Good:

A police officer does not have the authority to arrest someone for refusing to identify himself when he is not suspected of committing a crime, a federal appeals panel ruled Friday.

Someone tell Dudley Hiibel and the Supreme Court.

Jamie Satterfield notes that the state Supreme Court is looking into TN’s waiver of due process of law err illegal drug tax:

In a separate case, Brad Buchanan tried today on behalf of the state Department of Revenue to convince the state high court to overturn a lower appellate court ruling striking down as unconstitutional the state’s Unauthorized Substance Tax Act, more commonly known as the “crack tax.”

Under the law, the illegal wares of drug dealers were to be taxed. Dope peddlers could voluntarily pay the tax with the promise of anonymity but those who failed to do so but wound up busted by police were assessed the tax whether or not they were ultimately tried or convicted of criminal charges.

A Davidson County chancellor deemed the tax punitive in nature and, therefore, afoul of constitutional protections including the right to due process and the right against being punished twice for the same crime. The state Cout of Appeals also struck down the tax but for different reasons, arguing the state cannot tax an illegal activity or product.

Defense attorney Phil Lomonaco, on behalf of Lenoir City construction worker Steven Waters, asked the Supreme Court today to keep the crack tax out of Tennessee’s tax code.

“It is conditioned upon a crime,” Lomonaco said. “This is purely a tax on an illegal activity.”

Actually, it’s not a tax at all. It’s a scheme to take a person’s property without due process of law.

So, due to budget concerns, there will be due process of law. I would think that budget concerns would lead to a lack of due process of law. And to think, I’ve had it wrong all this time.

Bad racist jokes land you in jail.

Actually, I though the joke was kinda funny.

I found this little gem at KnoxViews. It seems so innocuous and reasonable. Yet if you take the time to read it, you will find an important message.

What is that message? And more importantly, why should you care?

Here’s a livejournal from a guy who everyone thought was the Virginia Tech shooter (I’ve linked him before). They thought it was him because he’s 1) Asian (they all look the same, you know) and 2) he was a gun owner (we’re all crazy and shoot things all the time, you know). Anyway, a year later, he goes back through some things from that time, including his place getting raided and various press interviews. Interesting stuff:

Interview

I often wonder how some people can look themselves in the mirror. One of those people is Janet Reno. In her case, it might be a bit harder since she always sees Ernest Borgnine looking back at her.

But, buck up little camper, at least you weren’t set on fire.

Look out, she may have a bomb on those nips:

A Texas woman who claims she was forced to remove a nipple ring with pliers in order to board an airplane called Thursday for an apology by federal security agents and a civil rights investigation.

Pliers? Ouch.

People don’t like to voluntarily consent to searches and seizures? Who knew?

He might like the idea:

New Zealand Bans Forms of Political Satire

Apparently, Kiwi politicians were upset at the media for broadcasting images of government ministers appearing to sleep at their desks or making rude gestures. But it wasn’t just members of the governing party who were saying “no humor allowed” — only six members of the 121-seat parliament voted against the measure.

This seems like one of those things that politicians do because they can but often come to regret mightily later.

Not only is the move unpopular with the people of New Zealand (in a recent poll, 71 percent said they opposed the ban), but it probably won’t help the country’s image in the larger world. I can just imagine what the Australians (who make fun of Kiwis endlessly anyway) will do with it — or someone like Jon Stewart or those great British comedy shows.

Nashville blogger has a run in with the police because he was taking a picture:

You wanna be charged with somethin’? I’ll charge you with disorderly conduct, if you wanna be charged with somethin’.

Via MCB.

In addition to threatening David Codrea under color of law, they’ve also threatened JPFO.

Michael Silence: Perhaps I’m too simply minded but it seems to me if you don’t have the First Amendment, you don’t have the Second Amendment. And if you don’t have the Second Amendment, you don’t have the First Amendment. Any assault on one is an assault on the other. Any assault on either is an assault on all the Amendments.

Ok, you’ve probably read the story about the chick whose ass was fused to the toilet for some period of time (one month to two years, depending on the source). Well, the local law is bringing charges against the boyfriend for, err, honestly I have no idea why. Apparently, if it’s unusual, it must also be illegal.

We can’t even get it right for planes much less civil rights.

This stupid bill has popped up again. It will never pass but we should reiterate the tactics of our opponents simply run counter to concepts like civil rights and due process of law. I would do that but everyone else did it yesterday:

Jay:

Remember the cries of outrage when people found their names on terrorist watch lists and weren’t allowed to board planes? The ACLU has a page here that discusses it and even filed suit in 2004 challenging the no fly list.

But what about when it comes to guns? Well, Senator Frank Lautenberg and Representative Peter King don’t give a rats ass about constitutional protections then. They’re sponsoring a bill that would prevent the people on terrorist watch lists from purchasing firearms even if they are legally allowed to do so.

Bitter:

Of course, not all people on there have funny names. (Is there something funny about Robert Johnson?) But, it’s one more reason why this list should never be used to deny people rights or presume they are guilty. I can assure you that if Congressman Don Young (who, according to the ACLU’s website, is on the list) gets his guns taken from him because they don’t know how to appropriately filter records at Homeland Security, he’s not going to be a very pleasant guy to be around.

Sebastian:

If Bush were doing this, and not doing it to gun owners, the left would be outraged.

Story here:

Marshals Say Teens Wait For A Name To Be Called At The D.M.V. If The Person Doesn’t Show Up, They Walk Up To The Desk, Pretend To Be The Person And Use The Real Information And Take The Picture.

Boy, do I feel safer.

No, I don’t know why every word in the article is capitalized.

MKS reports that: Now we have a judge, in an attempt to force testimony, saying a former reporter cannot get financial help to pay court fines.

David Codrea says US Marshal Judicial Security Inspector David A. Meyer threatened him with arrest for his blog. More specifically, he told Ryan from Red’s Trading Post to pass along a message. Essentially, the agent has asserted that if David threatens or incites, he’ll be arrested. Now, David and I don’t see eye to eye on the best way to further our cause but to state that he’s threatened anyone or that he’s inciting others is ridiculous. To threaten David’s right to speak freely under color of law is a crime. I expect better of government employees.

I guess they had words for Ryan too since he hasn’t updated his blog since the trial started.

In Kentucky:

A bill filed in the House would keep Kentuckians from posting anonymous comments to Web sites.

House Bill 775, filed Tuesday by Rep. Tim Couch, R-Hyden, would require anyone who contributes to a Web site to register a real name, address and e-mail address with that Web site. The person’s full name then would be used whenever he or she posted a comment.

Web site operators who violate the disclosure law would be fined $500 for a first offense and $1,000 for each subsequent offense.

Here’s the bill. I found this interesting:

Couch readily acknowledged on Wednesday that his bill violates his oath of office raises First Amendment issues regarding free speech, so he won’t be pushing it. But he wanted to call attention to the phenomenon of unkind and often untrue comments about people being posted online by Kentuckians hiding behind the cloak of anonymity.

Oh Nos! They’re saying bad things about me on the internet. This bill should make them stop.

Tim Couch is an asshat.

Hmm, seems drawing attention to it didn’t work since I just called him an asshat.

First, they came for the home-schoolers.

Update: Wow.

Uncle and I disagreed on a civil rights issue over in England. That is an oxymoron, are there civil rights in England?

So now that the “Mosquito” is being used in America, do you still think it is acceptable? Our civil rights are colliding with technology. This will be a slippery slope. The sound from this device doesn’t harm people, at least in the short term. So is it acceptable to harass people with technology? The case could be made that a stun gun doesn’t harm people. But if you stun someone who is not attacking you I would bet you would be charged with assault.

Where should the line be drawn?

QUEENS (CBS) Teenagers who hang out inside one apartment building in Jamaica, Queens are getting an earful these days.

A new security device called “The Mosquito” has been installed in the lobby of a building on 170th St. where there have been chronic problems with noisy teens.

The wall-mounted device emits a high-frequency screech that can only be heard by people aged 13 to 25. Most older people cannot hear it.

“It sounds like when you put a microphone close to the TV,” said Jerry Brown, one of the younger residents, who admits the noise bothers him “a little bit.”

The building superintendent said the mosquito has kept the lobby free of loitering teenagers, so far.

Remember the jailer who tossed the guy in the wheelchair in the floor? Well, allegations are it has happened before.

In England, they’re actually having a discussion about who can lawfully break into your house.

We knew McCain was having a bit of a time with his own incumbent protection act. Now, the DNC is alleging he’s breaking his own law. They’re even filing with the FEC.

And in other news, it seems the Hillary camp is pandering to racists. Well, that’s what they’d be screaming in the press if a Republican leaked the photo.

Irony can be a bitch

Seems McCain is having a bit of a time with the Campaign Finance Reform that is named after, uh, McCain:

The nation’s top federal election official told Sen. John McCain yesterday that he cannot immediately withdraw from the presidential public financing system as he had requested, a decision that threatens to dramatically restrict his spending until the general election campaign begins in the fall.

The prospect of being financially hamstrung by the very fundraising system he helped create is the latest in a series of bitter challenges for the presumed GOP nominee, who still faces a fractured conservative coalition as he assumes the mantle of party leadership.

Pardon me, while I laugh hysterically at you.

A would-be robber busts a car window and starts stabbing a shop owner. Shop-owner gets the robbers knife and kills the robber. So far, so good. Except this is England so the shop owner may be charged with murder.

Bloomberg’s latest:

In a new tactic against urban crime, the mayors of several East Coast cities, including New York, plan to launch a database that will allow them to share information on known gun offenders.

The database, expected to be operational later this year, will pool data from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives with information collected by local agencies, including ballistics information and intelligence gathered from debriefings of gun offenders.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon and other urban leaders said Wednesday that the first-of-its-kind database will make it more difficult for illegal gun dealers to do business throughout the Interstate 95 corridor.

And how exactly are they going to get BATF data? I seem to recall that’s not exactly legal.

First up, is the officer who decided that, while booking a quadriplegic, it’d be funny to ask him to stand from his wheelchair. And then dumps him to the floor for not complying.

The other would be an extremely large Baltimore cop, who no doubt has some issues with the fact he drives a girly vehicle, grabbing what I’m guessing is an eleven or so year-old boy by the throat and then taking him to the ground for the crime of skateboarding. I guess the good news is you just created a future libertarian.

Giving police a bad name. Stay classy.

England is fast becoming the Orwellian nightmare that George Orwell prayed would never happen. It has now passed France as the one of the worst places for free people to live. In fact France is quickly changing and stepping away from the social democracy of the French past.

In England there are cameras everywhere and never a cop in sight. Citizens cannot own a gun or a knife for personal protection but criminals can. The insanity of social democracy has created criminal zones where the law abiding don’t stand a chance.

Now shop keepers are using sonic devices to drive away teenagers they don’t want as patrons.

There are people in America that believe this is the model for our country. They must be fought each and every time they try to take our liberties from us.

Rich:

It’s more than 60 days out from the general election, so I guess I’m legally allowed to answer that question, according to McCain-Feingold.

. . . if you’re retarded.

Via bruce, comes this arfcom thread:

So, my phone rings Friday afternoon. It’s the vice principal from my son’s school saying that he needs to discuss a serious situation about my son. When I asked him what was going on, he tells me that a pen bearing a Glock logo is forbidden by school policy and that I need to come and pick up my son because there is a manditory 3 day suspension because of the violation. Apparently, one of my son’s teachers saw him writing with the pen during an assignment.

While I have the VP on the telephone, I retrieve my son’s student handbook. Flipping though it, I see that weapons, replica weapons, pictures of weapons, and weapon images on keychains or other items are forbidden. The pen I had given him was one I picked up at a law enforcement firearms competition last year - which bore only the Glock logo, but not an image or rendition of a firearm. Nowhere does it say that a firearm company logo is restricted by school policy. I explain this to the VP.

Can’t make it up. A kid was arrested for sniffing his teacher’s hand sanitizer:

Mr. Ortiz said the family’s ordeal began Oct. 19, when his son picked up a bottle of hand sanitizer from the desk of his fifth-period reading teacher at Killian Middle School in Lewisville. He rubbed the gel on his hands and smelled it.

According to some security guard with a master’s degree, it’s illegal to take pictures of public buildings you pay for:

When I got to to the building, I stood across the street with my wide angle (to fit the huge structure in the frame) and put the camera to my face. And after a few clicks of the shutter, I hear this man yelling at me, “Ma’am! Ma’am! You can’t photos here!!!” It was the security guard, and he was running down the stairs towards me. I immediately put my camera down by my side and ran across the street to the guard. I asked him what the problem was, and he suddenly went into a tirade about post 9/11 laws prohibiting the photography and videography of any federal properties. He went off about terrorism and national security and then threatened me with two years in the penitentiary for possessing images of federal property. I had to delete my photographs or else I would get two years in jail.

Via Silence.

Tom was just kidding.

Lyle in comments:

You smash in my door, announce that you’re a cop. And I’m supposed to believe you?

Michael Silence and Adam Kleinheider both have posts on a subject that is critically important. It is about our freedom.

Tennessee State Sen. Jamie Woodson’s office has introduced legislation to the Tennessee General Assembly that would require convicted sex offenders in Tennessee to provide all electronic communications information to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI).

On its face it doesn’t sound so bad does it?

Michael Silence writes, “Wow, am I conflicted on this one. On the one hand I’m a father of a princess who will be four in March. On the other hand, I have consistently decried the loss of civil liberties, privacy and individual freedoms.

Adam Kleinheider writes, “First They Came For The Deviants…”, alluding to the fact that is doesn’t take long to lose freedom.

Any of you every wonder if we allow the Constitution to be discarded for child molesters or sex offenders that someday soon it might be discarded for us?

If this is a condition of probation then fine. That is a legal contract. People can surrender their rights with a legal contract. That is a completely different issue.

But if a person has served their full sentence this should be unconstitutional.

“Governor Woodson”, I don’t think so. Ms. Woodson, your homework assignment is to study the United States Constitution. You should be ashamed. How misinformed can you be?

I hate to go all ACLU on this but defending the Constitution is one of the most important things any America can do. And it means making some unpleasant positions. The Constitution must apply to ALL citizens. The moment we allow it to be vacated for certain groups of people is the day we allow the Constitution to be destroyed.

I find this to be repugnant. This is how you lose your freedom. It starts with a law to control the worst of the worst. In the end, there is no personal freedom or rights.

Kevin’s on a TSA list. Ya know, after the federales paid me a visit, I thought for sure I’d be on the list. But I’m not.

Sadcox:

It’s funny. They keep calling it a “driver’s license,” but they never mention anything about driving.

Also, if you’re over 50, it doesn’t apply to you.

Via MCB.

Kevin notes that the Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act passed the house. And no one wants to talk about it. The bill:

Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to: (1) establish a grant program to prevent radicalization (use of an extremist belief system for facilitating ideologically-based violence) and homegrown terrorism in the United States; (2) establish or designate a university-based Center of Excellence for the Study of Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism in the United States; and (3) conduct a survey of methodologies implemented by foreign nations to prevent radicalization and homegrown terrorism.

So, how long before someone like me, who is known for perpetuating his radical views, shows up on a list? But I have nothing to worry about:

Prohibits the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to prevent ideologically-based violence and homegrown terrorism from violating the constitutional and civil rights, and civil liberties, of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents.

Well, that’s a relief.

I’ve mentioned this act before. Past coverage of potential terrorists here, here, here, here, here and here.

I’m no longer speechless. Seems the police force that engaged in this:

Get down on the floor! Get down on the floor or I will shoot you! Now take two aspirin and call me in the morning!

had a good reason:

The sheriff said the decision to use SWAT team force was justified because the father was a “self-proclaimed constitutionalist” and had made threats and “comments” over the years.

And then there’s this:

However, the sheriff declined to provide a single instance of the father’s illegal behavior. “I can’t tell you specifically,” he said.

Yeah. Radley nails it: By the sheriff’s own admission, then, the show of force was more about Shiflet’s political beliefs and desire to be left alone than any real child neglect.

Update: people are asking for a non-WND source (what bias?), here’s a news account.