Obama Continues Bush's Illegal Drone Surveillance

[Seabiscuit36]

Not sure if you've been following the Baltimore county speed ticket issue.  You have contracts handed out, signed by elected leaders.  The installing company gets a cut of each ticket issued.  I have a real issue with that, not to mention calibration concerns.  I'd fight a ticket if i got one, let alone four.  You more or less helped fund a private company with those donations. 

As far as cameras used as surveillance, I'm talking about how the UK uses them.  I just find your viewpoints kind of odd as far as you're more or less supporting parts of the patriot act.  To each his own, I'd prefer to be on my own rather than being monitored in every facet. 

[Diomedes]

All salty people are idealists.

[Sgt PSN]

If that's your attitude then you're part of the problem.

Get involved locally.  Go to your neighborhood association meetings, your town hall meetings, whatever they are, assume some role in some committee for something that matters to you locally.  Take an actual stake in government rather than throwing up your hands at how corrupt it is and voting to starve it. 

I'm not saying you can change the world, but you can actually help if you try. 

And if you dont' want to try, if you think other people are going to do i tall for you and all you hvae to do is vote occasionally and pay your taxes, then shut up about how bad it all is.

I've slowly been getting myself involved in the local landscape.  Wasn't much into it while in the military because I was constantly on the move.  It's also pretty easy to keep tabs on small town politicians.  And my town is so small that the Mayor isn't even a "full time" Mayor.  He works his 9-5 on top of his mayoral duties.  Same goes for the 8 elected members of the Borough Counsel.  They work regular jobs along with their counsel duties.  So it doesn't take much effort to make sure they're properly doing the jobs they've been elected to do.  They all live here, they work here and they're easy to find and get a hold of.  But none of these guys really has a political future outside of small town politics so they pose very little threat to the big picture. 

As for speed and surveillance cameras, I'm torn on both. 

Speed cameras suck.  I hate them.  But I guess it would be foolish not to take advantage of the technology.  It's much cheaper and more efficient than hiring more cops to patrol the streets.  And the only thing I hate more than cameras is an excessive amount of cops.  But I don't think speeding is a major concern in this country.  Cameras are an easy way for the the gov't to hand out tickets and generate additional revenue that will ultimately be misspent.  If potholes suddenly started going away or a public park got a nice make over, I'd have less of an issue with it.  But it's just a money making scam that isn't going back into the community. 

Agree with Dio on surveillance cameras.  They don't deter or prevent anything and live public surveillance simply makes me uncomfortable. Not to mention that live surveillance requires additional manpower to monitor the cameras and I'm not paying taxes so some schmuck in a converted broom closet can watch me walking up and down the street.  I think I'd rather see some sort of tax break or other incentive given to business owners who install cameras on the outside of their buildings and maintain the footage for X amount of time before deleting or recording over it.  And I'm not even 100% sold on that.  But it's definitely better than actually being watched whenever I step foot out of my house. 

[Diomedes]

First, farg Baltimore County.  I have a passionate hatred for them.  Sonsofbitches fled the city, took all their money, come in here for games and work, don't contribute shtein, boast like tough guys about living in "Baltimore," and complain complain complain about what all the black people are doing in the city.  farg farg farg them.  I wholeheartedly support complete annexation of the County so that this city can get a goddamn tax base back.  Until then, i don't want to hear shtein from those suburban leaches.

re: speed cameras
I too have an issue with a bounty payment for ticketing cameras.  That's an obvious problem.  It needs to be city run through and through, audited, etc.  Still, I broke the law, I got caught, so I paid.  Now I follow the law, and I don't get fines.  Seems fair to me.

re: surveillance cameras....I don't think I want the kind of system they have in London, though I admit to being only vaguely acquainted with their situation.  I do know that the cameras we have installed on private property all over the country help to lock up shteinbags every day.  My mother's workplace has them outside and has been able to prove, without a shred of doubt, that employee x was stealing, security guard  y was not locking up, drunk driver z did in fact run through the stop sign and hit the parked car, etc.  I don't like the idea of watchers hunched over live cameras keeping an eye on us, but the record created by cameras undoubtably helps keep the facts straight in a beef.

[Diomedes]

But I don't think speeding is a major concern in this country.

Many motorcyclists, bicyclists, pedestrians, parents of small children, old people, handicapped people, crossing guards, bus drivers, pet owners, people who prefer clean air, people who have to repair wrecked signs fences curbs, etc. would all disagree.  Speed is the number one issue with almost every auto accident.  There's no reason to drive 45 mph between blocks of stop signs, but people do it all day long.   Slowing down isn't just a quality of life issue in a city, it's a life and death issue.