From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] << It is a sickening burden, because I realised that the law is written by a bunch of morons whose only real objective is to get their name into the history books. >> I have to slightly disagree with you on this one Steve. It appears to me that the only reason for passing laws in this Country is to maintain or increase the likelihood of those in power staying in power. I think this has become more and more apparent over the last 30 years. We have to remember that power over others is an end in itself (per Jung?). Government pursues this by legislation in two ways: 1. Directly by legislating for the curtailment of individual rights and liberty. The RIP bill was a classic example of this. 2. By passing populist legislation which penalises a minority, for instance: the Dangerous Dogs Act and the various Firearms Acts. The latter is a classic example as it did nothing for the public and cost a huge amount of their money doing it. Usually by passing legislation under 2. the state also achieves something for itself under 1. The only protection against this is an enforceable bill of rights to whom all are subject. With all respect to those pursuing our various common law rights I won't hold my breath waiting for us to achieve this in the UK. There just aren't enough people dissatisfied with the current system to cause a change. The problem is, of course, when you do have enough people dissatisfied the whole situation becomes unstable and revolution becomes likely. Unfortunately the history of revolution tends to indicate that the people exchange one repressive regime for another that is even worse be it of the right or the left. (This should cause a storm.... the only 20th Century exception to the above that I can think of where violent revolution left the people long term better off was the Spanish Civil War. At the end of Franco's life the country transformed from a repressive dictatorship into a modern democracy. I exclude Russia from this as I think we are still awaiting the result, the rest of the Soviet block doesn't count as they were subject to conquest). Kenneth Pantling Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________________________________ T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16 Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics