The Biggest Lie American's Actually Believe??
bw
tricked into believing?
A. That the military industrial complex exists to defend us. In truth,
it exists to defend the pork barrels that have been put in place by
extremely wealthy, greedy, men who simply can't get enough billions -
- who don't care how much blood is on their money, and how many lies
are told to get it in their hands.
They take all the necessary steps to perpetually create & agravate
enemies, so that their pork barrels will be protected by their minion
politicians, and justified (with lies) when necessary. They will stop
at nothing to prevent peace and prolong war.
I pity them. In a many ways, they are lower than dogs. It is far
better to be an honest janitor with no blood on your hands, than a
dishonest billionaire with bloody hands.
If the organized criminals who are the USA's ruling elite were honest,
they would rename the "Department of Defense" to the "Department of
Perpetual War, Deception, & Huge Profits"
--------------------------------------------------------------------
There is Solid Evidence of War Crimes on every Video on this page:
http://www.collateralmurder.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------
"Some things you must always be unable to bear. Some things you must
never stop refusing to bear. Injustice and outrage and dishonor and
shame. No matter how young you are or how old you have got. Not for
kudos and not for cash, your picture in the paper nor money in the
bank, neither. Just refuse to bear them."
William Faulkner
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Killing Hope: U.S. Military and C.I.A. Interventions since World War
II is a history book on covert CIA operations and U.S. military
interventions during the second half of the 20th century, written by
former State Department employee William Blum.
The book covers various US foreign policy ventures from just after
World War II onward. Its basic premise is that the Soviet Union
occupied the Warsaw Pact states only to better defend its
territory[citation needed] and the American Cold War-era activities
abroad were done with imperialist motives...
Noam Chomsky called it "Far and away the best book on the topic."[1]
Former CIA officer John Stockwell called it "The single most useful
summary of CIA history."
The 12 lines above were copied from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_Hope
Mr. Blum has many chapters from the book online for free reading here:
http://killinghope.org/
--------
excerpt from William Blum's june 28 newsletter:
We came, we saw, we destroyed, we forgot
An updated summary of the charming record of US foreign policy. Since
the end of the Second World War, the United States of America has ...
1. Attempted to overthrow more than 50 governments, most of which
were democratically-elected. 7
2. Attempted to suppress a populist or nationalist movement in 20
countries. 8
3. Grossly interfered in democratic elections in at least 30
countries. 9
4. Dropped bombs on the people of more than 30 countries. 10
5. Attempted to assassinate more than 50 foreign leaders. 11
In total: Since 1945, the United States has carried out one or more of
the above actions, on one or more occasions, in the following 69
countries
Excepted from:
http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer96.html
William Blum on the recent Tragedy in Norway:
"Amidst all the sadness and horror surrounding the massacre in Norway,
we should not lose sight of the fact that "peaceful little Norway"
participated in the bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999; has deployed troops
in Iraq; has troops in Afghanistan; and has supplied warplanes for
NATO's bombing of Libya. The teenagers of those countries who lost
their lives to the US/NATO killing machine wanted to live to adulthood
and old age as much as the teenagers in Norway. With all the
condemnation of "extremism" we now hear in Norway and around the world
we must ask if this behavior of the Norwegian government, as well as
that of the United States and NATO, is not "extremist"."
=============================
Colman McCarthy: Among individuals, peace is the result of love. If
love were easy, we’d all be good at it. Collectively, peace is the
result of justice. And again, if justice were easy all nations would
be good at it.
Politicians who argue that peace comes through strength are referring
to military strength – the strength of violence, from the violence of
the nuclear bomb to the roadside bomb. If military strength were
effective, the planet would have had peace eons ago. Yet against all
historical evidence, we are repeatedly told, war after war, century
after century, that this time violence will work.
==============================
"I spent thirty-three years and four months in active service in the
country's most agile military force, the Marines. I served in all
ranks from second lieutenant to major general. And during that period
I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big
Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a
racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.
"I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of
it. Like all members of the military profession I never had an
original thought until I left the service. My mental faculties
remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of the
higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service.
"Thus I helped make Mexico, and especially Tampico, safe for American
oil interests in 1914. "I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place
for the National City Bank boys to collect revenue in. I helped in the
raping of half-a-dozen Central American republics for the benefit of
Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify
Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers and
Co. in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the
sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras 'right' for American
fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that
Standard Oil went its way unmolested.
"During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a
swell racket. I was rewarded with honors, medals, and promotion.
Looking back on it, I feel that I might have given Al Capone a few
hints. The best he could do was to operate a racket in three city
districts. The Marines operated on three continents."
—Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler, U.S. Marine Corp
==================================================
"Why of course the people don't want war... That is understood. But,
after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy
and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along... All you
have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the
peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.
It works the same in any country."
---Hermann Goering -famous Nazi leader convicted of war crimes and
crimes against humanity
777777777777777777777777777777
"They're leaving as heroes. I want them to walk home with pride in
their hearts," declared Col. John Norris, the head of a US Army
brigade in Iraq.
It's enough to bring tears to the eyes of an American, enough to
make him choke up.
Enough to make him forget.
But no American should be allowed to forget that the nation of
Iraq, the society of Iraq, have been destroyed, ruined, a failed
state. The Americans, beginning 1991, bombed for 12 years, with one
excuse or another; then invaded, then occupied, overthrew the
government, killed wantonly, tortured ... the people of that unhappy
land have lost everything — their homes, their schools, their
electricity, their clean water, their environment, their
neighborhoods, their mosques, their archaeology, their jobs, their
careers, their professionals, their state-run enterprises, their
physical health, their mental health, their health care, their welfare
state, their women's rights, their religious tolerance, their safety,
their security, their children, their parents, their past, their
present, their future, their lives ... More than half the population
either dead, wounded, traumatized, in prison, internally displaced, or
in foreign exile ... The air, soil, water, blood and genes drenched
with depleted uranium ... the most awful birth defects ... unexploded
cluster bombs lie in wait for children to pick them up ... an army of
young Islamic men went to Iraq to fight the American invaders; they
left the country more militant, hardened by war, to spread across the
Middle East, Europe and Central Asia ... a river of blood runs
alongside the Euphrates and Tigris ... through a country that may
never be put back together again.
"It is a common refrain among war-weary Iraqis that things were
better before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003," reported the Washington
Post on May 5, 2007.
No matter ... drum roll, please ... Stand tall American GI hero!
And don't even think of ever apologizing. Iraq is forced by the United
States to continue paying reparations for its own invasion of Kuwait
in 1990. How much will the American heroes pay the people of Iraq?
http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer85.html
==========================================
"...if we are to produce a more civilized society, a more just
society, it has to be based upon the truth. Because judgements which
are not based upon the truth can only lead to outcomes which are
themselves false." -- Julian Assange
===========================================
"Some things you must always be unable to bear. Some things you must
never stop refusing to bear. Injustice and outrage and dishonor and
shame. No matter how young you are or how old you have got. Not for
kudos and not for cash, your picture in the paper nor money in the
bank, neither. Just refuse to bear them."
William Faulkner
=============================
"...mankind [will advance] into a civilization and a state of
consciousness in which right human relations and worldwide cooperation
for the good of all will be the universal keynote." The Tibetan
Senor Deodara
are incredible whoppers.
The second biggest lie (?) may be that there are two major parties in
the USA. Actually both groups are servants of the ruling elite and are
about 98% corrupt & in total agreement of the need to perpetuate the
biggest lie about need for the military industrial complex.
More concerned citizens should recognize that our political
representatives are playing with fire and need to change their ways
asap. It is a wonder that someone representing the people who have
suffered as a consequence of US military and/or economic actions,
hasn't set off a nuclear weapon in the US. That remains a clear and
present danger - a natural/predictable consequence of US bullying.
The third biggest lie - is that the USA is a democracy and that it
matters who we vote for in presidential elections Those who count the
votes, (minions of the ruling elite) have it all under their thumbs.
They've been fixing elections in third world countries for years. Of
course they do the same thing here. They are much more interested in
staying in power and accumalating more billions, than they are in
making sure that Americans have plenty of opportunities to have
meaningful work/careers and a world at peace.
#4 That the USA has "liberty and justice for all"... If that were
true, then why do petty criminals get locked up for years, while big
time criminals work as senators & congressmen and why do
WhistleBlowers like Bradley Manning get locked up for being obedient
to international laws that require those with knowledge of war crimes
to report them? Justice in the USA is a game. If you have plenty of
money and the right friends, then you are for the most part above the
law - and are served a totally different type of "justice" than the
average people on the street.
----
The bigger picture---
All of this chaos that characterizes our nation & the world was
predicted many centuries ago. It was also predicted that after the
corrupt global economic system totally collapsed that an incredibly
wise man leading a group of several other incredibly wise men would
emerge on the world stage, lead humanity to sanity, and inspire
mankind to rebuild the world with both love and wisdom. He is known
by many different lofty names and will not come across as a religious
figure, but as a world teacher in the broadest sense of the word. It
will be very hard if not impossible for narrow minded people to
accept, but those who can see the massive need for global truth,
justice, & cooperation will be relieved/very glad to see it. Beleive
it or not.
=====
"Maitreya is awaiting the best timing to go public... We think... we
can go on in the old ways... more competition, more greed... It is not
so any longer; it does not work. If two-thirds of the world's
population are living in poverty then the economic system does not
work. If we think that they will go on without asking that it work for
them, then we are sorely out of step with reality. Maitreya will make
that clear." Benjamin Creme
------
"Without sharing there can be no justice;
without justice there can be no peace;
without peace there can be no future...
Man must change or die.
There is no other course."
Maitreya, the World Teacher
http://www.share-international.org
.......................................
"The minority, the ruling class at present, has the schools and press,
usually the Church as well, under its thumb. This enables it to
organize and sway the emotions of the masses, and make its tool of
them." Albert Einstein
.......................................
Let the Truth Set (or keep) You Free -- From the lies of the ruling
elite (the insanely greedy billionaires who treat the people like
herds of cows).
Stay Informed:
Watch PROGRESSIVE NEWS Broadcasts @ RT.COM
Commercial free, daily, informative, radical, progressive. Major daily
broadcasts from Washington, DC: between 5pm & 11pm, Eastern time
Thom Hartmann formerly of Air America, the Alonya show, & the
Kaiser report are three of many great shows that they have. Check it
out!
http://rt.com/on-air/rt-america-air/
.......................................
"He shall proclaim the norm, lovely in its beginning,
lovely in its middle, and lovely in the end thereof."
Gautama Buddha talking about Maitreya
..................................................
"When the people's voice is not heard, there will inevitably be
revolution." BC
----
feel free to forward or reproduce and share this message in whole or
in part.
Money and truth are like manure, in that they both need to be spread
around for them to do any good.
jigo
> Q. What is the most significant lie that the American people have been
> tricked into believing?
>
> A. That the military industrial complex exists to defend us. In truth,
> it exists to defend the pork barrels that have been put in place by
> extremely wealthy, greedy, men who simply can't get enough billions -
> - who don't care how much blood is on their money, and how many lies
> are told to get it in their hands.
> enemies, so that their pork barrels will be protected by their minion
> politicians, and justified (with lies) when necessary. They will stop
> at nothing to prevent peace and prolong war.
That's true enough, but remember it's the politicians who get us
involved in conflicts all over the world, resulting in the huge
expenditures to fight wars and terrorism. And it's the American people
who are foolish enough to believe this is necessary.
While that results in the greatest waste of money, the most significant
lie that the American people have been tricked into believing is that
criminalization of drugs is necessary. In fact, it is wasting huge
amounts of money and ruining countless lives. The evidence for the harm
resulting from the "war on drugs" is so clear it's hard to believe that
people could be conned for so long. But it's making money for a lot of
vested interests like the DEA and other law-enforcement agencies.
Forfeiture, a part of the "war on drugs," in which the government can
seize the assets even of innocent people and ruin their lives, is a big
money maker recently discussed:
1.
THE DRUG WAR'S HIDDEN ECONOMIC AGENDA
The Nation, March 9, 1998
"A number of aggrieved and hapless citizens converged on Washington
... to recite their misfortunes at the hands of the government's drug
police. All had had their property taken by police, then were let go and
never prosecuted. All were innocent of wrongdoing."
"A pilot told of how the government destroyed his air charter
business: The Drug Enforcement Administration seized his airplane when a
drug dealer chartered it; $85,000 in legal fees later, the pilot filed
for bankruptcy and became a truck driver. A landscaper testified that
while on a purchasing trip, he had been stripped of $9,000 by an airport
drug interdiction unit, then sent home without a receipt, on grounds
that only drug dealers carry so much cash. Legislators also heard the
tale of Mary Miller (a pseudonym), a 75-year-old grandmother
dispossessed of her home for the sins of her fugitive, drug-dealing son."
"Owners who want to contest seizures must put up a bond, hire a
lawyer and rebut the presumption of guilt with proof that the property
is untainted by criminal activity. There is no constitutional
requirement that the owner knew of any illegal activities, and
forfeiture may occur even if the owner is charged and acquitted. In
other words, if you are either related to a drug dealer or mistaken for
one, you may find yourself legally dispossessed of your property without
effective recourse."
"Unfortunately, there are numerous other examples of police
agencies targeting assets with no regard for the rights, safety or even
lives of the suspects. In one federal civil rights judgment against an
Oakland, California, drug task force, we read an officer's admission
that his unit operated "more or less like a wolfpack," driving up in
police vehicles and taking "anything and everything we saw on the street
corner." In Louisiana, police illegally stopped and searched massive
numbers of drivers, seizing money that was then diverted to police
department ski trips and other unauthorized uses. In Los Angeles, a
Sheriff's Department employee revealed that deputies routinely planted
drugs and falsified police reports to establish probable cause for cash
seizures. Recent investigations in Florida, New Jersey, Philadelphia,
Boston and Washington State have exposed similar lawlessness by police
in search of forfeitable cash."
"Then there is the appalling case of Donald Scott, a 61-year-old
wealthy California recluse. Scott lived on a $5 million, 200-acre ranch
in Malibu adjacent to a large recreational area maintained by the
National Park Service. Tragically for him, in 1992 the Los Angeles
County Sheriff's Department received a false report that Scott was
growing several thousand marijuana plants on his land. It assembled a
team--including agents from the Los Angeles Police Department, the Park
Service, the D.E.A., the Forest Service, the California National Guard
and the California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement--to investigate the
tip, largely through the use of air and ground surveillance missions.
Despite several unsuccessful efforts to corroborate the informant's
claim, and despite advice that Scott posed little threat of violence,
the L.A. Sheriff's Department dispatched a multi-jurisdictional team to
conduct a military-style raid. On October 2, 1992, at 8:30 a.m., thirty
officers descended upon the Scott ranch with high-powered weapons, flak
jackets, dogs, a battering ram and what purported to be a lawful search
warrant. After knocking and announcing their presence, they kicked in
the door and rushed through the house. There they saw Scott, armed with
a gun in response to his wife's screams. With Scott's wife watching in
horror, agents fired two bullets into Scott's chest and killed him. They
found no marijuana plants, other drugs or paraphernalia anywhere."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.
"Filling Our Jails With Dangerous Entrepreneurs"
--Vin Suprynowicz, assistant editorial page editor of the Las Vegas
Review-Journal and syndicated columnist, Mountain Media Syndications, ,
Las Vegas, Nevada
"Take Gary and Joanne Tucker, sentenced to federal penitentiaries in
Georgia for selling fluorescent light bulbs.
Hundreds of hours of undercover work failed to produce any tapes of the
Tuckers willing to discuss marijuana growing in their lightbulb store in
suburban Atlanta. So the feds just busted a customer of the Tuckers who
was growing marijuana to ease the pain of her husband's cancer, and
threatened her with jail -- leaving no one to care for her dying spouse
-- unless she testified that the Tuckers told her how to use their
lights to grow dope.
Or take 68-year-old Russian emigre Sam Zhadanov of Brooklyn, N.Y., now
serving five years at Allenwood because his little plastics factory in
Metuchen, N.J., manufactured plastic bottles which the government claims
could be used to store cocaine.
Old Sam even got a written opinion from a local attorney, Martin
Spritzer, about the legality of accepting the wholesale order at his
little factory. He was told recent court rulings protect him from any
claim that plastic bottles can be considered "drug paraphernalia."
So, instead, the government charged Sam Zhadanov with conspiracy to
transport two-and-a-half tons of cocaine -- the amount they figured
might have ended up in his bottles -- despite the fact he never bought,
sold, touched, or had anything to do with cocaine.
The government proceeded to seize Zhadanov's Social Security checks, his
$800,000 life savings, and his business -- $1.5 million in all -- on the
strength of their having (start ital)accused(end ital) him of
drug-related dealings.
Sam Zhadanov opted for representation by an attorney who had been, until
four months earlier, a federal prosecutor in New York. The lawyer told
Zhadanov he was sure he could "work something out" with the prosecutors.
"He worked something out, all right," says Sam's son, Eli. Penniless,
and facing the prospect that his 58-year-old wife would be on the
streets should he be convicted, the elder Zhadanov accepted a "deal" to
plead guilty to *all charges* in exchange for the return to his wife of
half the value of his factory.
But the wife never got a penny.
"It was a trick," son Eli says. "It was a scam from the very beginning.
The IRS came in and seized the other half that was supposed to be
returned to her. They said 'We're not prosecutors, we're another branch
of government, so a deal you made with them doesn't apply to us.' "
(The Tuckers' attorney, Nancy Lord, says the Tuckers lost their Georgia
house through a similar subterfuge. She got the court to release its
federal seizure order, only to see the house immediately seized by
Georgia state tax authorities.)
"So instead of working on his life-saving medical devices," like an
intravenous syringe that retracts on removal so a nurse can't stick
herself and catch AIDS, says Eli Zhadanov, "my father is in Allenwood. A
man who is the most law-abiding man I ever met -- he wouldn't get a
traffic ticket.
"You know, my father says he came to this country thinking he was going
to escape the gulag, and he ended up in the gulag. You come here and you
kind of relax, you say 'Oh, they'll see it's a mistake, it's not the
KGB, it's the federal government, I can talk to them. ...' "
These are the kind of "drug dealers" who are being locked away in our
names as prosecutors build careers on the "War on Drugs."
As real drug wholesalers grow more sophisticated and harder to catch,
it's the Gary Tuckers and the Sam Zhadanovs who prove to be the easiest
pickings."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.
Mike Gray, _Drug Crazy_ New York: Random House, 1998
80% of the people from whom assets are seized are never even charged
with a crime. They just lose their possessions.
Lawmen in Volusia county, Florida, started using forfeiture laws as a
toll gate on I-95. A special sheriff's drug squad began stopping
Miami-bound drivers for traffic violations, then conducting searches. If
more than a hundred dollars in cash, it was assumed to be drug
money...Since fighting to get the money back in court could cost as much
as ten grand, few people bothered to try. When public outrage began to
attract attention, the Orlando Sentinel discovered that the deputies had
resorted to plea-bargaining, offering to take only part of the money if
the travelers promised not to complain.
(Henry Hyde, Forfeiting Our Property Rights, Washington, DC: Cato
Institute, 1995; Jeff Brazil and Steve Barry, "Tainted Cash or Easy
Money, Orlando Sentinel, June 14-17, 1992)
"The L.A. County Sheriff's raid that killed reclusive millionaire Don
Scott was particularly revealing. The 200 acres of sagebrush and
chaparral that Scott owned...ran along the spine of the coastal
mountains above Malibu, and were coveted by a number of parties,
including the National Park Service. Scott repeatedly refused to
sell...Deputy Sheriff Gary Spencer...organized a surveillance effort
that included everybody from the LAPD to the U.S. Forest Service. But
despite overflights by the California Air National Guard and extensive
sweeps by a special Border Patrol mountain unit, nobody spotted
anything. Undeterred, Spencer...got a search warrant. The Scots had
been partying all night and were still groggy when the hammering and
shouting at the door woke them up. Frances got her jeans on first, and
just as she reached the living room, the door collapsed and a sea of
armed men crashed in. She screamed. Her husband stepped into the
hallway with a gun in his hand. Spencer...fired two rounds. Scott
recoiled, pitched forward, and his face smashed into the floor....For
days they scoured the rolling hills, and they did not find a single
marijuana seed. A painstaking search of the house failed to turn up the
expected coke or heroin stash. All they had to show for their trouble
was this body on the living-room floor."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.
no <pu...@nyc.rr.com> post 7/15/01
Newsmax.com
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/6/27/191414.shtml
Government Property Seizures out of Control
Jarret Wollstein
Saturday, June 30, 2001
Across America, the Drug Enforcement Administration is seizing the
luggage, cash and cars of hapless travelers. Under America's new civil
forfeiture laws, mere possession of a large amount of cash or a drug dog
barking at your luggage is sufficient probable cause for police to
legally seize everything you are carrying.
In Albuquerque, N.M., in February 2000, DEA agents detained Sam Thach,
who was traveling on Amtrak from Fullerton, Calif., to Boston, and
seized $147,000 in cash he was carrying. Thach had no drugs. His crime?
He had bought a one-way ticket with cash and didn't give Amtrak his
phone number. (1)
The DEA seized $640,000 from Jennifer Leigh Ames while she was traveling
on Amtrak on April 5, 2001. Agents say she looked nervous and had
refused permission to search her luggage. (1)
Former Newark, N.J., policeman Carlos Hernandez discovered police
searching his Amtrak sleeper cabin and demanding to search his luggage
on July 22, 1999. Hernandez's crime? He's Hispanic and paid for his $694
ticket in cash. (2)
At Houston's Hobby Airport, police stopped 49-year-old Ethel Hylton and
seized her luggage because a drug dog had scratched it. Agents searched
her bags and strip-searched her but found no drugs. They did find
$39,110 in cash from an insurance settlement and her life savings,
accumulated through over 20 years of work as a hotel housekeeper and
hospital janitor.
Ms. Hylton completely documented where she had gotten the money and was
never charged with a crime. But the police kept her money anyway.
Destitute, she had no way to fight them. (3)
These outrageous seizures are completely legal and have been upheld by
the highest courts in the land, including the U.S. Supreme Court.
The DEA's Web site claims, "Property is seized by the DEA only when it
is determined to be a tool for, or the proceeds of, illegal activities
such as drug trafficking, organized crime, or money laundering." But
the above examples show the reality.
Under civil asset forfeiture, your property - not you - is charged with
a crime. Hence the bizarre title of civil forfeiture cases: "United
States vs. one 1998 Mercedes Benz," "California vs. 1711 Main Street,"
and so forth.
Once your property is charged with a crime, it can be seized and kept by
police, even if you are never convicted of anything. An appeals court in
Florida even ruled that police can personally receive bounties of 25
percent of the value of anything they seize from you, such as your car,
bank accounts or home.
There are now more than 400 federal offenses and thousands of state and
local offenses for which your cash, car, bank accounts and home can be
seized - including shoplifting, hiring an illegal alien such as a maid
(California), playing a car stereo too loud (New York), transporting
illegal fireworks, gambling, having illegal drugs on your property, and
merely discussing violating any law ("conspiracy"), such as underpaying
your taxes.
More than $1 billion in property is now seized without trial each year
from innocent Americans, according to the national forfeiture defense
organization FEAR (Forfeiture Endangers American Rights) (4). Seizures
range from the pocket cash of poor street people to the cars of men
accused of soliciting prostitutes to multimillion-dollar apartment
buildings.
Once police seize your property, the burden of proof is on you to prove
your property's innocence. Any suspected illegal actions of your
relatives, guests, friends and employees on or even near your property
are sufficient grounds to seize it.
In Montgomery, Ala., police seized the home of 69-year-old Gussie Mae
Gantt after videotaping police informants buying drugs in her yard. Ms.
Gantt had previously called the police, complaining about drug dealing
in her neighborhood, and had posted no-trespassing signs, but the drug
dealers ignored them. Police waited until there was a drug deal in her
yard and then seized her home. (5)
Easy Money for the Government
Once your home, car or bank accounts are seized under civil asset
forfeiture laws, you can pretty much forget about ever getting them
back. It's you versus the police and courts, who divide up the proceeds
from your property according to formulas such as "80 percent for police,
20 percent for the court."
If you want to fight seizure of your property, expect to spend at
least $15,000 just to hire a competent asset defense attorney. Also
expect the police to introduce hearsay evidence and to go through trial
after trial, because the normal constitutional protections afforded
criminal suspects don't apply to civil forfeiture of your property. (6)
With all of this easy confiscated money, asset confiscation is now big
business across America. In Volusia County, Fla., police seized more
than $8 million worth of cars from motorists stopped for minor traffic
violations along Interstate 95. (7) In Alameda County, Calif., police
auction off hundreds of seized cars and boats every month.
The latest wrinkle in civil asset forfeiture is police working with
Amtrak, Greyhound, airlines and hotels to seize cash from travelers. The
Albuquerque Journal reports that Amtrak gave the Drug Enforcement
Administration access to its booking system in exchange for 10 percent
of any monies seized by police.
The DEA has similar deals with airlines at major airports and many hotel
and motel owners in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and other large cities. DEA
agents are now permanently stationed at major airports and hotels.
So, the next time you pay for an Amtrak ticket, airline flight or hotel
room in cash, don't be surprised if you get a knock on your door from
machine gun-armed DEA agents.
Sources:
(1) "Railway Bandits," Reason, July 2001, p. 14.
(2) "Railway Bandits," Reason, July 2001, p. 15.
(3) "Presumed Guilty: The Law's Victims in the War on Drugs," Andrew
Schneider and Mary Pat Flaherty. Reprinted from the Pittsburgh Press,
Aug. 11-16, 1991, pp. 5-6.
(4) Forfeiture Endangers American Rights, www.fear.org.
(5) An analysis of U.S. asset forfeiture laws, with extensive legal
citations, can be found in the book "Your House Is Under Arrest," by
Brenda Grantland, one of America's leading asset defense attorneys.
Copies are available from ISIL, 707/726-8796, www.isil.org. Another
excellent source is "Forfeiting Our Property Rights," by U.S. Rep. Henry
Hyde, R-Ill.
(6) Brenda Grantland, "Your House Is Under Arrest," Institute for the
Preservation of Wealth, Burnsville, Minn., 1993, p. 61.
(7) Orlando Sentinel, Aug. 2, 1992.
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From: OWENS (dow...@bellsouth.net)
Subject: Title 21 U.S.C.section 881 Civil Forfeiture
Newsgroups: misc.activism.militia
Date: 1998/04/29
I had no idea how Orwellian some provisions of Federal law are, until I
read an article on Civil Forfeiture, written by Diane Cecillia Weber,
and published on page 16 of the June 1998 issue of Guns and Ammo. Title
21 U.S.C.Section 881 dispenses with the protections of Due Process
guaranteed by our Constitution. The seizure of personal properties and
funds , but with no criminal charges filed, make a clear correlation,
that the aim of involved law enforcement agencies is to make money. The
Citizenry be hanged. In Volusia County, Florida over a 41 month period
from 1989 to 1992, Volusia police officers took in a total of
$8,000,000.00 in cash from travelers southbound on Interstate 95. No
criminal charges were filed in 75% of the cases. Of those who contested,
only four got their money back, and the rest agreed to settle for a 50%
to 90% return after promising not to sue. One naval reservist with
$3989.00 and pay stubs to match the amount wound up with only $2242.00
after paying legal fees and a donation to Volusia County.
It is becoming more clear every day that some in all levels of
government view society as "Us against the People". No wonder that there
are reportedly 40,000 militia members in this state alone. Please read
the article in the June 1998 issue of Guns and Ammo. Please call your
Senators and Representatives. Let's get this Nazi policy Look a Like off
the books, and use our votes to remove those Legislators who refuse to
defend the Constitution and the People.
We must not allow Unconstitutional Laws in the name of Public Safety, as
Hitler and other tyrants have.
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The Supreme Court decided that a car can be seized even if half-owned by
an innocent person:
http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/94-8729.ZO.html
I can't recall the Florida case, but I expect it's one of many in
Volusia County, Florida, where Sheriff Bob Vogel ran a notorious
"Selective Enforcement Team" that used Florida's Contraband Forfeiture
Act to seize millions from passing motorists, about half of which the
county returned in settlements. The Justice Department and the FBI were
investigating Vogel a couple years ago. I don't know what came of it.
...
Asset forfeiture law is easily abused and badly in need of reform. The
most important and urgently needed reform is, I believe, to put the
burden of proof on the government in a manner similar to criminal
prosecutions. Courts have ruled again and again that forfeiture is
punishment and is subject to the protections against double jeopardy and
against excessive fines. The government is a litigant is a civil
forfeiture case, and in that respect it is vastly different from a
typical civil suit. The government's resources and the government's
capacity to do harm are virtually unlimited. For these reasons it ought
be held to a much higher standard of proof than any private plaintiff.
Somewhere between "a preponderance of the evidence" (the civil standard)
and "beyond a reasonable doubt" (the criminal standard).
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In Volusia county, Florida (Daytona Beach area) a black woman was
driving from Miami (which had been recently hit by Hurricane Andrew). It
was very difficult to get a housing contractor in Miami, as they were
very much in demand to rebuild people's houses. So this woman was
driving to Jacksonville, FL to hire a contractor and buy some materials,
and she had $35,000 in cash with her. She was pulled over (for a minor
traffic violation, possibly fraudulent - "profiling" most likely), and
her car was searched. When the money was found it was seized, as how
could a black woman have $35,000 in cash unless she was dealing drugs?
Note, no evidence at all of drug dealing was ever found - no charges
were ever pressed. However, Volusia county fought hard and long to keep
the money. Eventually, years later, the woman settled out of court and
got less than half her money back. And she was lucky. And the sheriff in
charge of the cops who did this (and who fully supported them)?
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Newark Star Ledger 11/10/02
"There have been numerous cases in which prosecutors have come under
fire for their use of forfeiture funds. Nicholas Bissel, the disgraced
Somerset County prosecutor who killed himself in a Nevada motel room,
used the money to buy health club memberships for his staff.
X
"bw" <b...@bw.no> wrote in message
news:8qdb479b01s2odegk...@4ax.com...
Q. What is the most significant lie that the American people have been
tricked into believing?
A. That the military industrial complex exists to defend us.
__________
MIGHT MAKES RIGHT.
Waldo
wrote:
yep.
--
Karma, What a concept!