tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post5150081191621402526..comments2024-03-15T05:45:01.402-05:00Comments on Grits for Breakfast: Why is the solution to every social problem more cops, courts and punishments?Gritsforbreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-77269250745725810412008-12-15T13:11:00.000-06:002008-12-15T13:11:00.000-06:00I'm remembering some famous saying about those who...I'm remembering some famous saying about those who give up their liberty for safety deserve neither.<BR/><BR/>Alas, that looks like where we are as a country. We gave up the one for the other and now we have neither.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-54840929980085691392008-12-15T13:10:00.000-06:002008-12-15T13:10:00.000-06:00"We cannot allow the USA to become a police state...."We cannot allow the USA to become a police state."<BR/><BR/>I'm afraid we already have. <BR/><BR/>Now, if we can, we've got to dismantle what made it that way and we'd better hurry.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-10846905498601832702008-12-15T10:07:00.000-06:002008-12-15T10:07:00.000-06:00How about those Houston police? They saw a father...How about those Houston police? They saw a father playing with his son and another friend - they had a call for a disturbance (however, it was not for the father and son) - they took it upon themselves to harrass the father and cuff him in front of his son - the crime (asking for the policeman's name). They also harrassed the other friend threatening to file an interference charge on him because he wanted the keys to his friends car. The policeman also taunted the young man to hit him to which the young guy replied: I am not that stupid. Neither of the young men had any outstanding warrants. When the person who HAD called in the domestic disturbance asked the police to please come, they replied - I'll get to you later. Then the polliceman changed his tune and was nice to the young man. In San Antonio, a young person was given $1200 worth of tickets because he could not determine how to drive through the lines of red cones (in which a person had been killed by the confusion before) - he took pictures with a throwaway camera and the judge noted WOW, your client must really have an expensive camera. He was supposed to consider himself lucky to have a $400 fine. We cannot allow the USA to become a police state.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-18768408178034348982008-12-14T23:02:00.000-06:002008-12-14T23:02:00.000-06:00The one-way drive of Texas criminal justice policy...The one-way drive of Texas criminal justice policy is about to come home to haunt us. The message can be found in the movie "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas". Texas is hell bent on creating an irrevocable criminal class, members of which are reduced to being less than human. The government's only role with respect to this group is to seek, in every way possible, their ultimate destruction. Membership in the class is determined by the arbitrary whim of law enforcers and prosecutors. The message in the movie is this: Not only is such a social philosophy immoral, it is not practical and not possible to impose without damaging ourselves. Watch the movie and weigh the costs.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-84937397331865428692008-12-14T22:48:00.000-06:002008-12-14T22:48:00.000-06:00Even more impressive, Ron, is that of the eleven o...<I>Even more impressive, Ron, is that of the eleven oyster-related felonies, none of them are sex offenses. ;)</I><BR/><BR/>Check the laws on bearded clams. And the Canterbury Tales.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-24201540416024683492008-12-14T21:02:00.000-06:002008-12-14T21:02:00.000-06:00I'm not his mother, I promise, but I just had to s...I'm not his mother, I promise, but I just had to stop and thank God for Scott Henson when I read this.<BR/><BR/>"Charles, if the problem is "ignorance" then why is the solution a criminal penalty instead of "education"?<BR/><BR/>You and I agree there is a "need for society to take action to mitigate against" ignorance, but I don't see why it then follows that criminal penalties are necessarily justified or useful for achieving that goal. Few people read the statutes - if "ignorance" is the problem, passing a criminal law is simply not a good way to overcome it."<BR/><BR/>Education. Respect. True information on the airwaves and in the media. <BR/><BR/>Something better and beyond "hitting them" anywhere.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-75959174112840771942008-12-14T20:16:00.000-06:002008-12-14T20:16:00.000-06:00Interesting post. I agree that we can't and a...Interesting post. I agree that we can't and aren't solving our social problems with the courts & jails. However, all the things you list need to cost us less tax dollars in the long run. I say we need to start paying attention to local political races such as City Council candidates and demand a change in how our tax dollars are spent and quit expecting the taxpayers to foot ALL bills to ALL problems! If we aren't accomplishing any reforming of lives in the way punish, then we are wasting our tax dollars.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-47200280777377068462008-12-14T20:06:00.000-06:002008-12-14T20:06:00.000-06:00Even more impressive, Ron, is that of the eleven o...Even more impressive, Ron, is that of the eleven oyster-related felonies, none of them are sex offenses. ;)Gritsforbreakfasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-7645711101335143422008-12-14T19:34:00.000-06:002008-12-14T19:34:00.000-06:00GritsI am simply impressed. I never knew there we...Grits<BR/><BR/>I am simply impressed. I never knew there were so many felonious things dealing with oysters.Ron in Houstonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02496306119920809104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-82801650036415657972008-12-14T15:42:00.000-06:002008-12-14T15:42:00.000-06:00I don't have stats for it, but I think smoking has...I don't have stats for it, but I think smoking has drastically declined in the last couple of decades. Through education, not coercion.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-81007186205715385452008-12-14T15:06:00.000-06:002008-12-14T15:06:00.000-06:00Charles, if the problem is "ignorance" then why is...Charles, if the problem is "ignorance" then why is the solution a criminal penalty instead of "education"?<BR/><BR/>You and I agree there is a "need for society to take action to mitigate against" ignorance, but I don't see why it then follows that criminal penalties are necessarily justified or useful for achieving that goal. Few people read the statutes - if "ignorance" is the problem, passing a criminal law is simply not a good way to overcome it.Gritsforbreakfasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-38692141992192936902008-12-14T13:59:00.000-06:002008-12-14T13:59:00.000-06:00In re: booster seats, I don't think it's a questio...In re: booster seats, I don't think it's a question of parental love but of parental ignorance. I mean, it's not been that long since the state outlawed the practice of letting children ride in the back of a pickup truck. You'd think no one would need to be told that's a really dumb thing to do, but that wasn't the case. The effect of that ignorance is ultimately shared by society as a whole - medical costs, lost productivity, etc. As such, I see the need for society to take action to mitigate against that. I wish that weren't the case, but it is.<BR/><BR/>BTW, I didn't see any details of Zaffirini's bill in that story, but I would certainly support a provision that paid for booster seats for those who needed them but couldn't afford them. I believe we have a similar thing for child safety seats. But as with child safety seats, I'm okay with there being a consequence for not using them. I respect your point, and as you know I agree in general that we overcriminalize in this state. But on this matter I think there's a sufficient justification for the penalty.Charles Kuffnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14017754405865832150noreply@blogger.com