Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 1984, agriculture, big brother, camera ban, corruption, Dictatorship, Empire, farm, farming, fascism, felony, florida, Jim Norman, justice system, nanny state, orwell, PETA, photograph, photographing, Police State, prison industrial complex, SB 1246, Senate, stupid laws, us constitution, Washington D.C.
Photographing cows or other farm scenery could land you in jail under Senate bill
Florida Tribune
February 23, 2011
Taking photographs from the roadside of a sunrise over hay bales near the Suwannee River, horses grazing near Ocala or sunset over citrus groves along the Indian River could land you in jail under a Senate bill filed Monday.
SB 1246 by Sen. Jim Norman, R-Tampa, would make it a first-degree felony to photograph a farm without first obtaining written permission from the owner. A farm is defined as any land “cultivated for the purpose of agricultural production, the raising and breeding of domestic animals or the storage of a commodity.”
Media law experts say the ban would violate freedoms protected in the U. S. Constitution. But Wilton Simpson, a farmer who lives in Norman’s district, said the bill is needed to protect the property rights of farmers and the “intellectual property” involving farm operations.
Simpson, president of Simpson Farms near Dade City, said the law would prevent people from posing as farmworkers so that they can secretly film agricultural operations.
He said he could not name an instance in which that happened. But animal rights groups such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and Animal Freedom display undercover videos on their web sites to make their case that livestock farming and meat consumption are cruel.
Jeff Kerr, general counsel for PETA, said the state should be ashamed that such a bill would be introduced.
“Mr. Norman should be filing bills to throw the doors of animal producers wide open to show the public where their food comes from rather than criminalizing those who would show animal cruelty,” he said.
Simpson agreed the bill would make it illegal to photograph a farm from a roadside without written permission. Norman could not be reached for comment.
Judy Dalglish, executive director for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said shooting property from a roadside or from the air is legal. The bill “is just flat-out unconstitutional not to mention stupid,” she said.
And she said there are laws already to prosecute trespassing onto property without permission. And if someone poses as a farm employee to shoot undercover video, they can be fired and possibly sued.
“Why pass a law you know will not stand constitutional muster?” Dalglish said.
Simpson said he doesn’t think that “innocent” roadside photography would be prosecuted even if the bill is passed as introduced.
“Farmers are a common-sense people,” he said. “A tourist who stops and takes a picture of cows — I would not imagine any farmer in the state of Florida that cares about that at all.”
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Cannabis, cannabis laws, corruption, drug raid, florida, human rights, justice system, marijuana laws, medical marijuana, oregon, police brutality, police crimes, Police State, prison industrial complex, utah, war on drugs, Weber-Morgan County Narcotics Strike Force
Video Outrage: Utah Police Kill Marijuana Smoker in Own Home
NORML
January 18, 2011
Huffington Post reports it as “Police Kill Man In Drug Raid Gone Wrong“. So what’s the “gone wrong” part?
The police had a no-knock warrant (though they forgot to bring it) to search for drugs. Busting down a citizen’s door quickly, loudly, and with overwhelming force is the standard. Sure, the guy they were looking for was a roommate who had already moved out (and they knew it), but it is so vitally important that we find and imprison people smoking weed at home that even a hastily-planned no-knock midnight raid without warrant paperwork is preferable to allowing one more joint to be smoked by a middle aged man in his own home. (Warning: Video is graphic in nature. Story continues after video.)
It is standard operating procedure to send the “Weber-Morgan County Narcotics Strike Force” in all-black full body armor, toting automatic weapons under the cover of night. If police are confronted by someone wielding arms, like, say, an average cannabis consumer with a former drug dealing roommate who grabs a golf club to defend himself when he’s suddenly awakened in the dead of night by armored ninjas toting machine guns, they are legally allowed to discharge their firearm to defend themselves and neutralize the suspect.
When you break down a man’s door in the middle of the night with guns drawn, somebody dying isn’t an unexpected outcome. This is a drug raid gone right. We send stormtroopers into American homes 100-150 times per day on the premise that finding their drugs justifies risking their lives.
Most of the time nobody dies (except the dog) and the few that are killed that you read about are the ones that shock everybody because they didn’t have large amounts of drugs or a firearm on them at the time. Yeah, mistakes were made, but you’ve got to expect some collateral damage in a War on Drugs, right?
Note how many times you read about a raid where “multiple firearms” are found and that is used to justify the excessive force of the raid. How many times do they tell you those multiple firearms are a collection of hunting weapons or sporting arms or handguns for self defense? How about when a “felony amount” of drugs are found, so they must be drug dealers! Have you ever looked at what constitutes a felony level of drugs in some states? It’s 3/4 of an ounce in Florida. It’s an ounce in Oregon (yes, hippie dippie, medical marijuana-lovin’, first-to-decrim Oregon!)
Cannabis is not cocaine. It’s not like we need to burst in quickly before the suspect flushes the evidence. If he’s got any amount large enough for you to think he’s a big time dealer invested in it enough to kill a cop, it’s more than can be flushed, burned, or hidden. And if we’ve been dipping into the stash, unlike cocaine we’re not going to go into some lunatic Tony Montana rage and spray cops with an Uzi. Damn, knock on the door and tell us you’re Domino’s and we’re likely to just let you in!
I know legalization might take awhile. Can we at least stop executing people in their homes over pot?
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: BP, cancer, ecocide, environmental catastrophe, environmental disaster, florida, gulf, gulf of mexico, health and environment, Human Experiments, ocean, offshore oil, oil, oil leak, oil rig, oil spill, pensacola, soft kill, toxic earth, toxic environment, toxicity
Cleanup Worker: Tons of Oil on Pensacola Beach
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AIDS, colonoscopy, florida, hepatitis, hiv, John Cochran VA Hospital, lawsuit, military, missouri, st. louis, troops, VA, VA hospital, veterans, veterans affairs
1,800 veterans exposed to AIDS during dental exam
St. Louis American
July 30, 2010
The Veteran’s Administration today released the latest results of tests taken by dental patients at the John Cochran VA Hospital in St. Louis. As of July 28, the VA confirms two positive results for Hepatitis B and two positive results for Hepatitis C. The data was presented at a Congressional hearing this morning.
Late last month, the VA reported 1,812 patients may have been exposed to Hep B, Hep C and HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, due to improper sterilization methods at its Cochran dental clinic. An inspection revealed the procedure was in place for a little over a year at the facility.
The VA said it notified 1,769 veterans about the issue, and is working with homeless coordinators to reach Veterans with no known home address.
The VA said 1,598 responded to the disclosure by calling for an appointment for testing. Some vets opted to have their blood drawn by a private lab of their choosing at the VA’s expense. The VA reported 13 vets declined testing or an appointment.
The may or may not be related to dental equipment issues at the Cochran clinic. The VA said it is performing more extensive testing to determine the time period and possible source of the infections.
The VA said it will provide all related health care at no cost to the infected veterans.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: florida, officer jerald ard, Oppression, police brutality, police corruption, police crimes, Police State, taser, taser guns, Victor Steen
Cop attempts drive-by Tasering, runs over boy on bicycle
Smirking Chimp
August 3, 2010
Late one night in October, a 17-year-old on a bike was chased by a police officer in a cruiser. When the boy refused to stop, the officer aimed his Taser out the driver’s window and fired. The boy fell off the bike and the cruiser ran over him, killing him.
Here were the last moments of Victor Steen’s life:
At about 12:45 a.m., said Moultrie, Victor left on a borrowed bike. From there to where the chase started was about four and a half miles. But it was about 1:45 a.m. that Officer Jerald Ard spotted Victor. Where Victor went after leaving Moultrie’s house is unclear.
Ard would later say that he tried to stop Victor because he had seen him at a construction site and thought he may have stolen something. But witness Victor Stallworth said he saw Victor ride his bicycle past the construction site without stopping. Months later, Ard gave investigators a different reason for stopping Victor: He didn’t have a light on his bike — only two reflectors.
A video camera on the dashboard of Ard’s squad car recorded the brief chase:
Ard spotted Victor and did a fast U-turn to stop him. When Victor didn’t stop, Ard veered to the wrong side of the street and up on the sidewalk behind the teenager.
The officer revved the motor, his tires screeching, as he followed Victor into the side yard of an apartment building. With his flashers and PA system on, Ard yelled at Victor to “stop the bike.”
It is unclear why Victor disobeyed the order to stop, but the teenager continued pedaling, trying to escape. Ard followed his every move, driving in and out of the wrong lane of traffic and up onto the sidewalk again. One minute and seven seconds into the chase Ard fired his Taser at Victor, who turned into a parking lot. About two seconds later, Victor fell to the ground and Ard ran over him.
For the crimes of giving the appearance he stole something (but maybe he didn’t,) and not having a light on his bike, Victor was given the death penalty.
noworldsystem.com 