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June 26, 2009
Exclusive: That’s A Mighty Nice Camera There, English
Big Brother is watching you.
With the introduction of new surveillance technology, several cities across the country are taking steps to “protect themselves” by watching the citizenry. In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for example, the city has installed several intersection cameras in an attempt to stop people from running red lights. Violators are captured on tape, and a fine is sent to the vehicle owner’s residence. Of course in true Democrat fashion, most of the cameras have been installed in those areas of the city where people pay taxes and vote Republican. Because what good is fining people who cannot or will not pay the tickets?
As a result, many cities have also installed security cameras in highly populated public areas. The official reason cited is that the cameras are there to reduce crime, but few people are buying that tripe. In Washington, D.C., the unofficial reason is that the manager of the Nationals is looking for an average Joe who can throw a baseball more than 40 miles per hour. In Anchorage, the unofficial reason is that the city needs to be notified of any Al Gore sightings so they can saw off the state and send it drifting into the Bering Sea. In Chicago, the unofficial reason is that the city is looking for the one honest politician to run for national office. Sadly, that search continues.
With the escalating murder rates and the constant threat of terrorism, one would think that a big, bustling, crime-ridden metropolis like Los Angeles or New York would be ripe for this kind of monitoring. Amazingly, that is not the case. Believe it or not, the most-watched American city is Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
“Some 165 closed-circuit TV cameras soon will provide live, round-the-clock scrutiny of nearly every street, park and other public space used by the 55,000 residents and the town's many tourists. That's more outdoor cameras than are used by many major cities, including San Francisco and Boston.”
Just imagine if this policy were implemented 25 years ago, those rednecks would never have gotten away with painting Daniel Hochleitner’s face with vanilla ice cream!
“Lancaster is different, and not just because it sits amid the rolling hills and rich farms of Pennsylvania Dutch country.
Laid out in 1730, the whole town is 4 square miles around a central square. Amish families still sell quilts in the nation's oldest public market, and the Wal-Mart provides a hitching post to park a horse and buggy. Tourists flock to art galleries and Colonial-era churches near a glitzy new convention center.”
Laid out in 1730, the whole town is 4 square miles around a central square. Amish families still sell quilts in the nation's oldest public market, and the Wal-Mart provides a hitching post to park a horse and buggy. Tourists flock to art galleries and Colonial-era churches near a glitzy new convention center.”
And that is why these cameras are not just a good idea – in Lancaster they are a necessity. Consider the statistics:
During the last year, crimes committed by the Amish have increased by 400 percent. In January 2008, a tourist from Cleveland, Ohio was attending an Amish public market when she became embroiled in an argument with Rebecca Blauch. Witnesses reported that the woman was haggling with Blauch over the price of a quilt. In an instant, an angered Blauch jumped up, threw the quilt over the woman, and struck her over the head with a stale loaf of cinnamon bread. The victim received three stitches and is still suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
A few months later, a carriage operated by Amos Keim allegedly ran a stop sign and struck a Lancaster man as he crossed the street. Keim, apparently intoxicated, told the victim that if he called the police, he would suffer “a barn raisin’ that ye would never forget!” Keim fled the scene and is still at large.
And finally, in September 2008, an unidentified Amish man bilked unsuspecting tourists out of nearly $25,000 through a unique shell game. The man placed an ear of corn under three Amish hats and challenged the participants to find the ear. Witnesses state that the man was incredibly agile, and few, if any, bettors left the game with cash in their wallets. Since there were no cameras in the vicinity, the man’s identity has not been determined.
In every one of these instances, the offender was a member of the Amish. The Religion of Peace? Hardly.
Look, every red-blooded American citizen wants to live in a life in relative safety. Many law-abiding citizens trust the police to keep them that way, and back themselves up with good neighbors, alarm systems, and registered firearms. While most people accept a little surveillance in their lives, they accept it in the appropriate places, such as in a shopping mall or at a busy traffic intersection. Few people want someone watching their every move, and even less people want that someone to be a member of the government. This is a group of people who cannot balance the budget, protect the borders, or get Simon Cowell of the airwaves.
Are you going to trust them to monitor your lives?
FamilySecurityMatters.org's official satirist, Shawn Goodwin, is a blogger and police detective from Philly. You can visit his blog here.
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