=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= = F.U.C.K. - Fucked Up College Kids - Born Jan. 24th, 1993 - F.U.C.K. = =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Crime in America ---------------- Crime in America -- Shoot 'em Down, Lock 'em up, Kill 'em all or Mytholitics Who says crime is on the rise? Americans do, thats who. According to a recent Gallup poll, 80 percent of Americans to be exact. Not so, says Michael Tonry of the University of Minnesota. Crime is only up for about 5 percent of the population living in the inner city, mostly those living in failed government projects. So what the hell is going on? A bill is currently in Congress as of this writing aimed at bringing America closer to a police state as it has ever been. You think I'm kidding, I'm not. The $33.2 billion dollar program will include some of the most drastic measures yet conceived by the U.S. Government to put a stop to a crime wave that does not actually exist. The program includes: * Handing over $11.1 billion to state and local law enforcement agencies. * Spending $2.8 billion on federal law enforcement and courts. * Spending $1.2 billion on drug courts (coming soon to a city near you.) * $10.5 billion (count 'em) for prisons. * $400 million for a Police Corp scholarship program (much like the National Gaurd.) * And $191 milion for Border Patrol??? What is this, Russia? All this to put a lid on an increase in crime that doesn't exist? How could the government make such a mistake. The thing is, its not a mistake. Americans actually have perceived a threat to their safety, and in mass numbers they have flocked to the very people they despise the most, their own government. They have effectively said, "Yes, I am willing to further give up my rights for this placebo that will make me THINK I'm safe." Safe in our homes, or locked in them? The question is scary to consider. Oh, did I mention the further ban on guns this bill calls for? Silly me, say goodbye to your assualt rifles. Yes, that right, goodbye. Because the bill also calls for the banning of all assualt rifles. If the Brady Bill wasn't enough infringement on the 2nd Amendment, a complete ban on assualt rifles should fix that. But don't count the goverment down and out after they achieve that goal. One Senator has ALREADY proposed a complete ban on all guns and is in the process of working up the bill. Wait, its still not over. 100,000 more police officers will be hitting the street by 1996. Oh, did I say police officers, how about stormtroopers, that sounds better. I don't know about the cops in your town, but the sherrifs in mine are already starting to wear black BDU pants and combat boots. Does something sound wrong here? Oooh, oooh, wait, what about the part of the bill that aims at putting third time felons behind bars for life. The three strikes and your out policy, as its called. Only in America could a justice system be run like a favorite sport. Shit, baseball is pure American! Not only is this policy amusing, its also a tragedy of justice. Not because it necessarily impractical, but simply because its just one more hole to be used. What about ten years from now? Will crime have skyrocketed so high that we have to revert to a two- strike, or even a one strike system? What will the Commisioner of Baseball think? There has got to be a word for it. I don't know what it is. But the concept of it is this: some how we have made a mistake. Okay, in the past 10 years technology has skyrocketed. Communications has errupted, everything is speedy as hell. It is truly what we envisioned it would be, a global village. But what do we measure this increase in communications with? For instance, 100 years ago there was crime. But nobody knew about it. It was not spread in a matter of seconds to a million people across the nation. Instead, most people probably NEVER knew about it. Therefore they conceived no threat to their safety. Therefore they were not moved to protect themselves. Today, there is crime. We know about it instantly. We know about the guy who crashed his truck into Lubys, pulled out an assault rifle and killed a lot of people. We think maybe WE could've been one of those people. Suddenly, there is a threat to our safety, real or imagined, that has to be dealt with. But if we had never heard about it, we would've never felt that threat. Is crime worse in America now than it was 100 years ago? Our population is lot greater, so first we have to consider the inflation aspects. Like money. A dollar would buy you alot more then than it would now. Our population is bigger, so incidents of crime are going to be higher. Its relative. Then we have to consider that nameless factor, what about the proximity of crime to a person? A hundred years ago a murder in Detroit would mean very little to someone living in Boston, lets say. Today, a murder in Detroit seems so much closer because there it is on TV, right in your face, blood, guts and all. It might as well be on your front porch. The point is, we are giving up our rights for something we DO NOT NEED. If crime was that bad, the National Guard would already be on the streets, there would already be cameras on every street corner, guns would already be gone. Please, think. Use your head. And oppose bills and regulations that aim at turning America into police state. 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