From: Dale Thorn <dthorn@gte.net>
Date: Tue, 4 Feb 1997 06:41:00 -0800 (PST)
To: Steve Schear <azur@netcom.com>
Subject: Re: New X-Ray Imager
Message-ID: <199702041441.GAA28345@toad.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Steve Schear wrote:
> New X-ray gun trades privacy for safety
> Reported by Andy C
> Seen in The Nando Times on 13 August 1996
> "I'm incredibly concerned," said John Henry Hingson, a past president of the
> National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, meeting here this past
> week. "The entire nation could become a victim of illegal searches and
> seizures and the law is powerless to protect them from these police abuses."
> But in these nervous times following the the crash of TWA Fight 800 and
> bombings at the Olympics, Oklahoma City and the World Trade Center, many
> Americans are now willing to trade some of their privacy and civil liberties
> for greater security.
> A poll last week by the Los Angeles Times found that a majority of people --
> 58 percent -- said they would curtail some civil liberties if it would help
> thwart terrorism. Thirteen percent said it would depend on what rights were
> at stake. The poll didn't ask people to single out any rights.

The L.A. Times quotes this "poll" all the time, and in fact probably
just made it up.  Why do I know that?  Because they ran a "letter"
from a "teacher" in the valley somewhere about a year ago which said
exactly this same thing.  The "teacher" ran a poll of her students
and they agreed to give up the rights without even knowing which
rights they were giving up.