YEAAAA!!!!! More Cameras

D.C. police are now watching live images from dozens of surveillance cameras posted in high-crime parts of the city, hoping to respond faster to shootings, robberies and other offenses and catch suspects before they get away.

Since August 2006, the city has installed 73 cameras across the city, mostly on utility poles, 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.

The District is following cities such as Baltimore, Chicago, New York and Philadelphia, where police have actively monitored live camera scenes for years. London is often credited with having the most extensive network -- 500,000 cameras that make up the "Ring of Steel," dating to the early 1990s. "I'd love to have the whole city wired like London," said Lanier, adding that she didn't anticipate that becoming a reality.

Strip search of woman by Sheriff's Deputies called outrageous

I'm sure some of you will be quick to tell me that I'm prejudging the police again. But where is the decency? I suppose I should just close my eyes and say "well, it hasn't happened to me and they'll be there for me when I get robbed."

Here's the Malcolm X clip from the other night

DHS Suggests a REAL ID Could be Necessary for Medicine

A top homeland security policy maker suggests that the recently released mandates for a de-facto national I.D. card could help stop meth labs, if the government required that pharmacy's demand that cold medicine buyers show their REAL ID.

Currently individuals who want to buy over-the-counter decongestants containing pseudo-ephedrine have to show I.D. to a pharmacy clerk, sign a log sheet and are limited in the amount they can purchase. The rules -- pushed heavily by California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, are intended to make it harder for meth labs to get pseudo-ephedrine to cook into full-blown methamphetamines. They were made law in the 2006 re-authorization of the Patriot Act.

The Cato Institutes's Jim Harper interprets Baker's statement to mean a REAL ID would be necessary for any prescription. I don't see that in the report on Baker's remark, but certainly the F in FDA stands for Federal. The feds probably could do this, but from a health standpoint it would be a nightmare. No REAL ID, no birth control, no antibiotics, no insulin. How many dead Americans are these rules going to be worth?

Many states have balked at the expensive REAL ID proposal and have said they won't participate.

Homeland Security is already set to test those state's resolve and is threatening to not let any citizen of those states to use their state-issued I.D.'s to board planes come May.