(erielack) Re: Personal rights

[Jjbchian_@_aol.com]

Rich Young writes:


>  My question is at what
> point does an average guy who pays his taxes, owns a
> business , employs fourteen people and their
> employment taxes and property taxes for a business and
> home and all the rest finally stand up and say this is
> enough. Is it when they have come in the night and
> taken everything?
> 

 In the early 1980's, several friends and I signed up for rail related tours 
to East Germany to ride behind and photograph steam operations. Of course, the 
East Germans were very much into 'Security', and we now know how extensive 
their system of watching people was through the "Stasi". However, I must say we 
never had a problem photographing, even when we were off by ourselves. In East 
Berlin, the capital, there were never any problems. We were asked several 
times, but with a little German informing that we were "train buffs", the problem 
went away. For their own citizens, photographing trains was not a problem, 
even though the Railways were considered a 'strategic military asset'. The 
security people knew about train fans, and as long as you were not photographing 
the Soviet military trains, they would not bother you. 

We have in the last few weeks been required to watch a presentation 
concerning transportation security. This bungled and badly made film features two 
segments on Railfans taking movies or pictures of railroad operations. The two 
people who portray the "Railfans" seem like complacent bumbling idiots, and with 
8mm movie cameras! This activity is portrayed in the film as being ILLEGAL. The 
problem is, UP management is taking this very seriously, and anyone who does 
not watch it will be removed from service.

We are constantly being "hammered" to report "anyone" and "everything". Seems 
like I am now an "associate" member of the "Stasi". 

When we were out years ago photographing EL, CNJ, etc, no one ever bothered 
us, period. 

The old saying went that "You are innocent until proven guilty", but now one 
is "guilty" for doing something very legal. We are clearly headed down the 
path of losing our Civil Rights. 

Bear in mind, that our manufacturing sector has moved to China, and no one 
said a word about the thousands and thousands of jobs that were lost. We will be 
importing from China next year a 4-door sedan for less then $10,000. I assume 
that will kill GM, Ford, and maybe Chrysler, and it may already be too late 
for the US auto industry. Look what happened to the UK auto industry, it no 
longer exists.

It is time to write our elected representatives in Congress to inform them of 
our concerns. The next step is November, but I think it may be too late. 

John Boehner     


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