Incompetence and Absurd Application of the Law

Law and order is a wonderful thing, and I'm all for it.  But I object to petty, hair-splitting legalism and heavy-handed overzealousness on the part of the local police.  Especially the small town badge-happy self-important deputy sheriff who's determined to advance his career by taking a bite out of crime, no matter how petty the crime may be.  Or the morbidly obese constable who hides in the roadside bushes with a radar gun.  Some examples are shown below, along with examples of sheer stupidity exhibited by judges and other government officials.


Prosecutor Appeals After Judge Drops Rape Charges Against Liberian Over Lack of Interpreter.  The prosecutor in the case of a Liberian native charged with repeatedly raping and molesting a 7-year-old girl said Monday that he is filing an appeal of a controversial judge's ruling that dismissed all charges because an interpreter who spoke the suspect's rare West African dialect could not be found.

Criminal Intent.  House Bill 1690 by Rep. Terry Keel comes in response to complaints that the City of Dallas has abused its public nuisance law, under which it may fine the property owner $500 for each day the nuisance exists and even place a lien on the property.  Although the law has historically been used to shut down brothels, Dallas is utilizing it to extract revenue from ordinary businesses located in high-crime areas.  For example, a carwash in a low-income neighborhood was targeted, even though those running it had nothing to do with criminal activity.

Living proof that the minimum wage is too high already...
 Prisoner wrongly freed after officials get phony, typo-filled fax.  Officials mistakenly released a prisoner from a Kentucky facility after receiving a phony fax that ordered him freed, and it took them nearly two weeks to realize it.  The fax contained grammatical errors, was not typed on letterhead and was sent from a local grocery store.

Forgotten, man sits in jail for two years.  Joseph A. Shepard Sr. sat in local jails for almost two years, assuming that his lawyer was making progress on his case and that drug-related charges against him would soon be resolved in federal court. … Shepard, 53, is a man the system forgot, apparently ignored by his own attorney — and the prosecutor and judge — as days ticked by in a municipal lockup where he was confined to a cell 23 hours a day.

What idiots!
 Controversial Muslim group gets VIP airport security tour.  The Department of Homeland Security took a Muslim group with known past ties to terror organizations on a VIP tour of security operations at the nation's busiest airport at the same time British authorities were working to break up a plot to blow up U.S. airlines.

FBI:  Still not retooled for terror.  This weekend's arrest of 17 homegrown al Qaeda wannabes just across the border in Canada is a nightmarish reminder of the horrors that have been — and could be — right here at home again if we don't fully get our counterterrorism act together soon.  By many accounts, despite a ballooning budget and staff, the FBI is still struggling to get its arms around its newly reinvigorated counterterror (CT) mission — a critical capability that could prevent another 9/11.

FAA outage reveals odd computing practices.  By using computing practices that would be considered poor in credit card networks or power plant operators, for example, the FAA was vulnerable to a problem caused when new software was loaded at the Atlanta center that distributes flight plans.  Because the FAA relies on just two computing systems, one in Atlanta and one in Salt Lake City, to handle that chore for the entire nation, the software glitch all but sank the system Tuesday [8/26/2008].

FAA Points Finger at Switch for Server Crash.  Earlier this week, the FAA servers in Atlanta responsible for handling all flight plans across the country crashed leaving massive flight delays at several major airports including Atlanta, Boston, Washington D.C., and Chicago.  Many would be surprised to hear that as important a task as these computers handled, the technology in use was from the 1970's.  One obvious question after the servers went down from many was — where are the backup systems?

The FBI's Upgrade That Wasn't:  $170 Million bought an unusable computer system.  "We had information that could have stopped 9/11," said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.  "It was sitting there and was not acted upon. … I haven't seen them correct the problems. … We might be in the 22nd century before we get the 21st-century technology."

AT&T disaster recovery awes Homeland Security.  To a government employee, for whom efficiency is something one hears about but is rarely able to achieve, the efficiency which the market can provide can seem like magic:  mysterious and forever out of reach.

Incompetence at the FBI is compromising presidential power.  This is another fiasco for the FBI, which may simply be incapable of effective counterterrorism.  Every independent group that has looked into the FBI — including the Robb-Silberman commission — has found that the agency is failing in that duty.  Whatever discipline is handed out for this latest foul-up, the country needs to debate again whether domestic antiterror functions should be taken from the FBI and given to a new agency modeled after Britain's MI5.

FBI Wiretaps Dropped Due to Unpaid Bills.  Telephone companies have cut off FBI wiretaps used to eavesdrop on suspected criminals because of the bureau's repeated failures to pay phone bills on time.  A Justice Department audit released Thursday blamed the lost connections on the FBI's lax oversight of money used in undercover investigations.  Poor supervision of the program also allowed one agent to steal $25,000, the audit said.

Top terrorist sighting raises no FBI interest.  Two Americans believe they have spotted Adnan el-Shukrijumah, the al-Qaida operative identified as "the next Mohamed Atta" at a location near Bakersfield, Calif., but have been unable to get the FBI or Homeland Security to investigate.

Maybe they're too busy investigating stuff like this:
 "Weapon of Mass Destruction" Targets Sex Shop In Waldo, Florida.  The device, discovered Sunday morning [5/28/2006], was made of two gallon-size sports drink jugs connected by hoses.  Someone set it on top of the store's window air conditioning unit. … Under state law, by the book, deputies say the device is a weapon of mass destruction.  "They're looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, and … 30 years in jail," Faulk said.

Emergency manager didn't break off travel plans when bridge fell.  The Minnesota Department of Transportation's head of emergency management was attending a Harvard University program on terrorist attacks and natural disasters when the Interstate 35W bridge collapsed on Aug. 1.  Instead of rushing back to help coordinate the response, Sonia Kay Morphew Pitt stayed at Harvard for another two days and then spent eight days in Washington.

Update:  The chickens have come home to roost.
 MnDOT fires manager accused of improper travel.  The Minnesota Department of Transportation on Friday [11/09/2007] fired the emergency manager whose frequent travel came under scrutiny, including her decision to remain out of state for several days after the Interstate 35W bridge collapse.  Sonia Morphew Pitt, who had been director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, committed "serious employee misconduct" by misusing state resources and putting her personal life ahead of her professional obligations, the agency said.

Speaking of the I-35 bridge...
 Bridge collapse:  A half-inch closer to why.  The collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge may have originated with the failure of gusset plates that were sized a half-inch too thin in the original 1960s design, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Tuesday [1/15/2008].  In a Washington news conference, NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker also said there were no indications that Minnesota's upkeep of the bridge played any role in its collapse — a statement that immediately unleashed political debate, with Gov. Tim Pawlenty scolding critics for leaping to conclusions and DFLers insisting that the full cause has yet to be found.

The Editor says...
 The politicians (in Minnesota and Washington) can't afford to have anyone discover that the original design was faulty.  Their crisis mode and proposed highway taxes depend on a finding that the bridge collapsed due to lack of maintenance.

Self-defense is, inexplicably, no defense.  On Sunday, Bob Mette and his son, Mike, 30, will go to the game at Soldier Field to watch the Bears play the Lions.  On Monday, Bob will drive Mike to Iowa, to prison.  Mike Mette, until recently a Chicago police officer, is scheduled to begin serving a 5-year prison sentence.  His crime?  According to the judge's ruling, Mike threw one punch at an angry drunk who chased Mike down the street and attacked him verbally, physically, repeatedly.

Girl, 10, Arrested for Using Knife to Cut Food at School.  A 10-year-old Florida girl faces felony weapons charges after bringing a small steak knife to school to cut up her lunch, according to a report on MyFOXOrlando.com.  School officials say the Ocala 5th grader had brought a piece of steak for her lunch, and a four and a half inch steak knife with which to cut it.  According to the report, a couple of teachers took the utensil and called authorities, who arrested the girl and took her to the county's juvenile assessment center.

Many more stories like this are on the Zero Tolerance Page.

Police in Laramie, Wyo., Cite Teen Girls Who Threw French Fries for 'Hurling Missiles'.  Three 13-year-old girls accused of throwing french fries during lunchtime at their school were cited for "hurling missiles," an adult infraction covered by city ordinances.

TSA can't believe MacBook Air is a real laptop; owner misses flight.  The TSA has been known to take issue with products designed in Cupertino before, but for one particular traveler, it was Apple's thinnest laptop ever that caused the latest holdup.  Upon tossing his ultra-sleek slab of aluminum underneath the scanner, security managed to find enough peculiarities to remove it from the flow, pull it aside and wrangle up the owner for some questions.

Did someone mention the TSA?

Death Investigation Deficiencies:  "The Mississippi medical examiner system doesn't exist, except in name only." So says Dr. Vincent DiMaio, a renowned forensic pathologist, and author of the guiding textbook for medical examiners.  And he isn't alone.  Talk to forensic pathologists across the country about how the state of Mississippi conducts its forensic autopsies and you'll get chuckles, exasperated sighs and indignation.  What you'll be hard-pressed to find, however, is anyone outside the state who thinks things are being done properly.

Woman Arrested for Dancing at the Jefferson Memorial.  At 11:59, just four minutes after the event's start, U.S. Park Police had detained and were handcuffing the aforementioned "Jefferson 1" … ostensibly for unauthorized dancing.  Or, as former Bureaucrash chief Jason Talley puts it, "One minute I'm taking video of people celebrating the freedoms etched in the walls surrounding us, the next we see armed agents of the state putting chains on a friend of ours."

Woman cuffed, booked for not paying library fines.  A Wisconsin woman has been arrested and booked for failing to pay her library fines.  Twenty-year-old Heidi Dalibor told the News Graphic in Cedarburg that she ignored the library's calls and letters as well as a notice to appear in court.  Still, she was surprised when officers with a warrant knocked on her door, cuffed her and took her to the police station to be fingerprinted and photographed.

NOPD officer punished for wearing the wrong uniform.  With minutes left in the last shift of his 35-year New Orleans police career, Sgt. Bobby Guidry received a call from a supervisor telling him he had been suspended for wearing the wrong uniform shirt, the veteran officer said.

Prosecute the shooters, not the guns.  Of some 2,500 stolen bikes recovered by the police breaking a thriving ring of thieves, only 55 have been claimed by previous owners, and only 18% of thefts were reported to police.  This indicates that most who have their bikes stolen feel informing the police is a waste of time.  Not everyone bothers to register their bikes or take down serial numbers and such.  What's the point?

EEOC:  An Out-of-Control Taxpayer-Financed Agency.  You need not be an American citizen to use a federal agency to file a lawsuit on your behalf.  In what other country is there an agency that would help you sue yet another government agency or a private company if you weren't a citizen?  And provide you with an interpreter to do so?  Not one that I can think of.  This case would be entirely moot if we had an "English First" rule in our schools and required everyone to learn English for employment.  I have given up on the idea that such common sense will again prevail in our society.

Historic Whiskey Could Go Down the Drain.  Here's a sobering thought:  Hundreds of bottles of Jack Daniel's whiskey, some of it almost 100 years old, may be unceremoniously poured down a drain because authorities suspect it was being sold by someone without a license.  Officials seized 2,400 bottles late last month during warehouse raids in Nashville and Lynchburg, the southern Tennessee town where the whiskey is distilled.

No Parking Spot?  Here Are About 142,000 Reasons.  Why is it so hard to find a parking place in New York City?  There are a lot of reasons, but this may be the most infuriating:  The city has given out no fewer than 142,000 free parking permits to public employees and others.  That's twice as many as City Hall had estimated were in circulation.  And after two months of research, city officials cannot say who has them all.

Beer runners' flour trail a recipe for trouble.  Two people who sprinkled flour in a parking lot to mark a trail for their offbeat running club inadvertently caused a bioterrorism scare and now face a felony charge.  The sprinkled powder forced hundreds to evacuate an IKEA furniture store Thursday [8/23/2007].

Referring to the item immediately above:
 Stupidest Terrorist Overreaction?  Is this the stupidest terrorist reaction yet?  "Two people who sprinkled flour in a parking lot to mark a trail for their offbeat running club inadvertently caused a bioterrorism scare and now face a felony charge."  The competition is fierce, but I think we have a winner.  What bothers me most about the news coverage is that there isn't even a suggestion that the authorities' response might have been out of line.

Questions for the Pentagon:  In the sorry tradition of shooting the messenger, the Pentagon is cashiering its top expert on Islamist doctrine, Stephen Coughlin.  Some members of Congress are now contemplating hearings to ask why.  Along with drawing attention to Coughlin's research, now circulating on the Internet, the growing controversy has thrown a spotlight on Coughlin's alleged nemesis at the Pentagon, a top aide named Hesham Islam — whose tale deserves closer attention.


Uncle Sam is afraid to say what he means
because he might offend the people who are determined to kill us all.

No More Jihadists.  The Associated Press is reporting that the U.S. government is moving to kill off jihadists, Islamo-fascists, and mujahedeen.  Not the people:  the words.  Reports from the Department of Homeland Security and the National Counter Terrorism Center recommend discontinuing the use of such terms, because, as the AP report says, "Such words may actually boost support for radicals among Arab and Muslim audiences by giving them a veneer of religious credibility or by causing offense to moderates." … If we eschew these words, what how are we supposed to refer to our enemies?

Flying Blind in the War on Terror:  Imagine that following the bombing of Peal Harbor in December 1941, that FDR had prohibiting the use of the terms "Nazi" or "Japanese Imperialism" due to pressure brought to bear by German and Japanese-American lobbying groups.  Or at the height of the Cold War that the US government had determined to ban the use of "Soviet" or "communism" for fear of offending the sensibilities of Russian-Americans or European socialists.  Yet that is precisely what has happened following the revelation last week by the Associated Press that the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security has issued guidelines banning the use of "jihad", "mujahedeen" and other Islamic terminology with reference to Islamic terrorism.  This move lays bare the ideological prison house of political correctness in which our top policymaker's reside.

Strategic Collapse in the War on Terror:  Words matter, and in the global war on terror we are losing the battle of words, in a self-inflicted defeat.  The consequences could not be more profound.  Recent government policy memoranda, circulating through the national counter-terrorism and diplomatic community, establishes a new "speech code" for the lexicon in the war on terror, as reported by the Associated Press and now available in the public domain.  These new "speech codes" recommended that analysts and policy makers avoid the terms jihad or jihadist or mujhadid or "al-Qaida movement" and replace them with "extremists" and by extension other non-specific terms.

Let's call this 'terrorism' by its real name.  It's official: We're fighting … terrorists.  You can also call them violent extremists if you like, but never use jihadist or mujahedeen or Islamo-fascist to describe our enemy.  These words are deemed pejorative and offensive, according to a recent Bush administration memorandum to federal employees whose jobs involve explaining our ongoing war to the public.

Homeland Security Newspeak.  The Department of Homeland Security thinks it's a bad idea to use the word "liberty" when describing America's foreign policy goals.  Nor does it much like the terms "Islamist" and "jihadist."  Heaven forbid the federal government cause needless offense in the current war against, well, whoever.  Such are the recommendations on "Terminology to Define Terrorists," a nine-page, "Official Use Only" memo issued in January by Homeland Security's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.

The War on Words:  During the past year, several federal agencies — including the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department, and the National Counter Terrorism Center — have declared a war on words.  Specifically, these agencies have issued memoranda discouraging their employees from naming the enemy in the War on Terror.  The prohibition included words such as "jihad," "Islamist," "Islamofascism," and "caliphate," among others.

The Jihad against Free Speech:  One important element to note in connection with the recent Al-Haramain designation is that on at least two separate occasions it had used legal threats against US media organization to coerce retractions following reports of its ties to the international terror network -- ties that are now considered well-established by both the US government and the media.  These incidents are instructive on how Islamic extremists have previously used lawfare strategies to silence those asking questions about their activities, and give us insight into how these legal theats are being used today to scuttle media investigations.


State seizes antique gambling equipment.  Antique gambling equipment, including a roulette wheel dating to the 1880s, was seized from an antique store here by state agents under a state law prohibiting the possession of unlicensed gambling equipment.  "Some of these things are over 100 years old," said Ron Turner, owner of the Cowboy Cabin.  "These are not gambling devices.  These are antiques.  It's a historical collection.  This never is, nor will be, a gambling establishment."

Denver Mint Requires Visitors to be Ungroomed.  When taking a tour of the U.S. Mint, certain items are prohibited, including...
    Cameras or camera cell phones
    Handbags, book bags, backpacks, purses, fanny packs, diaper bags
    Packages of any type
    Strollers
    Food or beverages of any kind
    Video recorders or any type of recording device
    Tobacco products
    Personal grooming items (makeup, hair brush or comb, lip or hand lotions, etc.)

Illegals caught at BWI, released.  Federal authorities late last week detained and later released eight illegal aliens from Mexico who authorities said were acting suspiciously near a gate at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.  Officials said the illegals were detained Saturday morning [4/29/2006] near Gate D3, a Northwest Airlines gate, after federal air marshals noticed them gathered in the area with no carry-on luggage. … ICE officials said they were investigating possible connections between the illegals and a human-trafficking or human-smuggling operation, but would not comment on why they released the illegals.

Shotgun-wielding Minnesota farmer, 74, charged after chasing down thief.  A farmer who chased down a thief and held him at gunpoint until authorities arrived now faces a more serious charge than the thief himself.  Kenneth Englund, 74, was charged with second-degree assault, a felony.  The thief, who the sheriff said admitted stealing about $5 worth of gasoline from Englund's neighbour, was charged with misdemeanour theft.

Felonized for Foiling a Real Crime.  Bradford Township, Minn., doesn't have its own police force, relying instead on deputies sent from 15 miles away.  When Bradford Township Board member Kenneth Englund detected thieves stealing gasoline from his neighbor's farm, he attempted to detain the thieves using his unloaded shotgun. ... [Now] Englund faces the most serious charge from the incident.

McNab v. United States:  Invalid Foreign Laws Lead to Years in U.S. Prison.  The Supreme Court is currently considering whether to take the case of four businesspeople sent to prison for importing lobster tails from Honduras.  Their convictions are predicated on supposed violations of the Lacey Act, which makes it a crime to import "fish or wildlife taken ... in violation of any foreign law."  Here, the foreign laws are Honduran fishing regulations that have been declared null and void in Honduras, but are somehow still being enforced by American federal courts.

Zero Tolerance for Security Guards.  Security guard George Stevenson chased a suspected burglar onto Arlington Elementary School property and through the school itself.  When he was apprehended, the suspect was armed with a knife.  According to school officials, however, the real criminal was Stevenson.  Because he carried an otherwise legal pistol, Stevenson was arrested and charged with felony possession of a weapon on school property.

Government Puts Rat Control Business Out of Business.  The Arizona Structural Pest Control Commission (ASPCC) halted a teenager's innovative — and popular — rat control business because he failed to hold a $78 state-regulated commercial pest control license and pass an exam covering over 40 pages of laws and rules unrelated to his mesh wire rat prevention devices.

[If you build a better mousetrap, Big Brother will find a way to regulate and tax it.]

$58,000 Spent Fighting Over a Treehouse.  Two anonymous complaints about a treehouse have cost a Clinton, Mississippi homeowner at least $28,000 in legal fees and local taxpayers about $30,000 in a fight to have a playhouse torn down.

Homeowner reconsiders mowing lawn after jail stint.  Linda A. Ballew spent four nights in the Harris County Jail for ignoring court orders related to a long-running dispute about her overgrown lawn before she finally agreed to cut the grass Tuesday [6/5/2007].

Failure to Water.  In another example of overcriminalization, police in Orem, Utah decided to enforce an ordinance against neglected yards by arresting Betty Perry, a grandmother and widow who was seriously negligent in watering her lawn.  The 70-year old was handcuffed, arrested, and taken to jail.

She has been in the news before!
 Gardening Grandma Arrested for Failure to Prune.  On April 3, 2002, Kay Leibrand surrendered to the police. She was fingerprinted.  They took her mug shots.  The 61-year old grandmother and software engineer was told that she had broken the law.  She might go to jail or perhaps she would get off with just a fine.  On May 30, 2002, she was arraigned.  Her crime was allowing street-side xylosma bushes to grow more than two feet high. … Never before in city history had it prosecuted a resident for such horticultural excess.

Wrong apartment raided in Annapolis.  Wearing masks and carrying rifles, Annapolis police officers attempting to execute a search warrant broke down the door of an apartment, set off a percussion grenade that released smoke and a flash of light and noise, and kicked one occupant in the groin.  Then they realized that they were at the wrong address.

Minneapolis SWAT Team Raids Wrong House.  Khang, a Hmong immigrant with shaky command of English, set down his gun, raised his hands and was soon on the ground, an officer's boot on his neck.  The gunmen, it turned out, were members of a police SWAT team that had raided the wrong address because of bad information from an informant — a mistake that some critics say happens all too frequently around the country and gets innocent people killed.

Woman Arrested for Making Faces at a Dog.  A prosecutor has dropped charges against a woman who was arrested for staring at and making faces at a police dog.

Pennsylvania Woman Cited for Cursing at Toilet.  A Scranton woman who allegedly shouted profanities at her overflowing toilet within earshot of a neighbor was cited for disorderly conduct, authorities said.  Dawn Herb could face up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $300.

Update:
 Potty mouth protected by First Amendment.  A woman who was cited for loudly cursing at her overflowing toilet — and then at a neighbor who told her to quiet down — has been acquitted on First Amendment grounds.

Guards make woman remove bra that triggered metal detector at Idaho courthouse.  Security guards refused to allow a woman into a federal courthouse in Idaho until she removed a bra that triggered a metal detector.  Lori Plato says she and her husband, Owen Plato, were stunned when U-S Marshals Service employees asked her to remove her bra after the underwire supports set off the alarm.

Truancy for Parents in Texas.  Texas may join the ranks of states like Minnesota and California who are attempting to use the criminal law as a parenting tool.  A proposal in the state legislature would charge parents with a misdemeanor and a fine if they fail to attend a parent-teacher conference at their child's school.

See a Smoker in a Non-Smoking Area?  Call 911.  If you catch someone smoking in a non-smoking area in Omaha, Neb., call the police.  The Omaha Police Department is encouraging city residents to call 911 in the wake of the citywide ban on smoking that went into effect on Oct. 2.

[Is that what the designers of the 9-1-1 system had in mind?]

Subway Rider Busted for Selling a Token.  Transit police handcuffed and cited a man who sold a $1.75 subway token to another rider who was having trouble with a token vending machine.  Transit authority spokeswoman Jocelyn Baker … acknowledged that [Donald] Pirone sold the token at face value and did not make a profit.  But the law is the law, she said.

HPD still issuing tickets for license plate borders.  "It was never the intention of the Legislature for people to be receiving traffic citations for having license brackets," said state Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, who sponsored the bill.  "It's clearly out of bounds for them to be issuing tickets now." ... The [Houston police] department's most prolific officer, Matthew Davis, issued at least 1,216 license bracket tickets since January.  He wrote 30 in one day in February and has issued more than 200 since [Governor] Perry signed Williams' bill.

Innocent Man Stuck With 100 Parking Tickets.  After two years, innocent man is still fighting parking tickets incorrectly issued because of a personalized license plate.  In the two years since San Carlos resident Nick Vautier moved to California's San Francisco Bay Area, he has received over a hundred parking tickets worth $3000.  He is not responsible for a single one of them, but several jurisdictions continue to prosecute him without ever having established any guilt.

Why was Cho Free?  Now comes news that a court in 2005 found Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung-Hui to be "mentally ill" and an "imminent danger to others" — but then let him go.

The Wait for License Plates Still Tops Seven Weeks.  More than two years after installing a new computer system that cost twice as much as expected, the state Division of Motor Vehicles is still taking more than seven weeks to mail out license plates and vehicle titles — more than twice as long as it took before the system was installed, records show.

Is this any way to help the homeless?  Mary Baker and Ruth Neikirk love to cook.  What's more, they love to cook for poor people.  They do it frequently, preparing meals at home and bringing them to their church in Virginia. … The people they cook for love it too.  But there's a problem.  It was "criminal activity."  The Fairfax County health department points out that — horrors — Mary and Ruth are actually preparing food and serving it to people!  Without a license!

Step Away from the Cold Medicine.  As is often the case with policies aimed at curbing the drug supply, civil liberties were one of the first casualties of the meth hysteria.  Several cities and states, for example, quickly made it illegal for businesses to sell customers combinations of ingredients that together, are used to make meth, but that are perfectly legal if bought separately.  Sell bhutane [sic], cold medicine, and matches to the same customer, and an unknowing store clerk could well be arrested.  These laws effectively deputized private business to begin policing the shopping habits of their customers — never a good idea.

[Certain combinations of products cannot be purchased simultaneously without sounding an alarm.  Try this experiment at your own risk:  Go to Radio Shack and try to buy a speed dialer and a 6.5536 MHz crystal at the same time.]

Tasering a little old lady. Police Hit Grandmother With Taser Gun Five Times.  Beverly Kidwell, 68, was in the waiting room of the police department in suburban Dayton when the incident occurred. … Kidwell said she waited a long time in the lobby and, when she got up to leave, the officer hit her with the Taser gun.

Illustration courtesy nbc4i.com

[That sounds like a one-sided story, but what could the other side possibly be?]

Take 32 Grams of Tylenol and Call Me in 25 Years.  In 2004 a Florida jury convicted Richard Paey of drug trafficking involving at least 28 grams of the narcotic painkiller oxycodone, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years.  But there was no evidence that Paey, who has suffered from severe chronic pain for two decades, planned to do anything with the pain reliever except relieve his pain. … This penalty is both cruel and unusual; first-time offenders charged with unauthorized possession of prescription drugs typically get probation.

Boulder Woman Jailed Over Garage Door.  A Boulder woman was out of jail Thursday, after being locked up over the weekend for installing a new garage door.  The Boulder Daily Camera reported in its Thursday editions that Megan Forbes was arrested and taken to jail on Sunday [4/9/2006] for failing to show up on a court summons she received for replacing her original garage door with a new one.

Risk of not knowing technology:  jail.  The AP recently ran a story about a substitute teacher who was convicted of exposing students to pornography.  Her contention that it was inadvertent because she couldn't keep up with pop-ups seems plausible, but the equally non-tech-savvy jury didn't buy it (despite the fact that the prosecution never even made a reasonable case by checking for spyware).  What seems particularly Kafka-esque is the potential 40-year sentence she faces.

Elderly Woman Slammed in the Slammer.  In a very sad story, 78-year-old Garland resident Betty Smith related her horrendous tale of woe to Dallas County Commissioners at their January 9th meeting.  Her story of abuse by the Dallas County judicial system and Sheriff's Department began when she was awakened by knocks on the door at 4:00 one morning.  The officer told her she was being arrested for illegally ordering a duplicate copy of her driver's license.  Never mind that Ms Smith's car had been carjacked not long ago, along with her purse and personal belongings, including her driver's license. … On the way to jail, the deputy told her that her record indicated that she had committed a homicide in Arizona.

Woman slammed against car by San Jose police officer wins appeal.  [Scroll down] [Laura] Bushell-McIntyre, a pediatric nurse who had just graduated from San Jose State, was attending the fraternity party when police arrived in response to a disturbance call.  The court said she had complied with Officer William Foster's request to leave the house, but touched his badge after repeatedly asking him for his badge number.  Foster then put her in a pain compliance hold and slammed her against a car, the court said.

They're being called the Kutztown 13.  They are a group of high schoolers charged with felonies for bypassing security with school-issued laptops, downloading forbidden internet goodies and using monitoring software to spy on district administrators. … The administrative password that allowed students to reconfigure computers and obtain unrestricted internet access was easy to obtain.  A shortened version of the school's street address, the password was taped to the backs of the computers.  The password got passed around and students began downloading such forbidden programs as the popular iChat instant-messaging tool.

 Editor's Note:   The school administrators acted with incompetence, putting the admin password on the back of the computer.  The kids who figured out how to use the computers to their full potential are the people who should go to the head of the class — not to prison.

Woman Ticketed for Sitting on a Playground Bench with No Kids.  The Rivington Playground on Manhattan's East Side has a small sign at the entrance that says adults are prohibited unless they are accompanied by a child. … [The ticket] could bring a one thousand dollar fine and 90 days in jail.

What ever happened to respecting our elders?  An 82-year-old California woman says an officer cited her for taking too long to cross an intersection.  Mayvis Coyle insists when she entered the crosswalk the signal was green, but it turned red before she reached the other side where an officer was waiting with a $114 ticket.  "He treated me like a six year old, like I don't know what I'm doing," Coyle said.

Woman arrested over 96 cents.  A Mansfield, Ohio, woman was arrested and jailed for failure to file a 2001 city income tax bill totaling 96 cents … [after] she explained the situation to a city employee who told her not to bother with the trifling amount.

Handicap permit should let a man sit.  Arthur doesn't want me to tell you his last name because he'd rather not get on the bad side of the police. … His wife walks into the store to shop.  Arthur likes to wait in the car.  "I can't follow her around for an hour and a half," he tells me.  They've been doing it this way the past year and a half … This worked out fine until the other day when a community service officer working for the Cudahy Police Department leaned in Arthur's open window and told him it was not legal for him to sit in the car and wait like that.

Retired Police Sergeant Faces 35 Years for Not Producing a Drivers License.  On July 18th, five deputies arrived in three taxpayer funded patrol vehicles to take one nonviolent [65 year old] man to jail, thus carrying out Judge Mackay's 90-day old warrant.  [Raymond] Karczewski offered no resistance, yet his wife reports her husband was rammed up against the side of the house with his head slammed into the siding.  If Karczewski is such a threat to society, why did the criminal justice system wait 90 days to act?  In 90 days Karczewski could have been long gone but was arrested at home.

Gonzales asked to probe prosecution of agents.  Rep. Dana Rohrabacher yesterday asked Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales to investigate what he called "the exceedingly harsh prosecution" of two U.S. Border Patrol agents now facing 20 years in prison for shooting a suspected drug smuggler in the buttocks.

Connecticut Court Rules on Self Defense Shooting.  The state's highest court ruled Friday [7/9/2004] that a cab driver had no right to carry the pistol he used to shoot a robber because his taxi is not a place of business.

 Outrageous!   97-year-old handcuffed, jailed for unpaid traffic ticket.  Police say they had no choice but to go by the book when they handcuffed a 97-year-old woman and took her to jail for failing to pay a traffic ticket.

 Editor's Note:   The police are really saying they have no common sense, no judgement, no latitude or discretion of any kind.  This is the inevitable end product of zero tolerance policies.  Was the arresting officer any safer with this woman handcuffed?  Is Highland Park safer with the old lady under arrest?  Can you just imagine the riots that would have resulted if this had been a black woman?

Dialectical Justice:  Most criminals are well aware that bank robbery is major crime that usually draws in the FBI and earns the thief years in the slammer.  Those currently casing a bank in California should be on notice that even if caught they could get away with only 60 days in jail, four months less than the mandatory maximum for first-time DUI.  To draw such a softball sentence, combined with media protection, it appears to help if the criminal is a professional ethnic and Marxist anti-war activist such as Carl Pinkston.

It's called hibiscus, but it won't get you high.  Landscape contractor Blair Davis was in his northwest Harris County home around 2 p.m. when there was a knock at his door.  Davis said he hadn't even gotten his hand on the doorknob when it flew open and he was looking at the barrel of a pistol.  Behind the gun were about 10 members of the Harris County Organized Crime and Narcotics Task Force, who burst into the home, guns drawn, and began shouting at him to get down on the floor.

 Editor's Note:   Even if this had actually been marijuana, which it wasn't, is marijuana really that dangerous?  Can you say, "Excessive force?"

$185 fine for dropping sunflower seed.  It could be called a case for the birds, but an Oklahoma woman is crying fowl over a $185 fine for dropping a sunflower seed in public.

Town Battles Army Corps Over Permafrost.  Challenging an Army Corps of Engineers assertion that permafrost 20 inches thick is a "navigable water" of the United States, an Alaskan borough attempting to build public playgrounds and athletic fields on a two-acre parcel of permafrost has sued the Corps over its enforcement of the Clean Water Act.  "This case is a classic example of the Corps operating without boundaries, limits, or common sense in its application of the Clean Water Act," said Russell Brooks, managing attorney of Pacific Legal Foundation's (PLF) Northwest Center.

So Much Has Changed in Just 60 Years.  One survey a few years back showed that a full one-third of the American people fear the government.  It has become intrusive and secretive.  Franklin Roosevelt managed a truly global war, with 12 million Americans under arms, using a White House staff of about 15 people.  There are now thousands on the White House staff, and they can't even manage a very small war in a little country.

Clarence Thomas laments marijuana ban.  Rehnquist concurred.  O'Connor is just unpredictable.  She has endorsed states rights for marijuana but not for abortion.  The other six justices, we can now say, is consistent in its centralization of power to Washington.  This paves the way for federal agencies, such as the Department of Homeland Security, to control every private exchange of money and goods in the U.S.

Terrorism?  Naah … .  When explosions killed fifteen people and injured over 100 at an oil refinery in Texas City, Texas, on March 23, 2005, the FBI quickly ruled out terrorism as a possible cause.  When a group calling itself Qaeda al-Jihad and another Islamic group both claimed responsibility, the FBI was still dismissive.  But then it came to light that investigators did not even visit the blast site until eight days after the explosions — and eight days after they ruled out terrorism as a possibility.

Many more terrorist attacks have been reported as "isolated incidents."  See this page.

Security at Supermax slammed in fed report.  Prison officials allowed convicted terrorists in the federal super-maximum lockup in Florence to communicate with outside radicals for years and subsequent steps taken to shut down the links have serious gaps. … The FBI, which handles letters from the most dangerous prisoners, is supposed to produce translations within 60 days, according to the report.  In reality, it sometimes takes as long as six to 18 months, the report says.

[Why do known terrorists have mail privileges at the "Supermax" prison?]

Dubai undertow:  How about that INS official who mailed Mohamed Atta his visa six months to the day after he died in an unusual flying accident in Lower Manhattan? How about leaving the ports to those State Department chaps who approved the September 11 killers' laughably incomplete paperwork ("Address in the United States:  HOTEL, AMERICA")?  Or how about those officials at Federal Aviation Administration headquarters who on the morning of September 11 found it all a little too much and just walked out of the room?  After all, all those guys still work for the U.S. government.  By golly, if we're gonna have security breaches at American ports, let's make sure they're all-American security breaches.

More about the Dubai port deal is on this page.

Boston transit police begin passenger ID stops.  Although officials would release few details about the initiative, the identity checks will mark the first time local rail and subway passengers will be asked to produce identification and be questioned about their activities.

Police Use a Taser on a 75 Year Old Woman.  A Rock Hill [SC] police officer received a verbal warning and was required to attend a Taser retraining course after using a stun gun on an elderly woman.

When sexism claims are a real hoot.  You've probably heard of Hooters — the restaurant chain known for attracting male customers by hiring waitresses who are well-endowed and dressed to show it.  The firm now employs more than 30,000 people.  Some would consider this a success story, but our government didn't.  Not because Hooters is using sex to sell — but because its waitresses are — get ready — women!  "Discrimination!" cried the EEOC.

NOAA's radio transmitters missing backup power.  During the power failure two years ago, the NOAA (National Weather Service) radio station serving NYC was dead.

When date rape is a life sentence:  I opened the floodgates recently with a column about Rich Gorman, a former Florida State University student who is serving a five-year prison sentence for a "rape" that involved a 5- to 15-second sex act.  He stopped immediately when she said "stop," and asked, "What's wrong?" — not the usual query of a rapist — and then gave his soon-to-be accuser a ride home.

The employee whose office let 9/11 hijackers into the US gets a bonus.  The State Department official who was forced to retire because her office allowed most of the September 11 hijackers into the United States has won an "outstanding performance" award of $15,000.

It's now a crime to delete files:  International Airport Centers sues former employee, claiming use of a secure file deletion utility violated federal hacking laws.

More information about secure file deletion is on this page.

Court Declares Atheism a Religion.  A federal appeals court has sided with a Wisconsin prison inmate who claimed his constitutional rights were violated with officials would not allow him to create a study group for atheists.  In its ruling, the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Wisconsin prison officials were mistaken when they did not recognize atheism as a religion.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hasn't done its job.  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has failed to conduct mandatory status reviews for nearly all of the 100 Florida species currently on the federal endangered species list, according to a legal challenge announced [recently] by Pacific Legal Foundation's Atlantic Center.

Mail Sent to Walter Reed Never Delivered.  Turns out the trouble at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the focus of a firestorm of criticism over poor treatment of wounded war veterans, reached into the mailroom.  The Army said Friday [6/15/2007] that it has opened an investigation into the recent discovery of 4,500 letters and parcels — some dating to May 2006 — at Walter Reed that were never delivered to soldiers.

Would the FBI Have Heeded "Able Danger"?  I really don't think the FBI would have acted on the information.  Instead, today, we'd be sweeping under the rug yet more ineptitude by the, unfortunately, "lead agency" in the War on Terror.  Let's look at what the FBI has done with other similar information they received before and, even worse, after 9/11.

Secret CIA details found easily on Internet:  report.  The names of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) personnel, including covert operatives, internal telephone numbers and locations of two dozen CIA installations can be found through Internet searches, a US newspaper has reported.  Through online services that provide public, legally obtained information for a fee, a reporter netted a directory of 2,600 CIA employees and 50 internal phone numbers, according to a Chicago Tribune investigation.

DHS Gets Another F in Computer Security.  Most federal agencies that play key roles in the war on terror are doing a dismal job of protecting their computers and information networks from hackers and viruses, according to portions of a report to be released by a key congressional oversight committee Thursday [3/16/2006].  The Department of Homeland Security, which is charged with setting the government's cyber security agenda, earned a grade of F for the third straight year from the House Government Reform Committee.

Homeland Security secretary has stopped using e-mail.  If you're like most of us, your e-mail box fills up daily with pure junk.  I'm not just talking about spam, though that's certainly a problem.  I'm talking about chain letters, stupid jokes forwarded 384 times, news you don't need, even wedding invitations.  Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff found a solution to his e-mail problem:  He no longer uses it.

Ineptitude Has Become a Hallmark of the Port Authority.  It is reasonable to ask:  How many major blunders and missteps arising from poor judgment and faulty analysis is any one governmental agency entitled to before heads roll and new management and strategies put in place?  The recent history of Port Authority projects suggests that the organization is in serious need of an overhaul.

State Department criticized for purchasing Chinese PCs.  A State Department purchase of more than 15,000 computers built by the Lenovo Group of China is starting to draw criticism in the latest sign of American unease about the role of foreign companies in the American economy.

The Editor says...
 Setting aside the impact on our economy for a moment, what about the security risks of buying computer hardware from a Communist country which is a potential enemy?  How does anyone know that the computers are free of built-in timed-release viruses and military-grade spyware?

Visa And A Prayer.  A bruised and betrayed Britain vows to kick out foreign Muslim clerics who inspire violence and hatred while blocking entry of radical imams.  But America keeps ushering them in — by the hundreds.  Are we really that stupid?  Yes.  Since 9-11, the multiculturalists at the State Department have admitted more than 1,000 religious workers from Muslim nations, including terror hotbeds like Pakistan.  In fact, they've granted religious-worker visas to 113 imams from that country alone, immigration records show.

Woman threatened with arrest because of a bumper sticker.  A Denver police sergeant is under investigation for allegedly threatening to arrest a woman for displaying on her truck a derogatory bumper sticker about President Bush.

Meter reading without sanity checking:  An Illinois woman received a $74,000 water bill for allegedly using ten million gallons of water.  Of course it was the result of a faulty meter.  A utility bill like this should never have been mailed.

FBI, Please Protect Us from Terrorists and the ACLU.  Does the FBI suspect that the ACLU is planning a terrorist attack?  If not, why is the FBI wasting time and resources monitoring such groups when it admits it cannot process the information it already has?

 Editor's Note:   I'm not a big fan of the ACLU, as you can see here.  The ACLU is one of the most destructive forces acting upon our traditional American culture, and is especially threatening our freedom of religious expression in public places.  The ACLU is a lot of things, but it's not a violent terrorist organization.

An Object Lesson in Incompetence at the Social Security Administration.  This is one man's anecdote about a mixup at the Social Security Administration (SSA).  The software that the SSA uses to sort mailing addresses when sending out social security cards has a bug which causes correct ZIP codes in some addresses to be replaced with incorrect ZIP codes.

Regulating cornrows:  Usually, the established businesses get away with using licensing boards and "safety" regulations to crush competitors.  That's unfair.  And if the question is who's protecting the public, it seems to me Taalib-Din Uqdah has done much more than the bureaucrats who wanted him to spend 125 hours studying shampooing.

Domestic Violence & Show Trials With Predetermined Outcomes.  Introduced in the 1980's with good intentions, these laws have mutated into a system of repression, power and control, manipulated by the domestic violence industry and exploited by vengeful spouses seeking advantage in divorce and child custody.

Lost in translation.  The federal Bureau of Prisons is holding 119 persons with "specific ties" to international Islamist terrorist groups, yet has no full-time Arabic translators or a system to monitor their communications, according to Congressional sources and a whistleblower who now fears retaliation from inmates.

False negatives on fingerprints:  An accused murderer using an alias had been stopped and fingerprinted three times, but IAFIS (the FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System) didn't match his fingerprints to those on file under his real name.

Are people working under false identities at DOD?  How many people using false identities have been employed by the Defense Department?  Are some illegal aliens?  As of now, the government does not have definitive answers to these questions.

Setting terrorists free:  The Department of Homeland Security is releasing drug smugglers and human traffickers, and perhaps even suspected terrorists and violent felons, as a matter of policy — because it doesn't have the resources to keep them in custody.

Lost items puzzle nuclear research lab.  The U.S. federal Idaho National Laboratory nuclear-reactor research lab cannot account for more than 200 missing computers and disk drives that may have contained sensitive information.  The computers were among 998 items costing $2.2 million dollars that came up missing over the past three years.

Audit:  Labs Can't Account for Explosives.  Hundreds of non-nuclear explosive devices are untested or unaccounted for due to poor record keeping at two of the nation's top national laboratories, a federal audit found Wednesday [6/28/2006]. … For example, Sandia officials couldn't account for at least 410 items, including detonators, rocket motors, shaped explosives and bulk explosive powders.

Customs Service Withholds Data on Missing Guns, Computers:  The U.S. Customs Service is refusing to publicly release data on thousands of computers and weapons for which it cannot account, getting angry attention from a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.  The move comes just three days after an inspector general's audit at the Justice Department found more than 200 weapons and 400 laptop computers missing from the FBI.

Missing FBI Laptops Still a Problem.  Three or four FBI laptop computers are lost or stolen each month and the agency is unable to say in many instances whether information on the machines is sensitive or classified, the Justice Department's inspector general said Monday [2/12/2007].

Laptops, weapons missing at DEA.  More than 90 weapons and 230 laptop computers belonging to the Drug Enforcement Administration have turned up missing over the past five years and, despite efforts by the agency to address weaknesses in tracking the items, "significant deficiencies" remain, a report said yesterday [3/28/2008].  The lost and stolen weapons include pistols, rifles, shotguns and a submachine gun, said a 105-page report by the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General….

Lost DOT Laptops:  Compromised Personal Data?  A series of data breaches at agencies under the United States Department of Transportation has put the Personal Identification Information of at least 133,000 people at risk.  According to information WTOP obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, since 2001, the DOT has lost nearly 400 laptop computers and had nine instances when Personal Identification Information was lost or stolen.

Personal data at risk in lost IRS laptops.  At least 490 IRS computers have been stolen or lost since 2003 in security breaches that potentially jeopardized the personal information of more than 2,000 taxpayers, a government audit reported Wednesday [4/6/2007].  The computers were lost in 387 incidents, most of which were not reported to the IRS computer security office as required, according to the report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

Hundreds of Texas driver's licenses mailed to the wrong people.  An agency that warns Texans not to share personal information with strangers because of the risks of identity theft mistakenly mailed hundreds of driver's licenses to the wrong people.

Man Threatened with Arrest After Taking Photos of Police.  After taking several snapshots and without talking to the police, Parker said he left.  After driving three blocks, he realized he was being followed by six squad cars.  "I thought they were all just trying to pass me, so I pulled over.  They come running out of their cars at me," he said.

Security Gaffes Cited in Courthouse Spree.  The deputy, a 51-year-old woman just 5 feet tall, was simply no match for the inmate she was escorting to the courtroom, a 6-foot-1, 200-pound former college linebacker on trial for rape.  Authorities say Brian Nichols overpowered deputy Cynthia Hall, took her gun, and easily gained access to the courtroom, where he went on to kill the judge and a court reporter.  Security cameras captured images of him overpowering the deputy, but no one, it turned out, was watching the screens.

Freeze!  I just had my nails done!  How many people have to die before the country stops humoring feminists?  Last week, a defendant in a rape case, Brian Nichols, wrested a gun from a female deputy in an Atlanta courthouse and went on a murderous rampage.  Liberals have proffered every possible explanation for this breakdown in security except the giant elephant in the room… The New York Times said the problem was not enough government spending on courthouse security.  Yes, it was tax-cuts-for-the-rich that somehow enabled a 200-pound former linebacker to take a gun from a 5-foot-tall grandmother.

Inaugural doomsday?  [Recently] it was revealed that the FBI is on the verge of scrapping a $170 million computer overhaul the agency said was critical in the war against terrorism.  The computers don't work.  The bureau will pay a research firm $2 million to discover what's wrong and see if it can be fixed.  Adding ludicrous to stupid, The New York Times reported some veteran agents are resisting the transition to computers because they favor pens and pads.

Update:
 Lockheed Martin Picked for FBI Computers.  Lockheed Martin Corp. will build a new computer system for the FBI in an effort to put to rest the bureau's multimillion-dollar troubles with technology.  The Sentinel system, the replacement for a failed computerized case management project, is expected to cost $425 million and be finished in late 2009, the FBI's chief information officer said Thursday [3/16/2006] at a news conference.

Wyoming woman arrested on false federal charges.  Hope Clarke was put in handcuffs on a bench warrant for failing to put away her marshmallows and hot chocolate while staying at Yellowstone National Park last year.  Federal agents apparently blindly relied on a computer database, even though the court had a copy of the citation showing she had paid.

Ohio Man Loses Home and Business After Allowing Employees to Play Golf.  William Pierce had no way of knowing he was violating a labor regulation because the DOL had not yet informed employers that flextime was illegal.  The Department of Labor sued him in 1989 for willfully violating the Fair Labor Standards Act and ordered him to pay $50,000 in fines.

Don't Pay for an Airline Ticket with Cash.  Willie Jones paid cash for a ticket to Houston, where he planned to purchase plants and shrubbery for his business.  But by paying in cash, Jones immediately aroused suspicions that he was a drug dealer.  Carrying large amounts of cash and being an African-American apparently fits the DEA's profile of such a criminal.

The Diane Klieman Story:  Special Agent Diane Klieman thought that working for the Custom Service at JFK Airport was the right way to continue to serve her country.  She turned out to be wrong.  Almost dead wrong!

Police seize legal gunowner:  A gunowners group is protesting the seizure of a legally armed citizen in a bookstore by two police officers who responded to an anonymous caller alarmed by the weapon.

The Kevin Mitnick Case:  Kevin Mitnick's sixth Amendment right of a speedy trial was violated.  Should this not be taken into account when passing sentence?  The amount of $80 million estimated for the supposed damages he caused are also out of hand.  At no time did he deprive anyone of their property by removing or damaging it — nor did he use any information he obtained for financial gain — instead pursued knowledge over monetary reward.  It is preposterous to punish activities that society normally rewards and encourages.

Hate Tour.  How the State Department invites and pays for extremists to visit the US.  Inviting members of extremist organizations or individuals that refuse a rational, civilized debate is, frankly, a waste of money.  If, moreover, the Americans chosen to meet with the program's foreign participants happen to be hard-line critics of the US, we have a recipe for disaster.

Nuclear data found missing at DOE office in New Mexico.  An inventory has found another case of missing data involving nuclear weapons, this time at the Energy Department's regional office in Albuquerque.  The Energy Department said that an "accounting discrepancy" involving three copies of a "controlled removable electronic media"  — or CREM  — [more commonly, a computer disk] was found at the regional office as part of the nationwide inventory of such devices.

A heartless homeland security screw-up:  Do you remember when immigration officials sent out flight school visa approval notices for two of the 9/11 hijackers — six months after they had committed their suicide attacks on America?  President Bush proclaimed his outrage, four federal immigration officials were reassigned, and Washington vowed that such embarrassing bureaucratic paperwork snafus would never happen again.  I'm sorry to report to you that it has, in fact, happened again.

Jury pool truly is a bunch of A-listers.  If you're on the A-list at Suffolk Superior Court this month, then most likely you're also in the jury pool.  A computer glitch at the state Office of Jury Commissioner alphabetized names of potential jurors, rather than shuffling them, before summonses were sent out.  That created a jury pool of people whose last names mostly begin with the letter A.

Release of Home Addresses Angers Concealed-Carry Licensees:  A Second Amendment group says the sheriff in Shelby County, Ohio, had no right to release the home addresses of 87 people licensed to carry concealed pistols.

Controlling Pests or Controlling Competition?  The Pacific Legal Foundation challenges a California licensing law that would require a 30-year business veteran to become an apprentice.

Justice for little Angelo:  It is too bad that only one man will go to jail for this crime.  There ought to be room in a cell somewhere for the social workers and their bosses who made this murder possible in the face of blatant evidence about the dangers that an infant could see, even if the responsible adults refused to see.

Is talking about online gambling illegal?  According to the U.S. Justice Department, I may have just committed a felony.  Federal prosecutors say helping Americans find online casinos or sports betting operations could amount to "aiding and abetting" illegal gambling, a crime punishable by up to two years in prison.

Not Guilty By Reason of Limited English Proficiency:  In a terrifying blow to the future of law enforcement and criminal proceedings, Pennsylvania prosecutors were forced to drop drug charges against a man after a Pennsylvania Superior Court declared a search void due to the accused's inability to understand English.

Government Workers: Working Hard or Hardly Working?  [In May 2004], the General Accounting Office (GAO) made headlines with its report that scores of high ranking employees from eight federal agencies had degrees from bogus colleges or unaccredited schools.

Unintended Consequences?  In August, 1991, 18 EPA agents burst into the offices of Higman Sand and Gravel with guns drawn.  After 53 years in business with a spotless record, the owners found themselves in federal court, accused of illegally storing hazardous waste.  The EPA agents had found a small quantity of paint thinner dumped on the property.  At trial, it was discovered that the paid informant had done the deed.  He stood to gain $24,000 if the owners been convicted, in addition to the $2,000 he had already been paid for the hot tip.

Tennessee man ticketed for flashing lights.  A Tennessee man who flashed his highbeams at oncoming traffic to warn them of a patrol car was ticketed for "interfering with a police officer in the course of his duties".

Suit filed after cops confiscate motor home:  A California man has filed suit in U.S. district court in Detroit after police from Royal Oak, Mich., confiscated his motor home because it allegedly bore "obscene" pro-life messages.

FDA Takes Tyranny to the Heartland.  In this age of almighty government, nearly every blade of grass is regulated, oftentimes heavy-handedly, as Michigan farmer Richard Hebron found out when the Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA), on Oct. 13, 2006, carried out a highly orchestrated sting operation against him for transporting unpasteurized, unprocessed milk of the highest quality to enthusiastic consumers.  That day, his wife also was served a warrant in the dragnet.



The George Norris Subsection:

Feds raid orchid-grower's home:  George Norris said he believes his troubles may stem from the US Fish and Wildlife Service's use of CARNIVORE, a government system that can tap into computer e-mails.  "They showed me page three of a five-page e-mail from several years ago where I was being offered smuggled plants," he said.  "They did not show me pages four and five, which were my answer to this fellow, telling him we would not buy any such plants that were undocumented.  This was so old that I don't even remember this e-mail."

 Editor's Note:   In case the link to that article goes nowhere, the full text of the story can be found here.

Orchids… not Osama.  The Fish and Wildlife Service can walk into anyone's home at any time and tear it apart without even having to say what it is they are looking for; they spend taxpayer money on wild goose chases like this one, ripping apart lives for the sake of a few orchids that are legally in this country in the first place.


Jailing the innocent:  Every day, many Americans commit crimes of which they are unaware.  Many of the crimes with which Americans are charged are absurd.

Report:  Overextending the Criminal Law

President Bush's secret service buffoons:  [The Secret Service recently] investigated renowned editorial cartoonist Michael Ramirez… because Ramirez drew a provocative cartoon that was clearly intended to defend the president.

Silencing Student Speech — And Even Artwork — in the Post-Columbine Era:  The relevant supreme court cases, and how they have been misapplied.

Judge kills death sentence because jurors read the Bible.  Although Robert Harlan was convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering a 25-year-old woman and shooting another woman passer-by who tried to help, leaving her paralyzed, a Colorado judge overturned his death sentence because some jurors had read the Bible during their deliberations.

Why the Fourth Amendment is Right and Bush and Ashcroft are Wrong:  Various news stories in recent years document the fact that police have on numerous occasions battered down doors, entered the wrong houses and even killed innocent people.  These no-knock raids illustrate very clearly just how little protection Americans have against being subjected to unreasonable searches and seizures of their persons and property.

Shrink-Wrapping Our Rights:  Laws relating to computers, software, and the Internet are being proposed and passed at such a breathless rate that even those of us trying to follow them are having trouble keeping up.  Unfortunately, some bad laws, such as the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA), are likely to encourage other bad laws, such as proposals to increase surveillance of the Internet.

Everyone is checked for guns — except known terrorists!  Database used on law-abiding Americans while al-Qaida and other enemies get a free ride.  Even the names of suspected al-Qaida cell members in the U.S. would not show up in a background check by a gun store.

Did You Hear the One About the Armed Robber Who…  A pro-Second Amendment group says the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has "lost its marbles," after throwing out the conviction of an armed robber who didn't mean to show his loaded gun to a bank teller.

Call A Cop, Go To Jail.  There seems to be a law against holding cash.  Robert R. Reiner had $350,000 of his father's money that he wished to deposit in the bank.  He asked the police to help provide security.  They called the feds and the feds took the money — presumably on the principle of guilty until proven innocent.

Upload a File, Go to Prison.  Two congressmen introduce a bill to criminalize the uploading of copyright works to peer-to-peer networks.  The penalty:  five years in prison and $250,000 in fines.  Critics say the law goes too far.

DigitalConsumer.org  Have you ever made a tape of your favorite songs to enjoy in your car stereo?  Have you ever bought a CD and ripped it to your portable MP3 player?  If so, you should know that recent changes to copyright law have been used to take away your personal use rights to the media you legally acquire.  That means that activities like making mixes or copying music to a portable player are quickly being restricted or prevented.

Shift-Key Case Rouses DMCA Foes.  Critics say it's the absurdity of the unforeseen consequences of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that necessitates a change in the law.  The DMCA goes too far and sends a chilling effect through the academic community, they say.

Everyone a criminal:  Today, Americans draw prison sentences for unknowingly violating vague regulations, the meanings of which are interpreted by the regulatory police who enforce the regulations.

The U.S. police state:  Attorney Russ Stein details his arrest for "idling."  You have to read it to believe it.

Detroit's voter rolls in question:  Despite having died eight years ago, Kathe Beddow still retains one mortal privilege:  The right to vote.  The city Elections Department in July sent Beddow a voter registration card, even though she hasn't voted in more than a decade.

Arrested for catching a mouse?  A California law requires a trapping license in order to kill mice.  The Animal Protection Institute of Sacramento pushed the bill, which mandates anyone who takes furbearing mammals or non-game animals must purchase a trapping license by passing a complex test and paying a fee of $78.50, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The crime of distributed computing:  Misapplication of Georgia's anti-hacking laws puts an honest technician in hot water.

This ties in nicely with the Draconian Punishment of the Month:  In the 7th century B.C., an Athenian named Draco established a code of laws which, rather than promoting stability and equality as expected, became known for their terrible severity.  Even 2600 years later, we use the word Draconian [for cases like the ones on this page.]

Illinois Home Schoolers Told to Resist Demands of Area Superintendent:  The Home School Legal Defense Association is urging home-schooling families in northeastern Illinois to ignore demands that they attend a pre-trial hearing to prove they are in compliance with the law.

Senate Asked to Probe FBI Case.  According to congressional sources, the two prominent senators have written to Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, asking for hearings on the growing crisis of espionage failures at the FBI.

The confederacy of dunces:  FBI orders the wrong man arrested at airport; he was held for three weeks.

Air Force radio frequency jams garage door openers.  A secretive Air Force facility in Colorado Springs tested a radio frequency this past week that it would use to communicate with first responders in the event of a homeland security threat.  But the frequency also controls an estimated 50 million garage door openers, and hundreds of residents in the area found that theirs had suddenly stopped working.

[Of all the wide-open frequencies in the radio spectrum, the Air Force just had to have this frequency that is being used by 50 million devices?  We're supposed to assume the interference is justified, because after all, it's for "homeland security", which has become the government's new trump card.]

First Responders:  Historically, police departments, fire departments and EMTs have all had their own independent communications equipment, so when there's a disaster that involves them all, they can't communicate with each other.  A 1996 government report said this about the *first* World Trade Center bombing in 1993:  "Rescuing victims of the World Trade Center bombing, who were caught between floors, was hindered when police officers could not communicate with firefighters on the very next floor."

Property Rights In Radio Communication:  The FCC has been unable to keep up with the pace of change in radio communication since the end of World War II.  It took the FCC nearly 10 years to finalize allocation and assignment criteria for television.  For four of those years, it had to impose a "freeze" on the licensing of stations.  It was almost 30 years before the FCC was able to change those specifications with the Low Power TV proposal.  It took the FCC three years to settle a dispute between FM radio and VHF television over the same frequencies, and it took 10 years to reallocate some frequencies from UHF television to mobile radio.  Access to channels is thus constricted by a bureaucracy which frequently needs 10 years to make a major decision, and the result is a backlog of applicants that can only be described as chaotic.

EPA Seeks Faith-Based Grants For Green Causes:  The director of an Environmental Protection Agency energy program told a meeting of environmentalists Thursday [12/19/2002] that the White House's faith-based initiative should include federal grants for religious groups that advocate green causes.

Blacks and Guns:  Unfortunately, the way police crack down on crime — by cracking down on all kinds of minor infractions, looking for excuses to search people, being suspicious of everyone who looks suspicious — is a great irritant to the law-abiding citizens.

Persnickety police prompt panic in Pasadena:  Woman gets the run-around while threatened on the freeway by an armed man... who eventually got away.

Feds decline private assistance - again!  Rick Stanley, the Libertarian candidate for U.S. Senate, was characteristically blunt.  "Two years ago, when the fire started at Mesa Verde National Park, local volunteers showed up with bulldozers and water trucks.  They could have put the fire out in a matter of hours.  But the National Park Service was unwilling to accept private assistance.  Twenty-four-thousand acres of beautiful forest land was incinerated before that fire burned itself out."

Forest Service ignores offers of Russian help:  The Associated Press reported that then-District IX FEMA director Buddy Young went to the [Los Alamos] fire and publicly announced, "You will not bring the Russian planes in here:  We're not having any Russians coming here and fighting our fires."

FBI Looking Into Los Alamos Breach.  The FBI has conducted two interviews and may schedule a third with the woman who walked out carrying classified documents from what's supposed to be one of the most secure facilities in the world, the Los Alamos National Laboratory, CBS News has learned.  The incident has exposed continuing security weaknesses at Los Alamos, which has been the focus of security and management scandals for seven years.

The forest service smokescreen:  Last summer, four young firefighters died at the Thirtymile Fire in Washington state's Okanogan National Forest... because of the Forest Service's gross incompetence.  And not a single person has been held publicly accountable for the fatal failures.

Disputed Air ID Law May Not Exist:  A recent lawsuit filed by Electronic Frontier Foundation founder John Gilmore against U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, United Airlines and several others challenges the requirement that airline flyers present government-issued identification in order to travel within the United States.  The suit claims unpublished federal regulations have created an "internal passport" for Americans in violation of the U.S. Constitution.  As it turns out, there may be no such law on the books.

Parents of 2-year-old 'streaker' taken to court:  Court claims 4th Amendment doesn't apply to social workers.  Because a 2-year-old, acting in typical toddler fashion, ran out of the house naked chasing a cat, a social worker demanded entry into the North Carolina child's home to interview all children in the household, ultimately landing the parents in court.

Tommy Thompson's Reign Of Terror:  The government claims a crisis of unpaid child support.  Leading scholars have declared these claims to be everything from a "myth" to a "hoax."  Yet some in the Bush administration seem determined to continue the failed policies of the Clinton years.  Health & Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson recently announced mass arrests of parents he says have disobeyed government orders.

Radiation Levels at the Capitol are 65 Times EPA Standards for that Facility:  Vice President Dick Cheney just announced that nuclear power should be part of our national energy strategy.  But a little-noticed 11th-hour regulatory action by the Clinton administration may block the way.  (Thanks a lot, Bill.)

Man Imprisoned 30 Years for Crime FBI Knew He Didn't Commit:  Representatives on the House Government Reform Committee showed a rare display of emotion on Thursday [5/3/2001], as they heard the story of a man who spent 30 years in prison for a crime the FBI knew he did not commit.

FBI and Anthrax:  Another TWA 800 in the Making?  In the fruitless attempt to locate the perpetrators of the anthrax attacks that took place in the U.S. after the Sept. 11 hijackings, the FBI is once again ignoring evidence that conflicts with its predetermined and wrongheaded theory of who was behind this biowarfare.



The Steven Hatfill Subsection

Who Carried Out the Anthrax Attacks?  Calling it a "Cold Case," the report noted that after five years, 53,000 leads, and 6,000 subpoenas, the FBI still has no arrests.  [Jim] Stewart asked, "So who did it?  Former Attorney General John Ashcroft once singled out Dr. Steven Hatfill, a bioweapons specialist, as a 'person of interest.'  But there have been no charges."  That statement shortchanges the facts surrounding the government's wrongful pursuit of Hatfill and its destruction of his life and career.  In fact, Hatfill has sued the government for invasion of privacy, and he has sued the media, including the New York Times, for defamation.

The Crucifixion of Steven Hatfill:  Almost oblivious of the fact that they are in effect charging Dr. Hatfill with wantonly murdering five innocent fellow Americans, the media have swarmed around him like angry bees, dredging up incidents in his distant past to justify their continuing attacks.

Ashcroft May Target Hatfill With RFK Tactics:  In an attempt to justify the harassment of Dr. Steven Hatfill, the Department of Justice may resort to tactics used by Robert Kennedy against the Mafia, Hatfill's friend and spokesman Pat Clawson told NewsMax.com.

UPI Exclusive:  FBI is tracking Hatfill:  Fifteen months after a series of anthrax-laced letters killed five Americans, the FBI again intensified its acknowledged interest in bio-war expert Stephen Hatfill, conducting a search of a Maryland state park and openly tracking him around Washington streets, despite emerging concern over their methods.

Another Richard Jewell?  A lawyer has said that if Steven Hatfill is guilty in the anthrax attacks, he must be the dumbest criminal going.

Rogue Elephant:  Ask Dr. Steven Hatfill if he thinks this is a new and improved FBI.  Spurred on by a university research professor and a New York Times columnist, the FBI has turned Hatfill's life inside out.

A person of interest:  Is a vote for a Republican a vote for a police state?  Those who saw Dr. Steven Hatfill's Fox News press conference on Sunday, Aug. 25, must be asking themselves this question.  Once again, the FBI and Department of Justice (so-called) are displaying what former Scripps Howard News Service editor Dan Thomasson calls "a callous disregard for a citizen's rights."

Judge dismisses anthrax libel case.  A federal judge on Friday dismissed a libel lawsuit filed against The New York Times by a former Army scientist once identified as a person of interest in the 2001 anthrax attacks.  U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton in Alexandria dismissed the case a week after lawyers for the Times argued that Steven Hatfill should be considered a public figure under libel law, which makes it much more difficult for a public figure to win a judgment than a private citizen.

Silence = Danger:  A judge orders journalists to name their confidential sources.  The order arises in a civil suit filed by Steven Hatfill, the bioterrorism expert whom federal investigators suspected was behind the 2001 anthrax mailings.  A former federal employee, Hatfill claims that the Justice Department and the FBI, by leaking to the press information about their suspicions of him, violated his rights under the federal Privacy Act.

The News Media Vs. the Innocent.  Years ago, Ray Donovan, Ronald Reagan's Labor Secretary, was prosecuted for corruption, only to be acquitted.  After the verdict, Donovan asked plaintively, "Which office do I go to to get my reputation back?"  Steven Hatfill knows where to go to get his reputation back.  But upon arriving there, he finds the door blocked by someone who says her privileges are more important than his good name.  That someone, of course, is a journalist.  And, not surprisingly, she enjoys the broad support of other journalists, who have proved to be slow learners about the obligations they share with their fellow citizens.

$5.8 million for scientist in anthrax lawsuit.  The Justice Department has agreed to pay $5.8 million to settle a lawsuit with former Army scientist Steven Hatfill, who was named as a person of interest in the 2001 anthrax attacks.  Hatfill claimed the Justice Department violated his privacy rights by speaking with reporters about the case.  Settlement documents were filed in federal court Friday [6/27/2008].

How the FBI Botched the Anthrax Case:  The anthrax investigation, almost from the beginning, was hampered by top-heavy leadership from high ranking, but inexperienced FBI officials, which led to a close-minded focus on just one suspect and amateurish investigative techniques that robbed agents in the field the ability operate successfully.

The Anthrax Fiasco:  Throughout one of the largest investigations in law-enforcement history, agents were fixated on a "lone wolf" theory that Director Robert Mueller's FBI, for all intents and purposes, now admits was wrong.  Helped along by a sympathetic press corps, the obsession with a domestic perpetrator has ended up in a dead end. … The FBI's mad scientist theory also fit the agenda of the political left, which didn't want the trail of evidence to prove state-sponsorship of terror — particularly by Iraq.

Steven Hatfill Vs. The Media:  If the left wants an example of the Bush Administration's incompetence in the war on terror, they've got it in the case of former government scientist Dr. Steven Hatfill, who was falsely accused of the anthrax murders.  The U.S. Government "has determined that settlement is in the best interests of the United States and has agreed to pay Dr. Hatfill and his attorneys $2.825 million dollars and purchase for Dr. Hatfill an annual annuity of $150,000," the Department of Justice said in a statement released on Friday, June 27.  But there was no apology for ruining an innocent person's life and career.

Update:
 NY Times Wins in Libel Suit Brought By Former Anthrax Suspect.  A federal appeals court is handing a legal victory to the New York Times by upholding a lower court's ruling tossing out a former Army scientist's claim that he was libeled by the newspaper in columns which linked him to the deadly anthrax attacks in 2001.  The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Richmond, Va., ruled that the scientist, Stephen Hatfill, was a public figure in the national debate over bioterrorism preparedness.

Apparent suicide in anthrax case.  Bruce E. Ivins, a scientist who helped the FBI investigate the 2001 mail attacks, was about to face charges. … Ivins died Tuesday [7/29/2008] at Frederick Memorial Hospital after ingesting a massive dose of prescription Tylenol mixed with codeine, said a friend and colleague, who declined to be identified out of concern that he would be harassed by the FBI.

The anthrax case and the suicide.  There still have been no media mea culpas in the public lynching of Steven Hatfill.  There is still no resolution on the anthrax attacks — resolution the public deserves to have and the victims' families needs to know.

After Suicide, Feds Consider Closing Anthrax Case.  The chief suspect in the anthrax attacks now dead, the Justice Department is expected to decide within days whether to close what had been one of its most high-profile unsolved cases.  Five people died and 17 others were sickened when anthrax-laced letters began showing up at congressional offices, newsrooms and post offices soon after Sept. 11, 2001.

FBI used aggressive tactics in anthrax probe.  Before killing himself last week, Army scientist Bruce Ivins told friends that government agents had stalked him and his family for months, offered his son $2.5 million to rat him out and tried to turn his hospitalized daughter against him with photographs of dead anthrax victims.

Bruce Ivins Wasn't the Anthrax Culprit.  Despite the seemingly powerful narrative that Ivins committed suicide because investigators were closing in, this is still far from a shut case.  The FBI needs to explain why it zeroed in on Ivins, how he could have made the anthrax mailed to lawmakers and the media, and how he (or anyone else) could have pulled off the attacks, acting alone.  I believe this is another mistake in the investigation.

Bad 'News'.  This may mark the end of the anthrax story but the reckless destruction of people's reputations and the disrupting and blighting of their lives in the media is continuing on.  There is much to be said for the British practice of limiting what can be reported in the media about someone on trial until after that trial is over.  Once a charge has been made and publicized from coast to coast — if not internationally — later exoneration will never get the same publicity, so the damage cannot be undone.

The Anthrax Truth Movement:  On Wednesday [8/7/2008], the FBI released a raft of documents to buttress its case against Bruce Ivins, whom the government says bears "sole responsibility" for the 2001 anthrax attacks. … The FBI's cartload of paper is unlikely to settle the case.  Like 9/11 and the Kennedy assassination, the anthrax attack bears the hallmarks of a tragedy destined to spawn innumerable alternative theories.

Prosecutors Clear Hatfill in Anthrax Case.  Federal prosecutors yesterday [8/8/2008] officially "excluded" scientist Steven J. Hatfill from involvement in the deadly 2001 anthrax mailings, formally closing the door on a costly episode that sidetracked the FBI's search for the real culprit for nearly five years.

U.S. settles with anthrax mailings subject Steven Hatfill for $5.82 million.  The former Army scientist who was the prime suspect in the deadly 2001 anthrax mailings agreed Friday [8/8/2008] to take $5.82 million from the government to settle his claim that the Justice Department and the FBI invaded his privacy and ruined his career.

What If the FBI Is Right About Bruce Ivins?  One of the most frequent questions asked [about bioterrorism] is, "If the Unabomber had been a biologist instead of a mathematician, could he have produced a sophisticated bioweapon?"  The answer has always been "No:  That would require a team of individuals."  However, if the FBI is right about Ivins, such a lone individual can produce such a weapon.


Nobody went more overboard in preparation for Y2K than the FBI.
 The FBI and the mad bombers.  (Posted on December 9, 1999.)  The FBI is warning us, through its Project Megiddo report, that right-wing Christians are dangerous terrorists prone to incite violence in the weeks ahead.

Death by the FDA:  Is the FDA out to deliberately kill Americans? No, but the end result is the same.

Culture Problems at Justice:  A 76-year-old disabled man was evicted because his caretaker brought cocaine into the apartment.  In another case, an elderly woman was evicted because her mentally disabled daughter, who lived with her, was found in possession of cocaine in a location blocks away from the apartment.  These extraordinary injustices are tallied as victories in the war on crime.

Whatever Happened to Equal Protection?  Prosecutorial abuse has reached new heights in Idaho.  A white husband is being prosecuted for committing a hate crime for coming to the aid of his wife, who was assaulted by a black man.

Honest and hard-working need not apply:  I have been struck by the stark differences between how the U.S. government postures itself toward an ever-growing number of citizens who insist that agencies be tolerant, friendly, honest, fair and generous to the population versus the manner in which so many federal agencies treat their own employees, which is very bad.

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