The following story captures one of the reasons Brad and I are spending as little time in the States as possible even though many family members live there: namely, the pervasive atmosphere of paranoia, totalitarianism and social hostility. The police response in this instance is an extreme example of what is a prevailing mood with which you must deal on a daily -- indeed, minute-by-minute -- basis when you do almost anything State-side. And I mean you must be careful of what you say about politics while standing in a fast food line...I'm talking a change that has trickled down to that level. The shift has been so incremental that I'm not sure people living in the States even notice how dramatically the culture has deteriorated toward intolerance and mandatory genuflection toward all authority. But for those of us who used to go down from Canada several times a year, it is torture to see what I truly believe was the freest country int he world become the most dangerous one to liberty.

Anyway, here is how the story opens,,,(full article here) Oh, and by the way, this is another example of why you should never voluntarily interact with the police. Better you should ask a hooker on the street corner for directions.

Baltimore City police arrested a Virginia couple over the weekend after they asked an officer for directions. WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team reporter David Collins said Joshua Kelly and Llara Brook, of Chantilly, Va., got lost leaving an Orioles game on Saturday. Collins reported a city officer arrested them for trespassing on a public street while they were asking for directions . "In jail for eight hours -- sleeping on a concrete floor next to a toilet," Kelly said.