Can you spell fascism?

Courtesy of the LawDog blog, the news that the Washington, DC police are implementing no-go areas in the city: "D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier announced a military-style checkpoint yesterday to stop cars this weekend in a Northeast Washington neighborhood inundated by gun violence, saying it will help keep criminals out of the area. Starting on Saturday, officers will check drivers' identification and ask whether they have a 'legitimate purpose' to be in the Trinidad area, such as going to a doctor or church or visiting friends or relatives. If not, the drivers will be turned away. The Neighborhood Safety Zone initiative is the latest crime-fighting attempt by Lanier and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, who have been under pressure from residents to stop a recent surge in violence. Last weekend was especially bloody, with seven slayings, including three in the Trinidad area. "In certain areas, we need to go beyond the normal methods of policing," Fenty (D) said at a news conference announcing the action. "We're going to go into an area and completely shut it down to prevent shootings and the sale of drugs."

Rico says you expect this from the idiots in our nation's capital, but the fact that they're not doing it on every street in the area, nor stopping pedestrians, takes some of the effectiveness out of the program, and the ACLU will get at the rest soon enough...