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Jim, Tell me about it. There arew some real draconian laws that slipped through over here at the beginning of last year that hardly got a mention in the poress, and hardly a whisper of protest in parliament. Things such as:

1) in the past, misdemeanours for which previously you could only be reported for prosecution, now carry the power to arrest

2) For every arrest (even those mentioned in 1) above) your DNA is taken

3) people can be arrested for peacefully protesting, e.g. outside the H of P, under craftily worded public disturbance legislation.

et al that I can't recall at the mo. Suffice to say you could be arrested and have your dabs and DNA taken for dropping a cig butt. We've got to be vigilant or 1984 could insideously become a reality by 2014

>But there are a number of things, freedom-wise, that seem to be somewhat peculiar to the U.S.
>Some examples that come to mind are:
>- An employer can fire you if you choose to do things on your own time that he disapproves of. The 'conflict' of the employer's 'freedom' and the employee's 'freedom' seems to be in favour of the employer.
>- A person's "credit score" - a totally fabricated thing that is renowned to be very error-prone - can limit a person's "freedom" in ways that are would be untenable in (most) other societies. In the U.S. you may not be hired because of a credit score, your credit card interest rate may rise solely because of a change in your credit score (I doubt that it ever goes down for the same reason) and who knows what else.
>- The use of a telephone or the mail service in the commission of a crime gives Federal authorities involvement and allows huge penalties that may have little relevance to the degree of the crime.
>- Now, of course, in the name of 'national security', any call you make overseas (they say it's limited to overseas calls, but who knows) will be monitored and can lead to your surveillance and possible grabbing off the street with little recorse to legal counsel.
>- Also in the name of 'national security' your subscriptions may be monitored by the government, your library checkouts may be monitored by the government, your online searches may be monitored by government, etc.
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>Then, of course, there are those rights and freedoms bestowed on people, still vigourously protected when possible infringements may be attempted, but which in fact are not practised any more. The most prominent is the "freedom of the press" which, in corporate hands, is no longer exercised as a matter of course.
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>All in all, and I'd say through much of the "western world", the 'freedom' we taste today has little resemblence to that experienced/practise by our prior generations.
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>>I fear this may start a debate on freedom and liberty and the difference between the two. Hope not. :o)