I Told You So

I told you they were watching...

From the Washington Post:

"Since August 2006, [D.C.] has installed 73 cameras across the city, at a cost of about $4 million. But until recently, officers were using them mainly as an investigative tool - checking the recordings after crimes were committed in hopes of turning up leads and evidence.

Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said she thought the department wasn't making the most of the technology. "I thought, 'Why the heck aren't we watching them?' " Lanier said.

And so, for about 40 hours a week, a small team of officers in the department's Joint Operations Command Center watches the live feeds from 10 to 15 of the cameras."

The full article can be found here.

"Why the heck aren't we watching them?" Oh, yeah. Because it's an invasion of my damn privacy. That's why.

I am not a D.C. resident, but I feel that it is only a matter of time before the government has its eyes everywhere, even inside us. Will we get to the point where the government monitors our every move, making sure that any subversive actions are dealt with? I happen to enjoy a little subversive action here and there. But this is bound to happen. Even recent films reinforce the idea that cops have to stop the bad guys, even at the cost of a few civil liberties.

After participating in a tortuous Die Hard Marathon (actually I like most of the entries, but the second gave me a mild to moderate stroke. I was along for the ride until, after falling off a plane leaking fuel, McClane tosses a lighter, simultaneously blowing up the enemy aircraft and lighting a runway for any number of other planes. It is quite ridiculous.) I reflected on the actions of John McClane. I realized that the people he fights in his films generally end up dead. I ask, should these men not receive a fair trial? A hearing at Guantanamo Bay? As terrorists, I am sure their civil liberties would be abused as much as possible, but there are limits.Essentially, these films promote a shoot first and ask questions later mentality. With the media behind the government, it is only a matter of time before we have a full blown police state on our hands.

And I'll be the guy wearing a tin foil hat, sitting in his bomb shelter and munching on some canned goods, saying "I told you so..."