More on Tony Martin

Samizdata has this post up concerning the continuing Tony Martin saga. Money quote:

The system is not just broken, it is insane.

Go read. And see where we're headed.

And don't miss the comments, either. Toren Smith, on hiatus from The Safety Valve makes this perceptive point:

I'm beginning to think that one of the ways one can judge the degree to which a society has progressed towards a government-controlled police state is to look at the reaction of the police to encroachment on "their turf." In a free society where the police are truly viewed as the servants and protectors of the citizens, the cops respect the rights of the citizens and see them as partners in the battle against crime. In a place like New York or San Francisco where the government is pressing towards complete control of the citizens, the cops bitterly resent any interference with their monopoly on the use of force and treat all citizens as simply potential criminals. In any citizen-criminal battle, cops in such places are always careful to make sure the citizen doesn't "get away with it" and even in cases of the most righteous shooting, one can expect charges to be pressed as a warning to other uppity peasants. (Always self-righteously defended, usually along the lines of "we can't have vigilantes running around on the streets," as if someone shooting a burglar who broke into their house is the same as some guy hunting down crack pushers as a part time job.) The final corrupt state of such a society can been seen in England, where all pretense has been dropped and citizens who act in a "police-like" manner towards criminals are seen as a much greater threat to the government than the criminals and are thus treated with greater severity than the criminals themselves. The next step is the gulag, although I expect it will make its appearance in a difference guise, perhaps as "sensitivity training facilities" or "community service centers" or some such.

Can you say "Ronald Dixon"? "José Acosta"? "Memphis District Attorney Bill Gibbons"?

I thought you could.

And that argues that the system isn't insane. This behavior is purposeful.

And I think he's right.