Bin Laden, Al-Zarqawi... You will NEVER know if and when they are killed and or captured.

[tso-d_chris 0]

Ice T performed the song "Copkiller," and then went on to play a cop on a very popular TV show.

I don't perceive him as a threat to police or crime. He is an entertainer. Maybe you like his form of entertainment, maybe you don't. But it is threatening nothing.

[AlexCrowley 0]

You obviously blocked out the huge uproar that particular ditty caused. Police departments across the US protested.

TV's got them images, TV's got them all, nothing's shocking.

[tso-d_chris 0]

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You obviously blocked out the huge uproar that particular ditty caused. Police departments across the US protested.

Nice critical eye. Allow me to elaborate.

Having lived in this country all my life, in several different states and cities east and west, it has been my experience police cause their own problems, most times. That is not to say there are no good cops out there, just that there are enough asshats out there on their beats that everyone with a badge is subject to suspicion.

I've seen friends go to jail for some really stupid reasons on the cops' part, things like a dirty, though still quite readable, license plate (improper display of tag or some BS) or riding a bicycle at night without a headlight. In that particular city, I was threatened with jail for stepping two feet off the sidewalk onto unposted private property in order to let a group of people walking in the opposite direction pass by. There was no "Excuse me. You can't stand there; it's private property." It was more like "Get back on the sidewalk or you're going to jail." The cop was just that curt.

All three of those examples involved atriculate, employed, clean cut white guys. I can hardly imagine what life is like for an impoverished black guy in this country.

It doesn't help matters any that the public interacts more with the asshat cops than the good ones, simply by virtue of the fact that those are the ones that most often fuck with people. Sometimes for no good reason, but sometimes they just take things unnecessarily too far.

The chances of a male going to prison in their lifetime in the US is 11.3%. The odds of merely being arrested are about 25%. The US, in reality, probably have about the third highest incarceration rate in the world, behind mainland China and North Korea. Officially, the US have the highest rate.

I recently had a former law enforcement officer as a roommate. I was told on more than one occasion that most people go to jail because they don't know their rights.

But I digress.

Let's compare Copkiller, and example of Ice T doing his work, and the beating of Rodney King, the work of the LAPD specifically mentioned in Copkiller. Who's work do you think had the largest impact? Remember the LA riots? Claiming Ice T caused high tensions between cops and urban citizenry is like Tipper Gore claiming 2 Live Crew caused premarital sex. Copkiller reflected a reality; it didn't direct it.

[AlexCrowley 0]

Sorry I might have missed your original point, only the rest of the conversation was about people over-reacting based on largely innocent talk.

The dangers of 18 hours shifts :)

TV's got them images, TV's got them all, nothing's shocking.

[tso-d_chris 0]

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Sorry I might have missed your original point, only the rest of the conversation was about people over-reacting based on largely innocent talk.

Me? Off topic? That never happens!

I just don't think the entertainers are the instigators, even when they editorialize about violent situations. I certainly don't believe their first ammendment rights should be violated just because others are afraid of their message.

But then, I think even the Klan has a right to their soapbox. I just find their ideology disgusting.

[Gravitymaster 0]

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I've seen friends go to jail for some really stupid reasons on the cops' part, things like a dirty, though still quite readable, license plate (improper display of tag or some BS) or riding a bicycle at night without a headlight.

You have seen people jailed for having a dirty license plate? What city was this in? I've never seen a law on the books that allows a police officer to jail someone for the reasons you have listed.

[tso-d_chris 0]

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You have seen people jailed for having a dirty license plate? What city was this in? I've never seen a law on the books that allows a police officer to jail someone for the reasons you have listed.

That particular incident occured in a rural county in southwest Missouri. As I said, tho official charge was something like "Improper Display of Tag."

The other two incidents occured in Key West, Florida, where absurd arrests are celebrted daily with a column in the local newspapwer. These are not isolated incidents, or locations. I have witnesses abuses of police power everywhere I have lived in the US. In fairness, I have also encountered honorable law enforcement officers in most places, as well, officers that are in uniform because they have a genuine desire to help the community.

[Channman 2]

>I've never seen a law on the books that allows a police officer to jail someone for the reasons you have listed.

Sometimes police stop individuals for minor infractions, but the individuals comes off to the officer as an AssHole for stopping them for such a minor detail.

As a good friend of mine who is a police officer put it to me. "Your may beat the charge, but your not beating the ride." i.e. the ride to jail and the 17 hours plus getting out.

Keep a cool head when dealing with the man with the gun.

[Channman 2]

>...where absurd arrests are celebrated daily with a column in the local newspaper.

Such as the women ticketed for sitting on a park bench in New York because she was without child. The story is alittle more detailed ... but you get the point.

[Channman 2]

>He has a turbine on his head? No wonder we can't catch him.

He's under there, just pick it up.

[billvon 3,120]

>He's under there, just pick it up.

I'm not sticking my fingers into that thing! Turbines suck whole luggage carts into themselves.

[rehmwa 2]

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>He's under there, just pick it up.

I'm not sticking my fingers into that thing! Turbines suck whole luggage carts into themselves.

And it's on his head. And I thought the old VHS cameras were heavy for freefall video (it's the reason I still don't do that anymore).

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[billvon 3,120]

>And it's on his head. And I thought the old VHS cameras were heavy . .

Maybe it's one of those new small ones they use for RC aircraft:

http://www.rc-airplane-world.com/model-jet-engine.html

[kallend 2,151]

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>And it's on his head. And I thought the old VHS cameras were heavy . .

Maybe it's one of those new small ones they use for RC aircraft:

http://www.rc-airplane-world.com/model-jet-engine.html

We have one of those in the department, but I don't put it on my head.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[tso-d_chris 0]

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Maybe it's one of those new small ones they use for RC aircraft

It can't be very big if staples will hold it on.

[billvon 3,120]

> but I don't put it on my head.

That's why us americans will never catch Bin Laden. "The Middle East has terrorists with jets on their heads! Jets . . on their . . freaking . . heads!"