Maryland is a haven for techno-barbarcy
Hello there to all my imaginary friends,
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15789808/
"You never get caught doing something good" -My dear sainted Father.
I just wonder... here in California, Los Angeles to be specific, a cop can't break wind without four or five concerned citizens getting it on camera phones and posting it to Youtube within twenty minutes.
But out in Maryland, an off-duty Secret Service agent can jump in to stop a group of men beating on a single person and get shot for his troubles, and nobody seems to have recorded it.
I want to in no way excuse bad things done by a small minority of law enforcement officers out there, but notice how you never see footage of a cop ever rescuing someone?
In this day and age where everyone seems to be walking around with a camera phone, isn't it amazing how the only videos we ever seem to see are the ones of authority doing bad things. There's a group here in LA, that is now teaching people to have their phones out, and cameras switched on everytime they see a cop doing something. 'Just in case a little citizen justice is needed'. I wonder who these people call when they get mugged, or their house is broken into. Hopefully it's not those facist bully-boys.
I wonder what type of people law enforcement is going to attract when these people have fed their ego's so far that good honest people no longer want to become police officers because they are afraid of harrassment from the very people they are sworn to protect. Of course this will just encourage the head-breakers and street-monsters to apply for the positions, which will in-turn feed these 'civilian justice' types. A neverending cycle is not a good thing when you're taking about balance of power and citizens security. I hope these people are happy with their smug edgyness when law enforcement gets turned over to private industry (which is already being discussed in several cities), and is no longer answerable to the people and the news media, but to their corporate masters.
But what I really wanted to ask was: What's wrong with you, Maryland? Eventhough you are on the opposite end of the country from me, I just have to ask, "are you guys so backwards, so barbaric that you can't keep up to speed with modern technology?" Where were your camera phones? A classic gunfight unfolds right infront of you, and nobody catches anything. Sad.
One other cute little story to relate. It's not about MD, but MA. A couple of years ago, my wife went back there to visit some realtives who lived in the New England area. On the return trip to LA, she innocently got her keys out of her suitcase and put them in her purse, in preperation for driving her car home once she landed at LAX. A security guard at the airport in MA pulled her aside and told her that under MA law, and parts of the Patriot Act and Airport Security Act she was carrying a dangerous weapon into an airport, and her intention of bringing this weapon onto the plane compounded the crime. What was this dangerous weapon? A small can of peperspray (which, ironically was past it's experation date anyways) I had bought her a year or two before for when she walked around campus afterdark. My wife apologized, saying she didn't know it was illegal and unclipped it form her keys, and handed it over.
Now, let's recap this. A woman with absolutly no criminal record is carrying a can of pepper-spray on her keyring on a flight back to LAX. A security guard pulls her OUT OF LINE infront of everyone and tells her that she is committing a felony, and is in effect a terrorist. My wife had violated the Patriot Act. Apparantly even ownership of pepperspray without a license in MA is a crime.
I guess women don't get raped there.
My wife again apologized and said that she didn't know it was a crime,and that she was from California, where actual crime existed.
Yes, we have crime, but you would never know it, because you never get to see the police fighting it. That just doesn't make for good TV, doesn't warm people's hearts that they're striking back against 'The Man!' and validating their existance.
My wife got, and still has, a letter from the Dept. of Homeland Security stating that they are aware of her violations (which it goes into detail on), but they are choosing not to proscecute AT THIS TIME. Of course reserving the right to prosecute anytime in the next ten years if they feel like it.
I just wish she had had her cameraphone on at the time.
Myrtle Protects,
-Uncle Andy
Proud member of S.M.U.T.L.U.V.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15789808/
"You never get caught doing something good" -My dear sainted Father.
I just wonder... here in California, Los Angeles to be specific, a cop can't break wind without four or five concerned citizens getting it on camera phones and posting it to Youtube within twenty minutes.
But out in Maryland, an off-duty Secret Service agent can jump in to stop a group of men beating on a single person and get shot for his troubles, and nobody seems to have recorded it.
I want to in no way excuse bad things done by a small minority of law enforcement officers out there, but notice how you never see footage of a cop ever rescuing someone?
In this day and age where everyone seems to be walking around with a camera phone, isn't it amazing how the only videos we ever seem to see are the ones of authority doing bad things. There's a group here in LA, that is now teaching people to have their phones out, and cameras switched on everytime they see a cop doing something. 'Just in case a little citizen justice is needed'. I wonder who these people call when they get mugged, or their house is broken into. Hopefully it's not those facist bully-boys.
I wonder what type of people law enforcement is going to attract when these people have fed their ego's so far that good honest people no longer want to become police officers because they are afraid of harrassment from the very people they are sworn to protect. Of course this will just encourage the head-breakers and street-monsters to apply for the positions, which will in-turn feed these 'civilian justice' types. A neverending cycle is not a good thing when you're taking about balance of power and citizens security. I hope these people are happy with their smug edgyness when law enforcement gets turned over to private industry (which is already being discussed in several cities), and is no longer answerable to the people and the news media, but to their corporate masters.
But what I really wanted to ask was: What's wrong with you, Maryland? Eventhough you are on the opposite end of the country from me, I just have to ask, "are you guys so backwards, so barbaric that you can't keep up to speed with modern technology?" Where were your camera phones? A classic gunfight unfolds right infront of you, and nobody catches anything. Sad.
One other cute little story to relate. It's not about MD, but MA. A couple of years ago, my wife went back there to visit some realtives who lived in the New England area. On the return trip to LA, she innocently got her keys out of her suitcase and put them in her purse, in preperation for driving her car home once she landed at LAX. A security guard at the airport in MA pulled her aside and told her that under MA law, and parts of the Patriot Act and Airport Security Act she was carrying a dangerous weapon into an airport, and her intention of bringing this weapon onto the plane compounded the crime. What was this dangerous weapon? A small can of peperspray (which, ironically was past it's experation date anyways) I had bought her a year or two before for when she walked around campus afterdark. My wife apologized, saying she didn't know it was illegal and unclipped it form her keys, and handed it over.
Now, let's recap this. A woman with absolutly no criminal record is carrying a can of pepper-spray on her keyring on a flight back to LAX. A security guard pulls her OUT OF LINE infront of everyone and tells her that she is committing a felony, and is in effect a terrorist. My wife had violated the Patriot Act. Apparantly even ownership of pepperspray without a license in MA is a crime.
I guess women don't get raped there.
My wife again apologized and said that she didn't know it was a crime,and that she was from California, where actual crime existed.
Yes, we have crime, but you would never know it, because you never get to see the police fighting it. That just doesn't make for good TV, doesn't warm people's hearts that they're striking back against 'The Man!' and validating their existance.
My wife got, and still has, a letter from the Dept. of Homeland Security stating that they are aware of her violations (which it goes into detail on), but they are choosing not to proscecute AT THIS TIME. Of course reserving the right to prosecute anytime in the next ten years if they feel like it.
I just wish she had had her cameraphone on at the time.
Myrtle Protects,
-Uncle Andy
Proud member of S.M.U.T.L.U.V.