In America, we're supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. Life, liberty, and property can't be taken from you unless you're convicted of a crime.
Your life and liberty may still be safe, but have you ever gone to a government surplus auction? Consumer reporters like me tell people, correctly, that they are great places to find bargains. People can buy bikes for $10, cars for $500.
But where did the government get that stuff?
Some is abandoned property.
But some I would just call loot. The cops grabbed it.
Zaher El-Ali has repaired and sold cars in Houston for 30 years. One day, he sold a truck to a man on credit. Ali was holding the title to the car until he was paid, but before he got his money the buyer was arrested for drunk driving. The cops then seized Ali's truck and kept it, planning to sell it.
Ali can't believe it
"I own that truck. That truck done nothing."
The police say they can keep it under forfeiture law because the person driving the car that day broke the law. It doesn't matter that the driver wasn't the owner. It's as if the truck committed the crime.
"I have never seen a truck drive," Ali said. I don't think it's the fault of the truck. And they know better."
Something has gone wrong when the police can seize the property of innocent people.
"Under this bizarre legal fiction called civil forfeiture, the government can take your property, including your home, your car, your cash, regardless of whether or not you are convicted of a crime. It's led to horrible abuses," says Scott Bullock of the Institute for Justice, the libertarian law firm.
Bullock suggests the authorities are not just disinterested enforcers of the law.
"One of the main reasons they do this and why they love civil forfeiture is because in Texas and over 40 states and at the federal level, police and prosecutors get to keep all or most of the property that they seize for their own use," he said. "So they can use it to improve their offices, buy better equipment."
Cops in America have turned into the dreaded Highway Robbers of Yore in Europe.
ReplyDeleteYou take a mortal man
you put him in control
watch him become a GOD
Just like the Pied Piper
lead RATS* through the field
Dance like marionettes
to the symphony
of Destruction!
cf: whitehouse lawn rat incident
the bees also have a thing to say to Obama
apparently. 1000's of 'em swarming the white house.
It will get a lot worse. Have you ever downloaded a movie without paying for it? Well then, my friend, it is perfectly legal for the cops to come into your home and confiscate every piece of media equipment in your home. Your PCs, TVs, stereos, radios, anything media related. All gone forever. Plus you will most likely get hit with a $25k fine.
ReplyDeleteSince this fits the bill for 90% of the households in America, think about that. Plus, of course, there is an IP trail for everything you have ever done.
The government/police can make a criminal out of anyone, if it is profitable to do so.
ReplyDeleteForfeiture : This is how the government creates "terrorists" - people who have had their lands, their crops, trees, machinery, livelihoods, and other properties taken WITHOUT due process or consideration for what is universally just and righteous. This is how the government creates angry, desperate, vengeful people whose only recourse is to lash out at all those who remained silent and complicit.
ReplyDeleteWhat goes around, comes around. The banksters want their money paid back, and in the cases of default, they will send their armies and troops to collect on the collateral - which is anything they desire.
It remains to be seen how the Americans deal with this, but so far, it looks like the ideals of their own Constitional Bill of Rights has gone into the shitter, and with that, the Americans themselves.
10:54 that would happen even if a friend dropped in, did a download and left. The cell phone would also be taken. Good grief.
ReplyDeleteThey take your property every day through taxes. It is no different.
ReplyDeleteA) Find the van in question at the impound yard
ReplyDeleteB) Go to hardware store and purchase a programable nite lite.
C) Open fuel fill door; insert timed device for 1hr.
D) Go across town and watch the fireworks !
Sometimes; you just gotta trim yer losses and carry on
A country that permits this is clearly rotten to the core, politically-speaking.
ReplyDeleteI was victimized by the police in Boise, Idaho. I was stopped for a "moving violation." I never got a ticket, but they took my truck, all the contents, and left me on the highway to fend for myself, more than 18 miles from the nearest phone or town. They wouldn't even make a call for me, let alone give me a ride anywhere. Luckily, a passing semi stopped, gave me a ride, and I am indebted to him. Lousy cops. I haven't gotten anything back, and it has been 13 months.
ReplyDeleteCops are rattlesnakes, just give them a wide berth, avoid them.
ReplyDelete