Lies, damned lies, and statistics

Fox News wants us to be upset because the number of deaths of law enforcement officers increased by 17% this year, from 48 to 56. Meh.

Understand, I garner no joy from the death of a police officer. Many have families. Many are good people trying to do the right thing. Not all cops are flaming assholes, though I would submit that the majority -- particularly campus and traffic cops -- are.

But I can't get too worked up over 56 police deaths when you compare it side-by-side with the statistics of those killed by police officers.

Between 2003 and 2009 (the most recent statistics on the interwebs), 2,844 people were killed by police officers. Of that number, 2,684 were shot dead by the police. That's 406 deaths per year, 383 of those shot dead by the police.
You don't have to be a math whiz to figure out that 406 > 56.

"Come on, Vulture! You can't equate criminals being shot in the commission of a crime with law enforcement officers!" You're quite right. I wouldn't for a moment claim that there weren't some -- hell, maybe 90% or more -- of that number who desperately needed killing and whose shootings were 100% legit.

But what if 10% of those killed by police were innocents, people in the wrong place at the wrong time. People mistaken for someone else. People like the guy shot because a cop mistook his lighter for a handgun. People killed during the execution of a no-knock warrant who weren't involved in any crime.

Hey, Fox News. If you want me to care more about police deaths, how about you hold the police accountable when they bash in grandma's door and gun down grandma and her sleeping grandkids during a no-knock raid where some puke informant gave them the wrong address. In fact, how about you simply get behind the cause of abolishing blatantly unconstitutional no-knock warrants.

When the police start to behave like peace officers instead of law enforcers (trust me, there's a big difference), then I'll be more sympathetic when one of their number is killed. In the meantime.....meh.

New Tizona Post

While the sheeple pretend to live in the freest nation on the face of the Earth, the police state expands. TSSA - coming to a highway near you.

What anonymity really means

There once was a blog called Coram Non Judice (known to regular readers of this fine blog as Caput Penitus Culus).  The blog was purported to present valid legal opinions on issues related to the FLDS raid in Texas.  The blog was run pseudonymously by a fellow identifying himself as TxBluesMan.  No one knew his real name.  No one knew what his credentials were to opine on legal matters.  No one.

When asked how he justified writing anonymously what essentially amounted to hate-filled propaganda in the guise of legal opinion -- citing precedent often, of course -- TxBluesMan compared himself to the Founders, who at times wrote anonymous tracts against the colonial government and the King.

This, of course, was complete horse hockey.  There was nothing remotely similar to what the Founders did in anything TxBluesMan wrote.  The Founders hid behind anonymity to avoid arrest for sedition.  TxBluesMan wrote anonymously for a far different reason.

Anonymity, Martha Nussbaum, a professor of law and philosophy at the University of Chicago observes, allows Internet bloggers “to create for themselves a shame-free zone in which they can inflict shame on others.” The power of the bloggers, she continues, “depends on their ability to insulate their Internet selves from responsibility in the real world, while ensuring real-world consequences” for those they injure.

As the tipster who passed this story on to me wrote, "That, boys and girls, is the story of TxBluesman."

100% true and accurate. Think I'm kidding? I was accused by TxBluesMan of being pro-polygamy and pro-pedophilia for simply opining that 4th Amendment protections were violated during the Texas Stoßtruppen's raid! 

TxBluesMan is an intolerant bully.  He desperately needed to be outed.  And he was.

TxBluesMan turned out to be Sgt. Gregory Prickett, AKA the Caput a Palos, AKA The Prickette.

Once he was outed, The Prickette immediately shut down his odious blog to try to bury the evidence.  You see, now his real self was linked to his Internet self -- and real consequences awaited.

It's not pleasant when the curtain is parted and the Great and Powerful Oz is revealed to be a two-bit loser with a penchant for throwing his weight around and playing the big shot.  At least, not for Oz.

UPDATE: The same tipster who passed on the NY Times article adds the following:

Just FYI: while online at any sites controlled by Google, your "anonymity" is subject to their selective authority that may or may not conceal it.

Nothing better to do

Hat tip to xfloggingkylex for pointing me in the direction of this one.

ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) apparently has the border situation under control.  It apparently has drug, weapon, and other smuggling under control.  How else can you explain this?

[T]he US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) may have crossed a line -- in the midst of nabbing counterfeiters this weekend, the government organization seized the domains of a torrent meta-tracker and a trio of music sites. Today, the picture above is the only thing you'll see if you go to Torrent-Finder.com, RapGodFathers.com, Dajaz1.com or OnSmash.com, as the ICANN domain registration for the four are now in the ICE's possession, presumably on suspicion of piracy.

Copyright enforcement.  Seriously?  You're confiscating web sites -- without prior warning, without presentation of a warrant, without even Congressional mandate (the bill to provide that mandate has not yet passed Congress, and may not, based on the negative reaction of some Congressmen to ICE's heavy-handed power grab).

But you can't be bothered with border security, apparently.  Maryland is practically Quebec; signs in both English and Spanish are popping up everywhere.  If Maryland, which had approximately 14 Hispanics living in it when I moved here in 1987, has reached this point, what does that say for ICE's priorities?

It speaks volumes.  It says that ICE's priorities are the oligarchy's priorities.  That, and nothing more.

White-hot Prickette

War.  Really, it's the only word that can begin to describe the escalation of the saga of The People vs. The Mall Cop a Palos.  To summarize the events to this point.

• The individual behind Coram Non Judice (or, as I prefer, Caput Penitus Culus -- Head Inside Ass) has presented himself/herself/itself as the legal expert for all things related to the illegal seizure of the FLDS children in Texas.
  
  
• Said individual -- while, mind you, remaining completely anonymous -- engaged in the worst sort of character assassination against those whose opinions differed from his own.  Said individuals would include The Pharisee, Bill Medvecky, ScottyL of Ye Olde Journalist, Toes, and The Vulture.  Among other slurs, these individuals have been accused of being pedophiles or pro-pedophilia.  All save Toes blog "in the clear", with their real name and other information there for all to see.  I think that all fair-minded people would agree that slurs against real people -- particularly heinous slurs like calling someone a pedophile -- done from cover of anonymity is the act of a total coward.
  
  
• A Wikipedia administrator, investigating allegations of sock puppetry/meat puppetry and of using multiple identities in those activities (clearly against Wikipedia regulations), discovered two individuals, Sgt. Greg Prickett (hereafter referred to as The Prickette*) and Natalie Malonis (a prominent anti-FLDS lawyer) were engaged in meat puppetry.
  
  
• In the course of that administrator's investigation, the admin found a link from one of The Prickette's aliases (TxBluesMan) to the execrable POS Caput Penitus Culus.  He also discovered The Pharisee, looking for TxBluesMan.
  
  
• Long story short, The Pharisee became aware of The Prickette's real name, and he was formally "outed".
  
  
• All of the aforementioned individuals previously slandered by The Prickette (save Toes, who remains ever polite) had a field day with this information.  The Prickette was called everything but a Child of God by said individuals.  Not coincidentally, every word of what was said about the Prickette by these individuals was....wait for it....TRUE.
  
  
• Bill Medvecky wrote an open letter to The Prickette's boss detailing the kinds of activities he had been involved in.
  
  
• The Prickette issued a Cease and Desist order to The Pharisee, Bill Medvecky, and ScottyL to "stop calling him names and telling on him".  Big pussy!  At the time, I was just a wee bit bent that he hadn't included me in that order.  I didn't realize how lucky I was.
  
  
• The Prickette escalated.   He published pictures of The Pharisee's daughter on that cesspool of a blog, FLDS Texas, in a clear effort to intimidate and extort The Pharisee to back off.
  
  
• The Pharisee countered by contacting just about everyone associated with the university where The Prickette works to alert them to the kind of stalker sociopath they have working for them.
  
  
• The university, clearly seeing the potential liability they faced if they did nothing about this whack-job placed The Prickette on Administrative Leave.
  
  
• Now the other shoe has dropped, so to speak.  The Prickette has sued The Pharisee, Bill Medvecky, ScottyL, and the Wikipedia administrator for $1 million big ones and filed an ex parte which enjoins these gentlemen to desist in their accurate but hurtful name calling against The Prickette (Greggie!  Whatever happened to "sticks and stones..."?).   The full document can be read here.
  

Does anyone still doubt that we're dealing with a borderline personality here?  The Prickette sees absolutely nothing wrong with slandering innocent people, threatening their employment, threatening their relatives(!).  But reveal who he is and the kind of things he's done over the past two years...and he's first in line at the courthouse, ready to sue your ass.

Prickette, you're every bit the sniveling coward I thought you were the first time we had the opportunity to exchange views.  Wait, we didn't exchange views so much as I shared an opinion regarding the 4th Amendment violations I perceived regarding the flimsy warrant the Texas Stoßtruppen used as an excuse to search EVERY HOME IN THE FREAKING COMMUNITY and you called me a pedophile.

If I were the gentlemen named in your lawsuit -- particularly if I were The Pharisee -- I'd counter-sue your sorry ass.  I would guess that the aforementioned folks kept records of their "interactions" with you, just as I have.  I believe the things you've done to all of us from cover of anonymity completely dwarf the things these guys have allegedly done to you "in the clear".

Loser.

* Prickette was chosen as Mr. Prickett's non de guerre for the following reasons.  First, the name "Prickett" is pronounced "prick-ETT".  Second, the suffix "-ette" is used as a feminine diminutive.  This results in Prickette - a prick, only smaller and less masculine.

TSA - the 'A' stands for ?

Apparently, at least in this case, it stands for "A-hole".

In the tense new world of air travel, we're stripped of shoes, told not to take too much shampoo on board, frowned on if we crack a smile.

The last thing we expect is a joke from a Transportation Security Administration screener - particularly one this stupid.

Rebecca Solomon is 22 and a student at the University of Michigan, and on Jan. 5 she was flying back to school after holiday break. She made sure she arrived at Philadelphia International Airport 90 minutes before takeoff, given the new regulations.

She would be flying into Detroit on Northwest Airlines, the same city and carrier involved in the attempted bombing on Christmas, just 10 days before. She was tense.

What happened to her lasted only 20 seconds, but she says they were the longest 20 seconds of her life.

After pulling her laptop out of her carry-on bag, sliding the items through the scanning machines, and walking through a detector, she went to collect her things.

A TSA worker was staring at her. He motioned her toward him.

Then he pulled a small, clear plastic bag from her carry-on - the sort of baggie that a pair of earrings might come in. Inside the bag was fine, white powder.

She remembers his words: "Where did you get it?"

Two thoughts came to her in a jumble: A terrorist was using her to sneak bomb-detonating materials on the plane. Or a drug dealer had made her an unwitting mule, planting coke or some other trouble in her bag while she wasn't looking.

She'd left her carry-on by her feet as she handed her license and boarding pass to a security agent at the beginning of the line.

Answer truthfully, the TSA worker informed her, and everything will be OK.

Solomon, 5-foot-3 and traveling alone, looked up at the man in the black shirt and fought back tears.

Put yourself in her place and count out 20 seconds. Her heart pounded. She started to sweat. She panicked at having to explain something she couldn't.

Now picture her expression as the TSA employee started to smile.

Just kidding, he said. He waved the baggie. It was his.

And so she collected her things, stunned, and the tears began to fall.

Another passenger, a woman traveling to Colorado, consoled her as others who had witnessed the confrontation went about their business. Solomon and the woman walked to their gates, where each called for security and reported what had happened.

A joke? You're not serious. Was he hitting on her? Was he flexing his muscle? Who at a time of heightened security and rattled nerves would play so cavalierly with a passenger's emotions?

Can you believe this? She cried - I would have messed my pants! What in the name of God's green earth would possess this mendacious jerk to single out this poor young woman - hell, to single out ANYONE - for that kind of stress when going through a TSSA checkpoint is stress enough for anyone?

There's more.

When she complained to airport security, Solomon said, she was told the TSA worker had been training the staff to detect contraband. She was shocked that no one took him off the floor, she said.

"It was such a violation," the Wynnewood native told me by phone. "I'd come early. I'd done everything right. And they were kidding about it."

I ran her story past Ann Davis, regional TSA spokeswoman, who said she knew nothing to contradict the young traveler's account.

TSSA (two S's, because you can't spell Schutzstaffel without the second S) wouldn't come out and say what sort of punishment this tool was given for this patent violation of...well, if nothing else, the laws of human decency. But a TSSA spokestool did say that the individual was no longer associated with the agency.

Hey, how 'bout that? [/sarcasm]

And people ask me why I'm so anti-TSSA.....

Wiener of the Week

What a week this has been! Since I started poking a stick into the cage full of law-fetishists at Caput Penitus Culus, I've experienced a level of childish name calling, attempts to intimidate, and baseless accusations that would certainly intimidate a lesser bird. As such, we have a repeat winner for WotW.

In the past week, I've been accused by the CPC fetishists of:

• Being pro-polygamy and pro-pedophilia
• Being a misogynist
• Being intollerant of non-Protestants
• Being guilty of "muddled thinking"
• Being menopausal

In addition, I've been called:

• A computer geek
• A lawyer wannabee
• A computer geek who couldn't make it as a lawyer (AS IF! It's not rocket science!)

Additionally, my opinions have been summarily dismissed and my questions regarding bad case law (such as Dred Scott) ignored because:

• I'm not from Texas
• I'm not a lawyer

Oh, and let's not forget attempted intimidation! Old Caput thought I could be intimidated by showing my real name in one of his retorts! Hey Caput a palus! I don't intimidate! There's a reason I have my real name and real picture on my blog. It's because I'm not afraid to have my controversial opinions attributed to ME, a real person, a husband and father of two.

I almost forgot - I was accused of being uncivil. No merda! The whole point in me citing this asshat as WotW last week was in response to the incivility shown by the law-fetishists towards Toes. I fight fire with fire. Apparently, that hurt their feelings. Eff 'em if they can't take a joke! Besides, it's hard to take the accusation of incivility seriously when they're slinging insults while signed on as ANONYMOUS! Effing cowards!

In their eyes, I'm one of THEM. I'm FLDS. I'm pro-pedophia. I'm pro-polygamy. My consistent stance as a defender of Constitutional principles throughout the history of this blog is meaningless -- it's a beard to mask my FLDS connections. Could these people be any stupider?

So, Caput Penitus Culus and your fellow law-fetishists - you're the Wiener of the Week!

Caput Penitus Culus - the final word

An open letter to Caput Penitus Culus.

I spent the better part of yesterday trying to reason with you about how the actions against the FLDS represent a further erosion of the 4th Amendment and, as such, a threat to all of us. You, for your part, couldn't let go of your precious case law. Rather than address my questions, you evaded, disparaged me, and kept floating back to your original justification: case law says it's okay, so it's okay.

Well, Mr. Lawyer. Let me ask you this. What about Dred Scott? THAT was case law. Was it right? Was it good? Did it appropriately protect the rights of Americans as directed by the Constitution? Would you cite it today if it were still case law?

Just because some cross-dresser with a wooden mallet says so doesn't make it so.

Likewise, the erosion of the 4th Amendment continues unabated because the cross-dressers continue heaping more bad case law on previously established bad case law until the 4th Amendment is nothing more than hollow words, signifying nothing.

You're awfully adept at gratuitous personal attacks when you can't make your point. But I'm adept at personal attacks that BOLSTER my point.

You, sir, are an intellectual lightweight hiding behind a law degree. The next original thought you have will be your first. You are no better than Adolph Eichmann. "There's no case law prohibiting the gassing of Jews...", I can hear you saying, were you around in the 1930's and 1940's.

It is people like you -- useful idiots -- who are contributing to the enslavement of the citizens of the United States of America.

May you have the pleasure of experiencing first-hand the horror of being unjustly arrested because "case law says it's okay".

Coram Non Judice - an update

The proprietor of Coram Non Judice and I have been going round-and-round all day today (click here to see the exchange; it starts a little more than half way down the page (search on 'Vulture' to see where it starts).

Mr. Non Judice is a real piece of work. Every time I make a point, he veers in a different direction. First it was "the FLDS act more like Nazis than the Texas Police supporting the raid" in answer to my point about the government slowly getting us used to paramilitary raids on weirdos so that they can branch out in suppression of any group deemed to be outside the mainstream.

Then he objected to my use of the word 'blitzkrieg' as a description of the raid when I was pointing out how grossly over-the-top the militarized police presence, in full combat regalia, was.

Then, when I pointed out the legal fallacy of a warrant naming one person being used as justification for the search of the ENTIRE COMMUNITY he fell back on "no one was deprived of their rights...there was a warrant".

Then, to counter my next volley, where I asserted that nowhere in the Constitution does the armed invasion of an entire community even BEGIN to be authorized by a mere warrant, he accused me of being a supporter of PPSG (Pedophile Polygamist Support Group)! To further add insult to insult, he called my thinking "muddled and unclear". My response:

Which part of "I don't support the FLDS, their beliefs, or their alleged pedophilia" don't you understand? Doing wrong in an attempt to "do right" is STILL WRONG. Yes, there may be child abuse and pedophilia going in at El Dorado. But does that make illegal search and seizure okay?

Think through the consequences. The Law of Unintended Consequences is a bitch.

I have no idea what is "muddled" and "unclear" about not wanting the Constitutional protections of the 4th Amendment to be violated notwithstanding the righteous cause being paraded about as the justification for doing so.

This earned me this rebuke.

It is clear that you don't understand the Constitution nor the law.

And your opinion still doesn't matter...

Now it was time for that winning Vulture charm to show through.

Okay, Mr. Constitutional Expert - show me where it says that ONE (or two - if you insist) F'ING WARRANT is sufficient to justify setting up a military-style perimeter around a village for purposes of searching ALL RESIDENCES IN THE VILLAGE w/o respect to whether the individuals dwelling therein ARE EVEN NAMED IN THE F'ING WARRANT, and then I'll shut up.

My opinions may not matter to you, Mr. High-and-Mighty-Legal-Expert, but my 'couldn't care less' quotient remains unaffected.

You and your chums here are nothing but bombastic authoritarians who think that any generic warrant is sufficient justification for any little thing der Staat wishes to do to its citizens.

Enjoy Amerika. It seems to fit you.

So...do I think Mr. Caput Penitus Culus (that's Latin for 'Head Inside Ass') will ever come around to my way of thinking? Not a chance in hell! This assclown is so steeped in his self-perceived superiority because......wait for it.....HE'S A LAWYER...that he'll never accept the error of his thinking, particularly when his foil is a computer programmer who doesn't even have a college degree (*GASP!!!!*)

I'm probably done arguing with old Culus. He's WAAAAAAAAAY too smart for me. Probably better looking, too. And more popular.

Tool.

TSSA in the news

I know, it's been a while since I last went on a rant about the TSSA (no misspelling: you can't get the full effect of the American version of the Schutzstaffel without the second 's'). But you have to admit that they've kept a lower profile of late, with stories of TSSA abuses trickling down to practically zero. I'm not naive. I understand that this is mostly a product of last year's election and to the endless stream of news about the cratering economy.

But you just KNEW it couldn't last. Totalitarians never operate in total obscurity.

And now, like a poltergeist, they're baaaaaaaaaaaack.

For the first time, some airline passengers will skip metal detectors and instead be screened by body scanning machines that look through clothing for hidden weapons, the Transportation Security Administration said Tuesday.

An experimental program that begins today at Tulsa International Airport will test whether the $170,000 body scanners could replace $10,000 metal detectors that have screened airline passengers since 1973. Airports in San Francisco, Las Vegas, Miami, Albuquerque and Salt Lake City will join the test in the next two months, TSA spokesman Christopher White said.

The scanners aim to close a loophole by finding non-metallic weapons such as plastic and liquid explosives, which the TSA considers a major threat. The machines raise privacy concerns because their images reveal outlines of private body parts.

The machines raise privacy concerns? Why JUST the machines? Why doesn't the very existence of an agency that can pretty much make you strip naked on command not raise privacy concerns? We're talking about an agency that is exempt from illegal search-and-seizure laws. We're talking about an agency that wipes its collective ass with the 4th amendment. But, in the minds of most Americans, that's okay. It's the thought of someone seeing an outline of your body that's a "privacy concern".

At what point did I cross over into this parallel universe where all of this can happen in broad daylight with nary a peep from the sheeple?

Just when I thought I understood...

Every so often, something happens that has me shaking my head and wondering if I really understand what's going on. An example is my new favorite Senator, Russ Feingold, who is working tirelessly to protect travelers from having their laptops, PDAs, and other electronic equipment confiscated by der Schutzstaffel...excuse me, the Department of Homeland Security. Given that Senator Feingold is generally one of the more left-leaning members of Congress, chances of my seeing eye-to-eye with him on any issue would have to rank as slim-to-none. And yet, here is the good Senator, fighting to preserve the protections of the 4th Amendment against the wishes of the regime of King George the Dim.

But this one really floored me. I always thought of Alec Baldwin as a blowhard suffering from Bush Derangement Syndrome. But last week, appearing on the repellent Bill Maher's show, he dropped this bombshell that, once again, has me questioning if I understand anything.

The, the thing we have to remember, a friend of mine who is very close to the financial community in New York pointed out that Democrats have a lot of the responsibility for this as well. I mean, it was Clinton who killed the Glass-Steagall, and it happened under a Democratic president. Barney Frank and his committee, they, they kept propping up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac saying everything's fine, everything's fine, everything's good. And it was his job to know everything wasn't fine. And Barney Frank let you down and let us down as well. And so, but I want to say there's blame to go both ways. But I will say, I want to, I maybe keep beating this to death, but I still think anyone in this Congress who voted to add $140 billion to that bill, they should be ashamed of themselves. That is a disgrace. It's a disgrace. This Congress is a disgrace, Democrat and Republican.

Uh, wow! I'm floored.

I guess this is proof yet again that no one is 100% right -- not even Ron Paul -- and no one is 100% wrong. Not even Alec Baldwin.

Illegal search and seizure -- update

Some weeks ago I wrote about how der Schutzstaffel...excuse me, the Department of Homeland Security...had decided that the 4th Amendment doesn't apply anymore...at least not to them. They've implemented a policy that allows them to confiscate laptops and other electronic devices at border crossings and retain physical possession of said devices "for a reasonable period of time", which, of course, is defined by them. Here's the kicker: they will do so "without any suspicion of wrongdoing" on the part of the laptop owner! And they intend to "share the contents" of the devices with "other agencies and private entities"!

Did I miss something? Didn't we fight a war against the original King George for much less than this?

Which part of this text indicates that der Schutzstaffel has this authority?

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

At the time I first wrote about this I lauded Senators Patrick Leahy and Russ Feingold for their efforts to combat this affront to both decency as well as the Constitution. Senator Feingold fights on against this policy...and DHS continues to defend it.

"They're saying they can rifle through all the information in a traveler's laptop without having a smidgen of evidence that the traveler is breaking the law," said Greg Nojeim, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology. Notably, he said, the policies "don't establish any criteria for whose computer can be searched."

Customs Deputy Commissioner Jayson P. Ahern said the efforts "do not infringe on Americans' privacy." In a statement submitted to Feingold for a June hearing on the issue, he noted that the executive branch has long had "plenary authority to conduct routine searches and seizures at the border without probable cause or a warrant" to prevent drugs and other contraband from entering the country.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff wrote in an opinion piece published last month in USA Today that "the most dangerous contraband is often contained in laptop computers or other electronic devices." Searches have uncovered "violent jihadist materials" as well as images of child pornography, he wrote.

They found contraband. Whoopty-doo.

Michael Chertoff shouldn't be the head of DHS. Michael Chertoff should be in a Federal prison. The whole point of the 4th Amendment was to prevent just this sort of governmental intrusion into the lives of American citizens. But to Chertoff and other collectivists like him, the individual doesn't matter. Only der Staat matters.

Militarized Police run amok in PG county

Tip of the Beak to Rachel Lucas for calling my attention to this steaming mess.

Prince Georges county (PG county or "piggy" county to you out-of-staters) is a highly schizophrenic place. There is the PG county of bedroom suburbs of Washington, DC; places like College Park and Silver Spring. Bowie and Laurel. But much of the county sits hard against the worst and most crime-ridden Wards of DC. Places with names like Suitland and Capitol Heights. High-crime places.

But now, thanks to the PG County Sheriffs Department, the phenomena of increasingly militarized and out of control local police forces has come home to Maryland.

Don't believe me? Ask the mayor of Berwyn Heights. He's seen it, up close and personal.

When the shooting stopped, two dogs lay dead. A mayor sat in his boxers, hands bound behind his back. His handcuffed mother-in-law was sprawled on the kitchen floor, lying beside the body of one of the family pets that police had killed before her eyes.

After the raid, Prince George's County police officials who burst into the home of Berwyn Heights' mayor last week seized the same unopened package of marijuana that an undercover officer had delivered an hour earlier.

What police left behind was a house stained with blood and a trail of questions about their conduct. No other evidence of illegal activity was found, and no one was arrested at Mayor Cheye Calvo's home in this small bedroom community near College Park.

This week Prince George's police arrested two men for orchestrating a plot to deliver marijuana to the addresses of unsuspecting recipients -- among them, Calvo's wife, Trinity Tomsic.

Yet neither county Police Chief Melvin C. High nor Sheriff Michael A. Jackson have apologized to him, his wife or her mother, Georgia Porter, for the raid that traumatized the family and killed their black Labrador retrievers, Payton and Chase.

Apology? APOLOGY?!?!?! We're the Law! We don't have to apologize.

Mayor Calvo is calling for a Federal investigation of the invasion. Good luck there, Mayor. Who do you think it was that provided all of those neat toys for destroying homes to the PG County Sheriffs Department in the first place?

Apparently the PG County Sheriffs Department likes to get their aggression on versus family pets.

In once such case, Prince George's sheriff's deputies executed a warrant on the home of Frank and Pamela Myers of Accokeek in November. The Myers told sheriffs that they had the wrong address as their dog began barking from the yard. The couple asked if they could retrieve their dog, but deputies refused. Minutes later, two shots were fired and the dog was killed, according to a notice of a tort claims filed by attorney Michael J. Winkelman. The Myers were never charged and nothing was seized from their house.

So, what's it going to take before the sheeple are sufficiently roused to decry this Cops-vs-Citizens war that the Federales have fueled? Is it when the Stoßtruppen move beyond killing pets to killing homeowners? Oh, I'm sorry. They're already there in some parts of the country.

Wake up, people! The next house the Stoßtruppen crash could be yours!

Finally....indictments

It started with a false tip from an anonymous source, who turned out to be a woman with mental issues who routinely calls police with false tips. Their ranch/compound was raided by Stoßtruppen with armored vehicles and automatic weapons. Their children were taken from them at gun point, and only returned when the Texas Supreme Court overturned a stateist judge's ruling and then had to force the nanny-fascist to comply with their ruling.

But all along they (the FLDS men) were guilty, right? After all, would Der Staat have descended upon their little enclave with such a display of force if they weren't? I mean, for a display of force THAT ostentatious, surely ALL of the men in the compound MUST be guilty of SOMETHING, right?

Yesterday it was reported on by the AP that indictments have FINALLY been handed down. Surely there must be dozens, right?

A Texas grand jury Tuesday indicted polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs on a charge of felony sexual assault of a child. Five of his followers have been indicted as well.

Attorney General Greg Abbott said four of Jeffs' followers are charged with one count of sexually assaulting girls under the age of 17. One of the four faces an additional charge of bigamy.

Abbott said a fifth follower is charged with three counts of failure to report child abuse.

Okay, let me get this straight. After...what has it been? 2? 3 months? After all this time, they hand down six indictments. Six. They send an effin' army, they steal the children of every family living there...and they could only come up with charges against six of them!

I hope the state of Texas is damn proud of their government agents. The Stoßtruppen. The Child Protective Services. Judge Walther and all judges of a like mind with her. Your tax dollars at work.

On the side of the angels

Not in a million, billion years would I have ever imagined that I'd be politically aligned on an issue -- ANY issue -- with Russ Feingold and Pat Leahy. These guys are two of the biggest socialists in the Senate. Senator Feingold and RINO John McCommie put together the execrable Campaign Finance anti-free speech bill. Senator Leahy never met an entitlement he thought went too far.

But this time, Feingold and Leahy are on the side of the angels.

Two U.S. senators called on U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to back off its assertion that it can search laptops and other electronic devices owned by U.S. citizens returning to the country without the need for reasonable suspicion of a crime or probable cause.

Senators Russell Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat, and Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, both urged CBP to reconsider its policy that apparently has lead to frequent searches of laptops, digital cameras and handheld devices at borders.

"If you asked [U.S. residents] whether the government has a right to open their laptops, read their documents and e-mails, look at their photographs, and examine the Web sites they have visited, all without any suspicion of wrongdoing, I think those same Americans would say that the government has absolutely no right to do that," said Feingold, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights. "And if you asked him whether that actually happens, they would say, 'not in the United States of America.'"

By the way, the policy cited by the Senators was implemented at the behest of a REPUBLICAN administration. Seems to me that the Liberals are doing a better job of protecting our freedoms than the so-called Conservatives, who only seem to be in the business of conserving power for themselves.

Senators Feingold and Leahy, well done lads! I'm glad SOMEBODY in Washington still cares about our rights and freedoms.

Liberty in Eclipse -- a review

I discovered William Grigg's excellent website, Pro Libertate, quite by accident. What a fortunate accident it was! I was instantly aware that this was a writer of no small talent nor intellect. His insights into the nascent police state the Dear Leader (GWB) is assembling are dead on accurate and simultaneously chilling.

Because I enjoy Mr. Grigg's blog so much, I decided to purchase and read his book, Liberty in Eclipse. Oh. My. God.

For the first time in my life I understand, REALLY understand, what has happened to us as a nation. To use a Matrix analogy, I took the red pill when I read this book. Hang on, Dorothy! This book is the literary equivalent of a two-by-four to the mind.

The first thing that struck me was how unaware I was of the construction of Police State infrastructure that had been happening right under my nose for more than a decade. I was wholly unaware of the number of Congressional bills signed into law with innocuous sounding names like the Military Commissions Act. These bills served to bestow more and more power to the president to trample on the human liberties of both citizen and non-citizen alike.

Had you heard anything about the MCA before I mentioned it here? I ask because I hadn't, and I consider myself to be extremely well-versed in the political and social issues of our day. While the mainstream media is consistently beaten up for leaning to the left, I think a more apt description may not be "left-leaning" but rather "pro-Big Brother". How else can you explain why only Jack Cafferty of CNN (who usually comes across as a socialist stooge) said jack about the MCA during the course of its run through congress as it became the law of the land?

And what is the significance of the MCA? It basically makes the president a law unto himself. Anyone, citizen or non-citizen, once designated an "enemy combatant", loses ALL Constitutional protections as well as protections that pre-date the Constitution, such as Habeas Corpus. Once you're designated as an Enemy of the State (to use Soviet nomenclature) , you can kiss your ass good-bye; it's off to the Gulag for you!

One thing that really jumps out and grabs you about this book is how patently EVIL GWB is. Two things that really stand out are:

• He has been the driving force for torture of "enemy combatants" against the wishes of the military whose job it is to administer the torture.


• He has used the practice of "signing statements" (utilized in the past by presidents to clarify to those charged with implementing a signed congressional bill what they are implementing or how to do it) a staggering 435 time during his presidency; prior to GWB, that practice had been utilized only 322 times in 212 years. And he's not using those signing statements to clarify; rather, he's using them to NEGATE and effectively override the will of Congress and substitute it with his own will.

God help us!

Among the other topics dealt with in the book are no-knock warrants, the militarization of Police departments, and the manifest ways that the government tries to "collectivize" us.

Mr. Grigg finishes his book with a chapter which proclaims his optimistic opinion that all is not lost, that what we had CAN be recovered. I wish I could say I was that optimistic. But I'm not. We're too far down the rabbit hole to make it back without some sort of miraculous change in the mindset of the American people. Given my utter lack of faith in them, chances are slim.

I would strongly encourage you to read this book. Get your eyes opened to what we've become. It's some kinda education.

Justice for the FLDS/Nancy Grace is a Fascist

You could have knocked me over with a feather. A Texas appeals court has determined that Texas CPS had no right nor cause to seize the children of the FLDS cult.

The Third Court of Appeals in Austin said the state failed to show the youngsters were in any immediate danger, the only grounds in Texas law for taking children from their parents without court action.

Wait! Are you telling me that you have to have proof before you can take people's children? [/sarcasm]

This isn't just a victory for the FLDS. This is a victory for the Constitutional protections of each one of us.

But there are some among us who are perpetually less interested in justice and freedom and much more interested in righting perceived (if not factually provable) wrongs.

When I got home last night, Mrs. Vulture was watching Nancy Grace. I used to enjoy Nancy Grace the first several times I watched her show. But now, to me, she's just a screeching fascist. Last night was no different.

Her panel for the discussion of the FLDS ruling consisted of two male defense attorneys who defended the decision (quite well, I might add). The remainder of the panel consisted mostly of shrewish Naziettes whose idea of reasoned debate consisted of baseless (and, so for, evidence-less) charges. "Young girls barely into puberty are being forced to marry and have sex!" "They beat their wives - that's why they make them dress that way, so the bruises won't show!" "There's proof of physical abuse against the children!"

The Vulture had a one word reply for each of the baseless statements of the Fascistas - "Okay - where's the indictment?"

This is what separates the freedom lover from the Statist. The freedom lover believes that when one is accused of a crime, said crime should be investigated, evidence of guilt should be presented before a court, and judgment should be rendered by a jury of his or her peers. The Statist, on the other hand, believing that Der Staat is the solution to all problems, likes to take shortcuts. "Shoot first, ask questions later" takes a whole new meaning when you're talking about situations like this one where 460+ children have been needlessly traumatized because some übermommy decided that crimes have been committed and action must be taken by Der Staat!

I very much dislike the FLDS cult. I very much dislike the way that they treat their women, like cattle. I very much dislike and distrust cults in general. But in the United States of America, under the Constitution, even the most unlikeable cult has rights, and NO ONE, not the government, not the Texas Stoßtruppen, and certainly not the Texas übermommies, can abridge those rights.

Thank God there's still one court in this land that understands and abides by that. And thank God that Nancy Grace isn't our ruler!

Wiener of the Month

The WotM for April is quite the no-brainer. Who else could it be but the Stoßtruppen from Texas?

Wrong.

THIS nanny-state worshiping asshat is the Wiener of the Month.

Get a load (and I do mean a load) of this.

Lawyers for the FLDS members – who reside not only at YFZ but also at compounds located in Arizona, Utah, South Dakota, and Bountiful, British Columbia, Canada -- have been arguing in the press that the entry and removal of the children constituted a "massive" violation of due process. Others have argued that the authorities' actions represent the unfair targeting of one religion.

Each of these arguments is singularly misguided.

Exqueeze me? Misguided? Would you care to explain how the state-sanctioned kidnapping of 400+ children on the flimsiest of leads is acceptable? Oh, she would LOVE to explain it!

Whether or Not the Caller Was Legitimate, the Important Point is the Lack of Any Government Misconduct and the Serious Evidence of Crimes to Children

Yeah....that would explain the hundreds of indictments that have been....what do you mean, there haven't been any indictments? I'm S-O-O-O confused. /sarcasm

A Sect In Deep Denial of Its Crimes Cannot Be Trusted with Its Children

Are you shitting me? So now it's Law Enforcement's job to judge, on the spot and without any sort of judicial or jury review, not only whether a crime has been committed, but also whether there are delusional people among those being raided, which is immediate grounds for kidnapping their children? Lady, put down the crack pipe!

This raid was about child abuse, and as I explain above, it is not really any different than authorities entering a drug den or a private home where there are credible accounts of abuse. The child protective services universe is sufficiently stable by now that whoever is sexually abusing a child can be made to stop. It is the best interest of the child that determines government action.

"It is the best interest of the child that determines government action." That actually scares me. I exaggerate not.

Okay, were this just some random donkey spouting inanities, I could perhaps overlook it -- after all, you don't see me going off on the contributors to The Daily Kos, do you? But this ISN'T some random asshat - this is a Princeton University law professor!

Marci Hamilton: for your gross ignorance of the United States Constitution and your complete lack of understanding of basic common-sense law, you are the Wiener of the Month for April!

Vox on the FLDS debaucle

I wouldn't want anyone to think I'm piling on here. Okay, I'm piling on here. This is what Vox Day had to say in his WorldNetDaily.com column today:

[N]ot since the Waco massacre have I been so completely appalled by an American government action. The recent kidnapping of 416 children from their Fundamentalist LDS parents by Texas Child Protective Service agents is a unconscionable abnegation of not only the United States and Texas constitutions, but a rejection of the very meaning of what it is to be an American. For as P.J. O'Rourke rightly declares: "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please."

Amen, brother. Amen. And there's more.

Contrary to what a disturbing percentage of the voting population appears to believe, "protecting the children" is not a legitimate function of government. The concept appears nowhere in any constitution, and the very idea that the most lethal institution in human history, an institution that has killed more children than any other, can even be used to protect children is inherently oxymoronic. The state does not own the children whose families happen to reside within its boundaries and it does not possess the right to dictate what is and what is not a proper way for a family to raise its children.

Yeah buddy! And, finally, this.

And as history has shown, the next time it may not be some weird and heretical Mormons in the government's gun sights, but Jews, homeschoolers or evangelical Christians.

Do yourself a favor and read the whole article - it's well work it.

Victory over FLDS terrorists -- Update

From the Associated Press.

Officials still have not been able to identify the teen who made the call from the children being held at two sites in Texas.

The man alleged to be the 16-year-old's husband, Dale Barlow, is a registered sex offender who pleaded no contest to having sex with a minor in Arizona.

"I do not know this girl that they keep asking about," he told Utah's Deseret Morning News on Wednesday. "And I have not been to Texas since I was a young man back in 1977."

Like I said in my last comment in the original post. Fishy.