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cb1000rider wrote: And yea, it shouldn't matter if I'm not hiding anything, but it still matters to me.

I'm going to have to call you wrong on this one for several reasons:

1. You have the right to be left alone if you haven't done anything wrong.
2. Your time is valuable, and belongs to you, not the government.
3. They may very well damage your vehicle in a search. When my son went to the police academy the instructor told them that they should never consent to a search, especially by the DPS, because they may well tear your car apart.
4. There are corrupt officers out there.....doesn't matter if it's only 1%....we have no idea if the one asking is one of them. When you allow a search you're allowing a better opportunity to plant evidence. This happened to my brother-in-law, but fortunately for him it was a minor offense.
5. If anyone else has ever used your car you don't know if you have anything illegal in it.
6. Practically everything in this country can be considered illegal in this country and there are many laws on the books we don't even know about. They might find something that violates one of these laws and you didn't even know was illegal.
7. You also don't know if a personal enemy has planted something in or around your vehicle.

mamabearCali wrote:

Keith B wrote:
Sounds like you need to move.

I don't disagree totally with you. You have to teach them caution with everything. However, teaching them that everything is bad is not a good thing either. Trust is a VERY important key to success in life. You must teach them how and when to trust. It is a fine line that changes with age and matureity. Teaching them to be cautious while being opptomistic is the key for a happier person IMO. Potentially making them afraid of their own shadow will not get them very far in life.

Give me half a chance and I am outta here. Tyler Texas is looking real good right now. However the stars would have to align and Chris would have to get a rocking job there to convince him to go. He is from NY so to him VA is a paradise.

Trust is important, but earned trust. If you met my kids you would know why I try to teach them some caution. They are 100% innocent, and honest, and have not one shred of skepticism to come to them naturally. Much their mother before them. They are some of the most friendly kids you have met. If you are behind us in line at the grocery store they will ask and help you put everything on the conveyor belt. If they see a woman pushing a large cart of feed at the feed store, they run over and help. All of that is great, but everyone is not nice. Not every person is kind. Not every authority figure is to be trusted. I am terribly afraid that while I had time to learn from other people experience the depths that some authority figures will go to, that the world is in such a state now that they might not have that time. So a little mommy caution and a little knowledge (at least in theory) that one must cautious I am hoping will help them.

They sound like our kids, and in fact, like just about every homeschooled kid I've ever met. They're that way because they have good parents who took them out the the public school system.

RPBrown wrote:This, as Keith said, was filmed at a time when a very unpopular war was going on. When we came back we were spit on, called baby killers, and in a whole, shunned by a large part of out nation when all we did is what many thousands of troops have done for our country in the last 250 years. Following orders. Did I agree, no. Did I want to be there, NO. But I was and so were a lot of other men. Some of which gave the ultimate for this country.
With that, I still believe in our country. Yes, it has a lot wrong with it that is caused by those in Washington. But the only way it will change is to raise our kids with moral and ethical values so that some day they can take over the reigns and get those that are only in it for themselves out of office. That is what I have tried to do with my kids and now working on the grand kids.
The Duke had it right

I wish I could be optimistic like you, but I just see no reason at all for optimism. America is over. We're now living in Amerika. We're beyond the point of voting our way out of anything. In fact, at the rate we're importing more Democratic voters, facilitated by treasonous Republicans, voting may well bring us to the abyss even before the economy is flushed down the toilet.

Oldgringo wrote:Methinks mamabearCali is packing cynicism way beyond her years. Granted, we may not be the country, or the people, we once were but we're still better than anyplace else I can think of.

A young engineer, once in my charge, made a lasting statement when he said, "...if everything stinks, you might ought to check your nose...". Well stated, Winston.

I think she's right on. And while the country may still be better than any other, that's not much of a standard, when comparable countries are sinking as fast or faster than we are, and all the others are already much worse.

texanjoker wrote:I teach my children to respect authority, do the right thing, be honest, have integrity and always remember their rights. My daughter is intent on joining the military this week and we can't be more proud of her.

If I were going to teach them to not trust a profession it sure wouldn't be the police.

It's not so much a matter of trust as a matter of self-preservation. It doesn't matter if you can trust the police because the courts and corrupt prosecutors are going to use what you say against you if you open your mouth. The SC has made it very dangerous to say anything to the police by it's decision that not invoking the right to silence at the beginning of a contact essentially invalidates it if invoked later on and is grounds for probable cause. It also doesn't make any difference if only one in a hundred is a bad apple because there is no way of knowing if you're facing the one bad apple. So again, the cost of opening your mouth can be quite high. And then there's the fact that the police can and do lie but if a citizen lies he's toast. Lying is part of police interrogation tactics. You can simply make a mistake in answering even an innocuous question, such as "were you in Houston four days ago" with a no, and if later it turns out that you were indeed in Houston four days ago, but you miscounted and thought it was five when you answered you're now charged with lying. Even if you not charged with lying, a prosecutor can use it to undermine your defense by making you into a liar.

Now, if I'm stopped for a traffic infraction, I will answer all relevant questions. However, because of that recent SC decision, if I'm stopped for anything that looks like an interrogation or questions that suggest the police might be looking at me as a suspect, I'm immediately invoking my 5th amendment rights and asking for my attorney. That's the climate the courts have created and talking can go against you even if the officer you're talking too is completely honest and of the highest integrity.