Month: January 2012

Guns Save Lives

A gun is a tool and like any tool is can serve multiple roles. For example you can use it to stop an attacker of the two and four legged varieties, you can use them for sport, of you can use them to save three children from a sinking car:

As many as 10 people jumped into an icy Utah river to help save three trapped children after a car plunged down a 10-foot embankment and flipped over, the state’s Highway Patrol said Sunday.

The rescuers helped turn the Honda Accord upright in the Logan River, and one man shot out the car’s window with a handgun and cut a seat belt to help free the children after the Saturday afternoon accident, patrol Lt. Steve Winward said.

This story makes a good case for carrying a firearm and a quality knife on your person. There is wisdom on the Boy Scout motto, “Always be prepared.”

Obama Signs the National Defense Authorization Act into Law

The savior of civil rights and advocate of peace signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into law, effectively neutralizing the Bill of Rights and placing further economic sanctions on Iran:

The White House had said that the legislation could lead to an improper military role in overseeing detention and court proceedings and could infringe on the president’s authority in dealing with terrorism suspects. But it said that Mr. Obama could interpret the statute in a way that would preserve his authority.

[…]

The White House also wrestled with Congress over requirements that the United States punish foreign financial firms that purchase Iranian oil, including through Iran’s central bank. Such a step would greatly increase the pressure on Iran over its nuclear program.

But the administration feared that if the measures were imposed too hastily, they could disrupt the oil market, driving up prices and alienating countries, including close allies, that the United States is seeking to enlist in its pressure campaign against Iran.

It’s OK though because the President has given us is word that he will never order the indefinite detention of American citizens:

The president, for example, said that he would never authorize the indefinite military detention of American citizens, because “doing so would break with our most important traditions and values as a nation.” He also said he would reject a “rigid across-the-board requirement” that suspects be tried in military courts rather than civilian courts.

After all Obama is a candidate you can trust! Sarcasm aside he may actually keep this promise, instead of indefinite detention he seems to favor ordering the murder of suspected terrorists and their children.

Police Officers Wanted, Critical Thinkers Need Not Apply

It’s no secret that many police officers are lacking in the critical thinking department. This makes sense as the state want thugs to enforce their rules instead of individuals dedicated to seeking justice for those who have been wronged. In fact potentially officers are being rejected because they’re scoring to high on intelligence tests:

A man whose bid to become a police officer was rejected after he scored too high on an intelligence test has lost an appeal in his federal lawsuit against the city.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upheld a lower court’s decision that the city did not discriminate against Robert Jordan because the same standards were applied to everyone who took the test.

[…]

Jordan, a 49-year-old college graduate, took the exam in 1996 and scored 33 points, the equivalent of an IQ of 125. But New London police interviewed only candidates who scored 20 to 27, on the theory that those who scored too high could get bored with police work and leave soon after undergoing costly training.

Emphasis mine. I believe the real theory is people scoring higher on intelligence tests are more likely to think critically about what they’re doing and decide to either seek more honorable employment or fight for legal reform. The state doesn’t want people who will question orders or currently established laws, they want dumb brutes who will do exactly as they’re told.

It’s sad to see intelligence isn’t seen as a virtue when hiring a police officer.

New Jersey Police Destroy a BMW in Search of Non-Existant Drugs

The war on drugs should be renamed the sanction of police abuse. In their eternal search for drugs police officers have been sanction with a great number of easily abusable powers, such as destroying private property in an attempt to find drugs:

The instrument cluster and leather dashboard were gone. The caramel-colored seats were torn up. The gear shift was ripped out and stray wires hung limp everywhere. Geico, Richardson’s insurance company estimated the damage at $12,636.42 — more than he paid for the car — and declared the vehicle a “total loss.”

According to police reports, the damage to the black BMW 325i came in the aftermath of a traffic stop during which officers detected a “strong odor of raw marijuana” inside the vehicle. Searching for a cache of drugs, members of three different police agencies and a detective from a federal drug task force spent two days tearing the car apart, the reports said.

So what did police find after their $12,000 search?

Absolutely nothing.

The destruction of this car was made possible because an officer pulled the driver of the BMW over and claimed his spidy keep cop senses detected the smell of marijuana. An officer can only search your vehicle if they have a warrant or probable cause but the war on drugs has essentially made probable cause any cockamamy excuse a police officer can think up. All an officer must do is claim he could smell drugs and it’s an instant sanction to search the vehicle. While I lack a time machine to directly interview the authors of the Bill of Rights I’m pretty sure the destruction of this car would qualify as an unreasonable search and seizure.

Truth be told there is a chance that Geico may have a rare chance to bring a case against the police for their actions but it will only come at taxpayer expense. Even if you win a case against the police you still loose because you’re only getting your tax money back. The officers who destroyed the car are effectively immune from lawsuits and thus have no fear of being sued. What a brilliantly designed system, the state gets away with anything it wants and may return some of our money if they decide they went too far.