LegendaryApophis wrote:Jack wrote:Europe? Horrible place, I wouldn't want to live there. Visit maybe, live no way in hell.
Same would I say about the US.
As would MANY europeans!
The only reason I would consider moving to Europe would be the relaxed social dress code. Nothing else is appealing, though I wouldn't mind a trip to visit. Hopefully I can get on a school trip to England/Ireland this year. Now on to business...
First, I'd like to congratulate Avenger. He has earned the
Phoenix Award for Perseverance for his efforts in conspiracies/pursuit of justice, depending on what side of the line you stand on. On a side note, this is only partly sarcastic. While I often think he's jumping at shadows (and still do, but I'll get to that later), he does bring many points and some of them strike me as valid. Please though, don't declare me partly saved with that admission like last time.
Secondly, this isn't martial law. There is no military force used, there is no military law used. The only thing "akin" (to use the mayor's wording) to martial law is the fact that people are harrassed late at night, and they
might end up in jail for the night if there excuse is weak (there's a key word in there, just so you know). Solution if you're going somewhere and innocent? Tell the cop the truth and ask them to escort you to your destination. Most cops are people, not robots programmed to obey orders to the letter. Otherwise, half the kids at my school would have lost their licenses (I've heard so many stories of kids getting caught doing 15+ over the limit and having it written down as 5-10 over, so the punishment is less).
Also, for the genius who basically implied that the cops know where the criminals are and refuse to get them so this "plot" can go on, you're really stretching it. First, they need to have enough proof about the suspect to get a warrant for the arrest, and that proof can't be gathered illegally (aka, breaking into the house is out of the question, unless they have enough evidence for a search warrant). Then, after the arrest the guy/gal, they can only hold him for 48 hours before they have to let him out again, unless they can file charges. Plus, there's the indiction, trial, and if they screw up, they have to start from scratch. It's not a simple process, and when you have a town of around 8,689 which probably doesn't have the largest police force (no numbers on their
site), how do you expect them to process every criminal that does something? Hell, Harrisburg is just getting around to sentencing guys who did crimes five years ago!
What I'm saying is that you all seem to jump to the conclusion that because people can no longer parade around the streets after 8/10/whenever the curfew starts, someone is obviously trying to deliberately soften people up for a bigger infringement(maybe not Jack and cloak). And my response is that this is a desperate gambit by a mayor who is trying to prevent his constituents from waking up with a bullet between their eyes and is trying to do his job to the best of his ability, considering the restrictions placed on him. Could it have been done differently and better? Perhaps. But unless this guy is an ex-cop/security expert/public official dealing with public safety, he's not going to know a thing about this type of stuff before entering the mayor's office. That's the beauty and fallacy of democracy, you get new faces who unfortunately stand a good chance of being clueless about what their job entails.
So, to wrap it up, get a grip guys. Your prized individual liberties are not really disappearing, and those people in Arkansas will probably get those few that are gone back in a few months when either crime goes down or the police department's bill is too high to keep paying. Similar things have occured in the past, such as the internment of Japanese/Italians/Germans in WWII, race riots (where actual NG units were often used; such as LA and Detriot), and the occupation of the South after the Civil War. And you know what? It all eventually went back to the status quo. Yes, people even got tired of the Red Scare and sent McCarthy packing. The common people are not that dumb, just slower due to the inertia effect of getting so many people moving, so give them some [Self-Filtered] credit that they can think on their own.
Seriously, my alien cabal is waiting until you all die before they make their move for world domination. You lot are way to jumpy.
Edit: Consistency changed to Perseverance.