surveillance state

surveillance state 002, originally uploaded by Blog-Sothoth.

Baltimore bought several helicopters with Homeland Security grants. They're always buzzing around from here to there, but I still pass teens in hoodies doing hand-to-hand sales on my way home from work, there is still an open-air drug market two blocks from my house that everyone knows about (including the cops), and gangs of middle-schoolers still ride scooters and dirtbikes around City streets and public parks without regard for traffic laws or public safety. Often these teens end up with cracked-open skulls when they go the wrong way up one-way streets, or when they pop an over-aggressive wheelie in an intersection, etc. There are also cameras on every corner around here, with flashing blue police lights above them. Often thugs sell drugs in plain view of these devices.

How about using those Homeland Security grants to hire more fucking cops? Or, better yet--legalize drugs and take the business away from murderous gangs and put it into regulated and officially sanctioned businesses.