Posted on 11/22/2006 7:35:17 AM PST by Dick Bachert
Atlanta police went to a home on Neal Street in Atlanta last evening to execute a search warrant. When they kicked the door in the only occupant of the home, a 92-year-old woman, started shooting. She hit all three police officers. One in the thigh, one in the arm and another in the shoulder. All police officers will be OK. The woman will not. She was shot and killed by the police.
I'm not blaming the cops here. Not at all. They had a valid search warrant, and they say they were at the right address. Shots were fired, three cops hit, and they returned fire. A 92-year-old woman who was so afraid of crime in her neighborhood that she had burglar bars on every door and window, is now dead.
The blame lies on this idiotic drug war we're waging. We have all the studies we need, all of the comprehensive data is in. We can do a much more effective job of reducing drug use in this country if we'll just take a portion of this money we spend for law enforcement and spend it on treatment programs. A Rand study showed that we can reduce illicit drug usage in this country a specified amount through treatment programs at about 10% of the cost of reducing drug usage by that same amount through criminalization and law enforcement.
There's just something in the American psyche that demands that drug users be punished instead of treated and rehabilitated. We think they're stupid and ignorant for getting mixed up with those drugs in the first place. And you know what? We're right? But look at the messages we send to our children every single day with cigarettes, alcohol, and an endless stream of drug ads on television and in magazines. Drug culture? You bet we have.
The way to deal with this is to execute ANYONE guilty of drug manufacturing/selling within 7 days of arrest.
It works in Singapore!
"Thank you, truth is timeless."
A lot of teens think Ayn Rand is a fount of wisdom.
Hopefully some day you will grow up.
I don't know about that, isn't Indonesia the biggest Muslim country in the world??
Indonesia has some of the world's toughest drug laws.
Two Thai nationals were executed by firing squad last month after being found guilty of smuggling heroin into Indonesia a decade ago, while a 65-year-old Indian was shot in August after Indonesia's president turned down an appeal for clemency.
An Italian caught last year in Bali with 2g of marijuana is serving two years in prison.
Actually, he is. Those "wire taps" are all on international calls. Are the Rights of those in other countries protected by our Constitution and our legal system? Don't be silly.
He is very consistant, and correct on this issue as well. But you've gotta know what the hell your talking about first.
Of liberty I would say that, in the whole plenitude of its extent, it is unobstructed action according to our will. But rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law,' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual." --Thomas Jefferson
Good for them, luckily I'm pushing 40 there "pops".
They also cane people in Singapore for chewing gum.
Of liberty I would say that, in the whole plenitude of its extent, it is unobstructed action according to our will. But rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law,' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual." --Thomas Jefferson
Nuff said.
"Actually, he is. Those "wire taps" are all on international calls. Are the Rights of those in other countries protected by our Constitution and our legal system? Don't be silly."
Oh heck, no! I never even made that argument that Constitutional rights were to be transnationally applied, or that the wiretapping was done willy-nilly. Nice try, though.
He should have posted, right in the first sentence, what his intention was in presenting the story. Instead, we got a cut-rate version of events, and are left to imply an awful lot, and if you are of the same political bent as Neal, you imply what he wants you to without realizing it.
That's what I'm talking about; be up front about your agenda and when you tell the story make it evident where your point of view lies. That's all. Is that too much to ask?
One would hope. From experience though, nothing dissuades a "true believer" in a totalitarian cause.
Again, like I said, if you knew what you were nattering on about... you'd find something more interesting to talk about rather than push a bad position.
No way a 92yo woman with no range time gets off three shots and three hits at moving targets at night. I don't care if she's sitting in a rocker right in front of the door.
Nope. She heard them coming and they were probably coming slowly.
P.S., Re: wire taps.
If one of those international wire taps turned up evidence of a child porn ring operating across borders, would you be for or against the relevant government agencies passing this information on to local law enforcement, or do you consider it "fruit of the poisoned tree" (i.e. since this information was collected while looking for something else, it should not be used to prosecute anyone)?
Hey, They came, they saw, they conquered -- but took some damage.
Wombat: If I come up with a billion and one ireelevant strawmen, will you stop beating your wife?
Why do you suggest that libertarians necessarily use illegal drugs? The only mind-altering drug that I use is caffeine, and for that I even admit that I grind my own coffee beans.
Do you drink alcohol?
Speaking as a Christian, I think CS Lewis had something to say about tyrannies for our own good. And he was right about it too.
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