Eureka SWAT - Business As Usual?

If this doesn't give every law-abiding conscientious homeowner in Humboldt County pause for thought, I don't know what will.

Yeah! We know. It's carte-blanche for the police when it comes to the proliferating criminal element and all the low-life scummy trash-types. But, what happens when you're not a criminal, never were a criminal and support the law, judicious law enforcement and believe in the universal right to self-defense and someone falsely accuses you? Now it's open season on you buddy! You, your family and your poor dog, if you're unlucky enough to have one or two.

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Maryland Senate Holds Hearings on SWAT Transparency Bill

Last week, the Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee held hearings on a new bill that would require every police agency in the state with a SWAT team to issue quarterly reports on how often the teams are deployed, why they were deployed, what happened during the warrant service, and what was found. It is a small but vital step toward allowing for a proper assessment of just how often paramilitary-style tactics are being used in Maryland, how often things go wrong, and whether they’re being used as advertised.

Several witnesses at the hearing described yet more terrifying wrong-door raids, in cases never before reported.

Karen Thomas told the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee that she heard Howard County police shoot and kill her dog in her Ellicott City living room in September 2007, while she lay upstairs on the floor, surrounded by police who had not identified themselves.

“In my mind, terrorists had just killed my son and they were going to kill me next,” she told committee members.

Thomas said that police were searching for drugs, but none were found…
Choking back tears, Boyd Petit told committee members that during an April 2008 raid on his Highland home, a police tactical team had handcuffed him and his family outside his home, at gunpoint and in front of his neighbors, while other officers searched his house.

“Our collective lives flashed before our eyes,” he said.

Petit claimed the raid on his house was prompted by a former customer, who made false allegations about him to police. He said police were searching for a specific weapon, but it was not found.

Right now, it looks like the bill will get through committee. It’s being pushed by Cheye Calvo, the Berwyn Heights, Maryland mayor who was subjected to a particularly violent but mistaken raid on his home. (Compliments of the Agitator)

--Joe

Guilty As Accused

Ever hear the expression, "A picture is worth a thousand words"? How about two pictures worth a million words?


Is Diane Batley responsible for plastering this guy's guilty mug all over the Eurek Reporter's front page as one of her first duties?





Court: Miller Trial <--------> Diane M. Batley, Editor

If so, good job. We wouldn't want to take a chance that any prospective juror that sees this picture could find this guy anything but guilty now would we? Otherwise, why is he presented before the public and prospective jurors in a prison-guilty monkey-suit all shakled up like some raving lunatic ready for his tar and feathering? He's guilty! End of story.

End of his story, but not that of Ms. Batley or The Eureka Reporter. I'm sure they will provide much grist for the mill.


ADDENDUM Wednesday, August 13, 2008: Innocent Until Proven Guilty.

This is the front page picture in the Time-Standard, "Gundersen's wife held for her safety, ..."

No monkey suit and chains here. Is that because the jury's already been selected?

-Joe

Does The US Constitution Matter?

Welcome to the New American Monarchy

Wikipedia begins its definition of the US Constitution adopted and ratified in 1787-1789 by saying: "The United States Constitution is the supreme law of the United States of America." The purpose of that Consitution, or so we were told, was to replace the supreme power of the English Monarchy. A despotic, corrupt supreme law that had and used that power to "jail civilians indefinitely."

Court: US Can Jail Civilians Indefinitely

A federal appeals court has ruled President Bush can order the indefinite jailing of civilians imprisoned in the United States. The five-to-four decision effectively reverses last year’s ruling that the administration cannot label US residents “enemy combatants” and jail them indefinitely without charge. The ruling came in the case of the only person still held as an enemy combatant on US soil. Ali al-Marri was arrested six years ago at his home in Peoria, Illinois, where he lived with his wife and five children. He was initially charged with credit card fraud and lying to federal agents. But in June 2003, President Bush declared him an enemy combatant and ordered him into military custody. He has spent the last four years in solitary confinement at a Navy brig in Charleston, South Carolina. Al-Marri’s attorney Jonathan Hafetz said, “This decision means the president can pick up any person in the country—citizen or legal resident—and lock them up for years without the most basic safeguard in the Constitution, the right to a criminal trial.”

You can read more about this here. Also, at the New York Times.

Lies and False Accusations Rule!

Make The Connection?

Massive FBI raids -"Operation Southern Sweep" - Over 450 agents and local police involved after TWO years "investigations" while millions of dollars are reportedly involved, if the amount they say they recovered is true.

Over at the Humboldt Herald today we find, "Code enforcement news unreported" with the following: "It’s been rightfully pointed out that local media — including the blogs — are dropping the ball on keeping up with the Code Enforcement Task Force. The meetings are not being televised and last we heard, Task Force member and HumCo Supervisor Chair Jill Geist didn’t want the meetings broadcast because of financial burden."

You can read the rest of the article and the following post: "Editor's Note" here.

So, you apparently have warrantless searches under the guise of "Code Enforcement" and rubber stamp "warranted" searches based upon someone's use of electricity as an excuse to look for what?

Now, after you get all of that wonderful information under your belt and mull that question, take a look at this:

Police, Firefighters, Utility Workers Among Hundreds Trained as "Terrorism Liaison Officers"

"Colorado is one among of handful of states where hundreds of firefighters, paramedics, police, and even corporate employees are being trained to hunt down and report a broadly defined range of “suspicious activities.” They’re called Terrorism Liaison Officers. The federally supported initiative trains them to look out for “observed behavior that may be indicative of intelligence-gathering or pre-operational planning related to terrorism.”
Read the followup Denver Post article, "Terror Watch Uses Local Eyes."

You don't suppose that all you folks who were at those meetings, Code enforcement meeting draws 600 and County code enforcement actions draws hundreds have more to worry about than code enforcement issues do you?

Did someone actually believe that these elected county representatives were seriously looking after everyone's best interests? Or, did they all get a pass on January 1, 2000?

Save The Little Children

Once again the precious lives of our children are used to justify trashing the law and eliminating Constitutionally protected rights. This is what a major portion of Americans are hoping in: Senator Barack Obama. Here is his response on the latest Supreme Court ruling on gun ownership:

"I have always believed that the Second Amendment protects the right of individuals to bear arms, but I also identify with the need for crime-ravaged communities to save their children from the violence that plagues our streets through common-sense, effective safety measures. The Supreme Court has now endorsed that view, and while it ruled that the D.C. gun ban went too far, Justice Scalia himself acknowledged that this right is not absolute and subject to reasonable regulations enacted by local communities to keep their streets safe. Today's ruling, the first clear statement on this issue in 127 years, will provide much-needed guidance to local jurisdictions across the country. "

"As President, I will uphold the constitutional rights of law-abiding gun-owners, hunters, and sportsmen. I know that what works in Chicago may not work in Cheyenne. We can work together to enact common-sense laws, like closing the gun show loophole and improving our background check system, so that guns do not fall into the hands of terrorists or criminals. Today's decision reinforces that if we act responsibly, we can both protect the constitutional right to bear arms and keep our communities and our children safe."

Sounds good, use our "common sense," "keep our communities and our children safe," "act responsibly." Lord forbid a gun should fall into the hands of "terrorist" or a "criminal"!

The practical reality of acting responsibly is, despite the fact the Court ruled Americans can keep guns at home for self-defense is something altogether different. Now that gun ownership is legally protected don't let a police officer see you holding that gun. Today the mere presence of someone packing a weapon, whether it be a gun, a knife or a club, makes them feel threatened. That act alone, feel threatened, grants all police officers the right to defend themselves. It grants them a license to kill. All they are required to do is act "in good faith."

So, remember the little children. They just might save your life some day!

--Joe

. . . and The Beat Goes On!

Northern Calif. man dies after police use Tasers
The Associated Press
Last Updated 1:26 pm PDT Thursday, May 29, 2008

WOODLAND, Calif. -- A Woodland man has died after police officers fired on him with a Taser stun gun.

Police in Woodland, about 20 miles north of Sacramento, say the man became increasingly agitated as they tried to talk to him Wednesday morning. He had just left a clinic for people with mental health issues.

The man is believed to be in his 40s but his identity has not yet been released.
Lt. Charles Wilts says the man was not armed but was holding a pencil and moving closer to the officers when they fired at him.

Wilts says at least three officers deployed their Tasers, but it was not clear how many times the man was shocked. He also was struck in his arms and legs by police batons.

The Yolo County Coroner's Office planned an autopsy Thursday.
http://www.sacbee.com/114/story/974981.html

A what? A "pencil." An "important non-lethal tool"?

Joe says, Okay! So, what? So, consider this piece of brilliant blogging by Ernie Branscomb.
( http://ernielb.blogspot.com/ )

Outrageous Outrage.
Friday, May 30, 2008

Think there is any connection?

Ernie asks the question: Also, there were a great many innocent white people killed by Indians. The past needs to be “Past”.

I agree with Heraldo that what happened was horrible. I also agree with Anon.R.Mous that we really don't want to know who did it. What would that accomplish?

Joe asks, "Have you taken a good look around at our community lately, Ernie? None of us crawled out from under a rock yesterday. We all bear the burdens of the 'Past' whether we like it or not. That memory is carried in our DNA and it plays out everyday and in every way. As an example, the mentality that justifies the US assault on Iraq is the same justification used in all Indian massacres. So, 'What would that accomplish?' I reckon the answer might be in the immutable law, 'You reap what you sow.'" Heraldo has a point, even if it was August 5, 2006!

--Joe