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Hi-Ho! The US is a Police State

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Christopher O'Brien

Christopher O'Brien

Back in the Saddle Aginn
Staff member
By Dave Lindorff
Article HERE:
Back in the early 1980s, I had the extraordinary good fortune to get to meet one of my literary heroes, Kurt Vonnegut, up close and personal. We shared a police wagon, sitting next to each other for a ride to the station to be booked for blocking the door to the South African consulate in a demonstration against that country’s then policy of white rule and apartheid. I can’t say I got to know the author very well, but he was quite friendly and interesting to talk to, and after our arrest and booking was over, and we were released, I shared a cab as far as his house.

I got to thinking that thanks to the latest outrageous 5-4 decision by the US Supreme Court (supported fully by our Constitutional law-teacher President Barack Obama White House and his Solicitor General), which says it is now perfectly okay for police to strip-search innocent people picked up for any crime -- even a traffic offense or a leash-law violation, or alleged failure to clear a warrant for a bald tire -- had Kurt and I been busted for the same kind of protest today, we’d “know” each other much more intimately. For example I’d probably know if Vonnegut had hemorrhoids, and he’d know about a patch of skin discoloration on my balls.

Is this a great country or what?...

...And of course, there is also the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012, signed by President Obama when nobody was looking, or even sober, on Dec. 31. That act, among other things, says that for the first time, the military can arrest people within the borders of the US, including US citizens, and allows them to be held indefinitely without trial, which is about as far from any Constitutional government and Bill of Rights as you can get.

Meanwhile, as my friend and co-author of The Case for Impeachment, Barbara Olshansky, once said, after being strip-searched repeatedly by Transportation Security Administration goons during her travels by air on business for the Center for Constitutional Rights where she was an assistant director, it might be a good idea to buy some new clean underwear, “just to make sure you look good for your next arrest.”

If he were still around to see this day, my old paddy wagon colleague Kurt Vonnegut would probably just smile wryly and say, “Hi-ho!”
Rest of the Article HERE:
 
Well Chris, yet another thing to like about you. I, too, share a great fondness for Vonnegut. I think he and his writings were 20 years ahead of his time. Not that I want to know if he had hemorrhoids or not though. But yes, there is a dangerous game afoot and I fear that the days of free information exchange, and free speech are very limited indeed. Further I can foresee the accentuation of name calling, bigotry, and class separation in our present day.

I said it on September, 12, 2001: our knee jerk reactions will reap what they sow, we will (and are) becoming slaves to our "freedoms." More Orwellian in scope and Huxley-ian in action.
 
Is there somewhere to look at this claim of police having the right to strip search for any reason? I would like to see this for myself ... (like perhaps the assigned letter number combo that bills and proposals are given when they go to the House and Congress for votes.)
 
Police can arrest and handcuff people even for minor offenses punishable only by a fine, the Supreme Court said today in the case of a motorist arrested and jailed for not wearing a seat belt.
Ruling 5-4 in a case that could affect anyone who drives a car, the justices said such an arrest does not violate the Constitution's Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable seizures
Click to expand...
Police Can Arrest for Minor Offenses - ABC News
 
The video is a shocker, keeps these guys for a long time, makes up reasons to detain them.
And clearly prompts the dog (off camera) into alerting, thus giving him the power to search.

and it seems this is the incentive

Asset forfeiture is the process by which law enforcement agencies can take possession of property suspected of being tied to illegal activity. Under these laws, the property itself is presumed to be guilty of criminal activity. Once the property has been seized, it's up to the owner to prove he obtained the property legitimately.
In about 80 percent of civil asset forfeiture cases, the property owner is never charged with a crime. And in Illinois -- like many states -- the law enforcement agency that makes the seizure gets to keep the cash or the proceeds of the forfeiture auction (in Illinois, the prosecutor's office gets 10-12 percent).

Critics say it's because police can target out-of-state drivers, who are more likely than local residents to accept a police officer's baseless accusations and turn over their property, rather than refuse and face arrest, multiple returns to the state for court dates and thousands of dollars in legal expenses. Sometimes winning the property back can exceed the actual value of the property.
Jerome Chennault, a Nevada resident had the misfortune of driving through Madison County on his way home after visiting his son in Philadelphia.
Chennault said he had withdrawn $22,870 in cash to take with him before leaving Nevada, which he had intended to use for a downpayment on a home. After he was pulled over for following another car too closely, Chennault gave police permission to use a drug dog to sweep his car. The dog then "alerted" to the bag containing Chennault's cash.
Police found no actual drugs on Chennault or in his car. He was never charged with a crime. But the dog alert itself was enough to allow police to seize Chennault's cash. Over the next several months, Chennault had to travel to Edwardsville, Ill., at his own expense to fight in court for the return of his property. He had to put up a bond equal to 10 percent of the value of the property taken from him in order to secure it.
Cheannault won in court. His money was returned. But he won't be reimbursed for his travel or his legal expenses.
Click to expand...

The cop in this video asks if he has a large amount of US currency in the car.....................
 
Well hate to break it to the American people but you are broke and most of your states are broke so they need to get funds some place... maybe I am being to harsh but hell your dollar is not really worth that much anymore and the only thing keeping it alive is its petrol-dollar status.
 
Oh boy Broke is an understatement, i actually get a little depressed when i think about the good people ive met online who live in the US.
It really does seem like they are circling the drain
 
circling the drain is more or less how a friend of mine I play EVE online put it.
Right now he is selling up and moving to Australia and he is not the only one doing that ... sort of makes you think so where is this going to end?
Don't get me wrong I am not against hard work and running a business for profit (I do that myself) but really the state of things not only in the US but world wide as far as corporations is concerned is way out of control.
 
35muiv.jpg


Says it all.....................
 
Ah yes, another thread without a real answer just cut and pastes with snarky comments...mature guys, real mature. All I asked for was a legitimate link or article number that could back up this statement.
C'YA!
 
stonehart said:
Well hate to break it to the American people but you are broke and most of your states are broke so they need to get funds some place... maybe I am being to harsh but hell your dollar is not really worth that much anymore and the only thing keeping it alive is its petrol-dollar status.
Click to expand...
For all practical purposes the U.S. is bankrupt. The only thing keeping this country afloat is the petro-dollar and our military might. Have you ever tried to collect a debt from the Mafia?
 
Christopher O'Brien said:
By Dave Lindorff
Article HERE:
Back in the early 1980s, I had the extraordinary good fortune to get to meet one of my literary heroes, Kurt Vonnegut, up close and personal. We shared a police wagon, sitting next to each other for a ride to the station to be booked for blocking the door to the South African consulate in a demonstration against that country’s then policy of white rule and apartheid. I can’t say I got to know the author very well, but he was quite friendly and interesting to talk to, and after our arrest and booking was over, and we were released, I shared a cab as far as his house.

I got to thinking that thanks to the latest outrageous 5-4 decision by the US Supreme Court (supported fully by our Constitutional law-teacher President Barack Obama White House and his Solicitor General), which says it is now perfectly okay for police to strip-search innocent people picked up for any crime -- even a traffic offense or a leash-law violation, or alleged failure to clear a warrant for a bald tire -- had Kurt and I been busted for the same kind of protest today, we’d “know” each other much more intimately. For example I’d probably know if Vonnegut had hemorrhoids, and he’d know about a patch of skin discoloration on my balls.

Is this a great country or what?...

...And of course, there is also the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012, signed by President Obama when nobody was looking, or even sober, on Dec. 31. That act, among other things, says that for the first time, the military can arrest people within the borders of the US, including US citizens, and allows them to be held indefinitely without trial, which is about as far from any Constitutional government and Bill of Rights as you can get.

Meanwhile, as my friend and co-author of The Case for Impeachment, Barbara Olshansky, once said, after being strip-searched repeatedly by Transportation Security Administration goons during her travels by air on business for the Center for Constitutional Rights where she was an assistant director, it might be a good idea to buy some new clean underwear, “just to make sure you look good for your next arrest.”

If he were still around to see this day, my old paddy wagon colleague Kurt Vonnegut would probably just smile wryly and say, “Hi-ho!”
Rest of the Article HERE:
Click to expand...



Fantastic to hear about your bit of skin discolouration Chris and regarding those idiots that occupy most security crossings in the Western world, then really I hope I am as dirty as I've ever been. If they wanna strip search me (and it's happened by the cops in my city - looking for drugs that were never there) - then I hope I stink. I hope they are disgusted with having to deal with my nether regions. I might even go pick up a particularly nasty V.D just for their entertainment.
The thing that gets me most about these goons is their utter lack of individual thinking. Robot car manufacturing machines have more individual thoughts!
 
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