🚀 go-pugleaf

"Arnold Holbrook" <arnold_holbrook@mailcity.com> wrote in message
news:7e4bfa4a.0212080943.43cc7982@posting.google.com...
> 'Vigilante justice' is better than no justice
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
> Posted: December 6, 2002
> 1:00 a.m. Eastern
>
>
> � 2002 WorldNetDaily.com
>
>
> Residents of Arizona, Texas and other increasingly lawless regions of
> the country are tired of being ignored and are taking matters into
> their own hands, though their actions are drawing the ire - and fear -
> of authorities.
>
> Recently Chris Simcox, the editor of Arizona weekly the Tombstone
> Tumbleweed, wrote an editorial in which he said he was fed up with
> waiting for the federal government to do its job and get serious about
> enforcing the national borders of this country - especially in an era
> of increased terrorism.
>
> In response, Simcox said he was forming a citizen's militia to patrol
> vast expanses of Arizona's border with Mexico, in an effort to stem
> the flow of illegal immigrants, drugs and potential terrorists - all
> of which are doing damage to Arizona specifically and the nation in
> general.
>
> To date, more than 600 people have volunteered to become members of
> what Simcox calls Civilian Homeland Defense. Tomorrow, the first 50 of
> those volunteers will be inducted into the unit and begin a course of
> training that includes qualification for a state-issued concealed
> weapons permit, which will include a federal background check - a way
> of screening out the crazies and criminals.
>
> State officials are referring to Simcox as a purveyor of hate, though
> his effort has everything to do with enhancing citizen security and
> nothing to do with racism. Gov.-elect Janet Napolitano, a Democrat,
> has labeled Simcox's effort vigilantism, and says there is "no room"
> in Arizona for anyone who takes the law into their own hands.
>
> A similar-minded group of people in Texas have formed a group called
> Ranch Rescue. They, too, are tired of seeing their property overrun by
> alien invaders and drug runners.
>
> Meanwhile in Houston, residents of one neighborhood - who are fed up
> with cowering from street gangs - have decided to stop waiting for
> police to protect them, so they have decided to protect themselves.
>
> "The loose collaboration that includes dads, military veterans and
> young men who spurned gangs has gone on the offensive, patrolling for
> gang members and attacking at least one when they believed they had
> caught him committing a crime," reported the Houston Chronicle.
>
> "If we have to use violence, we'll use it," said Frank Black, the
> posse's leader.
>
> Police responded by saying they would not tolerate "vigilante justice"
> and would arrest lawbreakers, regardless of which side they're on.
>
> Though these are prime examples of American patriotism, individual
> initiative and pride, the reaction of officialdom has been pathetic
> and outrageous. Rather than celebrate the fact that there are still
> Americans willing to help by putting their own lives at risk to
> protect others in increasingly lawless regions, officials threaten
> them instead.
>
> One official, Assistant Police Chief Charles McClelland, even said
> Black's efforts could backfire and touch off a new gang skirmish - one
> between the residents and street thugs. Using his logic, that's like
> saying more police would incite the gangs to battle cops. Senseless.
>
> Why does officialdom fear it when Americans stand up for themselves?
> Is it because they fear irrelevance? Do our officials worry that we
> may find we don't need them - or, at least, as many of them - anymore?
>
> In each of these cases, ordinary people are reacting with courage in
> extraordinary circumstances. These are actions taken by people who are
> fed up with the inaction of politicians, leaders and other officials
> who are charged with handling both these problems.
>
> But for their gallantry, those who were brave enough to stand up and
> be counted are themselves chastised, ridiculed and threatened.
>
> Part of the problem isn't with the law enforcers themselves.
> Politicians adopting self-serving, politically correct policies often
> tie the hands of those who are charged with keeping the peace. That
> means that part of the problem also lies with the people who elect
> those politicians.
>
> Still, law enforcement and border security are pretty cut and dried.
> And absent the proper authorities, Americans are expected to merely
> accept being abused, victimized, mistreated and even killed by radical
> criminal elements.
>
> Should Americans continue to take that kind of abuse? If our
> forefathers had done that, the British Union Jack would be flying from
> Washington to San Francisco instead of the Stars and Stripes.
>
> The fact that more Americans are saying "no" to bad leadership, bad
> policies and official incompetence is a good thing for our country and
> our communities, though such attitudes don't fare well for the control
> freaks at the top who would rather we rely on them.
>
> "Vigilante justice," therefore, is better than no justice at all.