That's sad, but I'm glad that the employees got together and stood up the this abuse. I hope people consider doing this in similar situations. When enough people got together often enough, and tell the totalitarians where they can put their pee cups, these base violations of human rights and decency shall stop. It will give the EDS micromanagers something to think about as the deadlines slip.

[In 1979] the governor of Texas requested Perot's help in dealing with the growing problem of the use of illegal drugs in the state. Perot led the Texans' War on Drugs Committee that proposed five laws to make Texas the least desirable state for illegal drug operations. All five bills were passed by the legislature and signed into law. . .
http://www.perot.org/hrpbio.htm

Texas ... Possession: 2 oz.: 0 - 1 year; $4,000 > 4 oz.: 180 days - 2 years; $10,000 > 5 lbs.: 2 - 10 years; $10,000 > 50 lbs.: 2 - 20 years; $10,000 > 2,000 lbs.: 5 - 99 years; $50,000
http://www.norml.org/legal/state_laws4.shtml#texas

Those, who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
-- Ben Franklin

Hmmm. Now this is very interesting.

Despite what some naysayers might think, there are very subtle but deep differences between Candians and Americans. Once you become aware of them, they take on a very interesting juxtaposition in viewpoints. But is the difference that is alluded to in this article indicative of something learned?

Americans have been forced, by and large through the exigencies of the Cold War, to accept infringements upon their personal liberties. Any research that includes a study of the National Security Act of 1947 makes it abundently clear that that was *the actual intent*. Don't take my word for it, read it yourself.

Those Americans heading corporations (like Ross Perot's brainchild EDS) who have directly benefited from this culture of paranoia certainly don't want to see it end; they are making way too much money from this re-tooled version of the Cold War that is the War on (Some) Drugs. Remember all the talk about the so-called "Peace Dividend"? The US was supposed to receive it because we scaled down military operations in the face of not having a big enemy to fight, anymore? Ever wonder why we didn't get it? The WoSD is why. It's nothing but a continuation of the Cold War, with a different 'enemy'...namely, you and me.

But now people are questioning the basis for the whole thing. But under the Cold War, that questioning was tantamount to treason, and the antis behave as if that were indeed the case. This is the 'cultural difference' that is alluded to.

This is why so many Americans so supinely allow Da Boss to cheerfully hand them the cup; they're *programmed* to.

Time was, in my Dad's generation, to be called a 'Good German' was an insult, because it connoted a herdlike attitude and a willingness to unthinkingly subborn your own freedom for a dubious cause. Europeans, having a better sense of history that most Americans, look askance at anything that smacks of giving up their personal liberties, because they have heard that line before, and know where it leads...straight into the pit of fascism. "Once burned, twice shy"...Americans have yet to learn that awful lesson.

But what then are we to think of our own citizens who, docile as sheep, line up with plastic cups in their hands?

I have witness this happen luckily no one was walking by the rack driver B was putting parts in 15 feet in the air, 2 tons of steel came crashing to the floor > the driver didn't even seem concerned "oh well I won't burn the cup"

also with another employer I happened to fail one of these random test odd it seemed as the plant manager with a clear odor of a lunchtime drink fired me for failing my foreman however said to me as I was leaving " I would give up everyone on my shift for a group of people that worked as hard as you"

When this company initiated random testing they lost their best most productive employees within a year they were left busing in people that couldn't keep the place running ... now even after they have stopped their random testing they have yet to recover several lines have been shut down.

It was interesting that testclear.com was mentioned in the same article! The article says they "advise" people about testing, but a visit to their site reveals that they carry a full line of products designed to help one pass drug tests.

I served in the US Navy in the mid-late eighties, and one of the reasons I didn't serve more than one hitch was the constant threat of random drug testing and the all-out drug paranoia going on in the service. Once, when I was walking to the ship to report for duty, a couple SP's ordered a bunch of us over who were just walking down a street on the base, minding our own business, to form a line to be sniffed by a drug dog! I also got my car searched once at random when driving onto the base, and was admonished by the base police to "keep my car cleaner." (I had a lot of junk in it as I sort of lived out of it at the time.) The nerve! That I should have to keep a clean car just so the drug warriors can do their privacy-invading job with less effort!