Everyso often I get a libertarian e-newsletter. This weeks edition pointed out some interesting civil rights violations that I think are interesting: 1) They've started arresting people in bars for public intoxication, regardless of whether or not they plan on taking a taxi home. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060322/us_nm/bars_dc Meanwhile, "According to 2004 FBI crime figures, less than half of violent crimes in the U.S. are "cleared" by police. The FBI says only 46.3% of murders, forcible rapes, robberies, and aggravated assaults end with a suspect being arrested and charged. To break it down by crime, only 62.6% of murders, 55.6% of aggravated assaults, 41.8% of forcible rapes, and 26.2% of robberies are ever solved." 2) It's now illegal to smoke outside in Calabasas, CA. http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=local&id=4001365 Not only could you go to jail for 6 months, but you can be sued by anyone who smells it. If anyone from Cali wonders why the rest of the States think you're the way they were protrayed in South Park on Wed, it's shit like this. 3) The government is testing sewage water in select cities for presense of cocaine. They say it's to find out how many people are using it. I bet. 4) 74% Chinese living in China agreed that "the free enterprise system and free market economy is the best system on which to base the future of the world" whereas only 71% of American's (US) did. And finally, a word on private police forces: Just thought I'd share all this. I know a lot of you are politically active so hopefully this is of interest to a good number of people, it was to me anyway.
^^agreed^^ with the prices around here, nothing makes it off the glass that doesnt hit a nose or teeth.
Well, public intoxication has been against the law for quite a long time. Good idea and it's about time! I saw that story on the news the other day. There is a Smoking Area at the edge of the city somewhere, though... it's like the city has turned into one big airport terminal... no smoking except in this one little area that we set aside for the vast number of smokers out there! As if it's going to give them any detailed info! Go ahead, sift through my processed shit to get an idea how much cocaine is going through your city! Not like I'm contributing to the cocaine problem, but it's probably freakin' out all the coke heads... you know how paranoid they can get! Joint, you're pretty cool...
'1) They've started arresting people in bars for public intoxication, regardless of whether or not they plan on taking a taxi home.' So they arrest you for being drunk in a bar? Hurray! Defeats the god damn purpose of a bar...
ive never heard of the idea of private police, and i have to say, i love it. as far as i can tell, it could eliminate almost ALL of the bullshit the average person has to deal with from patrol officers. private policing would allow complaints to the police station to actually hold some ground and have an effect. there are FAR too many rookies on a power trip in my town. I cant stand it.
The intentions are good but the law is not fair. Being intoxicated SHOULD NOT BE A CRIME. Yes, drunk people commit a lot of crimes. But making drunkeness illegal is NOT the solution. The crimes should be illegal, not the booze. Yeah, being drunk in public is very often the cause of trouble. But a lot of the time it is not. I know that no matter how drunk I am, I don't cause trouble. I just chill. But if I'm stumbling along the sidewalk at the end of the night, just walking home, you think I deserve to be arrested? Would you rather I try to drive home? Guess what people use all the time to commit crimes? These are used in robberies, murders, and kidnappings all the time. In fact, these kill tens of thousands of people every year. Sounds like something that should be illegal, right? Well I'm talking about cars. Making cars illegal would cut down on the deaths by car, but is it really the right solution? Hell no. The solution is to punish people who run down pedestrians or who try to fix their hair while driving and drift in front of a family on a road trip coming head-on toward them. It is not fair the take away the rights of everyone because some people abuse the rights. The criminals must be SPECIFICALLY TARGETED. Broad legislation (like public intoxication laws) is a half-assed effort to bring crime figures down and make politicians look good.
Being intoxicated isn't a crime... being PUBLICLY intoxicated is. As well it should be. If people want to get drunk, that's fine... but they should just do it in the privacy of their own homes. Bars are licensed to serve drinks, not get people drunk. (I don't actually believe in what I just wrote there. I'm just throwing it out as bait to get people involved in discussing this kind of stuff.) The public intoxication laws have been around since the repeal of Prohibition, before 'crime figures' became such a public focus and at a time when making such laws would have made a politician less popular with his constituency. BTW, most laws on the books today are half-assed efforts to placate someone's complaints. I myself prefer to believe that a government that governs best, governs least. (I was horrible at history... can anyone remember who's line that was?)
hey man i like to trip hard and walk around and enjoy myself...if a cop stopped me then i would be taken downtown for public intoxication. thats bullshit. if im not fuckin with anyone then why should i be arrested? i like your idea but its not fair.
Because public intoxication is illegal. (This is the same sort of reasoning used in the courts over the years to justify throwing people in jail for marijuana offenses.) Sadly, laws don't take into account what's fair.
They keyword here is public. A bar is a private establishment, not a government owned or common area. I don't mind arresting people who are drunk in the streets but to go into a bar, a privately owned property, and start arresting people who are drinking INSIDE is just asinine.
Privately owned, but licensed to sell alcohol by a government entity (Alcoholic Beverage Control), which has authority over the selling of alcohol to the public. Nice try, though...!