The Garbage Police

One of my musings yesterday on this forum dealt with parting with our liberty. In the same vein, I write today of more exchange of freedom for an illusion of security and the broad overreach of government at all levels in the United States. First comes a story of Cleveland, Ohio joining a few cities launching a program to fine people $100 for failing to recycle, thereby creating a revenue stream by installing RFID (radio-frequency identification) in city-supplied, mandatory-use garbage collection bins that will tattle on users who discard waste containing more than ten percent recyclable materials. Of course, residents are assumed to be so honest that they would never put their refuse in a neighbor's can to avoid a fine of their own or just to cause trouble for a neighbor that they do not like or throw away their excess garbage at a commercial bin at a nearby business. Will people now have to lock their garbage down and monitor it with security guards and cameras to avoid trouble with the city government? I would not- the law is so odious to me I would commit an act of civil disobedience and dump my trash on the Mayor's lawn to protest. Next, we hear of open palm pat downs for air travellers in Las Vegas and Boston, yet another intrusion that few seem to be carping about, even though it provides no real enhanced detection and just shows what sheep those who would undergo the procedure have become. In Israel, which is noted for having the best air security, they do not seek to keep nail files or a match off of an airplane. They keep terrorists off planes instead, but that would assume a level of competence the American government lacks from the TSA screeners right up to President Obama. We have a Federal government monitoring the Internet and seeking more access to what American citizens do online without the supervision of the courts and without warrants. US residents have drone aircraft (presumably not armed as they are over Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan) watching us in domestic skies. Can you imagine the hue and cry from the so-called civil libertarians and the Left if it was the last President Bush orchestrating this diminution of freedom? Until we have a leader determined to gain victory over Jihad and who loves rather than disdains our natural rights, we will continue giving up privacy and liberty and ultimately be defeated by an enemy that simply has the will to win.