Friday 09-23-16

Obama: America Must Surrender Sovereignty, Embrace One World Government

Earlier this week Barack Obama delivered his final United Nations speech.
In addition to praising the bankster loan shark operations run out of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, Obama called for “global integration,” code for a one-world government.
“I believe that at this moment we all face a choice. We can choose to press forward with a better model of cooperation and integration. Or we can retreat into a world sharply divided, and ultimately in conflict, along age-old lines of nation and tribe and race and religion,” he said.
In short, Obama has renewed the call to end national sovereignty.

The Council on Foreign Relations, often referred to as the “real State Department,” prefers to call it a transition to “global governance” or multilateralism.
In 2012, as the CFR unveiled the Council of Councils and its “Challenges for Global Governance in 2013,” Nicholas West deconstructed the globalist agenda. In addition to eroding national sovereignty through the promotion of “free trade” deals and treaties, the CFR has pushed behind the scenes for economic collapse, humanitarian intervention, destabilization of the Middle East, geopolitical reorganization, and control of the internet.
“The agenda of global governance exists, and the move toward a one world government is being executed. The solutions being discussed at think tank conferences in a wide range of disciplines from geopolitics, to science, to health, to economics and communications are all beginning to coalesce into an overall agenda of centralized control. This fusion is manifesting at an accelerated pace in tandem with the rapid awakening of humanity to its condition of increasing servitude,” writes West.
The current globalism in trade—from NAFTA, CAFTA, and AFTA to the impending TPP—serve as a template for the ongoing effort to globalize nations and destroy national sovereignty, according to Richard Haass, current CFR president and the former Special Assistant to George H. W. Bush and National Security Council Senior Director for Near East and South Asian Affairs.
In 2010 Haass wrote “states must be prepared to cede some sovereignty to world bodies if the international system is to function. This is already taking place in the trade realm. Governments agree to accept the rulings of the WTO because on balance they benefit from an international trading order even if a particular decision requires that they alter a practice that is their sovereign right to carry out.”
Haass cited the globalist contrivance of manmade climate change. “Some governments are prepared to give up elements of sovereignty to address the threat of global climate change.”
Obama read directly from the globalist script when he mentioned climate change during his speech at the United Nations.
“And that’s why we need to follow through on our efforts to combat climate change. If we don't act boldly, the bill that could come due will be mass migrations, and cities submerged and nations displaced, and food supplies decimated, and conflicts born of despair. The Paris Agreement gives us a framework to act, but only if we scale up our ambition. And there must be a sense of urgency about bringing the agreement into force, and helping poorer countries leapfrog destructive forms of energy,” Obama said.
Bernie Suarez writes climate change is one of six manufactured problems utilized by the elite.
“Problem-reaction-solution, the Hegelian Dialectic is that process the globalist ruling class have chosen to use as the primary tool to constantly change society in the direction they want it to go. They manufacture a problem, focus on that problem, then sell the solution. The solution is always the very thing that drives their plan forward.”
Specifically, the elite created the disruptive force of the Islamic State, they are pushing for the implementation of a militarized police state apparatus, have orchestrated revolutions, rolled out a propaganda campaign designed to promote world conflict and a possible Third World War, and have engendered disease hysteria that provides a backdrop for medical tyranny.
The United Nations speech was Obama’s swan song and a final tribute to the global elite. If Hillary Clinton is elected in November, we can expect a seamless transition and a continuation of the CFR’s agenda.

http://www.blacklistednews.com/Obama%3A_America_Must_Surrender_Sovereignty%2C_Embrace_One_World_Government/54252/0/38/38/Y/M.html

Friday 07-05-13

Woman’s Survival Garden Seized and Destroyed by Authorities

Filed under Homestead, Sustainable Living Blog   Posted by: Rob Richardson

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A woman from Tulsa, Oklahoma is suing the city’s code enforcement teams after they illegally cut down her entire survival garden. Denise Morrison, who started the garden after becoming unemployed, had over 100 medicinal and edible plants in her front and back yard.
She told local Tulsa reporters that she started her garden after becoming unemployed as a way to feed herself and treat a variety of medical issues. Instead of relying on government handouts, this woman took matters into her own hands and decided to become self sufficient. She filled her yard with things like, fruit trees, berries, nut trees, and a wide variety of edible and medicinal herbs. She used these herbs to treat her diabetes, high-blood pressure and arthritis.

Is the Self-Reliant Lifestyle Now a Crime in America?

All her hard work ended when the local code enforcement team showed up to her house and forcibly removed her entire survival garden. Morrison says that she tried to explain how everything in her yard followed the local code enforcement rules. You see, she had problems with these people in the past and this time she was determined to do things by the book.
She obtained the local ordinances and followed every rule to the tee. She made sure that everything in her garden had a purpose, and that her garden looked its best at all times. Local ordinances stated that no plant could be over 12-inches tall unless they were being used for human consumption.
Morrison made sure every plant in her garden could be eaten, but that didn’t matter to the city. They could care less about what the law actually said, they were determined to take out her garden. “Every word out of their mouth was, ‘we don’t care,’” Morrison said.
Over 100 plant varieties were removed by the code enforcement team leaving her with no way to feed or medicate herself. They took almost everything, including a number of her fruit and nut trees. She told local reporters in Tulsa, “I came back three days later, sat in my driveway, cried and left.”

Government Crack Down on Liberty

While this case is extremely sad, it’s also becoming more and more common throughout the country. From “nuisance abatement teams” that have been forcing Off-Griders in California to hook back into the grid, to the heartbreaking story of Andrew Wordes who took his life after code enforcement teams seized his home, this country is making it harder and harder for self-reliant people to live on their own land.
While some dismiss these cases as localized issues, I believe they’re part of a larger movement to control anyone who dares to live a self-reliant lifestyle. I think evidence of this can be seen in the federal governments attempts to regulate small farms out of existence, their use of the EPA to seize private land, the formation of the Department of Homeland Security’s Green Police Force, their attempts to seize control of the Great Lakes, oceans, and waterways, and their use of organizations like The National League of Cities to take control of local governments.

Monday 4-22-13

And How Many Bullets Do You Need?

Jim Yardley

 Last night, I watched the amateur home video of the shootout between Boston and Watertown police and the person referred to as "Suspect #1."

I learned that there were something on the order of 200 shots fired during that firefight.

Think about that for just a moment.  It took a dozen or more cops, who are trained professionals, who practice on at least a weekly basis with their firearms, to fire 200 rounds before he finally died.

Yet our politicians (at least here in New York, and some in Washington -- as well as other places, I'm sure) are saying that the most anyone needs to have to protect himself from armed intruders is seven rounds in the magazine.

Only seven?!

Of course, it took trained police, who were not dealing with an unexpected attack, who were not roused from a peaceful slumber, who were not worried about their wives and kids, some 200 rounds to kill one dangerous man.

Makes you wonder if those politicians have even the slightest, tiniest hint of anything connected with the real world, doesn't it?

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/04/and_how_many_bullets_do_you_need.html#ixzz2RD7KTRZW

Thursday 04-18-13

DHS Suggests Christians, Constitutionalists Should Get Extra Surveillance From LEOs

April 10, 2013 by Bob Livingston 

PHOTOS.COM

Big government progressives and collectivists love labels. They seem to come up with a new one almost daily, as they seek to isolate and demonize one small segment of the population at a time that they can identify as “extremist” and then dismiss from any discussion about the country’s direction.
The Department of Homeland Security and the military have, in reports published over the past several years, equated a large segment of the U.S. population with terrorists for simply expressing displeasure of the nation’s course, preparing for disaster or even paying in cash. DHS and the Barack Obama regime are aided in this endeavor by government propaganda arm mainstream media and organizations like the Southern Preposterous Lie Center (aka Southern Poverty Law Center), see here, here and here.
Now, true to its communistic-sounding roots, DHS is becoming exceedingly fearful of Christians who believe the Bible is God’s word, Christian “fundamentalists” (whatever those are), Americans who believe the country was founded on Godly principles and those who believe the Constitution stands as the law of the land. In training materials, DHS has lumped Christians and Constitutionalists in with a group it calls the sovereign citizen movement and identified them as requiring special surveillance by law enforcement.
In a letter to a conservative blogger, Prowers County (Colo.) Undersheriff Ron Trowbridge revealed what he learned during a recent training course conducted by Colorado State Patrol (CSP) Trooper Joe Kluczynski, a CSP analyst for the Colorado Information Analysis Center, (CIAC). CIAC is funded by DHS and run by the CSP, and the training materials Kluczynski used came from DHS.
Here is the letter, unedited and in its entirety:

On April 1, 2013 I attended training in La Junta, Colorado hosted by the Colorado State Patrol (CSP).  The training was from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm and covered two topics, Sovereign Citizens, and Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs.  I was pretty familiar with motorcycle gangs but since we often deal with the so-called sovereign citizen groups I was interested to see what they had to say.  The group consisted of police officers, deputies, and CSP troopers.  There were about 20 people in attendance.
Trooper Joe Kluczynski taught a 2-hour section on sovereign citizens.  Kluczynski spent most of his two hours focusing on how, in his view and apparently the view of Homeland Security, people turn to the sovereign citizen movement.  Kluczynski started off by saying there are probably some sovereign citizens in this room and gave a generalized list of those groups that have sovereign citizen views.  Among those groups, Kluczynski had listed, were those who believe America was founded on godly principles, Christians who take the Bible literally, and “fundamentalists”.  Kluczynski did not explain what he meant by “fundamentalists” but from the context it was clear he was referring again to those who took the Bible literally or “too seriously.”
While Kluczynski emphasized that sovereign citizens have a right to their beliefs, he was clearly teaching that the groups he had listed should be watched by law enforcement and should be treated with caution because of their potential to assault law enforcement.  Kluczynski explained why he believed these groups were dangerous saying they were angry over the election of a black president.  When someone in the group suggested the failing economy was probably much more to blame, Kluczynski intimated that those who are not going along with the changes in America will need to be controlled by law enforcement.  Kluczynski even later questioned some of the troopers present if they were willing and prepared to confiscate “illegal” weapons if ordered to.
Kluczynski’s assignment with the CSP was an Analyst for the Colorado Information Analysis Center, (CIAC).  CIAC is funded by Homeland Security funds and run by the CSP.  Kluczynski said he gets his information from the Department of Homeland Security.  Kluczynski said he was leaving the CSP at the end of that week (March 29, 2013) to begin his new career with Homeland Security.  I thought he was perfect for the job.
Ron Trowbridge
Undersheriff
Prowers County Sheriff’s Office
April 5, 2013

Trowbridge’s boss, Sheriff Jim Faull, issued a news release Monday suggesting CSP suspend and re-evaluate the training program, because: “When an instructor with a state law enforcement agency is teaching their (sic) own employees and other law enforcement agencies that bible (sic) believing citizens and those that do not agree with current political trends are dangerous and should be under the scrutiny of law enforcement, then that agency needs to make some fundamental changes with that particular course.”
Trowbridge said he was surprised and frightened by the amount of attention his letter received, but he stood by it. He issued another letter on Monday responding to those seeking to verify his initial claims.

Understand what is at work here is a concerted effort by the regime to marginalize and demonize Americans, “those who are not going along with the changes” the Marxist Obama regime is making to the country. Demonizing and ultimately dehumanizing the “enemy” is a tried and true propaganda tactic. You will also see this tactic demonstrated in the comments posted to Personal Liberty articles by the regime’s messengers, who have taken to equating the Tea Party with the Taliban and calling them extremists and terrorists. It is a designed strategy based on the Saul Alinsky model.

http://personalliberty.com/2013/04/10/dhs-suggests-christians-constitutionalists-should-get-extra-surveillance-from-leos/

Saturday 04-06-13

I got both of these from Survival Blog on Friday.

Who decides what is "un-American" and what do they base that on, it is at the whim of someone else, that might not agree with you and because of that you make me "un American". 

Fusion center director: We don’t spy on Americans, just anti-government Americans

Law enforcement intelligence-processing fusion centers have long come under attack for spying on Americans. The Arkansas director wanted to clarify the truth: centers only spies on some Americans – those who appear to be a threat to the government.

In trying to clear up the ‘misconceptions’ about the conduct of fusion centers, Arkansas State Fusion Center Director Richard Davis simply confirmed Americans’ fears: the center does in fact spy on Americans – but only on those who are suspected to be ‘anti-government’.
“The misconceptions are that we are conducting spying operations on US citizens, which is of course not a fact. That is absolutely not what we do,” he told the NWA Homepage, which supports KNWA-TV and Fox 24.

After claiming that his office ‘absolutely’ does not spy on Americans, he proceeded to explain that this does not apply to those who could be interpreted as a ‘threat’ to national security. Davis said his office places its focus on international plots, “domestic terrorism and certain groups that are anti-government. We want to kind of take a look at that and receive that information.”

But the First Amendment allows for the freedom of speech and opinion, making it lawfully acceptable for Americans to express their grievances against the US government. The number of anti-government groups even hit a record high in 2012, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. Many of these groups are ‘hate groups’ that express disdain for minorities. But unless they become violent, these groups are legally allowed to exist.

“We are seeing the fourth straight year of really explosive growth on the part of anti-government patriot groups and militias,” Mark Potok, senior fellow at the SPLC, told Mother Jones. “That’s 913 percent in growth. We’ve never seen that kind of growth in any group we cover.”
And with a record-high number of anti-government groups, fusion centers may be spying on more Americans than ever before – or at least, have the self-proclaimed right to do so.

“I do what I do because of what happened on 9/11,” Davis said. “There’s this urge and this feeling inside that you want to do something, and this is a perfect opportunity for me.”
But Davis’ argument is flawed: in order to determine whether or not someone is considered a threat to national security, fusion centers would first have to spy on Americans to weed out the suspected individuals, and then proceed to spy on the ‘anti-government’ individuals further.

Across the US, fusion centers have reported on individuals who conducted ‘crimes’ like putting political stickers in public bathrooms or participating in movements against the death penalty. In October, the bipartisan Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations finished a two-year investigation on fusion centers, only to find that the centers had directly violated constitutionally protected civil liberties.

“In reality, the Subcommittee investigation found that the fusion centers often produced irrelevant, useless or inappropriate intelligence reporting to DHS, and many produced no intelligence reporting whatsoever,” the report stated.

And the privacy violations could soon become worse: RT previously reported that the FBI’s proposed facial recognition project could provide fusion centers with more personal data to work with. With at least 72 fusion centers across the US and technology that could further infringe upon privacy rights, government agencies will be able to more efficiently collect data on Americans solely for exercising their freedom of speech.

http://rt.com/usa/fusion-center-director-spying-070/

Again, what is up

10 tips and tactics for investigating Sovereign Citizens 

Sovereign Citizens can be an investigative challenge — much of their personal identification information, such as birth certificates, driver’s licenses, or vehicle tags are fraudulent documents

Law enforcement officers across the country are experiencing a growing number of contacts with Sovereign Citizens — individuals and groups who possess a strong anti-government ideology.
Because they believe the government, its representatives, laws, and policies are illegitimate, Sovereign Citizens regularly find themselves in conflict with the law. Although it’s difficult to accurately access their numbers, it is safe to say that since 2000, their numbers and the violent incidents associated with them have increased at an alarming rate.

Here, I’ll provide you with some investigative tips and suggestions should you encounter a Sovereign Citizen, but, I’d be remiss if I did not take a moment to emphasize that whether you’re dealing with a novice or a hardliner Sovereign Citizen, the prospect of violent action and threats to officer safety should never be taken for granted.

1.) Proceed with Caution
The threat to officer safety posed by Sovereign Citizens is well known. One must look no further than the tragic deaths of Sergeant Brandon Paudert and Officer Bill Evans of the West Memphis Police Department in order to understand the risk of spontaneous violence from self-proclaimed Sovereign Citizens.
I strongly suggest to any officer encountering a suspected Sovereign Citizen to proceed with extreme caution, employing all necessary tactical officer safety precautions. 
One of the first things to recognize is that a Sovereign Citizen is likely to be argumentative with police authorities. They may proclaim themselves as Sovereign Citizens right from the beginning or they may simply challenge your right or authority to stop/detain them.
They may question your authority or where you derive your jurisdiction and inform you that they do not believe in the United States Constitution or any other “illegitimate” government documents from which police powers are derived.

2.) Don't Let Them Throw You Off Your Game
Don’t get pulled into a battle of wits based upon Sovereign Citizen rhetoric. Many Sovereign Citizens speak as if they are reading from a script. Often, their mantra is intended simply to throw you off your game.
Too often our egos kick in whenever our authority is challenged and we end up arrogantly contributing to the escalation of an argument rather than guiding its de-escalation.
I encourage you to be knowledgeable about the Constitution, the laws of your state, and your enforcement options. With Sovereign Citizens, I suggest you try to deescalate any situation when you have the opportunity to do so. Also, recognize that the Sovereign Citizen may attempt to videotape your encounter.

3.) Remain Calm, Professional, and On Task
Don’t engage in an argument — explain your purpose or intentions as you would in any other circumstance. The fact that you are being challenged does not change your training or what lawful enforcement actions are available to you. 
On YouTube and elsewhere on the internet, there are some great examples of officer/sovereign encounters where officers remain professional and task oriented despite being confronted and challenged.
I would also encourage you to take a moment and watch a brief safety video offered by West Memphis Police Chief Bob Paudert, father of Sergeant Brandon Paudert, regarding the dangers of Sovereign Citizens.

4.) Watch for Fraudulent Documents
Sovereign Citizens can be an investigative challenge. Much of their personal identification information, such as birth certificates, driver’s licenses, or vehicle tags are fraudulent documents. When asked to provide a name, they may respond that they don’t have a name.
They may identify themselves as “the representative of…(their legal name).”
If you do receive a name, it may be a “sovereign” name, compounded with “El” or “Bey” and intended to denounce their association with the name provided them by a government entity.
Be sure to document all known aliases.

5.) Gather Intelligence
Another challenge faced by investigators is the fact that the Sovereign Citizen movement is not an organized civil or criminal enterprise. It’s a fractured series of loosely affiliated individuals who adhere to anti-government ideologies.
This lack of organization does little to help investigators to get a foothold. However, the more we are able to learn about these unique individuals, the better armed we will be for future encounters and successful prosecutions.

Despite the challenges posed by Sovereign Citizens, intelligence gathering will be our most valuable investigative tool. Therefore, officers should conduct thorough background checks based upon the information he or she is able to gather.
Obviously, we will look at their criminal records but go beyond that. Make use of every database you can think of, including social media to learn as much as you can. Consider the areas they frequent, the vehicles they drive, the people they associate with, their interests, hobbies, family, their parole or probationary status, employment or social service benefits status, prior drug/alcohol abuse, scars, marks, tattoos, and possible weapons in the home.
Interestingly, as much as they proclaim their disdain for the government, they are known to take full advantage of all the government is willing to give them. You’ll see below that as much as they admonish our justice system, they are happy to try to use it against us.

6.) Interview and Debrief
Upon arrest, make it a point to talk to these individuals. I don’t mean interrogate them; I mean interview/debrief them. Attempt to learn as much as you can about them.
I like to begin with “an information sheet.” This is a form that gathers general but pertinent information about them. Not only name, D.O.B., address, phone number and physical description, but where they work, who they reside with, their marital status, children, emergency contact information, who they might stay with in the event of an emergency, etc…
This seems like a standard part of arrestee processing, but what it actually does is gathering intelligence while establishing a dialogue that helps them acquire a level of comfort with being questioned.
Proceed by asking curious questions about their Sovereign status. Your posture should be one of understanding rather than confrontation. In a non-arrest situation, I advise officers to complete and submit FI reports detailing as much information as possible.
Informants, family, friends or other associates also have relevance with regard to sovereigns. These associations may help you determine, locations, hideouts, vehicles, weapons caches or other useful information toward building a case. 

7.) Share Information
Communicate all the information you gathered with specialized units within your department or agency. Some departments have an intelligence unit which gathers and records as much information on Sovereign Citizens in as possible. Communicate with neighboring jurisdictions, state and federal authorities, prosecutors and even your local attorney general’s office.
One reason to share this information is the FBI has recently deemed Sovereign Citizens “paper terrorists.”
Sovereign Citizens have been known to inundate the courts with false or fraudulent documents intended to file lawsuits against law enforcement and other judicial or government officials. Sovereigns may also attempt to place a lien against your personal property.
Only a handful of states have laws in place to protect public officials from such claims and allow law enforcement to criminally charge sovereigns for such false filings. Therefore, sharing all the information you gather will help to keep everyone informed should you be targeted. 

8.) Conduct Surveillance and Search Warrants
Conducting surveillance is another beneficial investigative effort. Not only might you want to target them visually but, depending on the circumstances and laws within your state, you may want to consider applying a GPS unit on a target vehicle or installing pole cameras in known sovereign territory.
Surveillance will not only serve the purpose of gathering intelligence but also provides vital officer safety information should a search warrant execution be required.
Conduct search warrants whenever probable cause exists. Obviously, an officer will document the probable cause contributing to the case but, if possible, include intelligence/background information on known or suspected sovereigns and their anti-government ideologies.
Include items to search for such as anti-government papers, pamphlets, books, false documents, weapons, and the like.
Their computers and electronic data storage devices can contain information on social media and other websites visited. Hard drives can be of tremendous evidentiary value. 

9.) Use Tact, Patience, and Persistence
Don’t get caught up in the rhetoric and remain task oriented. Work hard to learn as much as you can about sovereigns through traditional and non-traditional methods and share what you’ve learned.
Ask questions and seek the advice of those investigators who have had frequent contact with sovereigns.

10.) Above All, Stay Safe
Be creative, be thorough, but most of all when it comes to Sovereign Citizens…be safe! 

http://www.policeone.com/investigations/articles/6176998-10-tips-and-tactics-for-investigating-Sovereign-Citizens/

You need to read the whole article not just the headline

North Carolina May Declare Official State Religion Under New Bill

Republican North Carolina state legislators have proposed allowing an official state religion in a measure that would declare the state exempt from the Constitution and court rulings.
The bill, filed Monday by two GOP lawmakers from Rowan County and backed by nine other Republicans, says each state "is sovereign" and courts cannot block a state "from making laws respecting an establishment of religion." The legislation was filed in response to a lawsuit to stop county commissioners in Rowan County from opening meetings with a Christian prayer, wral.com reported.

The religion bill comes as some Republican-led states seek to separate themselves from the federal government, primarily on the issues of guns and Obamacare. This includes a proposal in Mississippi to establish a state board with the power to nullify federal laws.

The North Carolina bill's main sponsors, state Reps. Carl Ford (R-China Grove) and Harry Warren (R-Salisbury), could not be reached for comment on Tuesday, The Salisbury Post reported. Co-sponsors include House Majority Leader Edgar Starnes (R-Hickory). Another is state Rep. Larry Pittman (R-Concord), who in February introduced a state constitutional amendment that would allow for carrying concealed weapons to fight federal "tyranny."

The bill says the First Amendment only applies to the federal government and does not stop state governments, local governments and school districts from adopting measures that defy the Constitution. The legislation also says that the Tenth Amendment, which says powers not reserved for the federal government belong to the states, prohibits court rulings that would seek to apply the First Amendment to state and local officials.

The bill reads:

SECTION 1. The North Carolina General Assembly asserts that the Constitution of the United States of America does not prohibit states or their subsidiaries from making laws respecting an establishment of religion. SECTION 2. The North Carolina General Assembly does not recognize federal court rulings which prohibit and otherwise regulate the State of North Carolina, its public schools, or any political subdivisions of the State from making laws respecting an establishment of religion.

The North Carolina state constitution disqualifies those who do not believe in God from public office. The provision has been unenforcible since the 1961 Supreme Court decision in Torcaso v. Watkins, which prohibited such bans.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/03/north-carolina-religion-bill_n_3003401.html?ref=topbar

Saturday 03-16-13

FBI snooping tactic ruled unconstitutional

AFP - A US judge has ordered the FBI to stop its "pervasive" use of National Security letters to snoop on phone and email records, ruling that the widespread tactic was unconstitutional.


The order issued by US District Court Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco came as a blow to a measure heavily used by the administration of President Barack Obama in the name of battling terrorism.
The Patriot Act passed after the September 11 attacks gave the Federal Bureau of Investigation strong authority to order that people's telecom records be handed over, without such requests having to be disclosed.
But in her ruling, Illston said evidence indicated that tens of thousands of NSLs are sent out every year, and that 97 percent of them are fettered with the provision that recipients never mention the requests.
"This pervasive use of nondisclosure orders, coupled with the government's failure to demonstrate that a blanket prohibition on recipients' ability to disclose the mere fact of receipt of an NSL is necessary to serve the compelling need of national security, creates too large a danger that speech is being unnecessarily restricted," Illston said in her written decision.
Illston set her ban on NSLs to take effect in 90 days to allow US lawyers to appeal the decision given "the significant constitutional and national security issues at stake."
The judge's ruling came in a lawsuit filed in 2011 by Internet rights law group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) on behalf of an unnamed telecom company.
"We are very pleased that the court recognized the fatal constitutional shortcomings of the NSL statute," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Matt Zimmerman.
"The government's gags have truncated the public debate on these controversial surveillance tools."
It was the potential for gag orders accompanying NSLs to violate the First Amendment right of free speech that prompted the ruling, according to Zimmerman.
NSLs are used to get companies to secretly turn over private information such as websites visited, phone records, email addresses, and financial data.
Google early this month made the unusual move of adding NSLs to its tranparency report about requests by governments for data about users of the Internet giant's various online products and services.
But Google said it was only allowed to provide broad ranges of numbers: in the years from 2009 to 2012, for example, it received between zero and 999 requests.
The requests affected between 1,000 and 1,999 accounts, except in 2010, when the range was 2,000 to 2,999 accounts.
"You'll notice that we're reporting numerical ranges rather than exact numbers," said a blog post from Google law enforcement and information security director Richard Salgado.
"This is to address concerns raised by the FBI, Justice Department and other agencies that releasing exact numbers might reveal information about investigations."
The numbers, while inexact, were believed to be the first data from a private company about the requests, criticized by civil liberties groups for giving the government too much power to conduct surveillance without a warrant.
The EFF calls the letters "dangerous" and has challenged the authority, along with the American Civil Liberties Union.
Google's actions are "an unprecedented win for transparency," EFF's Dan Auerbach and Eva Galperin said at the time.
Despite a lack of exact data, "Google has helped to at least shed some limited light on the ways in which the US government uses these secretive demands for data about users," they added in a blog post.
"While we continue to be in the dark about the full extent of how the law is being applied, this new data allays fears that NSLs are being used for sweeping access to large numbers of user accounts -- at Google, at least."

The EFF said public records have documented the FBI's "systemic abuse" of the power.

http://www.france24.com/en/20130316-fbi-snooping-tactic-ruled-unconstitutional

Friday 01-18-13

Here is a kind of fun site, could be good for home schoolers also

Usefulcharts.com: Charts...useful ones

Remember that time in junior high school where you had to memorize all the classifications of animals?
Yeah, there were classes and phyla, kingdoms and domains. You studied really hard, made flash cards and aced that baby - followed immediately by a complete mental purge of any and all animal classification that deviated from "cat" and "dog."
But if you want to remember that information, no worries: UsefulCharts has you covered. A quick glance at the Classification of Animals & Living Things chart and you'll have a renewed understanding of the entire Eukaryote Domain and be impressing your friends with knowledge of the Sarcopterygii Class.
According to UsefulCharts creator Matt Baker, the site is created for the "visual learner."
In a politically fueled place like D.C., you wouldn't be caught dead stumbling over the Political Spectrum. But if you're more interested in the politics of our northern neighbors, UsefulCharts has a - you guessed it - chart for that.
What I also found interesting was UsefulCharts' bizarre choices. A personal favorite: Muppet Voices Chart. Did you know that Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Animal, Bert, Grover, Cookie Monster and Yoda (not a Muppet, know I) were all voiced by the same person? I didn't, until I read the chart.
Curious about personality? The Myers-Briggs Chart outlines the various types of personalities, with descriptions. There's also a chart for mental disorders.
While the charts are free to view, downloadable copies for print cost $1.95. Once downloaded, Baker says an unlimited number of copies can be printed and distributed as long as they're free. Posting onto public websites is prohibited, however.
If you love a chart and want something fancier, some are available as posters.
"The goal is to present useful information in the form of charts so that students, teachers or simply those interested in increasing their general knowledge can absorb the information quickly and visually," says Baker in his FAQ section.
Even if you aren't cramming for a test or trying to impress friends with your vast knowledge of Hindu Gods & Goddesses, UsefulCharts is just that ... useful.
Because even though those in the Proboscidean Order never forget, sometimes we do.

http://wtop.com/262/3191514/Usefulchartscom-Chartsuseful-ones

U.S. Supreme Court sinks Florida city over floating home

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When is a floating home not a vessel? The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday told a Florida city its argument did not hold water, and that an abode on water was nothing but a home.

In a 7-2 decision, the court ruled that a gray, two-story home that its owner said was permanently moored to a Riviera Beach, Florida, marina was not a vessel, depriving the city of power under U.S. maritime law to seize and destroy it.

Justice Stephen Breyer said nothing about former Chicago trader and Marine pilot Fane Lozman's home that would have led a "reasonable observer" to conclude it could be used to transport people or things over water, but for the fact that it floated.

"Not every floating structure is a 'vessel'," Breyer wrote for the majority. "To state the obvious, a wooden washtub, a plastic dishpan, a swimming platform on pontoons, a large fishing net, a door taken off its hinges, or Pinocchio (when inside the whale) are not 'vessels'."

Riviera Beach, near Palm Beach, had seized Lozman's home after he resisted a court order that he pay $3,040 in dockage fees, and destroyed it after being unable to sell it.

Tuesday's decision reversed a lower-court ruling upholding the fees, and clears the way for Lozman to seek compensation.

Pamela Ryan, the city attorney for Riviera Beach, said in a statement she was disappointed with the ruling but accepts it, and that the city will revise its marina policies.

Lozman, 51, cheered the decision. "I feel like I'm floating on a cloud," he said in a phone interview. "I have been fighting this city for 6-1/2 years and it is humbling to get a reversal."

He said he now lives in North Bay Village, a suburb of Miami, and owns a financial software display company.

The definition of "vessel" is particularly important, given that admiralty law imposes different obligations on owners with respect to such things as staffing and taxation.

It is also a victory for the casino industry, which in court papers argued that more than 60 riverboat casinos should not be subject to U.S. maritime laws designed to protect seamen, on top of state laws to license and regulate the gaming business.

The decision limits special rules and remedies of maritime law to matters that "genuinely involve maritime commerce and transportation," Jeffrey Fisher, a Stanford University law professor who represented Lozman, said in a phone interview. "That something floats and might be towed from Point A to Point B does not mean those rules and remedies should apply."

COURT SEEKS CONSISTENCY

Lozman bought the 60-by-12 foot home in 2002. Four years later, he towed it to a Riviera Beach marina, where he kept it docked.

Although he was able to move the home in this manner, Lozman said it should not be covered by maritime law because it lacked the usual seafaring features such as a motor and GPS device, and needed land-based sewer lines and an extension cord for power.

The legal battle started after Lozman resisted new rules governing houseboats at his marina and opposed a proposed $2.4 billion luxury redevelopment of the marina.

In his opinion for the court, Breyer said the decision was consistent with the laws of California and Washington that also treat structures like Lozman's as land-based homes.

"Consistency of interpretation of related state and federal laws is a virtue" because it makes the law easier to understand and follow, Breyer said.

Joining Breyer's opinion were Chief Justice John Roberts, and Associate Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Samuel Alito and Elena Kagan.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Anthony Kennedy, dissented, in the term's first dissenting votes from a full court opinion. Sotomayor objected to the "reasonable observer" standard adopted by the majority.

The case is Lozman v. City of Riviera Beach, Florida, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 11-626.

http://news.yahoo.com/supreme-court-says-floating-home-not-vessel-154307160--finance.html

Writing An Awesome Letter To A 7-Year Old, And Gaining A Lifetime Customer For LEGO

Customer service is without doubt a huge arrow in the marketing quiver, and a smart customer service representative is worth his or her weight in gold. I was reminded of that again reading this story about LEGO.

Seven-year-old Luka Apps spent his Christmas money on the LEGO Ninjago Ultra Sonic Raider set. Against his father’s advice, young Luka took his newly aquired Jay ZX with him when they went shopping. And then, disaster struck: the figure went missing, never to be seen again.

Luka decided to write a letter to the folks at LEGO asking for a replacement:

Hello,

My name is Luka Apps and I am seven years old.
With all my money I got for Christmas I bought the Ninjago kit of the Ultrasonic Raider. The number is 9449. It is really good.
My Daddy just took me to Sainsburys and told me to leave the people at home but I took them and I lost Jay ZX at the shop as it fell out of my coat.
I am really upset I have lost him. Daddy said to send you a email to see if you will send me another one.
I promise I won’t take him to the shop again if you can.
~Luka

A short time later, Luka received a reply from Richard, a LEGO customer service representative. Richard wrote that he had spoken to Sensei Wu, a master from the Ninjago line.

Luka,
I told Sensei Wu that losing your Jay mini figure was purely an accident and that you would never ever let it happen ever again.
He told me to tell you, ‘Luka, your father seems like a very wise man. You must always protect your Ninjago mini figures like the dragons protect the Weapons of Spinjitzu!’
Sensei Wu also told me it was okay if I sent you a new Jay and told me it would be okay if I included something extra for you because anyone that saves their Christmas money to buy the Ultrasonic Raider must be a really big Ninjago fan.
So, I hope you enjoy your Jay mini figure with all his weapons. You will actually have the only Jay mini figure that combines 3 different Jays into one! I am also going to send you a bad guy for him to fight! Just remember, what Sensei Wu said: keep your mini figures protected like the Weapons of Spinjitzu! And of course, always listen to your Dad. 

So, I hope you enjoy your Jay mini figure with all his weapons. You will actually have the only Jay mini figure that combines 3 different Jays into one! I am also going to send you a bad guy for him to fight! Just remember, what Sensei Wu said: keep your mini figures protected like the Weapons of Spinjitzu! And of course, always listen to your Dad.

As Richard’s letter made its way into social media and generated tremendous amount of publicity for LEGO, the company earned scores of brand evangelists and at least one lifelong customer.

All because of one very nice Ninja warrior in its customer service department.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/avidan/2013/01/14/writing-an-awesome-letter-to-a-7-year-old-and-gaining-a-lifetime-customer-for-lego/?utm_campaign=forbestwittersf&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

Friday 12-14-12

I have some mixed feelings about this in one way i understand codes and the need for building codes, but on the other hand it is stupid, to put this man on his own land out of business because they are affraid of getting sued or losing their jobs.  It is the typical stupid government, well the book says we do this and they have no practical experience at all, just book knowledge.  Short sighted and narrow minded and safe.

Watauga County ‘mountain man’ fighting to keep his nature camp open


  BOONE A road that peels off the Blue Ridge Parkway curves around mountain slopes until, at a keep-out sign, it turns to gravel and plunges downhill through the forest into a world nothing like yours and mine.

The buildings scattered in a clearing at the road’s end look like they might have been raised by pioneers. Massive, dove-tailed logs cantilever under wood-shingled barns and workshops. A whimsical treehouse built like a boat floats 30 feet off the ground.

No structures at Turtle Island Preserve, a 1,000-acre outdoor education center, came from an architect’s drawing board and few of their parts from Lowe’s. That’s become a problem for its nationally known founder, Eustace Conway, who doggedly lives in the old ways and teaches thousands a year how they can, too.

The problem is that, like Conway, his buildings don’t square with modern times. Erected without permits from lumber cut and milled on site, they don’t meet construction codes. Health authorities have cited violations. Watauga County has ordered Turtle Island to stop accepting visitors.

“Basically, they shut us down,” Conway said this week.

Lawyers and engineers are working on his behalf, searching for a solution. Nearly 10,000 people have signed petitions asking the N.C. Building Code Council to change codes or exempt Turtle Island. Conway will appear before the council Monday in Raleigh.

Council members will meet a 52-year-old man in graying braids who took to the woods at 17 and has lived there since.

Conway grew up in Gastonia, the grandson of Walton “Chief” Johnson, who founded a mountain camp for boys in 1924.

In that tradition, Conway has crossed America on horseback, lived with the Navajo and, himself, in a teepee for 17 years. He has walked the streets of Manhattan in buckskins and toured the monuments of Washington, D.C., barefoot, disgusted by the wads of chewing gum other tourists left. Conway was also the subject of a 2002 best-seller, “The Last American Man.”

He bought the first 107 acres of Turtle Island cheaply in 1988. Conway now owns 500 acres and friends another 500. It’s a working farm and outdoors center where visitors come for off-the-grid learning about nature and traditional living.

Conway, who has a degree in anthropology, views building shelter as a 3-million-year-old tradition. Watauga County, he contends, is threatening the most basic of human rights.

“I think it has nothing to do with public health and safety,” he said. “I think it’s more likely the egos of small men with limited vision.”

Supporters question why, after the preserve has operated 26 years, the county is only now enforcing building codes there. A county official denies that Conway’s appearances on the History Channel’s “Mountain Men” focused its attention.

“We had no reason to go out there,” said Joe Furman, Watauga’s planning and inspection director. “People come in and get building permits and we go out and inspect them. He never came in and got a building permit.”

Conway says county inspectors visited a decade ago and labeled the preserve an agricultural use.

Last spring, a neighbor complained that Conway was building without permits. A detailed map followed by mail.

“It showed a lot more going on than we knew,” Furman said. “We know about it. We’re compelled to enforce the code.”

Solar panels, wood stoves

The visitors who stay overnight at Turtle Island, in addition to unpaid interns who live there 14 months at a time, make the primitive structures a public-safety issue, Furman said.

The visitor quarters have no plumbing, as codes require. Solar panels run a small office and a micro-hydroelectric power plant supplies a workshop. Food cooks on a wood stove or over coals in an open-walled kitchen.

After an initial visit by county inspectors in June, talks broke down. Building and health officials armed with a search warrant appeared Sept. 19 for a full-blown inspection.

The code consultant the county hired concluded the property “presents a hazard to the safety of anyone near any of the structures” and recommended that several be condemned.

He documented dozens of problems: foundations resting on stones; lumber that had not been inspected and graded; no guard rails; haphazard wiring; an unvented stove pipe.

In mid-October the county attorney gave Conway 30 days to apply for building permits. She told him to keep the public away from the structures.

The Appalachian District Health Department ordered the preserve to stop serving food, lodging or primitive camping to the public.

Conway said the preserve falls under state “primitive experience camp” sanitation guidelines and is inspected annually. The district’s environmental health supervisor did not return the Observer’s calls but told the Watauga Democrat newspaper the preserve has buildings he didn’t know about that need new permits.

Watauga County gave Conway three options: Bring the buildings up to code; tear them down; or have a licensed engineer certify that they meet codes. It threatened fines or condemnation if those conditions weren’t met.

Two structural engineers who have looked over the buildings at Conway’s request say they’re safe but would need modifications to meet codes.

“Think about the number of old houses that were built on rock foundations that are still standing,” said Boone engineer Patrick Beville, who specializes in nonconventional construction. “The cantilevering he builds is typical of construction methods used in Europe for hundreds of years.”

But Beville added, “There’s no code that addresses what he does.”

Chris Noles, an N.C. Department of Insurance official who serves as secretary of the N.C. Building Code Council, agrees that no codes that specify materials and design standards apply to Turtle Island. It could instead fall under performance-based commercial codes that ensure buildings are sound.

The state building code allows alternative designs or materials that meet the “equivalent level” of safety that is required. It also allows independent experts to do inspections.

‘A very hard decision’

The preserve is hushed this time of year. A blue-eyed mutt silently greets a visitor. A rooster crows somewhere. Work horses shuffle in their stalls. Yokes and bits hang in a barn, wagons and buggies parked in its broad overhang.

Conway has deep misgivings about updating the place to meet modern standards, fearing the work would ruin the authenticity of what he’s created. “It’s absolutely the antithesis of what we’re about,” he said.

“I live in a different world. The world you live in, that the building code lives in, is a sad world.… Not the home of the brave, the home of the scared. Not the home of the free, the home of the controlled.”

The preserve already has capitulated on health issues, he said, agreeing not to feed visitors some of the food it produces or let them sip from its springs.

After the county orders, the preserve temporarily took down its website and canceled upcoming horse-working and blacksmithing classes and visits by two Boy Scout troops.

Watauga County says it’s ready to talk further with Conway.

“Our goal is not to close down Turtle Island or harm him in any way, but rather to have the buildings compliant with the code,” Furman said. “I’m not going to say it’s not possible. It might be costly.”

Conway frets over chores not done while he deals with regulators he doesn’t trust. It’s time to plant lettuce, and the horses’ feet need tending.

“I’d be willing to compromise if it doesn’t compromise my reason for being,” he said. “It’s a very hard decision.”

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/12/07/3713079/watauga-county-mountain-man-fighting.html#storylink=cpy     526,421 family farms threatened by new death tax

New legislation that jumps the death tax to 55 percent of estates exceeding $1 million threatens 526,421 family farms, of about 25 percent of all farms in America, according to a Senate analysis.

According to the analysis from the Senate Republican Policy Committee, chaired by Wyoming's John Barrasso:
If President Obama and Senate Democrats do not act, the federal government will begin taking more than half the value of family farm estates exceeding $1 million beginning next year. This summer, Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Democrats passed legislation (S.3412) on a party-line vote that allows Washington to take up to 55 percent, a huge increase over today's top rate of 35 percent, and drop the tax's exemption from $5.1 million to $1 million. The lower exemption -- combined with soaring farm real estate values -- could put more than 420,000 additional farm estates at risk from the death tax.
Farm values are largely tied up in non-liquid assets like land, buildings, and livestock. Many farm and ranch families would be forced to sell their assets to satisfy Washington Democrats' insatiable appetite for tax money. Up to 24 percent of America's farm and ranch families could be forced to hand over a large chunk of their heritage to the Internal Revenue Service when a family member dies. This would economically devastate rural communities. The President and Senate Democrats should join Republicans in rejecting this irresponsible policy.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/632281-family-farms-threatened-by-new-death-tax/article/2515658#.UMeRqKViZjY 

It is a shame the people that right laws don't even know the what the 2nd admendment is for.

What happens when the TSA takes your weapons away

It ends up in state-run stores, where thrifty customers can rummage through bins of objects from the TSA's no-fly list. In warehouses around the country, bargain-seekers browse through crates of knives, tools and even box cutters, the weapon used in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Everything is sold at a steep discount, sometimes for $1 apiece, and sometimes by the pound.
"These places actually collect what's discarded at our checkpoints," said TSA spokesman David Castelveter. "We are required to give those leftover items to the state governments, and then they decide what to do with it."
The "leftover stuff" includes not just items that can be used as weapons, like meat cleavers, ice picks, sabers, bows and arrows, nunchucks, hammers, power saws and cattle prods, but also forgotten items like books and jewelry. Some of the items are sold at state-run stores and some are auctioned off in bulk on the website Govdeals.com.
Pennsylvania press secretary Troy Thompson said that his state has made $800,000 in revenue from the online auctions since they began in 2004. The state's Harrisburg store, which sells things surrendered at airports in New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Maryland and Washington, D.C., has logged $15,000 in sales since it opened last year.

Thompson's office receives crates from the TSA filled with potentially dangerous items, including cricket bats, Medieval-looking daggers, key chain clubs called kubatons, fake but realistic-looking Nazi submachine guns and even those trendy dumbbells known as Shake Weights.
"We can't sell anything that would be classified as a weapon," said Thompson.
But the state's definition of "weapon" is not nearly as broad as the TSA's. Instead, it applies to anything designed specifically to harm human beings, like guns, martial arts knives, samurai swords and Zulu-style spears, which are discarded rather than sold.
The Harrisburg store does sell an abundance of miniature souvenir baseball bats and even lightweight hollow plastic Wiffle bats. The TSA's Castelveter saidthe TSA prohibits "any blunt object that could present a threat, and Wiffle bats fall into that category."
Along with its assortment of power tools, and bowling balls, the Harrisburg store has a section dedicated to snow globes. Many of them are verboten on planes because of the TSA's ban on containers with more than 3.4 ounces of liquid.
The store also sells Play-Doh, which is not permitted on planes despite its harmless, colorful appearance.
"Two words: plastic explosives," replied Thompson, when asked why Play-Doh is on the no-fly list.

Entrepreneurs visit the store to buy and resell the discounted goods. Jim Thorpe, owner of the Some New, Some Used, Thrift Store in Lebanon, Pa., recently paid $6 for a statuette of the elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesha. Thorpe said that exotic statuettes are among the hottest products in his store and he could get at least $20 for Ganesha, which could be used as a blunt object.
"[Passengers] don't comprehend that these things can be used as weapons," said John Supry, manager of surplus property for the state of New Hampshire. "The average person isn't thinking that way, I guess."
Even harmless items that look like weapons, like belt buckles shaped like handguns, are a common sight at the state-run stores. What can't be found in these shops are the more exotic -- for lack of a better term -- items confiscated by the authorities.
"We've had our share of furry handcuffs," said Thompson, who added that items of this nature are not sold in his store. "We might reuse those for law enforcement, minus the fur."

http://money.cnn.com/2012/12/11/smallbusiness/tsa-weapons/index.html  

11-03-12 Saturday

Well it is not here yet, but i'm sure it will be at some point.  It is not huge by any stretch of the imagination, i know people that more, even a lot more.

Shooting champ is facing jail over huge cache of ammunition

A SOLDIER dropped from the Olympics shooting team was facing up to two years’ jail last night for having a huge cache of ammunition.

Sergeant Major Morgan Cook, 39, admitted possessing up to 40,000 rounds of .22 ammunition at his home on the Defence Intelligence Security Centre at Chicksands, Beds.
The world pistol shooting champ also pleaded guilty to having 600 rounds of 9mm ammo, 3,750 of 5.56mm ammo and seven rounds of 5.56 tracer bullets.
His barrister Simon Reevell said the 5.56 ammunition was left over from a competition.
Judge Advocate Emma Peters told Cook at the Military Court Centre, Colchester, Essex, yesterday that “all options are open” when he is sentenced on November 9.

Cook was “devastated” this year after British Shooting ruled his qualifying scores weren’t eligible for London 2012.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4616663/Shooting-champ-is-facing-jail-over-huge-cache-of-ammunition.html

This is one of those you can not make it up, posts.  And we let them have guns and tasers?  I wonder who is more stupid?

Cop shoots 10-year-old boy with Taser for refusing to clean patrol car


“Career day" at Tularosa New Mexico Intermediate School went terribly wrong after a 10-year-old boy says a police officer used his Taser gun to show him what cops do to people who don’t follow orders.

Officer Chris Webb of the New Mexico Department of Public Safety is being sued in court after allegedly using his Taser-brand stun gun on a school playground to send 50,000 volts of electricity into a young boy’s body, forcing the child to blackout.

According to the complaint filed on behalf of the child, "Defendant Webb asked the boy, R.D., in a group of boys, who would like to clean his patrol unit,” when the officer came to the school earlier this year. "A number of boys said that they would. R.D., joking, said that he did not want to clean the patrol unit.”

Defendant Webb, the complaint suggests, responded by pointing his Taser at R.D. and saying, 'Let me show you what happens to people who do not listen to the police.'" The officer then allegedly fired two barbs from the device at the child’s chest, penetrating his shirt.

"Instead of calling emergency medical personnel, Officer Webb pulled out the barbs and took the boy to the school principal's office," the complaint continues. When he attempted to remove the weapon attached to his skin, though, the 100-pound child passed out. Since then, he has been left with scars that are described in court as resembling cigarette burns.

A representative for the child says the boy has been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder since the incident occurred on May 4.

"The boy, R.D., has woken up in the middle of the night holding his chest, afraid he is never going to wake up again,” guardian ad litem Rachel Higgins tells the court.

"No reasonable officer confronting a situation where the need for force is at its lowest, on a playground with elementary age children, would have deployed the Taser in so reckless a manner as to cause physical and psychological injury,” Higgins adds.

Higgins is now suing the New Mexico Department of Public Safety and Officer Webb on behalf of the child in Santa Fe County Court, where she seeks punitive damages for the boy for battery, failure to render emergency medical care, excessive force, unreasonable seizure, and negligent hiring, training, supervision and retention, Courthouse News reports.

http://rt.com/usa/news/taser-boy-playground-webb-611/

Whats yours is mine if i want and can profit from it, sincerly your government

Landmark Federal Forfeiture Case Will Go to Trial: Caswell Family Will Prove Innocence in Court to Save Family Motel



Arlington, Va.—A federal lawsuit out of Massachusetts challenging the government's abuse of civil forfeiture laws—laws that allow the government to take private property without convicting or even accusing the property owner of a crime—will go to trial before the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts later this year. No date for the proceeding has been set, but U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith G. Dein yesterday denied on procedural grounds a motion by motel owner Russ Caswell of Tewksbury, Mass., to have the federal case dismissed, clearing the way for a full trial.
"The Caswells are innocent of any wrongdoing and for 30 years have done their best to maintain a crime-free and safe budget motel," said Scott Bullock, senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, the nonprofit public interest law firm that represents the Caswell family. "This case shows all that is wrong with civil forfeiture and we look forward to demonstrating that at trial."
The federal government wants to seize the Motel Caswell, owned and operated for the past 30 years by Russ Caswell and his wife, because a tiny fraction (.05 percent) of the people who stayed at the motel between 2001 and 2008 were arrested for drug crimes on the property. Local and state authorities who investigated those crimes have never accused the Caswells of any wrongdoing.
If the government succeeds in taking the Caswell's business from them, the bounty from the forfeiture would be split among the very law enforcement agencies attempting to take the property through a program called "equitable sharing," in which the local agency would get 80 percent of the proceeds and the federal government would keep the rest; the Caswells, who have worked their entire adult lives to build and grow this business and who are relying on this business for their retirement, would end up with nothing. This money could be used to pad the budget of the police department, thus giving it a direct financial incentive not to pursue justice, but rather to "police for profit," which is exactly what is going on in the Caswell case. The civil forfeiture action against Caswell family is one of the most outrageous demonstrations of the abuse of forfeiture nationwide.
"Civil forfeiture treats innocent property owners like the Caswells worse than criminals," said Larry Salzman, an IJ attorney on the case. "Criminals must be proven guilty before their property is taken, but once the government targets a property for forfeiture an owner must prove himself innocent to get it back: This turns the American idea that you're innocent until proven guilty on its head and is one of the main perversions of the legal system we're fighting against in this case."
The Motel Caswell was built by Russ's father in 1955 and has been operated by two generations of the Caswell family. The property is now owned free and clear, which is one of the reasons it is such an attractive target for the taking; anything the government gets after the forfeiture would be pure profit.

http://www.ij.org/massachusetts-civil-forfeiture-release-4-26-2012