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Unreasonable Searches When Going to Work?
Chico Science asks: "I'm a scientist, not a lawyer, so I'm a little beleaguered by the fact that since 2001-Sep-11, I have been forced to submit to searches on my campus as I enter buildings. I work at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD, and have been shouldering the burden of increasingly draconian security measures. Most recently, they've instituted a policy of 100% bag/package searches on entering buildings. Initially it didn't bother me, but after having my bag searched on my way to my car (which was also thoroughly inspected) after work, I decided I'm not comfortable subjecting myself to searches of my personal belongings at every turn. I want to know if I have a right to refuse searches? And why should it be considered acceptable for me to relinquish my Fourth Ammendment rights so I can go work on in my lab?" In this climate of increasing security consciousness, how far can vigilance go before it becomes an invasion of our rights?
off-topic, but...
actually, the first biological attack recorded in history was using smallpox against american indians. blankets infested with smallpox were given to the indians as a sign of good faith by the united states. and then the indians got smallpox and died, clearing the way for the settlers.
evil, ain't it?
-agent oranje.
Tune: "There Is Power in the Blood" (L. E. JONES)
First published in the 6 March 1913 edition of the Industrial Worker "Little Red Songbook."
Would you have freedom from wage slavery,
Then join in the grand Industrial band;
Would you from mis'ry and hunger be free,
Then come! Do your share, like a man.
CHORUS:
There is pow'r, there is pow'r
In a band of workingmen.
When they stand hand in hand,
That's a pow'r, that's a pow'r
That must rule in every land --
One Industrial Union Grand.
Would you have mansions of gold in the sky,
And live in a shack, way in the back?
Would you have wings up in heaven to fly,
And starve here with rags on your back?
If you've had "nuff" of "the blood of the lamb,"
Then join in the grand Industrial band;
If, for a change, you would have eggs and ham.
Then come! Do your share, like a man.
If you like sluggers to beat off your head,
Then don't organize, all unions despise,
If you want nothing before you are dead,
Shake hands with your boss and look wise.
Come, all ye workers, from every land,
Come join in the grand Industrial band.
Then we our share of this earth shall demand.
Come on! Do your share, like a man.
[from www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/parton/2/power.html, but it's doubtless all over the place]
The real reason is to create a gun-controller's Utopia: no guns, the State can easily maintain control.
If only the Chinese dissidents at Tiananmen Square had been "packing", those tanks wouldn't have stood a chance. Yeah. Right.
I am so tired of this absurd argument by gun nuts that citizens with pistols, rifles, and shotguns can successfully defend themselves against a government gone bad. That may have been the case when the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were written, but it's not any longer. Tanks, planes, and bombs are relatively immune to some bunch of yahoos with Glocks, Rugers, and Colts.
P.S. Before trying to write me off as some anti-gun zealot, know that I own two pistols, a rifle, and a shotgun. But I'm not so deluded as to believe that they are going to be of much use in holding our government in check.