For your freinds that think it can't happen here....

[sfmittel]

If you really want to get annoyed and entertained at the same time, read Matthew Bracken's books (link below).  Granted, they're fiction, and granted, they represent a worst-case scenario of a government run amok, but Mr Bracken has an interesting way of taking things as they ARE and projecting them to show what they COULD BE.  I've become a fan, and I anxiously await book # 3 in the trilogy, which is supposed to be out next year.  IMO, book # 2 ("Domestic Enemies: The Reconquista") is better written and is more plausible than book # 1 ("Enemies Foreign and Domestic"), but you really should read # 1 first, as it sets up the storyline and some of the characters in book # 2.  They paint a frightening possible pathway for the near future, especially in light of this discussion about the travesties of NO.

Then, if you're PO'd enough about a possible bleak future, read "Until Proven Innocent" by Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson.  It gives you a blow-by-blow account of the travesty of justice that was the Duke lacrosse rape case.  Most importantly for this discussion, it shows how politically motivated prosecutors and their lackey police departments can do pretty much what they want.  And this isn't fiction, folks - it really happened.


http://www.enemiesforeignanddomestic.com/

[someguy]

Well, I'll simply add my $.02 here...  I live in TN now and have for 15 years, but grew up outside of Mobile, AL, and spent a fair amount of time in NO/LA.  Also had a college roommate from there, and heard his stories...  But the summary is this:

A close friend who works for a police dept. in a smaller TX town said that right after the levees broke, he and his entire department were asked by the Chief if anyone would be willing to volunteer to house either an officer or the family/families of officers from the NOPD.  The answer was unanimous - NO.  It wasn't about unwillingness to help - I've seen these guys give until it hurt.  It was about the legacy of corruption in the NOPD and NO government that goes back 150 years.