[hermes]

"I think you would be surprised how many "socially conservative, cowboy, John Wayne" types actually share your distrust of governmental efforts to impose their own contrived standards as a basis for police action.

At this point I should apologize to all the US citizens on this board, and the social conservatives. In many ways I am actually a conservative myself, such as when a friend of a friend's unregulated gardening project put me at risk: "Of course I support you growing whatever herbs you want, but by being sloppy you have embedded my shoes with the vegetable matter, thereby perhaps putting me at risk when I go to Hawaii and having me blacklisted due to residual matter on the soles. And do you realize that by possibly bringing unwanted attention to you, as someone visiting the house, you do the same to me, and as I am carrying a substantial amount of cash in order to make a silver purchase today - you are doubly putting me at risk. Smarten up."

I am in agreement with all kinds of people, and religious types are certainly not at the top of my list. In fact, in my experience devout Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, etc and even some republicans are more similar-minded than pc liberals. I 'grok' some elements of the right, likewise anarchists, what I don't relate to is the 'we know better and this is for your own protection' mentality of the middle and left, and mainstream churches. It's a sort of fascism worse because it has a happy face. But enough of politics, sorry to get off-track on a mobile reader forum!

>Particularly in the case of governments/administrations that feel their cause/agenda should be allowed to override basic civil liberties. Those of us with more Libertarian views, should have been most at home with the liberals, (given their rhetoric) but it is obviously not the case in the real world.

I have leftist and rightist friends both, and many libertarian ones (small 'l' and party members). We can all have a good arguments among ourselves. It's the 'middle of the road' ones (in Canada, often supporters of the 'Liberal' party, similar to Democrats in USA) who have given up on me and consider me a nut for questioning the status quo.

>As to your dilemma, most ereaders come with removable media, SD or Mini-SD cards as a rule.

Yes, and for this reason I almost bought the larger SONY (plus it has mp3-playing capablity.) The great thing about removable cards is that presuming they have backup (online or on a hard drive), and in an emergency situation even without, those very small storage devices can be secreted or disposed of discreetly.

>But the reality of world travel is that you must be prepared to meet the prevailing conditions, as they exist in the counties you visit.

Of course, and the challenge is when you travel as much as I do, conditions/ laws/enforcement change. And I can never be entirely sure what is illegal in countries I visit. I can't afford to visit a lawyer every time I cross a border. Mind you, maybe I can't afford *not to* either!

>I wouldn't advise traveling from Texas to California, with a basket of grapefruit.

Ah, I miss the fresh-squeezed ruby red grapefruit juice when I was doing totally no-risk educational agricultural video work in that state. So many roadside sellers. Awesome! And in fact, I *support* most civic and even many non-federal laws and their enforcement for public safety etc. It's not like I am some wild animal refusing all civilized limits.

>You could probably slip a mini-SD card with a copy of "Democracy in America" by Alexis de Tocqueville past the California border guards easier than a couple of Texas Ruby Reds.

You jest, no? US, unlike Canada, has constitutional protections for almost all written material.