[427TJ]

Warrantless searches and wire-tapping cruised through the congress (Patriot Act, among other bills) after 9/11 with barely any complaint. Those who did complain were accused of being unpatriotic. You're right GRB, we were given a democracy and we'll gladly give it up. Just keep me "safe" and keep my car's gas tank and my fridge full. Oh, and batteries in my remote!

Cops have been busting car guys like those in Riverside for as long as car guys have been congregating in parking lots or anywhere else. The decent citizens of Riverside want illegal street racing stopped so the cops sweep in and bust them in the parking lot. I had the same thing happen in 1983 when about twenty of us were parked along our remote drag strip in Pinole CA. The cops arrived and issued parking tickets (too far from curb) and fix-it tickets (my '67 Camaro had no front bumper or plate). We drove away and then went back the next week and raced again. Same thing happening in Riverside. The street racers get out of hand, the cops crack down, the street racers cool it for a short time and then go back to street racing and the cycle continues.

I should add that in 1983 we were a bunch of dirty white boys who respected the police even if we didn't like being hassled by them. We knew we were racing illegaly but we tried to keep it safe and not get out of control. The residents who lived along that road would sometimes stand in their yards and watch but not often. I can assume that in Riversde there is a racially/ethnically/culturally diverse aspect to the street racing scene and therefore the crackdown has a "racist cop" element to it that didn't exist in my case 25-30 years ago. Never the less, crackdowns on illegal street racing will continue untl the last drop of gas is converted to exhaust.