[PAA-Discuss] Fwd: Highway Robbery

[Rebelljb at aol.com]

____________________________________
 From: downsizer-dispatch at downsizedc.org
To: rebelljb at aol.com
Sent:  2/18/2009 9:37:29 A.M. Central Standard Time
Subj: Highway  Robbery


D o w n s i z e r - D i s p a t  c h   
____________________________________
  
Quote of the Day: "The idea that people  lose their property but are never 
charged and never get it back, that's theft  as far as I'm concerned." -- _Texas 
State  Senator John Whitmire_ 
(http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6252365.html)   
Subject: Highway Robbery 
If you happen to travel through east Texas, avoid Tenaha,  especially if 
you're African American. The Tenaha police may stop you and rob  you, without even 
charging you with a crime. _They even took  $4,000 from a great-grandmother._ 
(http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6252365.html)   
Tenaha, a town of 1,000, has used its robbery proceeds to  build a new police 
station, and buy a second police car to extend its legal  crime wave. But 
perhaps it's unfair to single out Tenaha. Police departments  all over America 
are doing the same thing, committing not only robbery, but  also acts of 
terrorism.  
Apparently, no one is safe. Just ask Cheye Calvo,  the Mayor of Berwyn 
Heights, Maryland . . . 
County police mistakenly targeted the Calvo home as a  marijuana drop-off 
point. _Police  invaded the home, bound the mayor's mother-in-law, and shot the 
family's dogs.  The Calvo's were cleared of all wrongdoing, but the police 
won't admit it made  any mistakes._ 
(http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/2009/02/police-state-keynesianism-stimulating.html)   
_Radley Balko  reports_ (http://www.reason.com/news/show/131131.html)   that 
the use of SWAT teams and no-knock raids has soared,  even when there's no 
evidence that a targeted home poses any threat. These  aggressive raids allow 
police to surprise the suspect and find as much  valuable property to seize as 
quickly as possible.  
Law enforcement agencies then auction off this property  and spend the money 
on themselves, even when the victims they robbed are never  convicted of any 
crime. Instead, the victims must prove that they are NOT  guilty of a crime.  
Proving a negative is almost impossible. That's why  innocence is presumed in 
free societies, and the state bears the burden of  proving guilt. Civil asset 
forfeiture turn this principle on its head. It even  forces victims to prove 
that their property was never used in a  crime. 
This means that most seized property is never returned,  even to people who 
are completely innocent.  
The asset forfeiture laws give police a huge incentive to  steal as much as 
possible. They also create a conflict-of-interest. Police  make more money 
seizing the proceeds of drug sales than by preventing drug  sales. This 
contradicts the supposed purpose of _drug prohibition._ 
(https://secure.downsizedc.org/etp/campaigns/109)    
But it gets worse . . . 
_The  newly-enacted "stimulus" bill includes $4 billion for state and local 
law  enforcement._ 
(http://www.ncja.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=JAG_in_the_Economic_Stimulus_Bill)   You will now be funding an expanded wave of police  
robbery. 
_Please use our quick and  easy Educate the Powerful System to ask Congress 
to repeal civil asset  forfeiture._ 
(http://www.downsizedc.org/etp/campaigns/99)   
You can cut and paste the examples provided above into  your personal 
comments.  
Please also share this Dispatch with others and _Digg it on our  blog._ 
(http://www.downsizedc.org/blog/highway-robbery)  
Thank-you for being a part of the Downsize DC  Army. 
James Wilson
Assistant to the  President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc. 
D o w n s i z e r - D i s p a t c  h
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