1-0 Democracy vs police state

[Dauphin]

And then it can be shown on America's Dumbest Criminals or You've Been Framed!

[Spiffor]

Democracy - Police state 1-1

Meanwhile, in France, the state of emergency has been expanded to 3 months, despite the end of the riots.

Among other things, it empowers police headmen to order curfews, to forbid any public gathering, or to control the media.

If the anti-terrorist measures are to be repeated, this "exceptional" state of emergency will continue to be extended for the years ot come.

[Jon Miller]

Originally posted by Japher
I never get that... Why are Euros so afraid of ID cards?

we don't have ID cards in the states

and I would vote against those who think we should have them

JM

[Japher]

If you want to do anything in the US you need an ID card. Whether that be a SS card, drivers liscence, or an ID card.

[Jon Miller]

I can purchase (most) things just fine without one

I rarely took my drivers license anywhere with me in undergrad

JM

[Kassiopeia]

Originally posted by Spiffor
Democracy - Police state 1-1

Meanwhile, in France, the state of emergency has been expanded to 3 months, despite the end of the riots.

Among other things, it empowers police headmen to order curfews, to forbid any public gathering, or to control the media.

If the anti-terrorist measures are to be repeated, this "exceptional" state of emergency will continue to be extended for the years ot come.

Wow. That must be looking like the textbook example of how you establish an authoritarian state to all the Frenchies. I hope there'll be a severe outcry. (At least they haven't suspended the elections! Yet.)

[child of Thor]

France has a whole heap of under the surface stuff coming to light. What i worry about is that there does appear to be a undercurrent of racisim in the country, that is echoed pretty heavily in its halls of power(ie the french elite are 'white' french) much more strongly than we get here in the uk.

Not that we're perfect of course But i worry that in france the fear that is generated over these riots could lead to what i dislike most about governments; You can end up existing to serve them - rather than the other way around etc.

As for the uk - well i hope that once Tony Blair has gone, then his particular brand of social experimentation will die the slow death it deserves. Hmmph! trying to model us in the neo(call me communist but with the bitterness to make it close to fascism wrapped in a modern skin) whatever mold has been unpleasent to witness. As has peoples slowness to catch on to him and understand what lies beneath the maniac grin(fundementalist zeal).

I think we are less fundementalist and religion led in the uk(say compared to the usa ) - so i hold out hope that we wont be hoodwinked so easily by the state into losing what so many have fought for so long to attain: a reasonable democracy.

oh and apparantly most of the camera's dont workin the uk - there was something on tv about it the other night, bad quality/slack repairs/forgetting to replace film etc means that we are actualy not as spied upon as we thought. I guess the logistics of these kind of things is what makes them fall down - same with ID cards in many respects, as the bbc article explains.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
Being filmed 24 hours a day is A-OK but cards are a bridge too far?

I'd bet that most Americans and Canadians in urban areas are filmed very very often as they travel through a downtown.

I took a tour of an office building secuirity centre and the had cameras that pretty much captured shots of anyone that came within a couple of hundred feet of the place

[Sandman]

Dame Stella Rimington (who used to be M) has said that ID cards are a waste of time...

[Arrian]

Quick question: functionally, how is a national ID card different than a driver's license or other photo ID (such as a passport), which (in the US) is required for an awful lot of things?

-Arrian