HAVE THEY LOST THEIR MINDS?

The older I get the more I realize that the inmates are running the asylum. Who the hell makes decisions like these and based on what? Where is the reasoned, public debate? Where are the studies or reports indicating the need? Who are these decision makers accountable to? This is not democracy. This is what goes on in third world dictatorships and police states.

Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys this story: "New halls of justice will be modern, secure". Get a drift of these following quotes: "The new courthouse may not be as secure as Fort Knox, but the huge amount of concrete alone makes for a solid, bunker-style building that's close to indestructible". And: "I pity the guy who tries to knock this building down".... It's been designed to withstand multiple assaults and explosions without flattening". Further: "Security features have been built in to prevent catastrophic events , such as someone trying to ram the building with a vehicle". Further security includes "Almost 500 video cameras (which) will monitor activity on every floor, in every cell, the loading dock area and even outside the building where people mingle and vandals could do damage at night". There will be screening inside the building such as "with magnetometers used to detect concealed guns or other metallic weapons".

Perhaps these next quotes may shed some light: "The building has a cellblock almost four times bigger than the prisoner holding area in kitchener's provincial courthouse at Frederick and Lancaster streets. The 20,000 -square-foot cellblock will hold 151 prisoners, although Bullock estimates only abiout half the space will be used on many days.".

There is a saying dealing with tourism: "Build it and they will come". Do our authorities have some knowledge of the future that we don't? Is the air going to become so toxic that ordinary citizens will fall victim to mass violent behaviour? Is Osama Bin Laden still alive and planning on attacking Kitchener? If so we'll be ready for him and any other wild eyed radical terrorists that our Federal government allows into this country. "Eternal vigilance is the price of security". Then why do I feel so insecure the more I read about my tax dollars going towards this idiocy? Who should the citizens of Canada really be afraid of? Why am I becoming more afraid of the authorities and the police than I am of criminals? What the hell is going on?