To Quote Ben Franklin

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."


Which is the choice before us today.....


(Downtown Cameras Will Target Crime, Ryan Korsgard, News2Houston)

The director of the Mayor's Office of Public Safety and Homeland Security said a new network of more than 200 cameras downtown could help solve cases like these in the future.

"They will be able to give us a view of all of the public space in the downtown area," said Dennis Storemski. "We can go back and view the cameras from that period of time and see if we can identify somebody, ID a license plate, something to go on."

Critics fear the government-owned cameras are like "Big Brother" watching. Storemski said that the goal is to make everyone safer.

When reducing the amount of freedom in the citizen's lives the goal is always safety. When George Bush pushed the Patriot Act safety was the justification, when President Obama ok'd increased surveillance on US Citizens the reason was safety. HISD began tracking students like cattle in the name of safety.

Now, the city wants camera surveillance on all public areas downtown.....under the dubious area of safety. After all, there's fairly compelling evidence that these cameras don't reduce crime.