Back in the 1960s, my 6 year old brother and my ten year old self walked almost a mile every school day to our bus stop. Rain or snow or high winds or freezing cold we walked it. Two other families on our bus route had to walk just as far.

An older gentleman I knew liked to tell the story of the day in the 1930s (when he was ten years old) he was allowed to walk by himself for the first time cross country through woods and farm fields, 5 miles to the Southwick General Store and Post Office. And back. All in the same day. He would end the story by saying: "I felt like a man that day."

He was still proud of it, 30 years later.

Security cameras, and plenty of them, with signs you can't miss announcing their presence. Record audio and video to a secure or, better yet, offsite location. Make arrangements to have it posted online if you are arrested and unable to do so yourself.

Will we ever have the right of Habeas Corpus again?

Al Jazeera English Language news is available 24/7 in North America via their non-encrypted free channel on the Ku band satellite, Galaxy 19 at 97w. Transponder H-12152, FEC 3/4, SR 20000

I watch Al Jazeera quite often. Their view of the good ol' USA is educational and enlightening, to say the least.

There are many other Free To Air channels on 97w Ku, but most are not English language.

All you need is an FTA satellite receiver, a 76cm or larger Ku band dish with Linear LNBF, and a bit of technical knowledge (which is readily available online) to set it up. No, your old DishNetwork or Directv receiver will not work for this, but some of their larger Ku band dishes will work with an inexpensive FTA receiver from eBay.

Use a digital camera like my Kodak zd710 that has a pre-programmed "Document" mode. Use a bright, even non-glaring light source and hold steady or use a tripod. With 7 megapixels, the results are amazingly clear, and it's way quicker than scanning.