Sort of a sad tale:  

I recently had the opportunity to visit the Statue of Liberty in NYC.  Upon reaching "Liberty" Island and debarking from the ferry that takes you out there, there is a sign that reads something along the lines of:

"All your bags and belongings are subject to search and seizure at any time."


I thought some of you would find that interesting.  Here's one about Independence Hall in Philly also (sent to me by a friend, which reminded me of the Liberty Island sign):

I noticed a new, high-power, remote controlled (pan, tilt, zoom) video surveillance camera hanging in the bell tower of independence hall here in Philadelphia.  It was a large Burle unit--like those used in the maximum-security federal prisons.  This particular high-power video camera has a huge lens and the ability to zoom in on the smallest details--like newspaper text--far outside the confines of the small independence  national park area it points out towards. The perversity of such a camera being installed in the bell tower of Independence Hall--a historical building in which our founding fathers signed our constitution and risked their lives to revolt against a government that failed to respect its subjects' privacy--was hard to ignore.  From where liberty had once rung, now our federal government was using sophisticated electronic surveillance technology to spy on its citizens.
This ironic situation was brought to the attention of a local newspaper writer, who wrote a cover story about it:  [url]http://www.citypaper.net/articles/122498/coverstory.shtml[/url]  Later that week, some federal park police officers I spoke with were upset about the public revelation of their new surveillance system, and claimed it would impede the system's effectiveness at preventing crime (rape was the example they gave.)  when I asked them how effective a deterrent it could be if the system remained a secret, they became indignant.  Shortly thereafter, black netting was placed over the bell tower opening,
making the camera very difficult to see.  Then an identical camera was added looking south.

Some photos of Indep. Hall (not my web site):
http://www.mccullagh.org/cgi-bin/photosearch.cgi?name=independence+hall

I live near Philly and the city is not particularly unsafe at that part of center city.However we recently had a wacko take a hammer to the liberty bell.The hammer was not registered!If more people were armed then maybe rapists etc. would think twice or be pushing up daisies!
I agree with you 100%