Surveillance Issue

From the Empire's never-ending quest to monitor and observe the most intimate details of its citizens (read "potential terrorists"), to the ridiculous humiliations now de riguer at the nation's airports, it all keeps spiraling downward. A democratic Congress hasn't been able to stop much of anything, and it is completely clear that the election of an Emperor not the worst President in US history will be a futile exercise. To our theme, then, here are a couple of pieces to sink your teeth into: in the first, we find that the US government will be montoring your border crossings and retaining this information for 15 years or so. For more laughs, read this wonderful column about an airline pilot prevented from taking his airline-issued butter knife through airport security. Don't fail to peruse the comments at the end: alternately funny, scary and outrageous.