Author Topic: Police State - Official Thread  (Read 983004 times)

Soul Crusher

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Re: Police State - Official Thread
« Reply #525 on: July 26, 2011, 05:47:28 AM »
As Criminal Laws Proliferate, More Are Ensnared
By GARY FIELDS and JOHN R. EMSHWILLER

www.wsj.com


________________________ ___________________

Eddie Leroy Anderson of Craigmont, Idaho, is a retired logger, a former science teacher and now a federal criminal thanks to his arrowhead-collecting hobby.

 With the growing number of federal criminal statutes, it's become increasingly easy for Americans to end up on the wrong side of the law. Kelsey Hubbard talks with WSJ's Gary Fields about the impact.

In 2009, Mr. Anderson loaned his son some tools to dig for arrowheads near a favorite campground of theirs. Unfortunately, they were on federal land. Authorities "notified me to get a lawyer and a damn good one," Mr. Anderson recalls.

There is no evidence the Andersons intended to break the law, or even knew the law existed, according to court records and interviews. But the law, the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979, doesn't require criminal intent and makes it a felony punishable by up to two years in prison to attempt to take artifacts off federal land without a permit.

Faced with that reality, the two men, who didn't find arrowheads that day, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and got a year's probation and a $1,500 penalty each. "We kind of wonder why it got took to the level that it did," says Mr. Anderson, 68 years old.

Wendy Olson, the U.S. Attorney for Idaho, said the men were on an archeological site that was 13,000 years old. "Folks do need to pay attention to where they are," she said.

The Andersons are two of the hundreds of thousands of Americans to be charged and convicted in recent decades under federal criminal laws—as opposed to state or local laws—as the federal justice system has dramatically expanded its authority and reach.

As federal criminal statutes have ballooned, it has become increasingly easy for Americans to end up on the wrong side of the law. Many of the new federal laws also set a lower bar for conviction than in the past: Prosecutors don't necessarily need to show that the defendant had criminal intent.

See a breakdown of the rise of federal sentences by the type of offense.

U.S. National Archives, Washington, D.C.

.The first federal criminal statute, signed into law on April 30, 1790, includes only a handful of offenses: treason, counterfeiting, piracy, and murder, maiming and robbery in federal jurisdictions. It fit on to two sheets of parchment, each around 27 inches by 22 inches, and was handwritten in iron gall ink.

The law is currently kept in a vault in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. See a digital copy, or click here to read the text.

.
.These factors are contributing to some unusual applications of justice. Father-and-son arrowhead lovers can't argue they made an innocent mistake. A lobster importer is convicted in the U.S. for violating a Honduran law that the Honduran government disavowed. A Pennsylvanian who injured her husband's lover doesn't face state criminal charges—instead, she faces federal charges tied to an international arms-control treaty.

The U.S. Constitution mentions three federal crimes by citizens: treason, piracy and counterfeiting. By the turn of the 20th century, the number of criminal statutes numbered in the dozens. Today, there are an estimated 4,500 crimes in federal statutes, according to a 2008 study by retired Louisiana State University law professor John Baker.

There are also thousands of regulations that carry criminal penalties. Some laws are so complex, scholars debate whether they represent one offense, or scores of offenses.

Counting them is impossible. The Justice Department spent two years trying in the 1980s, but produced only an estimate: 3,000 federal criminal offenses.

The American Bar Association tried in the late 1990s, but concluded only that the number was likely much higher than 3,000. The ABA's report said "the amount of individual citizen behavior now potentially subject to federal criminal control has increased in astonishing proportions in the last few decades."

A Justice spokeswoman said there was no quantifiable number. Criminal statutes are sprinkled throughout some 27,000 pages of the federal code.

There are many reasons for the rising tide of laws. It's partly due to lawmakers responding to hot-button issues—environmental messes, financial machinations, child kidnappings, consumer protection—with calls for federal criminal penalties. Federal regulations can also carry the force of federal criminal law, adding to the legal complexity.

With the growing number of federal crimes, the number of people sentenced to federal prison has risen nearly threefold over the past 30 years to 83,000 annually. The U.S. population grew only about 36% in that period. The total federal prison population, over 200,000, grew more than eightfold—twice the growth rate of the state prison population, now at 2 million, according the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics

Tougher federal drug laws account for about 30% of people sentenced, a decline from over 40% two decades ago. The proportion of people sentenced for most other crimes, such as firearms possession, fraud and other non-violent offenses, has doubled in the past 20 years.

The growth in federal law has produced benefits. Federal legislation was indispensable in winning civil rights for African-Americans. Some of the new laws, including those tackling political corruption and violent crimes, are relatively noncontroversial and address significant problems. Plenty of convicts deserve the punishment they get.

Roscoe Howard, the former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, argues that the system "isn't broken." Congress, he says, took its cue over the decades from a public less tolerant of certain behaviors. Current law provides a range of options to protect society, he says. "It would be horrible if they started repealing laws and taking those options away."

Still, federal criminal laws can be controversial. Some duplicate existing state criminal laws, and others address matters that might better be handled as civil rather than criminal matters.

Some federal laws appear picayune. Unauthorized use of the Smokey Bear image could land an offender in prison. So can unauthorized use of the slogan "Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute."

The spread of federal statues has opponents on both sides of the aisle, though for different reasons. For Republicans, the issue is partly about federal intrusions into areas historically handled by states. For Democrats, the concerns include the often lengthy prison sentences that federal convictions now produce.

Those expressing concerns include the American Civil Liberties Union and Edwin Meese III, former attorney general under President Ronald Reagan. Mr. Meese, now with the conservative Heritage Foundation, argues Americans are increasingly vulnerable to being "convicted for doing something they never suspected was illegal."

"Most people think criminal law is for bad people," says Timothy Lynch of Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. People don't realize "they're one misstep away from the nightmare of a federal indictment."

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Associated Press
 
Driver Bobby Unser got a criminal record after being lost in a blizzard.
.Last September, retired race-car champion Bobby Unser told a congressional hearing about his 1996 misdemeanor conviction for accidentally driving a snowmobile onto protected federal land, violating the Wilderness Act, while lost in a snowstorm. Though the judge gave him only a $75 fine, the 77-year-old racing legend got a criminal record.

Mr. Unser says he was charged after he went to authorities for help finding his abandoned snowmobile. "The criminal doesn't usually call the police for help," he says.

A Justice Department spokesman cited the age of the case in declining to comment. The U.S. Attorney at the time said he didn't remember the case.

Some of these new federal statutes don't require prosecutors to prove criminal intent, eroding a bedrock principle in English and American law. The absence of this provision, known as mens rea, makes prosecution easier, critics argue.

A study last year by the Heritage Foundation and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers analyzed scores of proposed and enacted new laws for nonviolent crimes in the 109th Congress of 2005 and 2006. It found of the 36 new crimes created, a quarter had no mens rea requirement and nearly 40% more had only a "weak" one.

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Associated Press
 
Justice Anthony Kennedy, pictured, recently voiced concern over a statute.
.Some jurists are disturbed by the diminished requirement to show criminal intent in order to convict. In a 1998 decision, federal appellate judge Richard Posner, a noted conservative, attacked a 1994 federal law under which an Illinois man went to prison for three years for possessing guns while under a state restraining order taken out by his estranged wife. He possessed the guns otherwise legally, they posed no immediate threat to the spouse, and the restraining order didn't mention any weapons bar.

"Congress created, and the Department of Justice sprang, a trap" on a defendant who "could not have suspected" he was committing a crime, Judge Posner wrote.

Another area of concern among some jurists is the criminalization of issues that they consider more appropriate to civil lawsuits. In December, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is considered liberal, overturned the fraud conviction of a software-company executive accused of helping to issue false financial statements. The government tried "to stretch criminal law beyond its proper bounds," wrote the Circuit's chief judge, Alex Kozinski.

Civil law, he said, is a better tool to judge "gray area" conduct—actions that might, or might not, be illegal. Criminal law, he said, "should clearly separate conduct that is criminal from conduct that is legal."

Occasionally, Americans are going to prison in the U.S. for violating the laws and rules of other countries. Last year, Abner Schoenwetter finished 69 months in federal prison for conspiracy and smuggling. His conviction was related to importing the wrong kinds of lobsters and bulk packaging them in plastic, rather than separately in boxes, in violation of Honduran laws.

According to court records and interviews, Mr. Schoenwetter had been importing lobsters from Honduras since the mid-1980s. In early 1999, federal officials seized a 70,000-pound shipment after a tip that the load violated a Honduran statute setting a minimum size on lobsters that could be caught. Such a shipment, in turn, violated a U.S. law, the Lacey Act, which makes it a felony to import fish or wildlife if it breaks another country's laws. Roughly 2% of the seized shipment was clearly undersized, and records indicated other shipments carried much higher percentages, federal officials said.

In an interview, Mr. Schoenwetter, 65 years old, said he and other buyers routinely accepted a percentage of undersized lobsters since the deliveries from the fishermen inevitably included smaller ones. He also said he didn't believe bringing in some undersized lobsters was illegal, noting that previous shipments had routinely passed through U.S. Customs.

After conviction, Mr. Schoenwetter and three co-defendants appealed, and the Honduran government filed a brief on their behalf saying that Honduran courts had invalidated the undersized-lobster law. By a two-to-one vote, however, a federal appeals panel found the Honduran law valid at the time of the trial and upheld the convictions.

The dissenting jurist, Judge Peter Fay, wrote: "I think we would be shocked should the tables be reversed and a foreign nation simply ignored one of our court rulings."

Robert Kern, a 62-year-old Virginia hunting-trip organizer, was also prosecuted in the U.S. for allegedly breaking the law of another country. Instead of lobsters from Honduras, Mr. Kern's troubles stemmed from moose from Russia.

He faced a 2008 Lacey Act prosecution for allegedly violating Russian law after some of his clients shot game from a helicopter in that country. In the end, he was acquitted after a Russian official testified the hunters had an exemption from the helicopter hunting ban. Still, legal bills totaling more than $860,000 essentially wiped out his retirement savings, Mr. Kern says.

Justice Department officials declined to comment on Messrs. Kern and Schoenwetter.

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Charlie Litchfield for The Wall Street Journal
 
Would-be inventor and felon Kirster Evertson: 'If I had abandoned the chemicals, why would I have told the investigators about them?'
.One area of expansion has been environmental crimes. Since its inception in 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency has grown to enforce some 25,000 pages of federal regulations, equivalent to about 15% of the entire body of federal rules. Many of the EPA rules carry potential criminal penalties. Krister Evertson, a would-be inventor, recently spent 15 months in prison for environmental crimes where there was no evidence he harmed anyone, or intended to.

In May 2004 he was arrested near Wasilla, Alaska, and charged with illegally shipping sodium metal, a potentially flammable material, without proper packaging or labeling.

He told federal authorities he had been in Idaho working to develop a better hydrogen fuel cell but had run out of money. He had moved some sodium and other chemicals to a storage site near his workshop in Salmon, Idaho, before traveling back to his hometown of Wasilla to raise money by gold-mining.

Mr. Evertson said he believed he had shipped the sodium legally. A jury acquitted him in January 2006.

However, Idaho prosecutors, using information Mr. Evertson provided to federal authorities in Alaska, charged him with violating the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, a 1976 federal law that regulates handling of toxic waste. The government contended Mr. Evertson had told federal investigators he had abandoned the chemicals. It also said the landlord of the Idaho storage site claimed he was owed back rent and couldn't find the inventor—allegations Mr. Evertson disputed.

Once the government deemed the chemicals "abandoned," they became "waste" and subject to RCRA. He was charged under a separate federal law with illegally moving the chemicals about a half-mile to the storage site.

"If I had abandoned the chemicals, why would I have told the investigators about them?" said Mr. Evertson in an interview. He added that he spent $100,000 on the material and always planned to resume his experiments.

Prosecutors emphasized the potential danger of having left the materials for two years. "You clean up after yourself and don't leave messes for others," one prosecutor told the jury, which convicted Mr. Evertson on three felony counts. Prosecutors said clean-up of the site cost the government $400,000. Mr. Evertson, 57, remains on probation, working as night watchman in Idaho.

In a statement, Ms. Olson, the Idaho U.S. Attorney, said that by leaving dangerous chemicals not properly attended he endangered others and caused the government to spend more than $400,000 in clean-up costs. "This office will continue to aggressively prosecute" environmental crimes, she said.

Critics contend that federal criminal law is increasingly, and unconstitutionally, impinging on the sovereignty of the states. The question recently came before the Supreme Court in the case of Carol Bond, a Pennsylvania woman who is fighting a six-year prison sentence arising out of violating a 1998 federal chemical-weapons law tied to an international arms-control treaty. The law makes it a crime for an average citizen to possess a "chemical weapon" for other than a "peaceful purpose." The statute defines such a weapon as any chemical that could harm humans or animals.

Ms. Bond's criminal case stemmed from having spread some chemicals, including an arsenic-based one, on the car, front-door handle and mailbox of a woman who had had an affair with her husband. The victim suffered a burn on her thumb.

In court filings, Ms. Bond's attorneys argued the chemical-weapons law unconstitutionally intruded into what should have been a state criminal matter. The state didn't file charges on the chemicals, but under state law she likely would have gotten a less harsh sentence, her attorneys said.

Last month, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled Ms. Bond has standing to challenge the federal law. By distributing jurisdiction among federal and state governments, the Constitution "protects the liberty of the individual from arbitrary power," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the court. "When government acts in excess of its lawful powers, that liberty is at stake."

During oral arguments in the case, Justice Samuel Alito expressed concern about the law's "breadth" by laying out a hypothetical example. Simply pouring a bottle of vinegar into a bowl to kill someone's goldfish, Justice Alito said, could be "potentially punishable by life imprisonment."

—Tom McGinty and Louise Radnofsky contributed to this article.
Write to Gary Fields at gary.fields@wsj.com and John R. Emshwiller at john.emshwiller@wsj.com
.

Soul Crusher

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Re: Police State - Official Thread
« Reply #526 on: July 27, 2011, 03:28:15 AM »
She should sue the shit out everyone.  Insane.

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Re: Police State - Official Thread
« Reply #527 on: July 27, 2011, 05:59:57 AM »
Feds told to return nearly $650k to fishermen
By Laura Strickler Topics Law and Order .2 Comments
www.cbs.com




The U.S. Commerce Secretary has ordered his agency to return almost $650,000 from 11 cases against commercial fishermen in the Northeast involving "excessive" fines and "selective enforcement" that were levied against them by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Law Enforcement.


In February, CBS News reported on complaints from Northeast fishermen that they had been subject to overly aggressive law enforcement. The Commerce Department appointed an independent judge to conduct a review of 30 cases against the fishermen.


"For too long, our fishermen have been the victims of intimidation and enormous penalties" said Senator John Kerry (D-MA) in response to the report, "Now unfair fines are being refunded and now the reality of what happened has been publicly exposed which may be just as important."


According to the report released today, the independent judge, Charles Swartwood, found fishing regulations to be "complex, complicated, constantly changing, and in some cases, contradictory."


In his report, Swartwood said he also found a "siege mentality throughout the fishing industry" where fishermen feel they are treated as "criminals".


Swartwood noted that fishermen are "paranoid" about violating a regulation because they could end up paying a "coerced amount" or run the risk of losing in the appeals process "which could force the fisherman out of business".


In a memo today Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said the cases where Swartwood found fault with NOAA showed "a lack of supervision, oversight and standards in the work of NOAA law enforcement."


Today Senator Kerry and other members of the Massachusetts Congressional delegation called for NOAA to take action against the staff who were responsible. However, Locke stopped short of calling for any disciplinary action against NOAA employees. Locke pointed to a series of regulatory reforms that have been made since the complaints first came to his attention.


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Re: Police State - Official Thread
« Reply #528 on: July 27, 2011, 03:54:41 PM »
Woman gets jury trial for displaying plastic testicles on truck
Posted: Jul 27, 2011 8:09 AM EDT
Updated: Jul 27, 2011 6:00 PM EDT
 
www.drudgereport.com



 
Virginia Tice of Bonneau was given a $445 ticket for displaying big plastic testicles like these on the back of her pickup truck. (Source: Flickr)

 BONNEAU, S.C. (AP) - A Berkeley County woman will get a jury trial for a ticket she was given by police for displaying big plastic testicles on the back of her pickup truck.

Virginia Tice of Bonneau was given a $445 ticket July 5 that accuses her of violating the state's obscene bumper sticker law.

Police Chief Franco Fuda asked for a jury trial, saying questions of obscenity should be determined by community standards.

Tice's attorney, Scott Bischoff, expects a trial next month. A relative said Tice didn't want to talk about the case before the trial.

She was ticketed after pulling into a gas station in her truck with big red fake testicles hanging from the trailer hitch.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.


Soul Crusher

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Re: Police State - Official Thread
« Reply #529 on: July 27, 2011, 07:14:44 PM »
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2754875/posts


Check this out.   Pics are heartbreaking.    Disgusting.   

Soul Crusher

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Re: Police State - Official Thread
« Reply #530 on: July 27, 2011, 07:21:09 PM »





This bs with killing people's dogs is getting way out of control too.   Sick of this shit. 

Skip8282

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Re: Police State - Official Thread
« Reply #531 on: July 28, 2011, 01:39:42 PM »
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2754875/posts


Check this out.   Pics are heartbreaking.    Disgusting.   



Saw it this morning.  That's pretty fucked up - especially when he was screaming for his dad.

garebear

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Re: Police State - Official Thread
« Reply #532 on: August 01, 2011, 05:47:12 AM »
She should sue the shit out everyone.  Insane.
I'm confused. You are against law and order but you want all the blacks in jail?

Who's going to put them there, hotshot?


G

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Re: Police State - Official Thread
« Reply #533 on: August 01, 2011, 05:54:14 AM »
I'm confused. You are against law and order but you want all the blacks in jail?

Who's going to put them there, hotshot?




Where have I said I want all blacks in jail? 

I just want the lazy leeches and parasites who are on welfare, section 8, food stamps, WIC, medicaid, etc , popping out babies like a pez dispenser on a work farm in the sweltering heat with basic hand tools from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm daily. 

and that is both black and white.       

Soul Crusher

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Re: Police State - Official Thread
« Reply #534 on: August 01, 2011, 07:52:56 PM »
(VIDEO) Police officer facing probe after beating up videographer
Daily Mail ^ | July 31, 2011 | Daily Mail Reporter
Posted on August 1, 2011 10:42:41 PM EDT by Do Not Make Fun Of His Ears

A police officer is being investigated after being caught on tape beating a videographer outside of his home in March.

A Las Vegas police department review found that Officer Derek Colling violated police policies when he used 'excessive force' on Mitchell Crooks.

The incident happened on the night of March 20 when Mr Crooks, 36, was in his driveway videotaping police as they investigated a burglary report across the street.

Mr Crooks said that when he refused to stop filming, Mr Colling arrested and beat him, with the sounds of the altercation recorded by the camera.

In the video, Mr Crooks can be heard yelling in pain while Colling can be heard telling him to 'shut up.' At one point the officer tells him that his decision not to turn off the camera put him in 'a world of hurt.'

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...

Soul Crusher

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Re: Police State - Official Thread
« Reply #535 on: August 01, 2011, 08:07:44 PM »
DA: Elk Grove police officer justified in shooting handcuffed suspect
blogs.sacbee.com ^ | 8-1-11 | Kim Minugh
Posted on August 1, 2011 10:59:52 PM EDT by smokingfrog

An Elk Grove police officer acted lawfully in January when he fired his AR-15 rifle at a handcuffed suspect, seated in the back of a patrol car, who officers thought may still have been armed, according to Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully.

No weapon was found on then-32-year-old John Hesselbein when officers searched him for the second time after the shooting.

In her 11-page letter to police Chief Robert Lehner absolving the officer of any criminal liability, Scully argued that the officer had reason to believe Hesselbein was dangerous and that the officer "had the right to act in self-defense and in defense of his fellow officers."

Hesselbein was shot Jan. 30 after his wife called police to report he was drunk and abusive. His cheek was grazed by the rifle round.

Later, Hesselbein pleaded no contest to battery on a spouse in connection with the incident.

(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.sacbee.com ...





Wtf!

Agnostic007

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Re: Police State - Official Thread
« Reply #536 on: August 02, 2011, 07:32:07 AM »
Unbelievable!

The guy had his liberty removed and got shot, yet it was totally justified?!

Where's Agnostic to tell us how it makes perfect sense?

Got no problem with taking the liberty away  from a wife beater. Having said that, any subject in the back seat of the patrol car should have already been searched prior to putting him in. It's  SOP and if the officer still thought the subject was armed then he did not think he did a good search the first time. I have a problem with the officer who could have killed a person needlessly because of poor procedure.   

Soul Crusher

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Re: Police State - Official Thread
« Reply #537 on: August 02, 2011, 09:08:08 AM »
Police shut down 4 year old girl's lemonade stand
Omaha.com ^ | 8/2/2011 | Omaha.com




CORALVILLE, Iowa (AP) — Police closed down a lemonade stand in Coralville last week, telling its 4-year-old operator and her dad that she didn't have a permit.

An officer told Abigail Krutsinger's father Friday that she couldn't run the stand as RAGBRAI bicyclers poured into Coralville.

A city ordinance says food vendors must apply for a permit and get a health inspection.

Abigail's dad, Dustin Krutsinger, said the ordinance and its enforcers are going too far if they force a 4-year-old to abandon her lemonade stand.


Agnostic007

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Re: Police State - Official Thread
« Reply #538 on: August 02, 2011, 09:11:35 AM »
Police shut down 4 year old girl's lemonade stand
Omaha.com ^ | 8/2/2011 | Omaha.com




CORALVILLE, Iowa (AP) — Police closed down a lemonade stand in Coralville last week, telling its 4-year-old operator and her dad that she didn't have a permit.

An officer told Abigail Krutsinger's father Friday that she couldn't run the stand as RAGBRAI bicyclers poured into Coralville.

A city ordinance says food vendors must apply for a permit and get a health inspection.

Abigail's dad, Dustin Krutsinger, said the ordinance and its enforcers are going too far if they force a 4-year-old to abandon her lemonade stand.



saw this one already

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Re: Police State - Official Thread
« Reply #539 on: August 02, 2011, 10:20:16 AM »
Mother fined $535 after daughter, Skylar Capo, 11, saves endangered woodpecker from hungry cat
http://www.nydailynews.com/ ^




Never let a good deed go unpunished.

An 11-year-old Virginia girl trying to rescue a baby woodpecker instead earned her mother a $535 fine when it turned out the bird was a protected species.

Skylar Capo saved the bird from the clutches of a cat which was about to turn the feathered friend into lunch.

"I've just always loved animals," Skylar told WUSA-TV. "I couldn't stand to watch it be eaten."

When she was unable to find the baby's mother, she asked her own mother if they could adopt the orphaned bird.

"She was just going to take care of it for a day or two, make sure it was safe and uninjured, and then she was going to let it go," said Skylar's mom Alison Capo.

As they were headed home they stopped into a store and brought the bird inside where they incidentally encountered an officer from the Department of Fish & Wildlife.

The officer informed them that the bird was a protected species, and it was illegal to transport it.


(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...

Soul Crusher

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Re: Police State - Official Thread
« Reply #540 on: August 02, 2011, 12:22:55 PM »
“They Killed Him.” New Video Shows Aftermath of Fullerton Police Beating.
OC Register ^ | 8/1/2011 | DENISSE SALAZAR and ERIC CARPENTER





FULLERTON – Surveillance video surfaced Monday of two witnesses describing a fatal confrontation between a homeless man and six police officers.

The video from an Orange County Transportation Authority bus shows a woman and a man getting on the bus shortly after the July 5 incident between the officers and Kelly Thomas, 37, a homeless man who suffered from schizophrenia.

The woman, who appears agitated, gets on the bus at the Fullerton Transportation Center and tells the driver "the cops are kicking this poor guy over there. ... He's almost halfway dead."

The male witness tells the driver that the man, later identified as Thomas, was sitting on a bench when he was approached by two officers and ran from them. "They caught him, pound his face, pound his face against the curb ... and they beat him up," the man said. "They beat him up, and then all the cops came and they hogtied him, and he was like 'Please God! Please Dad!"


(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: Police State - Official Thread
« Reply #541 on: August 02, 2011, 12:33:17 PM »
Retired Military Translator's Home Reportedly Raided in DEA Mix-Up
Published July 31, 2011 | FoxNews.com



A retired military translator who served in Iraq says he was treated like a criminal when agents from the DEA barreled into his Detroit home just after 2 a.m. Tuesday morning, MyFoxDetroit.com reported.

"As soon as I opened the door, somebody grabbed me and took me outside and put me on the grass," Ramsey Tossa said. “The first thing I thought was they were terrorists who want to kill me because I served in Iraq.”

Tossa and his family were asleep at the time. He woke up when he heard loud banging on the door. He was taken outside, had lasers trained on him and saw agents dragging his wife and daughters who were “half naked.”

“I kept asking, what’s going on?” he said. “And they held my neck to the ground so I can’t talk.”

He began to have chest pains and paramedics eventually took him to a nearby hospital, reported the station.

According to the report, the DEA was executing a search warrant for Tossa’s landlord’s son, who apparently uses Tossa’s one-story house’s address for mailing.

The DEA told the station that it is taking Tossa's complaint seriously.

“Before they raid any house, they should have more information,” Tossa said. “Not rumors.”

Please click here for more from MyFoxDetroit.com


http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/07/31/retired-military-translators-home-reportedly-raided-in-dea-mix-up/



Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/07/31/retired-military-translators-home-reportedly-raided-in-dea-mix-up/#ixzz1Ttxs7gGu


________________________ ________


My only hope is to see some of these cops' wives, daughters, dogs, and kids, have undergo the same bullshit right in front of them. 



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Re: Police State - Official Thread
« Reply #542 on: August 02, 2011, 12:52:09 PM »
Imagine if this man (a veteran no less) had a gun and tried to protect his family from intruders (and he had valid reasons to fear intruders).. All his family would die from the gunfight and he would be blamed for it..

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Re: Police State - Official Thread
« Reply #543 on: August 03, 2011, 01:16:29 PM »
Breaking news: Multi-agency armed raid hits Rawesome Foods, Healthy Family Farms for selling raw milk and cheese
Wednesday, August 03, 2011
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...) 

 
 

(NaturalNews) This is a NaturalNews exclusive breaking new report. Please credit NaturalNews.com. A multi-agency SWAT-style armed raid was conducted this morning by helmet-wearing, gun-carrying enforcement agents from the LA County Sheriff's Office, the FDA, the Dept. of Agriculture and the CDC (Centers for Disease Control).

Rawesome Foods, a private buying club offering wholesome, natural raw milk and raw cheese products (among other wholesome foods) is founded by James Stewart, a pioneer in bringing wholesome raw foods directly to consumers through a buying club. James was followed from his private residence by law enforcement, and when he entered his store, the raid was launched.

Law enforcement demanded that all customers (members) of the store vacate the premises, then they demanded to know how much cash James had at the store. When James explained the amount of cash he had at the store -- which is used to purchase product for selling there -- agents demanded to know why he had such an amount of cash and where it came from.

James was handcuffed, was NEVER read his rights and was stuffed into an UNMARKED car. While agents said they would leave behind a warrant, no one has yet had any opportunity to even see if such a warrant exists or if it is a complete warrant.

Note to NaturalNews readers: This was an ILLEGAL raid being conducted mob-style by government thugs who respect no law and no rights. This is an all-out war by the government against people who try to promote healthy raw and living foods.

James is now being held at the Pacific division police department at Centinela and Culver in Los Angeles. He is being held at $123,000 bail with no possibility of using bail bonds. Law enforcement has demanded that if he comes up with the money to cover bail, he must disclose to them all the sources of that money. (This is an illegal demand!)

Law enforcement is now destroying all the Rawesome Foods inventory by pouring the raw milk down the drain and collecting the raw cheese for destruction.

Massive public protests are needed to teach these criminal law enforcement agencies that they cannot illegally arrest and persecute individuals merely for buying and selling raw milk and cheese. We are organizing a public protest day in cooperation with James. Please watch NaturalNews for an announcement of that. Story is developing...

Right now, James needs help raising money with his legal defense needs. Our non-profit Consumer Wellness Center is currently serving as the collection point for donations. You may donate right now at www.ConsumerWellness.org (100% of the donations go directly to James' legal defense needs, the Consumer Wellness Center keeps nothing).

See this video of James Stewart talking about his farm:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foKg...

Here's background on Healthy Family Farms which was also targeted in the raid:

Healthy Family Farms in Santa Paula, California:

"Healthy Family Farms is a sustainable, pasture-based farming operation. We raise all our livestock on pasture. We raise all of our animals from birth. We do not feed any of our animals soy, choosing instead to feed animals as they are designed to be fed. This results in healthy, sturdy animals needing no hormones, antibiotics, or other artificial "enhancements." We harvest our animals humanely by hand before they are delivered to the farmers markets. We never freeze our products. In addition to farmer's markets sales, we have an active CSA, which offers discounts to our valued members."


About the author: Mike Adams is an award-winning journalist and holistic nutritionist with a passion for sharing empowering information to help improve personal and planetary health He has authored more than 1,800 articles and dozens of reports, guides and interviews on natural health topics, impacting the lives of millions of readers around the world who are experiencing phenomenal health benefits from reading his articles. Adams is a trusted, independent journalist who receives no money or promotional fees whatsoever to write about other companies' products. In 2010, Adams created NaturalNews.TV, a natural living video sharing site featuring thousands of user videos on foods, fitness, green living and more. He also launched an online retailer of environmentally-friendly products (BetterLifeGoods.com) and uses a portion of its profits to help fund non-profit endeavors. He's also the founder of a well known HTML email software company whose 'Email Marketing Director' software currently runs the NaturalNews subscription database. Adams volunteers his time to serve as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and regularly pursues cycling, nature photography, Capoeira and Pilates. Known by his callsign, the 'Health Ranger,' Adams posts his missions statements, health statistics and health photos at www.HealthRanger.org

 


Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/033220_Rawesome_Foods_armed_raids.html#ixzz1TzzMYGx0


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Re: Police State - Official Thread
« Reply #544 on: August 03, 2011, 02:37:21 PM »

http://www.infowars.com/raw-food-raid-armed-agents-bust-raw-milk-cheese-sellers

Raw Food Raid: Armed Agents Bust Raw Milk & Cheese Sellers
         



Assault on independent health accelerates as retailers charged with conspiracy, ‘mislabeling cheese’

UPDATE: We have learned that in addition to James Stewart, two other people have been arrested in this raid and are being charged with conspiracy to sell unpasteurized raw milk products. Sharon Palmer of Healthy Family Farms is currently in jail, with bond set at $120,000. Palmer was featured in the documentary Farmageddon. Victoria Bloch, an L.A. county liaison for the Weston A. Price Foundation has also been arrested.


Activists are planning a protest tomorrow morning outside the L.A. county courthouse (details pending) to send a strong message that we have a right to healthy, natural foods. Help rally people to this cause, tell people about this outrageous and backwards persecution and fight for our natural rights. Check back at Infowars.com and Natural News.com for further updates.




VIDEO OF RAID: Police Seize Cash, Produce, Dump Raw Milk




UPDATE: Trio of Los Angeles raw food advocates reportedly charged with conspiracy, ‘mislabeling cheese’

Mike Adams
Natural News
August 3, 2011

(NaturalNews) The raid on Rawesome Foods by a combined force of agents from the FDA, Dept of Agriculture, CDC and the LA County Sheriff’s office wasn’t the only SWAT-style armed raid that took place today. Sharon Palmer, a mom and owner of Healthy Family Farms was also arrested and taken to jail. A third woman, Victoria Bloch, the LA County liaison for the Weston A Price Foundation (www.WestonaPrice.org) , was also reportedly arrested, NaturalNews has learned.

All three are reportedly being charged with conspiracy to commit a crime. What crime? The “crime” of advocating raw milk for consumers!

As NaturalNews previously reported (http://www.naturalnews.com/033220_R…), the SWAT-style raid was conducted like a terrorist operation, where the cops immediately went after Rawesome’s cash and then began vandalizing and destroying the store’s entire inventory. This raid was an act of economic terrorism against a legitimate, ethical business selling wholesome, healthful products to a very happy group of members.

A massive public protest on the front steps of the LA courthouse is being planned for the morning of August 4th, where James Stewart has been promised a hearing before a judge. NaturalNews is calling on its readers and supporters to join in this protest to help send a message to the law enforcement tyrants that we will not tolerate our health food stores being terrorized by criminal cops and rogue federal agencies. We will announce the time and place of the protest as soon as we are provided the details. Watch for that announcement here on NaturalNews.com or on our Facebook page: www.Facebook.com/HealthRanger

Video coverage of the event is being provided by a contributing reporter whose name we will reveal after the video reports are filed (in order to protect him from possible oppression by L.A. law enforcement thugs).

Matt Drudge is linking to this story from www.DrudgeReport.com and Alex Jones is also covering it from www.InfoWars.com

We’ve also posted a CounterThink cartoon on this raw milk topic. You can view the cartoon at:
http://counterthink.com/Raw_Milk_Li

Spread the word, folks. Enough is enough! We must take a stand against this government-run campaign of terror against health food retailers. It is time to stop government-run terrorism against health food stores.

It’s time we fought back and let these criminals know we will not be treated like food slaves by a corrupt, criminally-run government that wishes to force everyone to drink DEAD MILK and DEAD CHEESE (which they know causes disease).

This is it, friends! Big Government has declared war on the innocent. The Obama administration, which has already gone out of its way to promote yet more GMOs in the food supply, is now overseeing government-sponsored terrorism against the health food movement. If you don’t take a stand against this, you might as well lay down, surrender to Big Brother, and eat your soylent green…

We are collecting funds for the legal defense of Rawesome Foods. Please donate through the Consumer Wellness Center at www.ConsumerWellness.org where 100% of the donations go directly to their legal defense.

Thank you all for your sharing of these stories and your concerns. We are fighting for our basic rights and freedoms against a police state cabal of criminals who now run our federal government and will stop at nothing to turn innocent citizens into gulag prisoners.




Breaking news: Multi-agency armed raid hits Rawesome Foods, Healthy Family Farms for selling raw milk and cheese

(NaturalNews) This is a NaturalNews exclusive breaking news report. Please credit NaturalNews.com. A multi-agency SWAT-style armed raid was conducted this morning by helmet-wearing, gun-carrying enforcement agents from the LA County Sheriff’s Office, the FDA, the Dept. of Agriculture and the CDC (Centers for Disease Control).

Rawesome Foods, a private buying club offering wholesome, natural raw milk and raw cheese products (among other wholesome foods) is founded by James Stewart, a pioneer in bringing wholesome raw foods directly to consumers through a buying club. James was followed from his private residence by law enforcement, and when he entered his store, the raid was launched.

Law enforcement demanded that all customers (members) of the store vacate the premises, then they demanded to know how much cash James had at the store. When James explained the amount of cash he had at the store — which is used to purchase product for selling there — agents demanded to know why he had such an amount of cash and where it came from.

James was handcuffed, was NEVER read his rights and was stuffed into an UNMARKED car. While agents said they would leave behind a warrant, no one has yet had any opportunity to even see if such a warrant exists or if it is a complete warrant.

Note to NaturalNews readers: This was an ILLEGAL raid being conducted mob-style by government thugs who respect no law and no rights. This is an all-out war by the government against people who try to promote healthy raw and living foods.

James is now being held at the Pacific division police department at Centinela and Culver in Los Angeles. He is being held at $123,000 bail with no possibility of using bail bonds. Law enforcement has demanded that if he comes up with the money to cover bail, he must disclose to them all the sources of that money. (This is an illegal demand!)

Massive public protests are needed to teach these criminal law enforcement agencies that they cannot illegally arrest and persecute individuals merely for buying and selling raw milk and cheese. We are organizing a public protest day in cooperation with James. Please watch NaturalNews for an announcement of that. Story is developing…

A d v e r t i s e m e n t
Right now, James needs help raising money with his legal defense needs. Our non-profit Consumer Wellness Center is currently serving as the collection point for donations. You may donate right now at www.ConsumerWellness.org (100% of the donations go directly to James’ legal defense needs, the Consumer Wellness Center keeps nothing).

See this video of James Stewart talking about his farm:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foKg

Here’s background on Healthy Family Farms which was also targeted in the raid:

Healthy Family Farms in Santa Paula, California:

“Healthy Family Farms is a sustainable, pasture-based farming operation. We raise all our livestock on pasture. We raise all of our animals from birth. We do not feed any of our animals soy, choosing instead to feed animals as they are designed to be fed. This results in healthy, sturdy animals needing no hormones, antibiotics, or other artificial “enhancements.” We harvest our animals humanely by hand before they are delivered to the farmers markets. We never freeze our products. In addition to farmer’s markets sales, we have an active CSA, which offers discounts to our valued members.”


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Re: Police State - Official Thread
« Reply #545 on: August 05, 2011, 12:13:46 PM »
TSA Confiscates Pregnant Woman's Insulin, Ice Packs
Security Tells Woman Isulin Vial Was An Explosives Risk

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/28773212/detail.html



POSTED: 9:55 pm MDT August 4, 2011
UPDATED: 10:55 am MDT August 5, 2011

DENVER -- A Denver couple has filed a formal complaint with the Transportation Security Administration after a pregnant woman's insulin and ice packs were confiscated by screeners at Denver International Airport.

The couple has traveled around the world with her medical supplies, including insulin and syringes, and have never encountered any troubles before, they said.

"It made me feel upset and made me feel somewhat helpless," said Aaron Nieman.


Nieman's wife was traveling alone to a baby shower in Phoenix when she was questioned by a TSA agent as she went through security around 4 p.m. Thursday.

"He's like, 'Well, you're a risk.' I'm like, 'Excuse me?' And he's like, 'This is a risk ... I can't tell you why again. But this is at risk for explosives,'” Nieman's wife said. She asked 7NEWS not to use her name for fear of retaliation for speaking out.

"I got a bottle of nail polish. I got hair spray bottles. I got needles that are syringes. But yet I can't take through my actual insulin?” she asked.

The mother-to-be said she brought the appropriate doctor's note and the medication was labeled correctly, so she's perplexed as to why her insulin would be confiscated this time.

She said she was able to get half a vial through security, apparently unnoticed by TSA agents.

"It was at the bottom of my lunch box because they didn't search it all the way through. They just took out every thing on top,” she said.

The woman has since made arrangements for additional insulin to be delivered to her while she's in Arizona.

The TSA would not get into specifics of this case, but provided 7NEWS this prepared statement.


TSA's mission is to safely, efficiently and respectfully screen nearly 2 million passengers each day at airports nationwide.

We are sensitive to the concerns of passengers who were not satisfied with their screening experience and we invite those individuals to provide feedback to TSA through a variety of channels. We work to balance those concerns with the very real threat that our adversaries will attempt to use explosives to carry out attacks on planes.

It is the traveler's responsibility to have proper government issued identification and a boarding pass; to cooperate with applicable screening procedures and instructions and to communicate their disability or health related needs.

Liquid medications should be labeled, and those in quantities larger than 3.4 ounces (100ml) each need to be separated from other carry-on items and declared to the security officer as medically necessary. A declaration can be made verbally, in writing, or by a person's companion, caregiver, interpreter, or family member. Liquids in excess of 3.4 ounces will require additional screening

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Re: Police State - Official Thread
« Reply #546 on: August 05, 2011, 12:20:13 PM »
another government agency growing to powerful. 

Who the hell started the TSA anyway?

Who gave more power after it was started?


BTW,  went through security a half a dozen times last week with liquids in my carry on and wasn't caught. 

fucking posers lol.

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Re: Police State - Official Thread
« Reply #547 on: August 05, 2011, 12:22:03 PM »
another government agency growing to powerful. 

Who the hell started the TSA anyway?

Who gave more power after it was started?


BTW,  went through security a half a dozen times last week with liquids in my carry on and wasn't caught. 

fucking posers lol.

Bush started it, obama doubled down on it. 

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Re: Police State - Official Thread
« Reply #548 on: August 05, 2011, 12:24:25 PM »
Bush started it, obama doubled down on it. 

What did Obama do to give more power? 

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Re: Police State - Official Thread
« Reply #549 on: August 05, 2011, 12:25:02 PM »
What did Obama do to give more power? 
]

He appinted napolitano