So says Shreveport, LA mayor Cedric Glover.
Listen to Part A of Tom Gresham's "Gun Talk" for Sun, 14 June 2009, featuring guest Robert Baillio. The page to access podcasts is here.
Then when you're done, you might consider telling Cedric what you think of his unique view of the social compact.
[Via MS]
Sent this:
ReplyDeleteDear Mayor Glover,
I live just outside Louisiana and come to Shreveport often. All three of my broadcast tv stations are based in Shreveport. La. Therefore, I was aware of the mayoral race in Shreveport and thought you to be the best candidate and thought you may well have made a good mayor.
Therefore, if it be possible the next time I come to Shreveport I would appreciate an opportunity to see you. No, I don't want an appointment, I don't necessarily need to exchange any words with you, nor would you be required or expected to spend any time on me. I have just recently been made aware of your statements to the effect that when a police officer stops a citizen, the citizen's rights are suspended.
Thus, the reason for my request. I just want to view you with my own eyes to determine whether I think you are stupid or evil. Those are the only options. I would prefer you be stupid simply because I would hate to think you had me so well fooled and were evil. As I said those are the only two options for anybody to say anything so un-American and anti-liberty.
Yours, with lessened respect,
Charles H. Sawders
Doddridge, Ar.
Sent This:
ReplyDeleteMayor Glover,
As a former Louisiana Resident and supporter of Civil rights I was appalled by your lack of understanding in the difference between Rights and the Powers that government posses. Recently you spoke with 2 gentlemen about a traffic stop. These 2 gentlemen were told that when an office pulls someone over their Rights are suspended. This statement is insulting and a leads to a dangerous path. Individuals always maintiain their rights. There are certain priveleges that they may loose. I can guarantee that as long as this view is held by the leadership of the city of Shreveport I will make sure that none of my money goes to your town.
Items that I feel that you are greatly mistaken about:
1) Police have more power than the president. They have the power to enforce the laws that are written.
2) Your Rights are suspended when you are stopped by an officer. You maintain your Rights at all times they are endowed upon us by God and are enshrined in the Constitution.
3) Police officers are civilians just like the rest of the population. The only members of the population that is not classified as a civilian is a member of the armed forces they are soldiers.
4) When you took your oath of office you swore to uphold the constitution of the State of Louisiana, and of the United States. When police officers are sworn in they take a similar oath to Uphold the constitution.
5) Mayors are not Commanders in Chief of a police force. Police forces do not have a Commander in Cheif becuase they are not a military unit. The President is the commander in chief because he is in charge of the armed forces.
I am not going to go into specifics about the individual incident between the gentleman and the officer because I do not know all of the facts. What I do know are the blatantly naive, dangerous, and ignorant comments you made in your conversations in regards to how government works. More precisely how a Democratic Republic works which is the form of government that we use in this country last time I checked. An all powerful government would be consided a socialist state, facist state, a monarchy, oligarchy, or dictatorship. These forms of government typically give the government total power and leave the citizens with no rights.
Citizens have the right to:
Free Speech
Keep and Bear arms
Be free from illegal search and seizure
--
Thanks,
B---- K------
One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them. - Thomas Jefferson
Excellent letters, and thanks.
ReplyDeleteI think it should be more along the lines of this:
ReplyDeleteDear Mayor,
Your statement makes clear you have no respect for the republican form of government we possess nor the social contract that gave rise to it..
By suggesting that rights cease to exist in the presence of a police officer, you have suggest a state of Martial law exists.
If that is your intention and the position of the government in Shreveport; you should understand that Martial Law as a concept does not exist in the United States and all government officials become just mobsters in funny clown suits.
YOU need to understand the law isn't what protects the citizens of this country. The law is the only thing protecting you.
Ignore the law and our rights at your own peril.
Chris K.
And yet we're giving "rights" to enemy combatants.
ReplyDeleteThe whole freakin' world has turned upside-down...
Jim III
I wonder how the ACLU and the feds would react to that? How about the cities lawyers?
ReplyDeleteWhat do residents think about it?
wv=trypts (and get your rights "revoked" )
I am surprised that I received any response at all. Here is what Mayor Glover had to say in response to my letter above.
ReplyDelete-----------
Mr. K______,
It's obvious that we disagree. I won't get into semantics, the bottom line is that when one has been detained by law enforcement your status is now different than it was before you were detained. The unsecured weapon that was previously in your possession and under your free control must now be secured for your safety, the officer's and the general public. Call it suspension, abatement or whatever you choose.
With regard to my status, I am the appointing authority for all Shreveport law enforcement officers. And both police and fire are paramilitary in their function, which in my opinion distinguishes them from me as a civilian.
Cedric
I would advise everyone to contact the Governor of LA. and exspress their displeasure with this and ask him to look into it.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.gov.la.gov/index.cfm?md=form&tmp=email_governor
"Freedom Lover":
ReplyDeleteI deleted your comment.
Threats are not allowed here. You are apparently new, because I've made clear the types of comments I will not tolerate, and they include off-topic thread hijacking, spam, over-the-top obscenities (with me being the final judge of that), and threats against anyone but me, which actually kind of make my day, especially if I can tell the writer has worked himself up in a lather.
I try to keep a pretty loose rein, but what you just did crosses my line--I hope you did not actually send it, or you may find the authorities crossing yours. That's another reason I assume you're new here: I've shown on many occasions how this site is pretty consistently monitored by numerous alphabet agencies, so again, if I were you, I'd be hoping they didn't see it.
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you were caught up in the spirit of righteous indignation and posted something imprudent that you would not have under more reflection. That said, there is always the possibility that those hostile to our efforts here would post something to reflect on the rest of us, and in today's atmosphere of witch-hunting for "right wing extremists," this helps them regardless of your motives.
Bottom line, you want to do something like this again, do it under your name and on your site, not under a screen name on my site, which I produce under my real name.
I thought I'd warn him that he was declaring war on the American citizen, and that he shouldn't be surprised when they respond in kind, but I figured he'd sic the Gestapo, er, Homeland Securty on me. So I chickened out, dammit!
ReplyDeleteIt appears Mayor Glover is suffering from Cartman Syndrome.
ReplyDeleteRespect my authoritah!
We are the descendants of those who survived long enough to breed, back when humans lived in hunter-gatherer packs. Those packs that survived tended to be led by a certain kind of natural leader, someone who was mostly free from normal human conscience and scruples, allowing instant decisions in times of danger. Those packs that survived also tended to be made of of individuals who would blindly obey those natural leaders. These tendencies continue to exist in modern times. The term we use to describe those natural leaders is "psychopath." Psychopaths tend to naturally rise to positions of power and a large percentage of other humans still tend to obey them blindly. If a normal human is placed in a position of power over others, that person will tend toward becoming a psychopath and will begin to abuse this power. Sounds like this process is ongoing in the Mayor, who is, strictly speaking, no longer a normal human, but a dangerously insane psychopath.
ReplyDeleteHere is what I sent him.
ReplyDeleteCedric,
I do not choose to address you with any honour so i will call you by your given name.
You are the of the type of pissy little men and women that have made this nation the laughing
stock of the world we have become. You, along with the idiots of the Bush and Cheney
administration are worthless pimples on the world's ass. Of course the current Obama
adm is no better.
Crawl back under your rock and leave the rest of us alone. This type of BS is what ends up
getting good police officers killed, though there are few enough of them left anymore.
YOU Cedric, have no authority in this world. Hopefully the smarter people of your city will boot
your ass in the next election. Better yet, maybe they will impeach you, little bastard that you are.
if not the rest of america will just write Shreveport off like so many other facist cities and counties.