Da!
Da!
you pretend to pay us, we pretend to have papers
Boy, deleting the original post causes some funky juju, don't it? Unless it's not gone and my browser is really whacked out right now...
The original post failed after it had saved the topic, and before it had saved the first post in the topic..
I think I've found why, and hopefully it won't happen again.
Dang it. 
The article this post was based on.
Police to Seal Off D.C. Neighborhoods 2008_0604_police.jpgCan you say Police State? The Examiner has the scoop on a controversial new program announced today that would create so-called "Neighborhood Safety Zones" which would serve to partially seal off certain parts of the city. D.C. Police would set-up checkpoints in targeted areas, demand to see ID and refuse admittance to people who don't live there, work there or have a “legitimate reason” to be there. Wow. Just, wow. Some of the words used to describe such a plan by those quoted in the Examiner story include "breathtaking" and "cockamamie," but that hardly begins to scratch the surface. Interim Attorney General Peter Nickles actually said that measures of this sort have "been used in other cities.” Which cities are those, Mr. Nickles? Warsaw? Today's proposal appears to be a desperate attempt by the city to tamp down recent violence that has ravaged the city, especially in Ward 5. The "Neighborhood Safety Zones" would last up to 10 days. It's a struggle to think of words to describe such a plan other than authoritarian or ghettoization. The full description of this plan from the mayor's press release is below. Photo by AlbinoFlea The Neighborhood Safety Zone initiative has been developed to help increase security for those who live in high-crime areas around the city and to help residents reclaim their communities. The program will authorize the Metropolitan Police Department to set up public safety checks to help safeguard community members and create safer neighborhoods in the District by increasing police presence aimed at deterring crime. The safety zones will be established only upon request by a District Commander where there is evidence to support the existence of neighborhood violent crime, such as intelligence, violent crime data, police reports and feedback and concerns from the affected community. Potential Neighborhood Safety Zones must be approved by the Chief of Police, and will be in effect for a maximum of 10 days. Public safety checks will be established along the main thoroughfares of the established neighborhoods. Anyone driving into a designated area may be asked to show valid identification with a home address in that neighborhood, or to provide an explanation for entering the NSZ, such as attending church, a doctor’s appointment or visiting friends or relatives. Pedestrians will not be subject to the public safety checks. “The Neighborhood Safety Zones is just another tool MPD will employ to stop crime before it happens. The Neighborhood Safety Zone initiative will help residents terrorized by violent crime to take back their neighborhoods,” said Chief Lanier. Initiatives such as the Neighborhood Safety Zones have been accepted by federal courts as a legitimate law enforcement practice in keeping with the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment. The constitutionality of the NSZ initiative has been reviewed by the D.C. Office of the Attorney General. The NSZ will be launched next week in the Trinidad area.
btw - that was a hilarious error msg page Tim. I'm sure you had a hand in creating that....
The NSZ Party has the best interests of the true citizens of our beloved country at heart!
Gee, where have I heard that before... Even the acronym is oddly familiar...
Wow, they totally missed the boat. They should have called it the "Neighbourhood Anticrime Zone Initiative."
J
How long before Snake has go in there in a sailplane to rescue the president?
"Snake Plissken?!, I heard you we're dead!"
"You heard wrong..."
awesome
Anyone who doesn’t live there, work there or have “legitimate reason” to be there will be sent away or face arrest, documents obtained by The Examiner show.
Peter Nickles, the city’s interim attorney general, said the quarantine would have “a narrow focus.”
“This is a very targeted program that has been used in other cities,” Nickles told The Examiner. “I’m not worried about the constitutionality of it.”
Constitutionality? Like habeus corpus?
yeah, a very scary precedent tampling on laws having to do with freedom of travel and assembly, I'm sure.
bad news. I don't like that one bit. So is this saying that they actually are going to do this or that they want to? I would really hope that this gets blocked somehow if its the latter.
Chris_V wrote: Constitutionality? Like habeus corpus?
George "I love FREEDOM! (but only in Iraq and under my direct contro)" Bush suspended that quite awhile ago.
http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/rightsandfreedoms/a/habeuscorpus.htm
On Oct. 17, 2006, President Bush signed a law suspending the right of habeas corpus to persons "determined by the United States" to be an "enemy combatant" in the Global War on Terror. President Bush's action drew severe criticism, mainly for the law's failure to specifically designate who in the United Stateswill determine who is and who is not an "enemy combatant."
Guess everyone in DC is now an "Enemy Combatant".
Ignorant has the pic that applies to this thread.
This is a DC local government action. Can't blame Bush for it.
Police would set-up checkpoints in targeted areas, demand to see ID and refuse admittance to people who don't live there, work there or have a “legitimate reason” to be there.
Where have you been for that to be news? The US has done that sort of thing for as long as people have been on this continent.
I don't commute through Baltimore in the morning on certain routes just to avoid this sort of policing. And any black man living in a nice neighborhood can tell you all about this sort of harassment.
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