--- Tyler Durden <camera_lumina@hotmail.com> wrote:
...I'm sure most are aware that random searches has begun here in NYC, at subway stations and in the LIRR. Contraband (drugs, etc...) can get the owner arrested. The next step, of course, will be to start grabbing anyone carrying terrorist propaganda, such as the Qu'ran, leaflets, or even the New York Times.
You fucking 'tard; nobody is going to be arrested for carrying a copy of the NYT. This deliberate abrogation of the right to be free of unreasonable search and seizure is typical of the way authorities abuse process. This sort of thing happens _all the time_. Here's how the scam works (for those of you who require that their information comes pre-chewed): J. Random Authority will decide that he or she wishes to advance the incremental fait accompli of the tiered police state. He or she examines the political landscape of the moment and identifies a flimsy excuse that may be used to backstop this-or-that draconian measure. In this case, random searches of transit passengers. It is expected that the flagrant violation of the law by the authorites for some contrived need will eventually be examined in court by virtue of some citizen petition that is made in a fit of outrage or pique. Depending on the political reality of the moment, the courts may be encouraged to rule in such a way as to force the complainant through the expensive and time-consuming task of going in front of the Supreme Court. In the meantime, the authorities carry on with their blatantly illegal activities and wait for the courts to rule them in the wrong; if that actually occurs -- by no means a sure thing when science, reason, and logic are habitually excluded from judicial processes. As a nice side effect, many actions of this sort are undertaken with the secondary motive of outraging and provoking so-called undesireable elements within the affected population. In North America, this is the business-as-usual model of government interacting with its citizens. And since every judicial ruling has a small but finite chance of being ruled in the Government's favour, no matter how absurd such a ruling might be, the tiered authoritarian and plutocratic police state is thus incrimentally realized.
The sad thing is that it is still absurdly easy to get whatever you want into the subways. For one, not every station has any kind of significant police presence (funny, but the Chambers street station this morning had multiple possible places where someone could enter with a backpack, despite the fact that it opens directly inside "Ground Zero" and the path Trains to New Jersey). But even if there were police everywhere, there are still many places between stations where someone determined could enter.
Not to mention the subtle, expensive, and time-consuming methods for putting people and things in-place that tend to be favoured by the Usual Suspects.
OK, OK...so the police are deterrents against a few lone crazy copycats, who don't have enough sense to enter away from police line-of-site. But it sure seems damned silly to be giving up constitutional protection for the sake of an image of protection.
You got one thing right: it's damned silly. Regards, Steve __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com