Orwell’s boot
If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.
George Orwell</em>
They hate us for our freedoms.
Unless of course, you happen to be a child:
ACLU Says Mason High School’s Cell Phone Policy Unconstitutional
Mason High School administrators are being targeted by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). It all has to do with students and cell phones. The ACLU of Ohio sent a letter to Mason High School Principal Dave Allen.
It accuses the district of violating students’ privacy and rights to free speech.
The organization says it has gotten complaints that administrators ordered students to turn over their phones to find out if the students attended a party.
</em>Or unless you’re poor:
Justices uphold welfare home searches
WASHINGTON – County welfare officers may conduct routine searches of the homes of welfare recipients to combat fraud under a ruling in a California case that the Supreme Court let stand Monday.The justices refused to hear a challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union, which contended that San Diego County’s policy of requiring home searches without a warrant violated privacy rights.
The 4th Amendment to the Constitution forbids the police to search a residence without a warrant. But the home inspections in San Diego County are different, judges said, because they do not seek evidence of a crime. Instead, they are intended to determine whether welfare recipients qualify for benefits.
Firefighters asked to report people who express discontent with the government It was revealed last week that firefighters are being trained to not only keep an eye out for illegal materials in the course of their duties, but even to report back any expression of discontent with the government.A year ago, Homeland Security gave security clearances to nine New York City fire chiefs and began sharing intelligence with them. Even before that, fire department personnel were being taught “to identify material or behavior that may indicate terrorist activities” and were also “told to be alert for a person who is hostile, uncooperative or expressing hate or discontent with the United States.”
</em>Or unless you’re just walking down the street:
Federal Grants Bring Surveillance Cameras to Small Towns
Village in Vermont Has Almost as Many as D.C.
BELLOWS FALLS, Vt. – This snowy village, in the shadow of Fall Mountain and alongside the iced-over Connecticut River, is the kind of place where a little of anything usually suffices. There are just eight full-time police officers on the town’s force, two chairs in the barbershop and one screen in the theater.A little of anything – except surveillance cameras. Bellows Falls has decided it needs 16 of those.
</em>When does it end?
