[rickcr42]

Quote:

cameras everywhere watching your every move

I have a four way intersection about 500 yards from my front door and facing each direction is a highly visible camera.At least they had enough class once to not rub it in and keep the cameras low profile but now they just don't care WHAT you think because even though we have the power to "vote the bums out" most have no idea what is going on and do not care so these things pass for OK

Worse-every single pay-phone in town is bugged and in fact I would watch as the police officers did the phone check to make sure the tap was right on four separate occasions.Not even hiding what they were doing !

Because of this I pity the person that needs to make an emergency phone call late at night and for whatever reason has no cell phone.EVERY pay phone has been destroyed by pissed off vandals to express their thoughts on the phones being bugged.

more :

A local pub was under investigation for narcotics trafficking but not the owner of the pub,oh no,but one of the bar chicks.
anyone with a brain knew there was surveillance going on and undercover officers present but after a four month investigation the person selling was arrested PLUS the owner of the pub even though they knew he had absolutely zero to do with what was going on and had no idea.

He goes to court and they impose on him a "allow video cameras or we revoke your liquer permit" and being that without a permit to sell you are out of business he had no choice but to comply.

So he installs this system that is hardwired DIRECTLY to the police station where no matter what part of the pub you are in (including the bathrooms

) you are the "show" for the punks back at the station who have nothing better to do than watch fellow humans hoping they screw up so they can then arrest someone.
Being an untenable situation for many cutomers began to go elswhere (including me.i am not into having someone watch me piss

) and the business is doing not even close to its former levels of trade.

the owner is punished,the honest patrons are punished and the undercover officers KNOW those being punished are not part of the group that was buying or selling coke so why ?

Because they CAN is why no matter who gets hurt !

and it sucks............................................

 

[rickcr42]

This story is about to get some serious recognition in about 30 seconds on "The G-Block" (Fox News Network

)

 

[catscratch]

This is why the whole "you broke the law, so pony up" attitude annoys the hell out of me. It's fine to say that when it's someone else's *** on the line, but when your time on ice rolls around, don't start crying about mitigating circumstances.

I'm an old-school liberal at heart, not in the sense that the word "liberal" has come to mean, but actual enlightenment-era liberal. You know - life, liberty, privacy, pursuit of happiness, that sort of thing. It's ok if you've never heard of it - somehow, nobody else seems to have

I will respect head-fi's "no politics" rule and ****. But you can guess what I was going to say anyway

The State should exist to serve the people. Instead, it exists to perpetuate itself.

 

[rickcr42]

what he said

anyone cacth the broadacst ?

seemingly three beers is over the line in texas and if the storm troopers come in,give you a breathaliser and it is determined you are over the legal limit it is off to jail !

that for having three beers at a BAR not driving down the road,falling over drunk or in any way causing a problem.Drink the beers,go to jail......

 

[ken36]

Don't mess with Texas.

 

[ken36]

It's just not right. Life isn't fair.

 

[GuffMorgan]

So upon further inspection of everything they're not just arresting people that are being loud, obnoxious, obviously far past gone. SOOOO I'm going to have to go back on what I said before, this is total crap, they're not making NEW laws so much as getting strict on the old ones (3 drinks maximum then you have to eat, or 1 drink per hour, etc.), TABC and cops are apparently going intio bars undercover and catching people, etc. It's crap, plain and simple. Now I'm not saying booo to the cops, they're just doing their job, it's the law makers that I have the problem with. This weekend should be interesting...

Edit:
Also, bartenders and wait-staff are also getting in trouble for serving over the 3 drink/1 drink an hour rule. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that even if bartenders and such WANTED to monitor and do everything by the book, some places it would just be humanly impossible to do. I've been in bars that are completely packed (reaching maximum capacity) down on 6th St. in Austin where there are only about 3 - 5 bartenders, so apparently they're supposed to keep track of everyone? Ridiculous.

 

[AlanY]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GuffMorgan I'm going to go out on a limb and say that even if bartenders and such WANTED to monitor and do everything by the book, some places it would just be humanly impossible to do. I've been in bars that are completely packed (reaching maximum capacity) down on 6th St. in Austin where there are only about 3 - 5 bartenders, so apparently they're supposed to keep track of everyone? Ridiculous.

I agree. I can't believe the people enforcing the rules in Texas actually set foot in real bars. They must only go to martini bars or private clubs or similar types of places. Even the relatively small bar I usually go to is generally well enough attended that there's no way the bartenders could keep track of individual patrons. Add in the noise from the chatter and the music, there's essentially no interaction between patrons and bartenders other than passing drinks over the bar.

The whole thing just seems like government regulation gone horribly overboard.

I don't even buy their reasoning. Sure, it's good to crack down on drunk driving, but how do they know the people they're arresting don't have designated drivers or plan to walk home or crash at a friend's place?

 

[chia-pet]

Is public drunkenness limited to only a few states? Cuz I've seen lots of drunk people here, but never seen anyone get arrested for it...

 

[Old Pa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by catscratch I'm an old-school liberal at heart, not in the sense that the word "liberal" has come to mean, but actual enlightenment-era liberal. You know - life, liberty, privacy, pursuit of happiness, that sort of thing. It's ok if you've never heard of it - somehow, nobody else seems to have

This philosophical basis is also known as Jeffersonian liberalism or, more modernly, as libertarianism (small "L"

). Stands for the minimum amount of government possible as opposed to a central state which reaches into all aspects of the citizens' lives. Philosophically, this is where more than fifty years of trying to pay attention has led me. I've never seen anything that government made up of any number of political parties could not screw up.

 

[Tyson]

Isn't a bar private property? How can you be arrested for public intoxication when you are on private property? Now, if they waited till you went outside I could see it, but inside the bar? Don't they need a warrant to access the premises, unless the owner of the bar invites them in?

 

[GuffMorgan]

I guess it has to do with an implied invitation? I'm not exactly sure how all of that works. Someone brought up something interesting for owners to do (if it's true), having the bouncer at the door checking ID's ask everyone if they are TABC agents (or whatever they call themselves). I know it's a myth that cops have to admit if they're actually cops or not (which they don't), but I don't know if TABC people do or not and most of the stories I've heard of undercover people are with the TABC and not the local PD (they wait outside apparently).

 

[allenf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old Pa This philosophical basis is also known as Jeffersonian liberalism or, more modernly, as libertarianism (small "L" ). Stands for the minimum amount of government possible as opposed to a central state which reaches into all aspects of the citizens' lives. Philosophically, this is where more than fifty years of trying to pay attention has led me. I've never seen anything that government made up of any number of political parties could not screw up.

When I was younger, a bit naive, a bit student-ish and influenced, but generally a decent non-prejudiced sort of chap, I always liked the way that libertarianism sounded, so I thought I would try to be one.
Now I'm quite a bit older, an awful lot wiser, and have had a little (big) taste of what the world is about, I realise that, quite naturally and without pretense or artifice, I am a libertarian.
If this Texas Bar story is truly exactly how it has been presented, then I would say that Texas has a problem.

 

[AlanY]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyson Isn't a bar private property? How can you be arrested for public intoxication when you are on private property? Now, if they waited till you went outside I could see it, but inside the bar? Don't they need a warrant to access the premises, unless the owner of the bar invites them in?

My guess is that allowing TABC agents in is one of the conditions that goes along with having a liquor license.

I'm not sure why bars are considered "public", though I wonder if it has anything to do with the distinction between regular bars and private clubs, and I wonder whether this same regulation applies to private clubs.

 

[Old Pa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by allenf Now I'm quite a bit older, an awful lot wiser, and have had a little (big) taste of what the world is about, I realise that, quite naturally and without pretense or artifice, I am a libertarian.