Hey Mike, Well, thanks for your two cents here. While I think the TIPS program is ill advised, I believe we have to do something. For years we have sat back and thought ourselves untouchable. Even after Okalhoma City, and Osama's 1994 attempt to bring down the towers.
The theory of trained citizens looking out for each other though has proven to work. My neighborhood, for example, and others, began citizen brigades a few decades ago. Much like the minute men of revolutionary times, these folks, armed with nothing other than flashlights and two-way radios, took to the streets to reclaim them. Mike wrote: I am not a US citizen but I don't think any citizen of any country has a duty to blind obedience. Well Mike, if we don't obey the laws until we have a chance to change them what does that make us? I never wrote we should blindly follow anything. In fact, what I am saying is that it is time to open our eyes from the hazy nap of contentment we have lived in all these years. We need to be vigilant and look out for one another, not just assume that all is well. >Sue went on: it is for my own good that I now buckle up, but I did give up a right to decide what risk I took while driving.<< Mike wrote: >Is this really such a big right to lose, the right to fly through the windscreen, >possibly losing your head in the process? Yes, Mike, it is a personal choice. Some states in our country have laws where motorcyclists must wear helmets, other states don't. It is a personal choice whether or not to wear a helmet. I for one would, because I wouldn't want my brains splattered across the pavement, but there are times that I am driving two blocks to school where I teach and I forget to buckle up. Should I get a $50 ticket for that? I guess so if I choose to disregard a law that was put in place for my safety. This has been an interesting thread. That is what I love about America, many voices, all able to be heard through freedom of speech. Sue _____________________________________________________ Supercharge your e-mail with a 25MB Inbox, POP3 Access, No Ads and NoTaglines --> LYCOS MAIL PLUS. http://www.mail.lycos.com/brandPage.shtml?pageId=plus