Coming around the corner on ten years later, I can find very few people here who subscribe to the old mission statement of restoring the Constitutional republic as it was meant to be by our Founders. I have to wonder if a majority of Freepers even know what the hell that means anymore. Just look here in this thread at the obnoxious partially coherent cop abuse lovers what shoulda' beat dat punk kid down in the street for sassin' a cop. He ain't got no right to clam up when the police are asking him questions!
Back in the old days on FR, someone who posted like that would have been hounded off the forum and told to never return. Sharp-eyed lookouts would lay in wait for those who tried to come sneaking back in. Otherwise, you couldn't even get the regular posters to acknowledge your existence if you didn't have a valid email address in your tagline. If you posted anonymously, you were instantly assumed to be a disruptor until otherwise proven innocent.
Double WOW!
Man, you are old school!
I've heard a couple of things outside of FR that's given me pause in general.
One was a "conservative" on a "conservative" talk show reminding the host that the primary function of the Federal Govt was for protection of the homeland....which he added..."to protect me from smokers."
The other was a speech Justice Breyer gave on a radio debate with Scalia, where Breyer essentially said it was important for him to cite froeign law because it helped give a political boost to fledgling courts in developing nations. WTF?
[shaking head]
My own parents think Social Security is a scam, perpetrated on the young ones (incl. their grandkids....) and yet, they figure they should get all they can back out since everyone else is bilking the system.
I see people mad that their FEMA trailer particle board bed couldn't support their fat ass and broke, and want to know when the FedGov (me) is going to pay for their back surgery because of that.
I haven't been on FR for ten years....but in my (humble) opinion, FR is just a reflection of what the rest of the society is doing, and the slide you see here is indicative of the greater sinkhole.
See you in Galt's Gulch, my friend!
LOL....I've been a part time poster, full time lurker here for as long as you, and I have to say, what you post is true.
The same people that are on here justifying the police's actions in this case are the very one's that we used to rip just 8 short years ago.
But it goes beyond that, in many ways in line with what has happened apparently in the general public at large (at least according to recent elections etc.)...this board has become more 'liberal'...but everone on here still thinks they are 'conservatives' and believe in the constitutional principles along which this nation was founded.
Instead of criticizing and discussing the 'random' checkpoints in general (the constitutional issue after all), they criticize the kid...trying to rationalize his actions as inappropriate while also trying to explain away the policemen's actions as 'necessary'.
If the Police were truly interested in stopping impaired drivers, these 5 (at least) officers could cover a lot more territory cruising the roads (and responding to 911 calls reporting erratic driving) looking for true 'suspects' than hassling 19 yo's who are doing nothing more than driving around sober..regardless if they ahve video cameras installed in their cars to document illegal police behavior.
The kid did absolutely nothing wrong despite what you may think of his motives...how can everyone not see that?