A Facebook post: My beliefs about politics, law enforcement (and other stuff)

 Earlier this morning, following some comments on Facebook, I posted a status articulating some thoughts about politics, government, and my take on respecting law enforcement.  Subsequently I've been feeling led to post it here as well.  It could be because I really haven't written anything here for quite a while about my beliefs on some things.

Anyway, here it is...

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There are some people on Facebook who the better angels of my nature are struggling to keep me from referring to as "blithering idiots". Specifically, the ones demanding to know if I am "left or right".

Those who know me best know that I'm neither, and that I have long been above such... at least what I consider to be... an immature, inaccurate and childish paradigm.

I may be fiscally conservative, but I'm not a be-all, end-all "conservative". Neither have I ever thought of myself as "liberal". "Libertarian" doesn't fit either. "Anarchist" certainly doesn't.

I am merely the person God made and meant for me to be... and I will NOT be pegged as "left" or "right" or anything else on the political "spectrum". I'm not on that spectrum. I'm above it. I believe in personal freedom with responsibility. Apparently that is too much for some to comprehend.

Neither do I appreciate the insinuation that I "defend" the "wrong people" because I expect more, and better, from those who have chosen to *serve* us in an official capacity. This is a government of the people, by the people and for the people. There is no tier system separating "us" from "them". Neither is trust or respect inordinately bestowed on those who have chosen to take up a mark of such service. That level of respect and trust must be *earned*. It doesn't come automatically with a badge or a uniform. That kind of unquestioning "respect" is ultimately what has led to tyranny throughout too much of history.

I don't "disrespect" anybody. But if someone wishes to bear a mark of distinction from others, then they'd damn well better LIVE UP to that with honor. I am an Eagle Scout. Every day I do my best to live up to what that means. I can't add to the honor of that, but I certainly can take away from it. I don't want to do that, because if I did that would bring the honor of a lot of people - who I consider better than I - into question. The same holds true for law enforcement, or anyone else who puts on a uniform. There are some among those who "get" that. There are too many who don't. And lately more than a few of them are taking away from the honor of those that do strive to live up to that honor.

Yet some have recently implied that I'm worse than "wrong" because I choose to question the honor of anyone at all.

We, each of us, are citizens of this country. It is the responsibility of each of us to respect the rights of others and to uphold the Constitution. There are some who have ostensibly chosen to make doing so a paid career of that. If so, then they SHOULD be held to a higher standard than other citizens. They SHOULD be held accountable for what they do with the power and authority entrusted them.

I don't say that out of disrespect toward anyone. But neither can I ascribe a "respect" that is synonymous with fear, toward those who believe they must be feared because of their chosen profession. I can't disrespect, but neither is my respect so cheaply gained. Neither should it be for anyone else.

I believe in accountability on the part of ALL of us, without partiality.

Just as I will not only NOT be branded as "left" or "right" or whatever, and in fact I loathe those who demand that of me.

I am simply what God has led me to be after much life and experience. I am what He would have me to be.

And if others don't have the capacity or the desire to understand that, then that's their problem, not mine.

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American Inquisition: Holder's Justice Department demanding "tips" on George Zimmerman

This has been news for a couple of days now, but the reason I held off posting about it is that I wanted to do some historical investigation first.  And you know what I found out?

To the very best of my understanding, there has not been a single instance before this week of the United States federal government setting up a hotline or e-mail address asking the public and organizations for information against an individual citizen.  Not one.  And if anybody reading this does know of one, feel free to write me at theknightshift@gmail.com and better my education on the matter.

George Zimmerman was acquitted this past

Eric Holder:
Roland Freisler would have been proud of him.

Saturday night of all charges against him in the death of Trayvon Martin.  Zimmerman had been charged with second-degree murder.

And now, not being content with a jury of his peers finding the man not guilty, Attorney General Eric Holder has directed the United States Department of Justice to solicit "tips" about George Zimmerman from "civil rights groups" and the general public.  Holder's people are searching for "evidence" which would put Zimmerman up on federal "civil rights charges".

In other words: the Obama Administration has officially designated George Zimmerman to be an enemy of the state.

Holder's Justice Department is declaring war against a single American who was found not guilty and who the Federal Bureau of Investigation stated that they had "no evidence" he was a racist.

The Obama White House is engaging in activity which makes those of Nixon's in the Watergate scandal positively pale in comparison.

Among everything else that is so wrong with this (including what could strongly be considered violation of ex post facto) I must wonder aloud: could this be a case of using the weight of the federal government to perpetrate an act of racial injustice?  All of this seems motivated primarily by the ethnicity of the respective parties in the case: Martin being black and Zimmerman, a Hispanic.

"Justice is blind", it has been said.  Yet Holder's Justice Department is behaving, to any rational observer, with racial prejudice against an American citizen and to an unprecedented degree of official action.

And if the government can do this to George Zimmerman, it can very well choose to do this to anyone else.  Including me.  Or you.

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Look! Real Third Amendment case! A story that will boil your blood...

'Fess up: how many of us laughed about the Third Amendment when we learned about it (or were supposed to have learned about it) in ninth grade?

The Quartering Act, 1763.

(Chris raises his hand)

The Third Amendment - part of the Bill of Rights in the Constitution - reads thusly: "No soldier shall in time of peace be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war but in a manner to be prescribed by law."

But an incident two years ago which is just now coming to light in court demonstrates how much we should appreciate our rights, whether or not we actively employ them  Anthony Mitchell and his parents, Michael and Linda Mitchell, were asked by the police department of Henderson, Nevada for the use of their homes in a "domestic violence" investigation.  All three members of the Mitchell family declined, saying they did not wish to become involved.

The Henderson Police Department took their homes anyway.

From Reason.com:

At 10:45 a.m. defendant Officer Christopher Worley (HPD) contacted plaintiff Anthony Mitchell via his telephone. Worley told plaintiff that police needed to occupy his home in order to gain a "tactical advantage" against the occupant of the neighboring house. Anthony Mitchell told the officer that he did not want to become involved and that he did not want police to enter his residence. Although Worley continued to insist that plaintiff should leave his residence, plaintiff clearly explained that he did not intend to leave his home or to allow police to occupy his home. Worley then ended the phone call

[Henderson police officers] banged forcefully on the door and loudly commanded Anthony Mitchell to open the door to his residence. Surprised and perturbed, plaintiff Anthony Mitchell immediately called his mother (plaintiff Linda Mitchell) on the phone, exclaiming to her that the police were beating on his front door.

Seconds later, officers, including Officer Rockwell, smashed open plaintiff Anthony Mitchell's front door with a metal ram as plaintiff stood in his living room. As plaintiff Anthony Mitchell stood in shock, the officers aimed their weapons at Anthony Mitchell and shouted obscenities at him and ordered him to lie down on the floor. Fearing for his life, plaintiff Anthony Mitchell dropped his phone and prostrated himself onto the floor of his living room, covering his face and hands.

Addressing plaintiff as "asshole," officers, including Officer Snyder, shouted conflicting orders at Anthony Mitchell, commanding him to both shut off his phone, which was on the floor in front of his head, and simultaneously commanding him to 'crawl' toward the officers. Confused and terrified, plaintiff Anthony Mitchell remained curled on the floor of his living room, with his hands over his face, and made no movement.

Although plaintiff Anthony Mitchell was lying motionless on the ground and posed no threat, officers, including Officer David Cawthorn, then fired multiple "pepperball" rounds at plaintiff as he lay defenseless on the floor of his living room. Anthony Mitchell was struck at least three times by shots fired from close range, injuring him and causing him severe pain.

Anthony Mitchell was charged with "obstructing an officer".  His father Michael was arrested while trying to leave a police command center which the cops lured him under false pretense so they could seize his house, too.

The Mitchells are suing the Henderson Police Department for violations of their Third and Fourth Amendment rights as well as "assault and battery, conspiracy, defamation, abuse of process, malicious prosecution, negligence, and infliction of emotional distress".

If the allegations are true, here's hoping that the Mitchells will bankrupt the Town of Henderson for allowing this to happen.  As for the cops themselves: in a sane world they would be taken to the village square and horsewhipped forty times as a dire warning to any who would wear and then abuse the badge of peace officer.

(That's a huge part of the problem right there: that we no longer have "peace officers" but "law enforcement officers".  There are many in this country who have come to believe that cops are becoming a government sanctioned gang of thugs not much different from the Bloods 'n the Crips.  Stories like this make it hard not to see some merit to that notion.)

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Department of Education sends SWAT-like team (with GUNS) to man's house over wife's unpaid student loans

In a saner age and a better reality, most of us would have never even imagined a headline like that. Today, we know better...

(Perhaps this is part of the reason why the Department of Education was buying up shotguns a year ago?)

Herein lies the tale of one Kenneth Wright of Stockton, California... who yesterday morning was rudely awakened at around 6 a.m. local time by at least a dozen armed officers in SWAT gear. Wright was held in handcuffs in a police car for six hours and his three children (ages 3, 7 and 11) put in another police car.

Why?

Because his estranged wife - who no longer lives at Kenneth's address - was in default of her student loans.

No joke folks: this man's house was raided by gun-totin' thugs on orders from the United States Department of Education...

Mash down here for more about Kenneth Wright at the Daily Mail website. According to an update on Michelle Malkin's site these were not actually SWAT team members that raided Wright's house but "...rather federal agents with the Office of the Inspector General, a 'semi-independent branch of the U.S. Department of Education' that investigates things like student aid fraud."

There you have it: the Department of Education has a highly-armed strike force at its beck and call.

Anyone else reading this and like me, can't help but wonder: "What the hell has happened to our country?!?"

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Police taser 86-year old bedridden grandmother

What. The. Hell. ?!?

I'd be really cautious about visiting El Reno, Oklahoma from now on. Sounds like the police department there are like too very many in this country: over-equipped with expensive gimmicks and over-eager to use them. In this case the lack of self-discipline almost cost the life of an 86-year old bedridden woman.

Here's the story from LewRockwell.com...

Lonnie Tinsley of El Reno, Oklahoma made a nearly fatal mistake last December 22 when he went to check on his grandma, Lona Vernon.

Concerned that Lona hadn’t taken her medications, Lonnie called 911 in the expectation that an emergency medical technician would be dispatched to the apartment to evaluate the bedridden 86-year-old woman.

Instead, that call for help was answered by nearly a dozen armed tax-feeders employed by the El Reno Police Department.

Understandably alarmed — and probably more than a little disgusted — by the presence of uninvited armed strangers in her home, Lona ordered them to leave. This directive, issued by a fragile female octogenarian confined to a hospital-style bed and tethered to an oxygen tank, was interpreted as “aggressive” behavior by Officer Thomas Duran, who ordered one of his associates : “Taser her!”

“Don’t taze my granny!” exclaimed Tinsley. According to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, Tinsley’s “obstructive” behavior prompted the police to threaten him with their tasers. He was then was assaulted, removed from the room, thrown to the floor, handcuffed, and detained in a police car. At this point, the heroes in blue turned their attention to Lona.

The tactical situation was daunting; at this point, the police had only a 10-1 advantage over a subject who — according to Duran’s official report — had taken an “aggressive posture” in her hospital bed. The sacred imperative of “officer safety” dictated that the subject be thoroughly softened up in order to minimize resistance.

Accordingly, one of the officers approached Lona and “stepped on her oxygen hose until she began to suffer oxygen deprivation,” narrates the complaint, based on Lona’s account. One of the officers then shot her with a taser, but the connection wasn’t solid. A second fired his taser, “striking her to the left of the midline of her upper chest, and applied high voltage, causing burns to her chest, extreme pain,” and unconsciousness. Lona was then handcuffed with sufficient ruthlessness to tear the soft flesh of her forearms, causing her to bleed.

After her wounds were treated at a local hospital, Lona was confined for six days in the psychiatric ward at the insistence of her deranged assailants from the El Reno Police Department.

It has long been established that the worst thing to do in an emergency is to call the police. In this case, Lonnie Tinsley didn’t call the police, yet they barged in anyway and quite nearly “helped” his grandma to death.

Like Tommy Lee Jones' sheriff character said in No Country for Old Men: You can't make up a story like this and I'd dare ya to even try.

I'll wager good money that all the police "officers" involved in this situation will get a citation for bravery. Along with a raise in salary. That seems to be the standard procedure for "law enforcement officers" who abuse their power: they not only get away with it, they get rewarded for it.

Anything else that I would like to say about the cops involved, is being barely constrained by the angels of my better nature. But here's hoping Lona Vernon and her family sue the hell out of the city of El Reno, Oklahoma.

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When law enforcement legally steals from people

It's bothered me for years that in the name of the "war on drugs" that some (emphasis on that) law enforcement agencies have engaged in what can only be described as theft of property from many innocent people. Chances are good that's going to continue to get worse as agencies are faced with budget crunches (along with the trend of hiring more and more individuals who have no business wearing a badge to begin with).

The Kingsport Times-News has an article on its website about "How police profit by seizing private property"...

Police and prosecutors’ offices seize private property—often without ever charging the owners with a crime — then keep or sell what they’ve taken and use the profits to fund their budgets. And considering law enforcement officials in most states don’t report the value of what they collect or how that bounty is spent, the issue raises serious questions about both government transparency and accountability.

Under state and federal civil asset forfeiture laws, law enforcement agencies can seize and keep property suspected of involvement in criminal activity. Unlike criminal asset forfeiture, however, with civil forfeiture, a property owner need not be found guilty of a crime—or even charged—to permanently lose her cash, car, home or other property.

According to the Institute for Justice civil asset forfeiture is one of the worst abuses of property rights today. The Institute has released a national study on civil forfeiture abuse. The report—Policing for Profit: The Abuse of Civil Asset Forfeiture - is the most comprehensive national study to examine the use and abuse of civil asset forfeiture and the first study to grade the civil forfeiture laws of all 50 states and the federal government. The report finds that by giving law enforcement a direct financial incentive in pursuing forfeitures and stacking the legal deck against property owners, most state and federal laws encourage policing for profit rather than seeking the neutral administration of justice.

This is one of the biggest reasons why I've come to be against the "war on drugs", and now the "war on terror". When government can declare a cause against something and demand all possible power and authority to wield against it, it is inevitable that the rights and liberties of individuals will suffer. And there's very rarely any going back.

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Why are local law enforcment agencies deploying high-tech sonic weapons against citizens?

Call it what you may, a law of either history or human nature. Anything can be used as a weapon... and that a thing intended as a weapon will be used as a weapon.

Concordantly, there is no reason to produce a weapon unless there is a determined possibility of using that weapon.

The San Diego Sheriff's Department is now in possession of a Long Range Acoustical Device or LRAD: a "sonic weapon" straight out of science-fiction (particularly Atlas Shrugged). This is something that has been used in Iraq against insurgents and also recently against pirates off the coast of Somalia. Quite effectively, it should be noted.

Well, now San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore has been placing his new toy at town hall meetings where citizens have been coming in droves to protest "health care reform" and bigger government.

A spokesman for the San Diego Sheriff's Department claims that the LRAD will not be used as a weapon by the department, further alleging that the LRAD is only going to be used in emergency situations like warning residents during fires or floods. However, Sheriff Gore has previously acknowledged that the LRAD could be used for crowd control similar to pepper spray.

What's wrong with using a bullhorn, or a truck-mounted stereo system and microphone? What is wrong with using pepper spray? There's not the potential for life-long injury (especially to children and unborn babies) with those measures as is the case with the LRAD.

(Incidentally, the $27,000 that the San Diego Sheriff's Department used to purchase the LRAD came from a PATRIOT Act grant.)

I'm gonna say it if nobody else will: there are many agencies of the government, and San Diego Sheriff's Department is lookin' like one of 'em, that are no longer accountable to the people. To aim something obviously intended for military purposes at regular American citizens goes way beyond a simple "chilling effect" and too far into the realm of being nothing short of a full-blown scare tactic.

Let me be even more succinct: if a government boasts of having a weapon against its people, it will inevitably use that weapon against its people.

You read it here first.

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Fire chief shot by angry cops... inside courtroom!

If you're traveling through Arkansas anytime soon, you might wanna detour around the little burg of Jericho. The town of 174 residents has a government run amok: Jericho has a budget crisis and its police officers are spending darn nearly all of their time writing out traffic citations. Some citizens are complaining that the cops are so obsessed with writing tickets that it's become almost impossible to get police help for more serious matters.

Now comes word that the fire chief of the town has been shot at by Jericho police officers when he got into an argument with them about their out-of-control ticketing practices. Don Payne had to go to court twice in one day, and it was during his second trip that the altercation took place and Payne took a bullet to the hip.

Oh yeah, this was in the middle of the courtroom.

And according to the story, the town's prosecutor doesn't plan to file felony charges against the officer. Payne however might face a misdemeanor charge for the fracas (what the...?!). No word at all on whether the cop who shot him will be punished in any way whatsoever.

(Anyone else thinking that the "internal investigation" will come back and say that this cop did nothing wrong?)

Meanwhile, Jericho's police force has been disbanded for the time being and a judge has voided all the outstanding traffic tickets until the town's mess gets straightened out.

Considering that so many towns across the country are now short on cash, I wonder how many more times we'll be hearing about stories like this...

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YouTube video: Police officer says "It ain't (America) no more"

From August 25th, 2009 at a public meeting between Rep. Jim Moran and his constituents at South Lakes High School in Reston, Virginia. As is happening a lot lately, the meeting was to discuss President Obama's health care "reform".

And outside the school, this exchange was taking place between a private citizen and polie officer Wesley Cheeks, Jr. During which Officer Cheeks is told that this is America and replies "It ain't no more"...

The only comment I'll make is that I've seen this sort of thing happening for a long time already. It certainly didn't start with Barack Obama (I saw much of the same happening on George W. Bush's watch). And I like to think that now that the shoe's on the other foot, that some Americans who had been too dense before will start paying attention.

I like to think that, anyway.

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Ohio town's traffic cameras send out 10,000 tickets in 1 month

If you can help it, I'd consider the town of Heath, Ohio to be a place to steer well clear of. That personal assessment comes after word that it's newly-installed traffic-enforcement cameras have sent out more than 10,000 tickets after just four weeks of operation. With the tickets being $100, after camera provider Redflex gets its cut that's $83,000 that the city government would put into its coffers.

As you can imagine (and you can see it in the comments of the above-linked article) quite a number of folks are honked-off about this. I would be too. Traffic cameras, be they for speed or at stop-light intersections, are not about enforcing laws for sake of safety. They are, first and foremost, a "revenue enhancing" scheme.

And these cameras are inherently not constitutional. We are supposed to have the right to face our accuser in a court of law, regardless of how small the offense.

How does one do that when the accuser is a robot?

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Department of Homeland Security halts Monsterpocalypse strategy guide publication! "Radical ideas" espoused by board game a terrorist threat?!

Folks, please understand something: this is NOT a joke! That was my first thought when I read about this situation late last week. And then over the weekend I played Monsterpocalypse for the very first time (and very much enjoyed it) at HyperMind and this was the #1 topic of discussion among the faithful players meeting there.

So then I contacted the good people at Privateer Press, the producers of Monsterpocalypse, and received confirmation: the Department of Homeland Security has delayed the publication of the Monsterpocalypse Series 3: All Your Base Strategy Guide due to "national security concerns".

Throughout the day I have made attempts to contact the Department of Homeland Security, by both phone and e-mail. As of this writing no one in any official (or unofficial for that matter) capacity with the United States government has gotten back with me about why a collectible miniatures game focusing on giant monsters, aliens and robots wrecking havoc on tiny plastic cities is supposed to be a threat to national security.

But look! Press release!

Bellevue WA July 21, 2009—Privateer Press reports that the release of the Monsterpocalypse Series 3: All Your Base Strategy Guide for the Monsterpocalypse collectible miniatures game will be delayed due to national security concerns.

Homeland Security pulled the shipment for an intensive examination last week when it arrived in the United States. While no comment was made to the nature of the investigation, several crew members within Privateer Press believe the government became concerned over some of the more radical ideals espoused by several factions within the Monsterpocalypse game.

Privateer Press Chief Creative Officer Matt Wilson said of the investigation, "Privateer Press would like to extend its complete support to the men and women who defend our national security on a daily basis. However, I am confident that the investigation's outcome will reaffirm the rights of free speech and protest of the radical environmental group Green Fury at the perceived devastation man is having on our planet as well as the freedom of people to practice religion without governmental oversight—even those religions which may very well bring forth the minions of the ancient Lords of Cthul."

For more information and updates on this and other Monsterpocalypse news visit www.monsterpocalypse.com.

About the Monsterpocalypse Collectible Miniatures Game

The collectible miniatures game (CMG) Monsterpocalypse brings the giant-monster genre—a pop culture favorite—to the tabletop in the form of a fast-paced, action-packed game. Designed by Matt Wilson, the award-winning creator of WARMACHINE and HORDES, Monsterpocalypse leverages the critically acclaimed abilities of Privateer Press as a leading miniatures manufacturer to enter a new category of product with a property that appeals to a worldwide fan base of all ages. Players can visit www.monsterpocalypse.com for game previews and updates.


About Privateer Press, Inc.

Privateer Press, Inc. is a privately held producer of entertainment and hobby brands based in the Seattle area. Its products include the newly released Monsterpocalypse collectible miniatures game, the award-winning WARMACHINE and HORDES hobby miniatures games, the award-winning Iron Kingdoms property, Bodger Games, the full-color No Quarter Magazine, and the Formula P3 hobby line. To learn more about Privateer Press, visit www.privateerpress.com or contact the president, Sherry Yeary, at (425) 643-5900 or sherry@privateerpress.com.

July 21, 2009

Incidentally, something very similar was reported a month ago happening to comic book artist/writer Mark Sable, whose new graphic novel series Unthinkable deals with possible terrorist scenarios that begin coming true.

But so far as Monsterpocalypse goes: I suppose that this might well mark the very first time, ever, that the U.S. government has made an official position against giant dinosaurs, Martian invaders, and Lovecraftian horrors from beyond the realm of normal space and time.

Sleep soundly, folks! Whether it be protecting us from Taliban terrorists or Green Fury activists, the Department of Homeland Security is on the job!

I just wish that I could be anything but a nervous wreck. I mean, after making this video for HyperMind's entry for the Monsterpocapalooza event...

...does this mean that I'm now suspected by Homeland Security of colluding with "terrists" and using weapons of mass destruction?!?

In a different time and a saner age, that might be pretty funny. But when tiny plastic toys are considered a legitimate enough danger to American sovereignty as to warrant spending time and money stopping the publication of a game manual, something is seriously off-kilter in this country.

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Latest stories of law enforcement gone bonkers

As I shouldn't have to state every time I post something about this: I do believe that most of those who choose to serve in law enforcement are doing so honorably. But I also must point out that a virtue like trust does not come automatically with a badge and a uniform. Trust must be earned and kept. And it is inherent to a free and peaceable society that all citizens be vigilant in the upholding of liberty.

So it is that The Knight Shift now presents more of the sadly seemingly-escalating chronicles of cops gone screwy.

The first comes from Philadelphia, where police officer Alberto Lopez Sr. publicly bullied civilian Agnes Lawless in a convenience store because Lawless was involved in a minor fender-bender with Lopez's son a short time earlier. At one point Lopez shoved his service pistol into Lawless's face. Here is the footage from the Lukoil's security camera...

The next story comes from Wyoming, where Franklin Joseph Ryle Jr., formerly of that state's Highway Patrol, plead guilty in federal court to charges of depriving a man of his constitutional right to be free from unreasonable seizures by kidnapping him. Earlier this year and while on duty as a Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper, Ryle "stopped a Wal-Mart truck with the intent to murder its driver and stage an accident with the truck that would either injure Ryle or kill his wife, allowing him to seek a monetary settlement from Wal-Mart."

And rounding out this report, Washington D.C. chief of police Cathy Lanier is blasting iPhone users as "cowardly". What has Lanier so honked-off is Trapster: a new iPhone app that tells you when you are approaching a red-light camera, speed trap and other safe-driving revenue-enhancing schemes. I say: things like the red-light cameras are a cowardly tactic on the part of government agencies... and if citizens want to strike back at them, more power to them!

(I wonder how many iPhone users have bought Trapster all because of Cathy Lanier making such a fuss about it? Bet that app's creator is now enjoying some profit on account of the free publicity! :-)

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Murrill McLean FIRED!! Danville cop who murdered dachshund is out of a job!!

Remember Murrill McLean, the Danville Police Department officer who a month ago shot and killed a tiny miniature dachshund that was only barking at him?

Here is "big bad" Murrill McLean...

And here is a photo of the late mini dachshund "Killer" that McLean terminated...

Well, guess what folks?

Murrill McLean has been FIRED from the Danville Police Department by Chief Phillip Broadfoot!

Incidentally, The Knight Shift was the first source that publicly broke the pictures of Murrill McLean hefting his heavy hardware. After the photos of McLean were published here they wound up widely disseminated among the mainstream press (and were also stolen for broadcast use on WGSR by general manager Charles Roark without attribution... and yeah I've got the proof of him visiting this blog to nab 'em too. But then he's a well-known kleptomaniac anyway...).

So, for this time at least, justice is served, and a member of law enforcement who abused the power entrusted him has been punished.

May other cops across America take something from this example.

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Comic book writer detained by Transportation Security clowns for possessing "terrorist"-ish script

Comic book writer Mark Sable is reporting that last month while going through Los Angeles International Airport bound for New York, he was detained by Transportation Security Administration agents after being flagged for "extra screening".

What nefarious act did Sable commit that deemed him worthy of notice as being in possible collusion with "the terrists"?

The fact that his new comic miniseries Unthinkable deals with 9/11-ish scenarios that start coming true.

Here's what Sable said happened...

"Flying from Los Angeles to New York for a signing at Jim Hanley's Universe Wednesday (May 13th), I was flagged at the gate for 'extra screening'. I was subjected to not one, but two invasive searches of my person and belongings. TSA agents then 'discovered' the script for Unthinkable #3. They sat and read the script while I stood there, without any personal items, identification or ticket, which had all been confiscated.

"The minute I saw the faces of the agents, I knew I was in trouble. The first page of the Unthinkable script mentioned 9/11, terror plots, and the fact that the (fictional) world had become a police state. The TSA agents then proceeded to interrogate me, having a hard time understanding that a comic book could be about anything other than superheroes, let alone that anyone actually wrote scripts for comics.

"I cooperated politely and tried to explain to them the irony of the situation. While Unthinkable blurs the line between fiction and reality, the story is based on a real-life government think tank where a writer was tasked to design worst-case terror scenarios. The fictional story of Unthinkable unfolds when the writer's scenarios come true, and he becomes a suspect in the terrorist attacks.

"In the end, I feel my privacy is a small price to pay for educating the government about the medium."

Just one more reason why Transportation Security and the whole sorry lot of the Department of Homeland Security is the worst new government boondoggle of the past half century (even worse than the Department of Education!).

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THIS is the Danville Police Department officer who killed a helpless Dachshund...

Murrill McLean, Danville Police "officer", who shot and killed 11-pound miniature dachshund "Killer" earlier this week.

This is the "cop" who was so afraid of a tiny little dog that was only barking at him, that he used lethal force. This guy, who looks like six-foot something and all tough.

Apparently he's also an enlisted soldier who's about to begin a tour of Iraq.

Hide your puppies, people of Baghdad. Better keep your children out of the street too, if you don't want Officer McLean shooting first and asking questions later.

Want to make this better, Chief of Police Phillip Broadfoot? Then Murrill McLean had damned better make a heartfelt public apology to the family before the weekend is out and tender his resignation from the Danville Police Department. Either that, or fire his butt as an example for everyone else in law enforcement: that those of your profession must be held accountable for their mistakes, however much they might regret making them in the first place.

EDIT 10:28 p.m. EST: Here's another photo of Murrill McLean of the Danville Police Department (in addition to many others that I've come into possession of)...

There's so much wrong with this pose that I'm not gonna begin to comment about it. But y'all can if you feel so led.

EDIT 06/12/2009 09:08 a.m. EST: This post is receiving a lot of traffic and I have been asked for the source of this photos. They were plenty easy to find: Murrill McLean has a Facebook page that as of this writing is still publicly accessible for anyone in the Greensboro, North Carolina area and he has posted most of these on a Flicker account as well.

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NOT AGAIN! Danville, Virginia "cop" murders mini dachshund!

This is the second time in as many days that this blog has reported a story like this. The first was from Ohio, where two big Blue Ash Police Department officers tasered, then shot and killed a five-pound dog that they said was "threatening" them.

Now comes word that the same thing has happened just across the state line from here in Danville, Virginia.

On the left is a photo of Killer, who had been an 11-year old miniature dachshund weighing about 12 pounds. He was regarded as a "friendly, friendly" dog that was not only a companion to the Harper family that owned him, but well liked throughout the neighborhood.

On Monday night a Danville Police Department officer - and I will gladly post the name and home address of this bastard who has no business with a badge if someone will provide it to me - shot Killer dead while at the adjacent property serving papers.

Here's the story as reported by GoDanRiver.com...

According to a news release from Danville Police Chief Philip Broadfoot, an officer shot and killed the dachshund Monday night while serving two outstanding warrants to a neighbor in the 100 block of Berman Drive.

As the officer returned to his car, “he was surprised by a growling dog running through the yard directly at him from the rear, leaving him with just seconds to consider his options,” according to the news release. The options for the officer in that type of situation include running to the squad car; distracting the dog; or using pepper spray, a baton or firearm. The dog lunged at the police officer and attacked him as the officer fired one shot that hit and killed the dog, Broadfoot said.

An investigation by the Danville Police Department found that the dog displayed aggressive tendencies before other people.

“Shooting a dog which is actively presenting a threat to an officer is within the department’s policy,” ac-cording to the release.

Lt. Mike Mondul, public information officer for the Danville Police Department, said that the lag between the incident and acknowledgement from the department was due to an administrative decision.

“The decision was made by department administration that the chief would address it on Thursday,” Mondul said.

Carlos, 14, was upstairs when he heard the gunshot.

“I saw my mom, and she started to cry,” Carlos said.

The children came downstairs, he said, and their mother told them that a police officer shot Killer.Tawaiin drove home from work after getting a call from Carlos about the shooting.

“When I got there, the dog was laying with his guts hanging out,” Tawaiin said.

The officer leaned against his patrol car, smoking a cigarette, and Tawaiin walked over to talk to him. He said the officer told him that he had to shoot the dog because he was barking at him. Tawaiin asked for his badge number and name, but the officer refused to give it to him and said his supervisor was on the way.

His supervisor arrived and couldn’t believe what happened, Tawaiin said.

“(The lieutenant) was very, very remorseful,” Tawaiin said. “He kept apologizing. And he said I know apologizing can’t bring the dog back, but I just don’t know what to say.”

The dog was a member of the family, Tawaiin said. Nicole was 4 and Carlos was 3 when the family wel-comed the new addition.

“He was like a brother to me,” Carlos said.

Killer greeted Tawaiin every time he came home. Whenever a car pulled into the cul-de-sac, Killer barked to let everyone know that someone new was there.

“He was the security guard around here,” Tawaiin said.

Neighbors said Killer was a sweet, mild-mannered dog.

“He just kind of walked up and down the neighborhood and didn’t bother anybody,” said Jenine Edmunds, who lives on the cul-de-sac. “He was just a little house dog.”

Friends and neighbors have asked the Harpers if they will get a new dog.

“You can’t replace Killer. He’s one of a kind.

“I’m still trying to soak it in because the dog had been with us so long. He was a family member. They took a family member away.”

So the Danville Police Department officer killed a harmless dog, then coolly began smoking a cigarette and refused to identify himself.

This asshole "cop" needs to be fired at the very least. And in a saner world and a different age perhaps dragged out into the street and beaten within an inch of his life.

Like I said yesterday, I have no sympathy for anyone who abuses authority entrusted them like this. But no doubt the "internal affairs" of Danville Police will come back after an "investigation" - which we already know will be a joke - and will report that this officer did "nothing wrong". And a family will still be without its miniature dachshund: one of the most playful and harmless breeds around.

Like I also said yesterday: this kind of thing is not going to stop until a lot of the bad cops are dead.

EDIT 06/11/2009 05:08 p.m. EST: What kind of "police officer" is it who would shoot and kill a miniature dachshund that was only barking and was known throughout the community as being a happy, harmless doggy?

Are y'all ready for this?

Click here for more about Murrill McLean of the Danville Police Department.

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Blue Ash, Ohio cops MURDER five-pound dog (and how to stop law enforcement abuse)

This is gonna be another post where I'm compelled to use "less polite" language, folks. But I think you'll agree: it's more than warranted.

Here is a photo of Jack, a five-pound Chihuahua-mix dog that until last week was owned by Scott and Sharon Bullock of Blue Ash, Ohio...

And these are the three bullets that Blue Ash Police Department officers shot into Jack this past Friday evening when they killed the dog on the front porch of the Bullock home...

Here's the story from WCPO.com:

Family Outraged After Officer Shoots Their Dog
Reported by: Lynn Giroud
Photographed By: Jeremy Glover
Web Produced By: Neil Relyea
Last Update: 8:46 am

CINCINNATI, OH -- A Blue Ash family is outraged after returning home to find their dog had been shot and killed by a police officer.

The dog was a Chihuahua-mix named “Jack” that Scott and Sharon Bullock had given to their 12-year-old son for his birthday a few years ago.

When the Bullocks returned home from a family member's funeral on Friday, they found blood and three bullets on their front porch – along with a note to call the Blue Ash Police Department about their dog.

The Bullocks were shocked to learn that Jack had gotten out of the backyard and two officers who tried to catch him, ended up shooting and killing him right on the family's front porch.

"He was cornered on the porch and scared," said Sharon Bullock. "The officer bent down bare-handed to pick up Jack, and Jack bit him."

"My five-year-old cried himself to sleep the night before last, wanting his dog," said Sharon Bullock.

"He ‘barks’ for him" added Scott Bullock. "He'd ‘bark’ and Jack would always come to him, so he's outside going ‘Bark bark bark,’ hoping he's gonna come back. It's heartbreaking."

The Bullocks told their five-year-old and three-year-old sons that Jack ran away.

The Bullocks admit they were at fault for leaving their dog outside, and are sorry the officer was bitten, but they say their dog was not a vicious animal and had never bitten anyone before.

They're wondering why the officers didn't call the SPCA to catch the dog.

"They didn't make that phone call other than to come scoop the dog off the porch after they shot him," said Scott Bullock. "Two grown men that can't gather up a five-pound dog – and they're trained police officers – sounds ridiculous to me."

That officer later explained to the family that he was following procedure.

The Blue Ash Police Department has not returned 9News’ calls for comment on this incident.

The family says there were two officers involved. One was bitten. The other officer tased, then shot the dog three times.

Two grown men, serving as police officers, use a Taser on a five-pound dog and then "follow procedure" by shooting it dead.

Dear readers, you know what is going to happen next the same as I do, the same as everyone knows who has read stories like this too damn many times: the police department's "internal affairs" will conduct an "investigation", and then declare that the officers did nothing wrong. To add insult to injury they might even get some kind of meritorious citation for "bravery in the line of duty".

And in case you haven't seen it already, in New Jersey a cop beat a man senseless because the civilian wouldn't zip up his jacket, or something (can't make this stuff up folks).

Let me say this already, lest there be any doubt: I do believe there are many good people out there who serve in law enforcement. Some are even family. But I respect them in regards to their chosen professions because they happen to have strong character and because they have earned that respect. Because they put serving others and using the brains that God gave them ahead of following "procedure" for procedure's sake.

I can not and will not respect them, or anyone else, simply because they happen to have a badge and a gun and a smartly-ironed uniform. I like to believe that those who I can give respect to will comprehend that already without me or anyone else having to say as much.

But then there are the "cops" that have no business at all being in a uniform with a badge and a gun. And these Blue Ash Police exemplify that.

These are the bad cops.

And this kind of thing isn't going to stop in America, ladies and gentlemen, until a lot of the bad cops are dead.

Is that a harsh assessment? Yer damned right it is. But as I see it, upholding the Constitution and laws of this land is something that every citizen is called to do without compensation. And those that do hear the call to uphold the law on a full-time professional basis must be held to a higher standard than the average citizen. If they are not, then they are inevitably going to abuse the authority that is entrusted them.

This kind of thing has gotten way out of hand. And it's not going until citizens send the message loud and clear to those in law enforcement who are irresponsible and corrupt: "We are not going to tolerate your kind any more."

These Blue Ash, Ohio cops think that their badges make them special?

F*#@ 'em.

Like I said, a lot of alleged "law enforcement officers" don't have the right mind or the right attitude to be armed in uniform.

And if they can't be made to understand this, if they persist in abusing their positions...

...they need to be put down like the dogs they are.

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FCC can enter your home without warrant if you have a wireless router

If your home network uses a wireless router, or if you have a cordless phone or baby monitor or cellphone or anything that emits radio waves, the Federal Communications Commission has asserted it has the power to enter your property WITHOUT a warrant in order to "inspect" said equipment.

That’s the upshot of the rules the agency has followed for years to monitor licensed television and radio stations, and to crack down on pirate radio broadcasters. And the commission maintains the same policy applies to any licensed or unlicensed radio-frequency device.

“Anything using RF energy — we have the right to inspect it to make sure it is not causing interference,” says FCC spokesman David Fiske. That includes devices like Wi-Fi routers that use unlicensed spectrum, Fiske says.

The FCC claims it derives its warrantless search power from the Communications Act of 1934, though the constitutionality of the claim has gone untested in the courts. That’s largely because the FCC had little to do with average citizens for most of the last 75 years, when home transmitters were largely reserved to ham-radio operators and CB-radio aficionados. But in 2009, nearly every household in the United States has multiple devices that use radio waves and fall under the FCC’s purview, making the commission’s claimed authority ripe for a court challenge.

“It is a major stretch beyond case law to assert that authority with respect to a private home, which is at the heart of the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable search and seizure,” says Electronic Frontier Foundation lawyer Lee Tien. “When it is a private home and when you are talking about an over-powered Wi-Fi antenna — the idea they could just go in is honestly quite bizarre.”

George Washington University professor Orin Kerr, a constitutional law expert, also questions the legalilty of the policy.

“The Supreme Court has said that the government can’t make warrantless entries into homes for administrative inspections,” Kerr said via e-mail, refering to a 1967 Supreme Court ruling that housing inspectors needed warrants to force their way into private residences. The FCC’s online FAQ doesn’t explain how the agency gets around that ruling, Kerr adds.

There's more on the Wired.com story linked above, including how this crazy "right" first came to light.

And if any of our friends from the FCC are reading this, I can only say this:

You can have my Linksys router... when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers!

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"No Fly, No Buy Act": New York congressb*tch conspires to deprive citizens of Second Amendment without due process

(I soooo wanted to put an "i" in that word, but as it's a Sunday I'm trying to restrain myself.)

Longtime readers of this blog already know that I loathe, loathe, LOATHE the Department of Homeland Security, the Transportation Security Administration, and damn nearly everything else that George W. Bush implemented in the name of "national security" when he was President. I have never liked them for a very many reasons: that these were measures that were rushed into becoming enacted with little consideration or even seriously reading the language of the associated bills, for one thing. Because there are numerous fascist connotations surrounding it all. And because the Department of Homeland Security and everything connected with it has proven to be the most abused, corrupt and inefficient example of government bureaucracy to have come along in a VERY long time.

But most of all: because I have never doubted that the purpose of the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration has never been to protect us from "the terrists".

The real, albeit unstated goal of the DHS and the TSA, has been to "protect" the federal government from the American people.

I defy anybody to tell me that I'm a "kook" or "crazy" for saying that, in light of the bill that Carolyn McCarthy, Representative from New York's Fourth District in the U.S. House, is now sponsoring...

The "No Fly, No Buy Act", if passed and signed into law, would automatically deprive EVERYONE on the federal government's No Fly List from being able to legally purchase a firearm.

Pardon me for saying this but: What. The. Fvck...?!?

(Came perilously close that time. I'm trying hard, folks.)

In other words: If this become law, the government will be able to take away anyone's right, guaranteed by the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution, to purchase and possess a gun (and possibly anything else deemed to be a weapon)... by merely putting that person's name on the No Fly List. There will be no due process. A person will not have to first be found guilty of committing a felony. All it will take is a single asshole practically anywhere in government and accountable to no one, entering your name onto the Transportation Security Administration's No Fly List. A thing that we as citizens have no right to easily and swiftly contest or even to know how one's name came to be on the list to begin with.

So the federal government has already been at work to unjustly deprive many of the right to travel freely. McCarthy's bill seeks to now deprive us - at the whim of any politician or bureaucrat - of the right to self-defense WITHOUT ANY DUE PROCESS!

We don't have to be worried about "the terrace over there", my friends. People like Carolyn McCarthy do far worse damage to the United States than any terrorist could possibly dream of pulling off.

And at the risk of sounding cliched: if stuff like this does not bother you, then you are not paying enough attention!

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PATRIOT Act denied son Constitutional rights, says North Carolina mom

This early on in the reporting of the story, I'll admit to wondering if there's more to this. But knowing what I do about how damned abusive and corrupt our own government has become, I'm also inclined to take this family at their word.

Sixteen-year-old Ashton Lundeby, of Oxford in Granville County, North Carolina (not far from Raleigh) was the subject of a raid by federal agents who handcuffed him and took a LOT of his personal possessions. The feds claim that Lundeby made a bomb threat, but the family denies the charge, saying that someone hacked into their IP address and made crank calls through the Internet.

And now...

Ashton now sits in a juvenile facility in South Bend, Ind. His mother has had little access to him since his arrest. She has gone to her state representatives as well as attorneys, seeking assistance, but, she said, there is nothing she can do.

Lundeby said the USA Patriot Act stripped her son of his due process rights.

"We have no rights under the Patriot Act to even defend them, because the Patriot Act basically supersedes the Constitution," she said. "It wasn't intended to drag your barely 16-year-old, 120-pound son out in the middle of the night on a charge that we can't even defend."

Passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S., the Patriot Act allows federal agents to investigate suspected cases of terrorism swiftly to better protect the country. In part, it gives the federal government more latitude to search telephone records, e-mails and other records.

"They're saying that 'We feel this individual is a terrorist or an enemy combatant against the United States, and we're going to suspend all of those due process rights because this person is an enemy of the United States," said Dan Boyce, a defense attorney and former U.S. attorney not connected to the Lundeby case.

Critics of the statute say it threatens the most basic of liberties.

"There's nothing a matter of public record," Boyce said "All those normal rights are just suspended in the air."

According to the story, Ashton Lundeby sounds like a pretty good kid. He's got American flags all around his room (he's probably more patriotic than the assholes who passed the PATRIOT Act) and he was away at church when the raid went down.

If the Lundebys' story is true, I will once again be led to yield to the lesser angels of my nature, go against all sense of polity and Christ-like bearing that I do strive to uphold, and repeat with great exuberance what I posted here a little less than a month and a half ago on another story about law enforcement abuse...

"F*CK THE GOVERNMENT!"

(I won't post the exact word until we know more about the situation. But you get the gist of it.)

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