Abusing homeland authority: as it emerges as our country's first national police force, Michael Chertoff's Department of Homeland Security is becoming notorious for abuses of power--and even depraved crimes against children.(ON THE HOME FRONT)

The school day had ended and the parking lot at Englewood Elementary was full of energetic kids eager to go home when Leander Pickett saw a late model car obstructing the school bus loading zone. Pickett, a teacher's assistant at the Jacksonville, Florida, grade school, strolled over to the car, which had made a wrong turn into an exit lane, and told its occupants they had to move.

Pickett's reward for looking after the safety of the schoolkids was to be thrown face-down onto the hood of the car, hand cuffed, and held for more than a half-hour as students, teachers, and parents looked on in horror.

"I walked up to [the driver] and said, 'Sir, you need to ...