Come down to the yard, watch the O's, get lost - go to jail?

Maybe this is one reason the O's attendance is down this year? via cryptogon.com

Couple Arrested For Asking For Directions POSTED: 7:23 am EDT May 17, 2006 UPDATED: 10:52 am EDT May 17, 2006

BALTIMORE -- Baltimore City police arrested a Virginia couple over the weekend after they asked an officer for directions.

WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team reporter David Collins said Joshua Kelly and Llara Brook, of Chantilly, Va., got lost leaving an Orioles game on Saturday. Collins reported a city officer arrested them for trespassing on a public street while they were asking for directions .

"In jail for eight hours -- sleeping on a concrete floor next to a toilet," Kelly said.

"It was a nightmare," Brook said. "I was in there thinking I was just dreaming and waiting to wake up."

Collins reported it was a nightmare ending to a nearly perfect day. He said the couple went to a company picnic and watched the Orioles beat Kansas City. It was their first trip to Camden Yards and asked two people for directions to Interstate 95 South when they left.

Collins said somehow they ended up in the Cherry Hill section of south Baltimore. Hopelessly lost, relief melted away concerns after they spotted a police vehicle.

"I said, 'Thank goodness, could you please get us to 95?" Kelly said.

"The first thing that she said to us was no -- you just ran that stop sign, pull over," Brook said. "It wasn't a big deal. We'll pay the stop sign violation, but can we have directions?"

"What she said was 'You found your own way in here, you can find your own way out.'" Kelly said.

Collins said the couple spotted another police vehicle and flagged that officer down for directions. But Officer Natalie Preston, a six-year veteran of the force, intervened.

"That really threw us for a loop when she stepped in between our cars," Kelly said. "(She) said my partner is not going to step in front of me and tell you directions if I'm not."

Collins reported the circumstances got worse. Kelly pulled 40 feet forward parking next to a curb and put his flashers on while Brook was on the phone to her father hoping he could help her with directions. Both her parents are police officers in the Harrisburg, Pa., area.

"(Brook's father) was in the middle of giving us directions when the officer screeched up behind us and got out of the car and asked me to step out. I obeyed," Kelly said. "I obeyed everything -- stepped out of the car, put my hands behind my back, and the next thing I know, I was getting arrested for trespassing."

"By this time, I was completely in tears," Brook said. "I said, 'Ma'am, you know, we just need your help. We are not trying to cause you any trouble. I'm not leaving him here.' What she did was walk over to my side of the car and said, 'Ok, we are taking you downtown, too.'"

Collins said the couple was released from jail without being charged with anything. Brook is now concerned the arrest may complicate a criminal background check she's going through in her job as a child care worker.

Collins said police left Kelly's car unlocked and the windows down at the impound lot. He reported a cell phone charger, pair of sunglasses and 20 CDs were stolen.

Baltimore City police said they are looking into the incident.

Editorial: Who Watches the Watchers?

I've been talking to everyone who will listen recently about the issue of goverment survelience and the increasing invasion of privacy that has been brought to the forefront in recent news. And, I keep getting the same, stupid reply. "I don't care . . . I don't have anything to hide . . . I'm not doing anything wrong"

Until recently, my retorts have largely focused on the problems that could arise in the future, based on mismanagement of information. My biggest fears were that the goverment would mishandle MY information, or slightly worse, may suddenly decide to change the definition of right and wrong, and use my information to retroactively punish me. I mean, afterall, it wasn't wrong to be jewish in germany pre-police state, right?

But, as I've pondered the issue more, i've come to realize the issue is bigger than what could happen with my information. I realized I was perpetuating the idea that privacy is about hiding a wrong. It's wrong for the government to invade my privacy with unprovoked survelience. But, it's wrong because it's an invasion of my privacy . . . and privacy is a basic human need.

Is it wrong for me to want to be alone and unwatched on occasion to reflect privately? Or, more simply, is it wrong for me to want privacy when i take a dump? Of course not. But, if the government continues increasing survelience at the current rate, it won't be long before we are being watched in our own homes. And, in some ways, we already are in that the goverment has been collecting information about every phone call we make. (link)

I don't know a single person who doesn't do something 'wrong' on an almost daily basis. Think about it . . . when was the last time you exceeded the speed limit? Dropped a piece of trash on the sidewalk? Watch someone long enough, and you'll almost certainly find something for which to arrest them (or blackmail them). Or, possibly worse, find something to sell to marketers, or to simply peep.

Which brings me to my main point. Privacy protects us from abuses by those in power . . . even if we're doing nothing wrong at the time of survellience.

Imagine, if you will, a world in which we are constantly watched, observed in all manners. We would be in constant threat of correction, criticism, judgement, or even plagarism. We'd become children, constantly living in fear, afraid of what may happen at any moment, and afraid that we may have done something in the past that at the time was not illegal, but may become illegal and retroactively punishable by those in power.

Too many incorrectly label the debate as "security versus privacy". But I move that the debate is more correctly labeled as "liberty versus control". Liberty requires security plus privacy, security without intrusion. And that is why we must oppose constant survellience - even if we are doing nothing wrong. For "Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither" - Ben Franklin

Fantasy America: De Plane! De Plane!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12818225/
Video of 9/11 plane hitting Pentagon is released: First official release of footage shows moment of impact that killed 189.


and the two videos that were released to Judicial Watch
http://www.judicialwatch.org/flight77.shtml

Sure looks like Flt 77 to me. Pretty clear. Much like mud.
Some viewing and reading if it is clear to you. (Have patience with the first two links, can take some time to load)
http://www.pentagonstrike.co.uk/
http://signs-of-the-times.org/signs/Above_Top_Secret_article.htm
http://www.davesweb.cnchost.com/nwsltr68.html
http://www.davesweb.cnchost.com/nwsltr68b.html

Here is some next day commentary and a small bit of info on Judicial Watch:
http://xymphora.blogspot.com/2006/05/judicial-watch-and-pentagon-video.html

Why you gotta talky? No more talky! Hey there Penguin.

In 1810, an editorialist for the Portland Gazette and Maine Advertiser wrote in response to Napoleon Bonaparte’s banning of printing presses: “When people are … determined to be ignorant, what is the use of printing? When a man is determined that he will not receive information, it is of very little use to lay it before him…. You may talk to him, and print for him, he will still be ignorant…. An ignorant man is easily led astray—he envies the man of enlightened mind, and would sooner vote for an unprincipled blockhead, than an honest and upright man of talents and learning. This kind of system leads to riot and anarchy—anarchy leads to absolute despotism, and ignorance fits the people to bear that despotism.”
From http://kurtnimmo.com/?p=356 (The whole thing is worth reading)