Comments on Pro Libertate: Police Perjury, and Burglars with Badges

While folks, such as Birchers, believe that the UN...

2006-12-04T11:41:00.000-07:00

While folks, such as Birchers, believe that the UN might start to break down doors and take guns away any day, the police have been doing it for years now.

Where's the real threat to individual freedom? Some giant, largely ignored international organization, or the punk with the badge and weapon who'll kill you for looking funny at him?

If the UN and their power-hungry, totalitarian-governing ilk represent the worst case scenario, then the United State IS the UN. Which one has the giant army that'll invade countries for no apparent reason? Which one quarters troops in its own communities and calls them police? Which one represents a clear and present danger right now?

Get US out of the UN? I say, get US out of the US.

Re: NYPD-I recall reading a glossy recruitment bro...

2006-12-04T08:33:00.000-07:00

Re: NYPD-

I recall reading a glossy recruitment brochure distributed by NYPD (circa 1990). Two things caught my attention. The first was that I had to flip to the other half to read it in English. The second was that an applicant was permitted to apply at the age of 17 with parental permission. Hopefully the age of applicants has changed.

I flashed back to my days in the Army when I witnessed how immature minds carried in the bodies of alleged men excerised authority over others. Scary indeed. 18 or 19 year olds carrying guns and being referred to as police sets the stage for some ego trips.

Nowadays many police agencies are eager to recruit those who posses the coveted associate degree. Now there are cops who might be 21 years of age and never left home. They can't balance a checkbook. The greatest challenge they've faced in life was returning movies to the movie store on time or getting their oil changed at 3,000 miles.

I'm a proponent of a minimum age of 30 to apply. The applicant must've been gainfully employed, preferably in an occupation requiring medium to high levels of labor. Occasional pain and alot of sweat from said work is a plus. Supporting a family during this work period is a definite bonus. One will be disqualified if he admits he has played PS2 or Xbox more than twice (excluding recreation with his children or child relatives). 10 points to his eligibilty score will be added if there is an independent and verifiable siting of the applicant reading and then sharing the U.S. Constitution, The Federalist or Anti-Federalist Papers (or other documents of that era), The Law,.......and the list could go on. Maybe even Global Gun Grab can squeeze in there.

I agree with Tom. Respect for the law is at an all-time low. And not just the law in general, but respectable laws in particular. One used to guarantee himself a trip to the gallows if caught stealing a man's horse. Now teenagers steal cars and lead police on high speed pursuits after an armed robbery. If caught their parents scream at the cops, insisting their little boy would never do such a thing.

I don't know if some cops will become less criminal in their behavior if society continues on its current path.

The abuse of the law by some police is part of the...

2006-12-04T06:27:00.000-07:00

The abuse of the law by some police is part of the general breakdown of respect for the law in society at large. I live in Bristol County, Mass., in Taunton - a city of 55,000 where the cops who do their job correctly have almost zero impact on crime.

I attended a city council meeting earlier this year where a city councillor and a senior policeman were chatting about how the public had complained of a prostitution problem in the city. Hookers were approaching people openly in the daytime; they are not just "ladies of the night" anymore. What the cop said shook me, the essence of which is this: "People complain about prostitution, but what do they expect when the courts just let them out of prison without any consequences? We've got one hooker who's been arrested 18 times for prostitution, and who has yet to spend a single night in jail."

With the cops acting as nothing more than a taxi service, plus bed and breakfast, before the 9:00 a.m. court date, how can they have any impact?

Their chief impact is the breakfast menu at "Chez de Bristol County Lock-up".

Add that to the fact that on the state level we have a legislature that just flagrantly violated the state constitution on ballot initiatives regarding marriage (and universal health care) by failing to hold a vote they were constitutionally obligated to hold.

And don't forget the federal level, where we have a Bush Administration that thinks it can torture and deny trials to anyone they please.

Respect for law is at an all-time low, and we shouldn't expect the police to be immune from this systemic societal disease.

As soon as I read "Nonetheless, a bored, distracte...

2006-12-04T03:12:00.000-07:00

As soon as I read "Nonetheless, a bored, distracted, and indifferent jury...." I could've stopped right there. That alone explains the problem: Juries, being a genuine reflection of society, are increasingly composed of ignorant, apathetic, and statist-minded commoners.

Bleh...

In fact, instead of writing "Nonetheless..." a bit more poignant "In spite of...[lack of hard evidence, planting evidence, self-described corrupt cops, etc.]" would even be more on the mark.

Whatever happened to jury nullification? Oh yeah, for that to happen requires informed, honorable, and constitutionalist-minded commoners composing the jury rather than the aforementioned.

A second issue with juries is the heavily-screened jury selection process. A truly random jury selection would help, but not guarantee of course, that the state worked hard for every conviction.

Hey, one can fantasize can't he?

will,i think that "thin blue line" is about as wid...

2006-12-03T15:07:00.000-07:00

will,

i think that "thin blue line" is about as wide as the mighty mississippi right about now.