Originally published April 25 2013
Govt. paranoia gone wild: Merchants told to 'call the police' if people buy beauty products
by J. D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) In the latest example of government overreach and outright paranoia following the Boston Marathon terrorist attack, a New York Republican congressman is actually calling for a measure that would require retailers to inform cops when customers buy innocuous items that could be, somehow, someday, perhaps, used to make a bomb.
Rep. Pete King, a member of both the House Intelligence Committee and the House Homeland Security Committee, made the recommendation even though reports following the attack indicate that the perpetrators used pressure cookers packed with ball bearings and nails to kill three and injure dozens more near the marathon finish line April 15.
"Obviously there's always certain ways that security can be stepped up at an event," King told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell the following day.
"But the fact is that if someone is a terrorist, that they can construct a bomb and put it together. If they can carry it that far, chances are they're going to make it to the event. That's why the intelligence is so important, to be aggressive, to be out front, and why it's important (for) people, if they see something, say something," he continued.
Give me your liberties and I'll save you
"For instance, merchants, if they're selling any components that can be used for a bomb, everywhere from ball bearings to beauty products, they can all be used to make bombs. They should notify the police," he said.
Unbelievable. Because if Americans want to defeat our terrorist enemies we need to live in precisely the conditions of fear and suspicion they seek to create. Brilliant.
King went onto say that New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has already sent his officers into the city's many communities to monitor things. In day's past one might call that spying.
"I know they've been criticized for it, but that's how you can head off this type of -- hopefully, head off -- this type of attack," King said, suggesting that in order to be safe, citizens should be more willing to give up their essential liberties.
Getting "more intelligence," he droned on, is just something that "has to be done."
When asked if he believed the Boston attack could lead to the installation of even more public surveillance cameras, he said yes, he thinks so, "because I think privacy involves being in a private location. Being out in the street, there's not an expectation of privacy. Anyone can look at you, can see you, can watch what you're doing. A camera just makes it more sophisticated."
George Orwell would be proud. He called it right.
Surveillance cameras, he explained, are "no different" than having a neighbor look at you from a window, or having a cop watch you walk down the street. "So I think we do need more cameras," he said. "We have to stay ahead of the terrorists."
In addition, cameras are "a great law enforcement method and device," he said. "And, again, it keeps us ahead of the terrorists who are constantly trying to kill us."
Jammers, too - and use the military as police!
Later, in an interview on Fox News, King elaborated on his grand scheme to make us all safer. In addition to spying by police and more cameras, King says cities should begin deploying "jammers" designed to thwart the detonation of radio-controlled improvised explosive devices (IEDs), like those deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.
"I feel strongly that local police should have access to jammers," King said. "I believe they should have more cooperation with the military -- right now there are legal issues, as far as...military units being involved in this, but the military has expertise dealing with these IEDs."
Add a violation of Posse Comitatus - the 1870s federal law that prohibits use of the military to perform civilian law enforcement functions - to the list of constitution violations King is recommending.
To finish out the interview, King repeated his earlier call for retailers to inform police of certain purchases.
"Anyone seeing anyone buying components, any type of BBs or ball bearings -- a large amount of nails, even -- report that to police," he said.
Remember, America, we deserve the politicians we elect to serve us.
Sources for this article include:
http://cnsnews.com
http://video.foxnews.com
http://cnsnews.com
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