FTP Report This Comment
Date: July 14, 2011 08:11AM

Watch, listen and learn.....

[www.youtube.com]

CMD Report This Comment
Date: July 14, 2011 12:00PM

And to think young men and women have given their lives for people like this to say the ignorant things that he is saying is pretty sad.

Mrkim Report This Comment
Date: July 14, 2011 12:57PM

Spoken like a good little sheepie CMD. So, when those omniscient and all powerful cops come for you, make sure you show no resistance in the least as they slip your hind legs into their boots and begin to plow you like a fallow field.

What's a real shame is that peoples rights under our system of governance are being whittled away on a constant basis with the cops always at the ready to exploit and abuse their authority while people like yourself stand ready to blindly support them in doin so

GAK67 Report This Comment
Date: July 14, 2011 07:22PM

I spent the 1st minute or so thinking this guy was being blindly patriotic (which I think is a dangerous thing - patriotism is great, but not blind patriotism), then once I realised he was being sarcastic I spent the next minute or so thinking he was being overly critical, but then he said what he was protesting about.

WTF is going wrong over there?

1. How did a law come into effect that made it a crime to feed the homeless?
2. Why are the cops putting resources into enforcing it?

Mrkim Report This Comment
Date: July 14, 2011 08:41PM

GAK, surely you have read previous mentions here by myself and others about illogical laws being proposed, then imposed (quite forcefully) by the cops. This is NOT a joke and to those of us who live here it damned sure ain't funny.

I'm sure the impetus for this new law likely came from retail business owners trying to keep the homeless from impeding or decreasing business but makin it illegal to feed them seems ridiculous and goes against any sort of humanity based ideology. When you asked why the cops would enforce it, the cops would likely say their usual retort which is "We don't make the laws, it's just our job to enforce them", which is of course dual purposed as both the truth and a cop out.

The truth is, there is and has been, a steady incursion upon citizens rights by the cops and they are getting ever more heavy handed and forceful in how they enforce the law. I personally have come to have little respect for the cops anymore.

The way cops and society interacted 30yrs ago where each had respect and empathy for one another has all but disappeared leaving a scenario where it's basically the cops against society

BlahX3 Report This Comment
Date: July 14, 2011 11:29PM

In my experience it varies greatly between locations and individual cops. I don't live in a highly populated area and that certainly has an impact on my experience. I have been pulled over for nothing except being in the time and place where it was more likely to happen given a field sobriety test by a rookie county mountie that wasted everyone's time. I've also served on a grand jury in the recent past and met an awful lot of cops, DA people, witnesses and victims and heard their stories. I do my best to stay out of the way of the police and not be doing anything to get busted for.

GAK67 Report This Comment
Date: July 15, 2011 08:54AM

Mrkim: I think the "We don't make the laws, it's just our job to enforce them" is more of a cop out than anything else. I know I live in a different jurisdiction, but I don't believe the cops here are any less empowered to enforce the law and we don't have that sort of attitude here (yet at least, and I hope it stays that way). For example, here in NZ possession of marijuana is technically illegal but if you are found to have a joint in your possession, unless you are also doing something else wrong, they wont take any action - except maybe destroy the joint. Start growing or selling it though and they will come down on you like a ton of bricks.

Yes I have read posts on here about illogical laws, but I had no idea it had deteriorated to this sort of level. I realise it's not a joke, I too do not find it funny and can now fully understand your concerns.

Blahx3: You say "I do my best to stay out of the way of the police and not be doing anything to get busted for", but showing some humanity by giving some food to the needy should not be something to get busted for.





It would be good to see a judge with a humanitarian streak (and a sense of humour) get the case and (assuming those arrested are found guilty of such a ridiculous law) sentence them to community service feeding the homeless.

Mrkim Report This Comment
Date: July 15, 2011 01:24PM

GAK, the steady deterioration of the relationship between cops and the rest of us is sad to see. While they have a job I do not envy, it's one they themselves chose to pursue and it seems far too many choose for the wrong reasons.

Not gonna blanketly say all cops are bad or on a power trip, but enough of them are, which makes it ever more difficult for the good ones and all of us they are sworn to "protect and serve". Kinda like Blah mentioned I do my best to stay off the radar in hopes I don't find myself havin to deal with 'em any more than necessary.

With the financial crush cities, counties and states have been increasingly under as tax revenues have declined through high unemployment, falling property values, increasing fuel and operational costs and overall slashing of their budgets in trying to prevent tax increases hoards of new laws have been put on the books in what seems like purely revenue generation schemes as opposed to reasonable governance.

Though we've discussed the seat belt law and its intent/validity here, this law is a perfect example of an extension of the nanny state mentality coupled with the byproduct of major revenue generation as a windfall to its enforcement. In Texas the penalty for this offense is $250 and can have as much as another $100 tacked on in court costs and fees.

Secondly, where in many cases speeding violations used to be considered only when people were doin at least 10mph over the posted limits, many places have now adopted 0 tolerance policies instead, upped their per-mile-fee-over-the-limit, raised the court costs fees, implemented new fees associated with violations, etc., all of which is aimed squarely at revenue generation.

Thirdly many types of offenses have now come to also have mandatory court ordered counseling, education/instructional training or hours of community service work assigned if convicted and these result in the convicted paying hundreds of dollars more while also in many cases additionally decreasing their income by requiring them to miss work to take care of these "side benefits" regarding their offenses.

All the above only serves to widen the chasm between those who enforce the laws and the rest of us.

I really got a chuckle outta your mention of a judge requiring violators of the law having to ironically feed the homeless. That would be a hoot to see happen

BlahX3 Report This Comment
Date: July 15, 2011 10:52PM

"Blahx3: You say "I do my best to stay out of the way of the police and not be doing anything to get busted for", but showing some humanity by giving some food to the needy should not be something to get busted for."

What in my statement made you think I was referring to feeding the homeless being a crime? I made a comment based on the idea that cops are abusing their authority and I though my comment was pretty simple and clear.

Some of you guys seem to try extrapolating statements to mean something entirely different than what the person wrote. If I say something looks green to me are you gonna say, "No, it is a combination of yellow and blue." ?

Mrkim Report This Comment
Date: July 16, 2011 12:00AM

Well hell yeah man, green is yellow and blue .... Doh

Green is the color of my true loves hair ... waidaminit, that dudn sound right, oh well (headexplode)

GAK67 Report This Comment
Date: July 16, 2011 03:39AM

@Blahx3: Sorry dude - didn't mean to raise your hackles or imply that you were saying that feeding the homeless was a crime. I was simply pointing out that with a law as ridiculous as this one appears to be it would be hard to "not be doing anything to get busted for".

ORLANDO399 Report This Comment
Date: July 16, 2011 05:25PM

You guy's need to get a room

BlahX3 Report This Comment
Date: July 16, 2011 05:32PM

Don't take it personally Gak. My hackles weren't raised there are just some things I like to say that I have opinions about concerning how we communicate here.

Helping people less fortunate is very important and it is definitely stupid that there are laws that restrict that noble effort. I've seen them in action to a small degree too. Dumpster diving for food at stores and restaurants that there is nothing wrong with is illegal in most locations. If they can't bust you for some health regulations they will for trespassing and illegal search of private property. I admit I didn't watch the guy's video (my speed is too slow to bother with that much, it tends to time out most of the time) but I can imagine it probably falls within the same area of stupidity.

I worked for ten years for a large school district. The kitchens always produced more food than was used but they were restricted from giving it away to hungry folks. Some of the kitchen managers do it on the sly anyway because otherwise the food just goes in the garbage. People have tried to get programs going to deal with that and it gets shot down by health regs and state laws concerning who the school food goes to. The bottom line is that it is just plain stupid to waste food that could help hungry people. It might not be the best food in the world but it's not that bad either. Seeing 15 or 20 breakfast sammiches dumped into the garbage every day is heartbreaking.

In the military it was much worse. I did my share of KP (everyone does) and seeing an entire beef roast fed to a garbage disposal was tragic.

I think we are fortunate here and most of the law enforcement people here seem like decent folks, some are truly awesome and do everything they can to avoid getting someone into trouble with the law. They'd rather advise and suggest and move on than hassle, ticket or arrest. Others are very different and do stretch their power to the point of abuse but not that common around here. In smaller communities where most people know each other to some degree it seems the law enforcement and the people have a much better relationship than in big cities.