FreeMe
I hope you're not including me in the diploma dropping group. I've mentioned going to law school but only as a context for my experiences. I don't need a diploma to know that I am smarter than just about anybody. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
Birdwatcher:
I would be glad to discuss the War of Northern Aggression with you sometime. The Confederacy was right and the Federal Government was oppressive and invaded a soveriegn people in an illegal war. The American Republic died at Appamattox.
10point:
Your attitude is exactly the attitude that I despise. Don't tell me I need protection and that the "tough old street cop is there to protect me". It is one more example of Government knows best. I don't want you or need you to protect me. And no, I do not go around habitually armed and do not feel the need to do so. I have never been the victim of violent crime and I KNOW that the police have had nothing to do with that fact. Yes, I know there are some bad hombres out there, but I would rather take my chances with criminals operating outside the law than thugs operating within the auspices of the law. If I want around the clock personal protection, I'll hire a bodyguard. If I want someone to show up too late to do any good and then tell me that there is little that can probably be done, then I'll call a cop.
I am sorry but the attitude that we are unable to fend for ourselves is part of the erosion of our liberties. Police are there to apprehend offenders, not to protect me or anyone else. In fact, courts have consistently ruled that a policeman is under no obligation to come to someone's aid in a time of distress.
Now the whole point of this thread, was not that all police are bad, or even a significant majority of them are dishonest. It was that the system is becoming increasingly oppressive, police training needs to be revised, we have runaway government, there are too many laws, and that the police are in danger of becoming merely the tools of the this system and will be used to keep the people in line. I believe in many cases that this has already happened. None of this precludes the fact that there are a great many good police that do good things or that even "bad police" may do as much good as harm on many occasions. The point is that good people can become parts of bad things and that they can be held accountable for those things if they do not engage in a little self-examination.
At least, I may have started the longest thread in the history of this board.
