Wake Up Call, by Carl Bussjaeger

Exclusive to TLE

In a recent column I asked when the American people would wake up to what they've let "their" government become. At least one reader took that as a simple rhetorical question. And provided a rhetorical answer: "The answer to all these rhetorical questions is quite simple. When disaster stares at us, square in the face."

Lessee what we've got so far; here are a few headlines and teasers from the last couple of years. ...

"The 1992 ordinance had required police to order any group of people standing around 'with no apparent purpose' to move along if an officer believed at least one of them belonged to a street gang."

A December 3, 1998 report shows that the US Customs Service conducted 49,592 body searches of international airline passengers in a one year period. Of those thousands, a mere 5.2% were found to possess drugs.

December 15, 1998: New York -- Despite objections from civil libertarians, the city's police commissioner proposed Monday to take a DNA sample along with the fingerprints of everyone arrested. ... "The innocents have nothing to fear ... only if you are guilty should you worry about DNA testing."

Sacramento, CA -- Pacific had agreed to sell 10,000 acres of land to California and the federal government... But in recent negotiations, federal authorities said that in return for the money, Pacific would have to limit logging near waterways on the 200,000 acres of land it is not selling.

Denver -- The full 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that immunity deals and lesser sentences offered in return for the testimony of witnesses did not violate federal laws against bribery.

Washington -- Postal rates increase today ... Despite four-straight profitable years, the post office says it needs the added cash ...

The White House argued today that the impeachment charges(of felony perjury) against President Clinton should be dismissed because they "... do not rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors."

Police who seize someone's property during a search do not have to provide information on how to get it back later, the Supreme Court ruled today.

FHA to sell foreclosed homes to communities for $1 each

Turkey in the middle: Loyal ally has lost $30 billion in trade as U.S. jets use its base to bomb Iraq

It will take more to get Americans to the polls this Election Day than a presidential candidate they really like. A new study suggests people will be more likely to vote if they actively dislike George Bush or Al Gore.

Massachusetts seeks custody of Christian sect member's fetus

The Supreme Court today barred distribution of marijuana to people in California whose doctors recommend it for medicinal purposes.

FBI tool weighs student threats: Not a profiling tool, it insists

A man whose bid to become a police officer was rejected after he scored too high on an intelligence test has lost an appeal in his federal lawsuit against the city.

Kathleen Mahoney and 11 other jurors spent 30 days away from their regular jobs to decide the claim by Merritt Sharp that his civil rights were violated by the Garden Grove Police Department and five law-enforcement officers. "It kind of defeats the purpose of a jury," Mahoney said Tuesday after being informed that Judge Derek W. Hunt had thrown out the $1 million verdict awarded to Sharp.

And that's just the United States. Recently. You want to take a look at the People's Republic of England? Australia? Or <fill in damned near any nation yourself>?

Tell me -- If the complete abrogation of the Constitution (yes, that includes the now defunct Bill of Rights) doesn't constitute disaster, what the hell does? Are you waiting for someone to seize your land 'for the public good'? To kick in your door on a 'War on Some Drugs' accidental-raid-on-the-wrong-house? Concentration camps for your racial/ethnic type? To have your papers demanded by a uniformed thug at drug/DUI/insurance/taillight/open container roadblock on a dark road?

Gas chambers?

If you're complacently sitting there, telling yourself that America (or wherever you live) is still better than any other country, how long do you think that will be the case if you don't get off your butt to make it so?

If you are under oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States (or perhaps that of another country already well down the road to police state), are you defending it? Or have you chucked out your sacred honor, along with the Constitution?

Disaster is here. As the clich� goes -- Are you part of the problem, or part of the solution?

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Wake Up Call

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Wake Up Call

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