbit.
 WC> Apparently the Patriot Act has been used to convict a drug dealer. 
 WC> The drug dealer was convicted of manufacturing methamphetamine. 
 WC> Since toxic substances are used in the manufacture of 
 WC> methamphetamine and because it can kill he was charged with making 
 WC> a weapon of mass destruction and sentenced to 12 years to life.
 WC> The prosecutor proclaimed this an appropriate use of that law.

Wow.  They can also use the fact that meth labs are *dangerous*.  I hear
from time to time of those places exploding...

 WC> Well fella's the list of common materials containing toxic 
 WC> substances made into compunds is endless. Table salt contains 
 WC> clorine which is a weapon of mass destruction as a gas. Salt also 
 WC> contributes to high blood pressure leading to death. Shall we put 
 WC> the Morton Salt girl in prison or the CEO? 

 WC> Cooking a lobster under this interpretation could be considered 
 WC> murder as a lobsters blood contains a compound of cyanide.

There's an awful lot out there that they can use as they see fit,  if they
decide that they want to.  For a long time I've thought that "Question
Authority" was a good way to go,  but direct confrontational challenge
has never been my idea of how to go about it -- there are too many ways
that they can make life miserable for you if they decide you've become too
much of an annoyance.

 WC> Don't get me wrong I detest makers of methamphetamine but the 
 WC> where will the abuse of the Patriot Act end is my concern here.

Understood.  But that's only the latest link in a long chain.

 WC> Practically anyone can be jailed indefinately for just about any 
 WC> reason with no access to legal council :-(

Yep.

 WC> Didn't we not so long ago have a cold war with an evil empire that
 WC> employed just such tactics?

Yeah.

What was that deal a while back where they wanted people to snitch on other
people?  Some sort of a program ("TIPS"?) that they wanted to put
into effect?

I can still remember my sixth grade teacher,  talking one time about how in
"Russia" kids were encouraged in school to turn in their
parents...

Now _we're_ doing this stuff?    Jeez.

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