To Those of You Who Assured Me that the Patriot Act was for Terrorism

Time for you to learn a lesson about unchecked power given to government by a population held ransom by fear...

Patriot Act used in drug case; lawyer riled

BY TIM POTTER

The Wichita Eagle

The lawyer for a man accused of being a major cocaine supplier for the Wichita Crips gang contends that a secret search of the man's house under the Patriot Act was illegal.

In a recent motion to suppress any evidence from the search, defense lawyer Charles O'Hara argued that the Patriot Act was meant for "serious matters involving national security," not drug cases like the one involving his client, Tyrone Andrews.

"I thought that this Patriot Act was something passed to protect us all from these terrorist acts, and it would be used very judiciously," O'Hara said Monday. "This doesn't seem to be one where these secret searches would be used."

Jim Cross, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Wichita, said the office "believes the evidence in this case was legally obtained."

"I think our legal arguments are clearly stated in the documents we have filed," Cross said. He said he couldn't comment further because the case is before a federal court.

A federal grand jury indictment released Dec. 21 accused Andrews, a 38-year-old aircraft plant worker, and seven other Wichita men of 48 counts of drug-related crimes including trafficking and conspiracy. The government seeks a forfeiture of $300,000 from Andrews.

In an affidavit filed in July seeking the search warrant, a federal agent said a secret search was necessary to protect evidence and to prevent suspects from fleeing or from intimidating witnesses.

The affidavit alleged the Crips gang has been involved in cocaine, crack cocaine and marijuana distribution in Wichita for "at least the past 15 years."

"Tyrone Andrews has been supplying various individuals in the gang with cocaine for many years, and is considered to be a major supplier of cocaine to the Crips..." the affidavit alleges.

The affidavit alleges that Andrews lived at one home but used a house on South Ridgewood as a drug "stash" house.

As part of the investigation, agents wanted to check the house to see whether electronic recording devices could be installed, the affidavit said.

Normally, investigators leave a copy of a search warrant and a receipt for items taken once a house is searched. But in the Andrews case, investigators obtained clearance to secretly search the house, which they did July 17, and not notify him until 90 days afterward, O'Hara said.

In the affidavit, the ATF agent contended that earlier disclosure to Andrews could "seriously jeopardize the investigation."

Another court document says that officers secretly entered the house and saw drug trafficking materials.

O'Hara said: "I don't know that I've seen a warrant like this before."

http://www.kansas.com/213/story/351592.html

Someone is in Your Bank Account, Stealilng Your Money

The American government. They might as well be. The shocking thing is not that it is happening, because everyone knows that the dollar is declining. Rather, the shocking thing is how long this has been happening without attention. I have long had the suspicion that the economy was being propped up in some kind of artificial way, but not having an economics degree myself, it made it extremely difficult to hypothesize about how it was happening. Of course, I could postulate that the increased consumerism created and encouraged by the American government after 9/11 has been doing it all, but that isn't it; It's only part. We are buying more shit that we don't need than ever, and none of us are immune to it. This, of course eventually manifests itself in stories about people that claim to have nothing and not able to pay their bills while sitting next to a big-screen TV. And the problem is that they may very well be telling the truth. This credit crunch goes all the way to the bottom, and before the end of this economic situation my prediction is that MILLIONS, yes, millions will be without a home; Tens of millions will be without a job and almost everybody will have their life savings and investments wiped out at the hand of the direct and indirect actions of this administration we have had for the past 8 years.

http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/2007/0416.html

View the above link and see the evidence for how we are being robbed and the economy is, and has been being falsely propped up like some "Weekend at Bernie's" sequel.

A Challenge: Unplug

To those of you that believe that we are doing good things in the middle east with our dalliances in Iraq, I have one challenge for you. What I am asking you to do will not harm you nor will it unfairly change your viewpoints. Rather, my hypothesis is that your long since departed independent viewpoint will return to you with new poignancy.

I challenge all of you, regardless of political affiliation to unplug from the propaganda that the media bombards you with just for one month. 30 days. No 24-hour news channels, no newspapers, no political blogs, no nightly news, no political entertainment (see: Daily Show, etc), no political books. My belief is that upon doing this, you will gain objectivity that has been lost in the past decade of bombardment from an entire culture that is filled with biased sources.

You don't need to hear the opinions of talking heads in order for you to figure out the world around you, believe me. I promise that it won't be that painful, and you will be surprised at how large of a difference it can make in just your critical thinking skills.

Conservatives complain about the "liberal media" and liberals complain about the "Neo-con governmental propaganda delivery machine". The truth is somewhere in the middle. They will all say anything to increase ratings and they will all say whatever the powers that be tell them to say.

So do yourself a favor for the month of April. Unplug from the bullshit, enjoy the improving weather and tell me after 30 days that you want to go back to the talking heads.

Capitalism; Good for What Ails Ya, or Useful When Convenient?

In general I consider my viewpoints to be largely in line with the Libertarian ideology of a hands-off government and free market that regulates itself through the miracle of supply and demand. In this regard, I find common ground with most republicans who term themselves as fiscal conservatives (in theory). However, I cannot help but notice that the same people that tout a free market as being the be-all end-all are the first people that are rushing to bail out big corporations when they fuck up and make a poor investment or have shoddy business practices.

Of course, I'm referring to the FED's involvement in the latest debacle with the recent collapse (might as well call a spade a spade) of Bear-Stearns. This is nothing new either. There is a long string of corporate welfare that has existed out of "necessity". Well, this leaves me to question to basic hypocrisy of embracing a system as the best system on earth, but when it is abused and inevitably reaches a breaking point, cutting all ties from that system and selectively providing socialist handouts of billions of dollars to major companies and the individuals that own and operate those companies. I will not bore you, the reader, with example after example of corporate welfare that exists in this country, but you don't have to look too far to witness this phenomenon. (for those of you that have no idea what I'm talking about see: airline companies and farmers)

More and more in this country I am struggling to find any consistency. I cannot find any in the political rhetoric that is espoused as though it is news in just about every media publication. I cannot find any in the standards to which we hold our political figures (see: Spitzer/Cheney prostitute debacles). I cannot find any consistency in the basic rights guaranteed in our constitution. We seem to forget that those rights are constantly under attack. Not (just) by Islamic extremists or maniacal elected officials, but from all sides. The greatest tragedy is that we are doing this to ourselves, and without something monumental happening to turn the tide, we WILL (mark my words) erode ourselves into the next Russia (see: economy not worth a shit, loss of freedoms, paranoid and aggressive foreign policy and largely irrelevant on the world stage)

Reactions

I think a lot about how we, as people react to things. There are two primary ways that someone can react to a given situation, they can react with reason or they can react with emotion. Quite often these two blend together in an appropriate way. Someone who responds to every situation with reason can be seen as heartless or without empathy, but at least the negative effects of their reaction end there. People who react with pure emotion OFTEN make the wrong decisions, often leading to their own demise.

When the World Trade Center was attacked, everyone had some sort of emotion that rocked them. Some cried for blood and some just cried, but everyone was touched in some way. Unfortunately, we are now here 6 1/2 years later and we have no reconciled the fact that our emotional responses were taken advantage of in the days after September 11th. We were pandered to and manipulated into believing that Iraq was a threat to us in order to fulfill the objective of war with Iraq (which WAS conceived and planned BEFORE 9/11 oddly enough). We have not yet made a reasonable decision with how to move forward on September 12th 2001, so how can we possibly hope to come up with a plan on how to move forward on March 12th 2008?

After Lincoln was assassinated, the union did not say "Our freedom is under attack, and because these are unique times, we must sacrifice some of our freedoms and values to fight this brutal enemy". They did not reinstate slavery, nor did they panic and start patting everyone down before they entered a theatre to make sure they didn't have a gun. They mourned their loss and moved on with life as best they knew how, without mortgaging their values and civil rights.

After King was assassinated, the civil rights movement did not strike back against all white people, massing a propaganda campaign to demonize white people. They kept their goal in mind and mourned their loss, and tried to fulfill the goals that they had set out to accomplish without deterrence.

America's goal is freedom. First and foremost, freedom for the people. Our freedoms are leaving, many have already left. Sure, it may not be a big deal for you to not take a bottle of water on the plane with you. You may be used to having to purchase new razors when you land at your destination. You may be used to planning ahead and making a special trip to the store to get a certain size of shampoo and toothpaste and a certain size of bag to put it in before flying.

You aren't yet used to needing a passport to cross the border into Canada, but you will soon. You aren't yet used to seeing (young) homeless veterans in the streets, the same veterans that the powers that be claim to be "supporting", but you will soon because they are being left with nothing; Well, nothing except a slew of mental illness as a result of their time in Iraq.

If we hope to move past where we are, we only have two options. We must make peace with ourselves for what happened on that day, or we must forget about it. And I don't think many people will be forgetting about it.

Rise up America, it's time to take your country back.

Court Deems Homeschooling a Criminal Offense

Originally posted at http://www.lewrockwell.com.

The Pacific Justice Institute in Sacramento sent along a statement about a disturbing California Court of Appeal decision finding that parents have no right to homeschool their children. Parents who do not send their kids to the school deemed appropriate by the state may face criminal charges and fines. Remember when former Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin tried to criminalize homeschooling? Here we go again. It’s ironic, given how badly the government miseducates students, that officials are so determined to criminalize this basic freedom. This really shouldn’t shock anyone who realizes the degree to which government at all levels runs our lives.

Here’s the PJI statement:

Home Schooling Found Unlawful by California Court of Appeal

Los Angeles – In a stunning decision affecting thousands of families in California, the California Court of Appeal has issued an opinion finding no legal right to home school. “Parents who fail to [comply with school enrollment laws] may be subject to a criminal complaint against them, found guilty of an infraction, and subject to imposition of fines or an order to complete a parent education and counseling program,” wrote Justice H. Walter Croskey whose opinion was joined by the other two members of the appellate panel.

The opinion was issued February 28, 2008, in a case titled In re Rachel L, which reversed a Superior Court Judge, Stephen Marpet, who found that “parents have a constitutional right to school their children in their own home.” The parents of Rachel L. enrolled her in Sunland Christian School, a private home schooling program. In his opinion, Croskey, 75, described what he called the “ruse of enrolling [children] in a private school and then letting them stay home and be taught by a non-credentialed parent.”

Despite this statement by the Court, it should be noted that Sunland Christian School has been in full compliance with the requirements of the law for more than twenty years. “We’ve never been given an opportunity to represent our case in the Court of Appeal,” said Terry Neven, the president of the school. “Consequently, we are excited that PJI will represent us before the California Supreme Court so that the rights of home schooling families are preserved,” he stated further. In a section titled “Consequences of Parental Denial of a Legal Education,” the Court said that “parents are subject to being ordered to enroll their children in an appropriate school or education program and provide proof of enrollment to the court, and willful failure to comply with such an order may be punished by a fine for civil contempt.” “The scope of this decision by the appellate court is breathtaking. It not only attacks traditional home schooling, but also calls into question home schooling through charter schools and teaching children at home via independent study through public and private schools,” stated Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute “If not reversed, the parents of the more than 166,000 students currently receiving an education at home will be subject to criminal sanctions,” he continued.

To me, this is just absolutely ludicrous. Not only is the state trying to rip parental discretion away (no matter how bad or good it may be), it is trying to force the youth of America into their indoctrination centers termed public schools. Now, don't let me be misunderstood, this isn't some "liberal conspiracy" as some (see: Ann Coulter) may (see: WILL) call it. This is simply overreaching but probably well-intentioned public servants believing that they know what is best for you and yours.

I'll tell you what, the founding fathers gave us some basic instructions to go by, anything more than that, you can go fuck yourself with your mandates. Of course, I say this as someone who went to public school and has no intention of home schooling his own children. The option should be there though. You can bet your ass that if I wanted to home school my kid, I would and I would force the inevitable custody case in front of the supreme court.

... Of course, it'd work better if the court (and justice dept) wasn't politicized. *sigh*