Monday, June 23rd, 2008
Links I don’t have time to comment on:
Police walk into a man’s house, up his stairs, into his bedroom, and wake him at 3am to let him know he left his door unlocked.
City of Los Angeles hands over $15 million to a private developer to help complete construction of a mall.
Looks like the next installment of Cato University should be pretty sweet: The featured speakers are three international freedom fighters from Venezuela, Russia, and Zimbabwe, respectively.
Judge in Canada overrules a father’s decision to ground his daughter from a school trip.
Police in Connecticut raid the wrong house, find some marijuana plants anyway, arrest the occupant.
TSA reverses itself–you now cannot fly in the U.S. without a government-issued ID.
A proposed bill in Ohio would force parents to volunteer 13 hours per years at their kids’ schools or face a $100 fine.
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on Monday, June 23rd, 2008 at 2:33 pm by Radley Balko
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TheAgitator.com
That guy in Connecticut should be fine if he’s got even a minimally competent attorney. The cops presumably had no probable cause (since they went to the wrong house), they obviously had no warrant, so while I doubt the guy gets his plants back any charges against him are therefore tainted because it was an illegal seizure.
Not only is compulsary community service required for the kids to graduate, now they want to mandate parents volunteer their time? What, they’re not paying enough in property taxes?
Sheesh! Some states just don’t get it, do they?!?
Well, on the plus side, that Ohio law is patently unconstitutional. See U.S. Const., Amendment XIII.
Forcing people to work for free? Does anybody know if this applies to everyone, or just the black people like last time?
I blame my poor schooling for my misconception of “volunteer”. Until now, I always assumed it indicated voluntary action. Must be that terrible private school education messing me up again.
Unlocked door - Too bad the guy didn’t shoot the cops, would have served them right. Am I to be under the impression that as long as my doors aren’t locked, any official of the government (especially the police) are free to just come on in?
Judge in Canada - Keep looking North folks, that’s the direction where we’re headed here in the U.S….from cradle to grave…thank you Almighty Government for allowing me to exist and pay taxes…we praise your holy and all knowing name. All hail the government.
Forced Volunterrorism - The last time I checked, “force parents to volunteer ” is kind of the exact opposite of “volunteer”….maybe I’m just stupid and fail how to see how being forced is “volunteering.” I’m sure that my government will clarify it, correct my incorrect reasoning, and re-define “volunteer” to mean anything the government demands and requires you to do without compensation and against your will….”volunteer”.
I’m becoming way too cynical.
Someone should tell the Ohio legislature that Lincoln freed the slaves.
UCrawford,
I’m not so sure that the guy in Conn. is out of the deep water. In US vs Leon, 468 U.S. 897 (1984), the US Supreme Court created the “good faith” exception to the 4th Amendment’s warrant requirement . I practice in NJ which interprets its own constitution as not permitting a “good faith exception”. It seems, “good faith” basically means anything but “bad faith”(or in this case entering the wrong house on purpose). As long as the officers were not violating this guys rights on purpose, the evidence is admissible under this doctrine. I don’t know whether Connecticut has a “good faith” exception or not but there are many States that follow the Feds.
Here’s the real kicker about that TSA announcement…
Because if there’s one thing TSA has learned during the Global War on Terror, it’s 1) that terrorists never, ever lie and 2) only someone who hates America would ever use the Constitution as a justification for refusing to obey the government’s will.
God, what a bunch of idiots.
TomMil,
I have no idea either…but I’ll defer to your opinion on his chances. It just seemed extremely cut and dried to me. But of course I’m not a lawyer, as you could probably tell
Re: Los Angeles and private development–Cities getting too involved with private development and real estate speculation led to one of the worst US Supreme Court decisions in history with Kelo v. New London.
Today is the third anniversary of that decision
Susette Kelo is asking 10,000 people to step up and donate - just $5 or $10 - today to send a message to those in power that eminent domain abuse must be stopped. Help us send that message.
Visit http://www.ij.org/keloday TODAY to join the Susette Kelo Liberty Club.
If I want to volunteer, I am probably already doing it. If I don’t want to volunteer, but am forced…… good god, what an opportunity for monkeywrenching!
Any school administrator with an ounce of sense will rubber-stamp the VOLUNTEER ACTIVITIES COMPLETE certificate without even asking the parents to show up.
Re: Ohio
Hey… I’m fully in support of that law. The first thing we can do is have the volunteers sit down with students, teachers, administrators, and lawmaker to teach them about English (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/volunteer) and Civics (http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_amendments_11-27.html)
(For those of you who don’t understand the tone of this post, I suggest you recalibrate your sarcasmeters. )
I read that story about the police invading the home of the man in Lakeville.
Here is a link to his side of the story:
http://mnchange.org/3-am-reminder-or-4th-amendment-violation
Hmmm. Looks like your inbox may have missed the update I sent on Derrick Foster, here.
Basically, he was denied bail at his official bail hearing (the previous one was a preliminary bail hearing). Also, Foster probably knew he was in a drug house while playing poker.
Chris thanks for the link to the police invasion into Troy Molde’s home.
I wonder how the cops would have spun the story if Troy had unloaded a pump shotgun into their stupid asses?
I just noticed this, in the police invasion story:
“A police spokesman says the intrusion was justified because the officers’ initial door knocks went unanswered, and they wanted to make sure nothing was wrong.”
So this police spokesman is saying that if my wife, and I are at work, or maybe a bar at 3 in the morning, and they knock on my door, and no one answers, their entry into my home would be justified, because they want to make sure nothing is wrong.
C’mon at least say something to the effect that there was probable cause, and exigent circumstances to justify the illegal unwarranted entry at 3am.
Here in NC we call that a good reason for the castle doctrine, as armed intruders are definitely committing a felony in my home.
That Ohio law requiring 13 hours of internment for a forced labor facility - err, school district - has my head spinning.
1. As has been pointed out, volunteering isn’t volunteering if one is forced to do it.
2. One of the bill’s co-sponsors said, “Ensuring that parents play a vital role in their children’s life is the reason I signed on to it.” What a nimrod. If parents aren’t already playing a voluntary role in their children’s lives, 13 hours isn’t really going to make a dent.
3. What about parents who are dangerous in some way? Do kids get 13 hours of their attention, too?
4. One of the other items in the “Highlights of the bill” sidebar is that “Grants state employees paid leave to participate in a child’s educational activities.” I don’t know if this is a naked attempt to get at least some support for this staggering bathos or if it’s just an admission that at least 13 hours of a large fraction of state employees’ time at their jobs is has no direct value to taxpayers… And, shouldn’t there be a provision to compensate NON-state workers for their 13 hours a year as forced state employees? I thought even jury duty did that.
The comments of the bill’s author and co-sponsors really have me wondering if these people have even the slightest concept of limited government. I wonder how many will be re-elected?
(PS: I’d like to ask someone to please post a link RTFMing me to a page on how to post proper URLs, quotes, italics, et cetera in the comments.)
Oops. 2 was supposed to be: If parents aren’t already voluntarily playing a vital role in their children’s lives, 13 hours a year isn’t really going to make a dent.
As for TSA, they’ve been “serving” the public for almost 7 years now and their budget is huge (last year it was a little over $4.75 Billion). With all that time and money, can anyone guess how many terrorists the TSA has arrested, detained, or identified? Zero, none, nada, zip, zilch, ungats, goose egg, not a single one! Take that for what it’s worth.
On the ID thing, they will still allow you to fly if you don’t have an ID. The trick is that you have to have forgotten it. If you’re simply being “uncooperative” and you refuse to show ID, then they won’t let you thru. If you’ve forgotten it, then you’ll be asked several questions, will have to sign an affidavit, and then go thru extra screening.
Police walk into a man’s house, up his stairs, into his bedroom, and wake him at 3am to let him know he left his door unlocked.
At least they didn’t shoot his dog.
I have never understood how getting people to identify themselves makes anything any safer.
1. I have seen discussions about the first link on many ( general interest and others with general sections) message boards. Unfortunatley it seems most people tink the police did the right think and hope they would do the same for them. I tried making some arguments, but you know about arguing “on the internet.”
2. Something being Unconstitutional ( especially as it relates to schools and school funding) has never stopped Ohio before.
[b]Re: Ohio school “volunteerism”[/b]
If pushed might volunteer to present maybe thirteen hours worth of lecture material on such topics as constitutional civics and history; enumerated powers; separation of powers; federalism; originalism; unintended consequences of legislation (with examples); tuition tax credits; gun safety and marksmanship (with field trip); police powers; citizen rights during detainment and arrest; and maybe sneak in a historical comparison of prohibitions, past and present. I don’t know if that material is taught in Ohio public schools, but I suspect those topics are considered esoteric and impractical in the state capital…
“Forced Volunteering” I guess this volunteering would not result in a decrease of unionized teaching positions. Just try to organize a group to go in and clean up a playground and see how the unions respond to volunteering.