10 year olds being arrested in Texas for behaving their age, now have misdemeanors...

[creaker]

This was interesting - ignoring the stupidity of the whole thing officers that are busy dealing with matters like this are not doing what they are actually there for:

Cops Nab Five-Year-Old for Wearing Wrong Color Shoes to School

http://news.yahoo.com/wtf-cops-nab-f...203600800.html

[Gregg]

Gregg, I can see that the parents do have the right to get together and try to have this overthrown or overturned or some such - certainly they can use tools like youtube and the Internet to get their case out there. What I am getting at is the kids - how are they going to see life, their country, the system, authority, gee a whole host of issues - after being exposed to such insanity in their formative years? Those children deserve better than the constant risk of being arrested - to me this does indeed resemble a police state, here, in Texas, and wherever else children of this age are being exposed to this. I for one think even less of America now. But I do wonder - why are the parents not stirring up a ruckus? I wonder if any agitation towards this is being suppressed in any way? Rob

Rob, I do agree that the whole situation at the Texas school(s) sounds ridiculous and needs to be further investigated. I haven't had time to really get into that, but I have noticed you've been deeply concerned with law enforcement and the possibility that they could overstep their authority. The term "police state" came up several times in the Santa thread and again here. At this point we are still a long way from a true police state in the US so I'm curious where that is coming from. I'm also finding it somewhat ironic that you are advocating for stricter gun control, with more oversight and involvement from law enforcement, while at the same time pointing out examples that seem to show over zealous enforcement of other laws. Are there other issues in play here?

[gimmethesimplelife]

I think a big part of my take on this is that we are talking about children here in their formative years - I am also worried about those who coast through and don't get arrested - are they being thought to behave and never question authority? This chills me - one reason for this is that my mother is from Austria - a country that voluntarily voted the Nazi party in years ago and I don't need to get into great detail of what ensued there. Also I just don't much believe in a system that would actually arrest ten year olds for such trivial reasons.....I do agree with you that the US as it stands now is no police state, BUT I do sometimes see the beginnings of one emerging and this chills me. Rob