*CREDIT CARD INFO " Among other faults, being disarmed causes you to be despised." - close quote of Machiavelli. According to Chariman Mao "Political Power grows out of the barrel of a gun." In which case wouldn't a democracy be made by widely distributed, numerous, individual owned, Non-confiscable weapons, & other "democracies" would be mere frauds? In Missouri, in order to get your driver's license, you MUST supply your SSN. They have signs that say that since driving is a "privilege", not a right, it is ok to require the SSN. I understand that this practice is spreading to other states as well & is being pushed sy- stematically by the feds. Funny, when they 1st started out social security, they promised that the SSN would never be used for purposes other than social security. Then again, when they first started out the federal income tax they promised that it would only be on the rich & would never be more than a few %. Don't they also promise that the National census would only be used for statistical purposes, Yet I believe that it has been used to track down "dead beat dads" among other things. I'm not clear on that. Will walking be our next "privilege"? I've never seen it expressed legally as a right. OTHER LAW DEVELOPMENTS On the CRUSADERS news program on tv last night, they reported that a Ca. city, I believe Palo Alto, has been enforcing traffic law, such as revoked licenses & drunk driving, by taking the drivers' cars. They brag that the program pays for itself. They think that it is a bright innovation & are promoted it for other jurisdictions as well. Very clever, stealing peoples' property to enforce law. Reminds me when the law 1st started doing "sting" operations & bragged that they were terribly clever - participating in crime to catch criminals. The criticism of entrapment now has mostly been forgotten. STALKING LAWS By the way, these current stalking laws - whats up? The utility of a stalking law is so obvious, that in the U.S.'es 200 + year history they could not possibly be overlooked. Therefore, their faults must be being purposely overlooked. Media conspiracy? population stupidity? both? No debate - strange. Yours Truly, Gary Jeffers
Gary Jeffers: | On the CRUSADERS news program on tv last night, they reported that | a Ca. city, I believe Palo Alto, has been enforcing traffic law, such | as revoked licenses & drunk driving, by taking the drivers' cars. | They brag that the program pays for itself. They think that it | is a bright innovation & are promoted it for other jurisdictions as | well. Very clever, stealing peoples' property to enforce law. Reminds | me when the law 1st started doing "sting" operations & bragged that | they were terribly clever - participating in crime to catch criminals. | The criticism of entrapment now has mostly been forgotten. Taking property as a form of punishment has a long history (fines); usually, the criminal has a choice of what property to give up, but not always. As long as the city is going through with judicial hearings, respecting individuals rights not to be searched at random, and not rewarding the cops who seize the most cars, I'm not sure I see this as a bad thing(tm). Of course, they probably seize the car on the spot, after random breathalyzer tests, and give the cop who meets his quota an extra bonus at the end of the monthl; at which point I have serious problems with it. However, in theory, it strikes me as a good idea, likely to be poorly implemented. Adam -- Adam Shostack adam@bwh.harvard.edu Politics. From the greek "poly," meaning many, and ticks, a small, annoying bloodsucker.
participants (2)
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Adam Shostack -
Gary Jeffers