Parents all over America are losing their rights and don’t even know it. Featuring 3 reenactments based on real cases, “Overruled” is a shocking 35-minute docudrama that exposes how the rights of parents in America are being eroded and what you can do to turn the tide.
Short commentary on subsidized “education”, robbery thwarted by concealed carry holder in Texas, and the DEA shuts down business for selling iodine for purifying water.
So, while the government intrudes more and more into the lives of citizens, with stop light and CCTV cameras, citizens risk massive jail sentences if they dare record police officers in an effort to document the actions of police.
“A statute intended to prevent unwarranted intrusions into a citizen’s privacy cannot be used as a shield for public officials who cannot assert a comparable right of privacy in their public duties,†the judge wrote in his decision dismissing the five counts of eavesdropping charges against defendant Michael Allison.
“Such action impedes the free flow of information concerning public officials and violates the First Amendment right to gather such information,†he wrote….
In Thursday’s ruling, Circuit Court Judge David Frankland said that Allison had a First Amendment right to record the police officers and court employees.
The judge also ruled that while it was reasonable to prohibit the defendant from recording in the courtroom, making what Allison did a felony offense was overreaching and irrational.”
http://www.theagitator.com/2011/09/17/illinois-judge-dismisses-charges-against-michael-allison/
A Citizen’s Petition to: U.S. Senators and Representative
Whereas: Every year militant union bosses deploy their thugs to target innocent men and women with threats, brass knuckles, knives and beatings in an attempt to send a simple message — do what we want, or pay the price; and
Whereas: Because of the 1973 Enmons decision, union officials are exempt from federal prosecution — as long as the campaign of violence they incite is in the name of “legitimate union objectives”; and
Whereas: Union violence is a crippling blow not only for innocent American workers targeted by union militants — but for every American citizen; and
Whereas: Passage of the Freedom from Union Violence Act would close the loophole in federal law and finally allow authorities to prosecute union officials for inciting violence;
Therefore: I urge you to help hold union officials accountable for union violence by cosponsoring and seeking roll-call votes on the Freedom from Union Violence Act.
http://www.righttoworkcommittee.org/fuva_video.aspx?pid=sb11
His neighbors call it “Cabbagegate.” And it cost Steve Miller a lot of green. The Clarkston, Ga., man was fined $5,200 for growing too many vegetables in his backyard.
Miller had been growing legumes for 15 years, selling them at local farmers markets and giving them away to friends, before he was cited by the Dekalb County Code Enforcement office for the first time last September. It’s illegal to garden at such a level in the zone where he lives. Miller tried to challenge the penalty, but a reprieve was slow in coming, and the fight’s not over.
“Time went on, but no answers, then I get a letter in the mail with more fines,” he told AOL News. “Didn’t get an answer back from the county until I started getting notices from code enforcement in October, and before I knew it I got a subpoena to go to court.”
After a long legal battle, Miller successfully rezoned his land. But despite that victory, the county is still fining him for all of his illicit vegetables, and even for hiring workers to weed the fallow land after he stopped working it.
Miller runs a relatively large operation for a backyard gardener — about one and a quarter acres in production with crops like celery, tomatoes, lettuce, Swiss chard, beets, cilantro, carrots and, of course, cabbage. He peddles his harvests at farmers markets, but doesn’t always turn a profit. And it’s far from his main occupation. Miller is a landscaper by trade.
“It’s not my source of income, it’s my passion,” he said. “If it were my main source of income, I’d have to sell my house.”
http://www.aolnews.com/2010/09/15/cabbagegate-ga-man-fined-5k-for-home-garden/
by Eric J. Andringa
“What is this country coming to? My 13-year-old son told me today that the Cross he wears on a chain around his neck is not allowed to be visible while he is at school.
Needless to say I became completely unglued. I ordered, yes ordered, him to wear that chain around his neck in plain sight.
I instructed him that if any member of the faculty says anything, that he is to give them my cell phone number. Now I wait with baited breath.
When I get that call I will burn rubber to get there and in their faces. They are going to get a rant about how two of my son’s Great Grandfathers fought and were wounded in WW I, how his grandfathers served in WW II and Korea, his Uncle was killed in a firefight in Vietnam, and his cousin was severely wounded in Iraq.
His ancestors made these sacrifices to grant my son, and theirs, freedom of religion. I’ll be damned if some politically-correct bleeding heart liberal commie pinko will take that right away from my son.
Here is the bottom line: what educators do is extremely important. Perhaps one of the MOST important jobs out there. They are training the future doctors, lawyers, scientists, engineers, etc. etc. and Leaders.
Therefore we have the right, no make that the responsibility, to expect excellence from our educators. Part of that excellence is fair, balanced, objective instruction.
Teach them how to think, not what to think.”
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=46623
Note: this is not about promoting or protecting Christianity, or any particular religion, it is about protecting freedom of religion – or the freedom to have NO religion. Educators should not suppress crosses, nor should they suppress Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish or atheistic symbols.
CAIRO — “On her first day to school, 15-year-old Christian student Ferial Habib was stopped at the doorstep of her new high school with clear instructions: either put on a headscarf or no school this year.
Habib refused. While most Muslim women in Egypt wear the headscarf, Christians do not, and the move by administrators to force a Christian student to don it was unprecedented. For the next two weeks, Habib reported to school in the southern Egyptian village of Sheik Fadl every day in her uniform, without the head covering, only to be turned back by teachers.
One day, Habib heard the school loudspeakers echoing her name and teachers with megaphones leading a number of students in chants of “We don’t want Ferial here,†the teenager told The Associated Press.â€
http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2011/10/08/8224222-christians-fear-islamist-pre…
So, let me get this straight: the FDA sends SWAT teams in to shut down dairy farmers selling raw milk, but they’re fine with letting Genetically Modified food flood our grocery stores? Something very wrong here.
“The Obama administration is furiously trying to play down links between House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and a giant new $737 million loan guarantee for a green energy project in Nevada.
Pelosi’s brother-in-law, Ronald Pelosi, is second-in-command at Pacific Corporate Group, one of the main investors in the solar-thermal Crescent Dunes project now under construction in the Nevada desert.
The well-connected 76-year-old only joined the company in the spring, three years after it invested in SolarReserve, the parent company behind the Crescent Dunes plan, said the Chronicle.
By Joe Kovacs
“An Arizona man has filed a federal lawsuit against some of the state’s top judges, claiming they’re taking away his freedom of speech and right to own firearms, all because someone didn’t like what he wrote on his blog.
“You can’t suspend someone’s constitutional rights [for blogging],” said Mike Palmer, who is bringing forth the legal action. “Everybody in America blogs or Twitters, so it’s a First and Second Amendment issue.”
The scenario started when Palmer, a 55-year-old Christian missionary from Phoenix, was online discussing “spiritual death” often referred to in the Bible.
But, according to the suit, a woman from Prescott, Ariz., Melody Thomas-Morgan, complained to authorities that Palmer was threatening her with “death,” keeping that word in quotes in her legal filings.
Kenton Jones, superior court judge for Yavapai County, went along with the woman’s harassment complaint and ordered Palmer to surrender his guns.
“The order says that I am not allowed to possess firearms or ammunition, and directs me to turn over any weapons to the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office,” Palmer told WND.
“I certainly want my gun rights,” he added. “There is no law in Arizona which allows the courts to suspend any constitutional right, but in this instance, my Second Amendment right. And, of course, my life’s in danger now. I can’t defend myself, I can’t defend you. I can’t defend my fellow man.”
“Just imagine. You want to build a home, so you buy a $23,000 piece of land in a residential subdivision in your hometown and get started. The government then tells you to stop, threatens you with $40 million in fines and is not kidding.
That’s the case now before the U.S. Supreme Court, with briefs being filed today by the Pacific Legal Foundation on behalf of a Priest Lake, Idaho, family, Chantell and Mike Sackett.
Attorney Damien Schiff: “The regime we have operating now allows the EPA to take property without having to pay for it, or giving the owners the right to their day in court.””
The organization has prepared a video to explain the case:
http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=348077#ixzz1YuvRHdV0
full article:
http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=348077
On July 7, 2011, the U.S. Department of Treasury’s inspector general for tax administration issued a startling report entitled “Individuals Who Are Not Authorized to Work in the United States Were Paid $4.2 Billion in Refundable Credits.â€
No wonder the nation’s finances are in turmoil.
According to the Treasury report, foreign nationals not authorized to work in the United States and ineligible for a Social Security Number (SSN) are nevertheless receiving government help from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The IRS currently issues undocumented aliens an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) to facilitate their filing of tax returns.
Many illegal workers are paid in cash “under the table†and thus file no tax forms at all; but a number of undocumented workers, according to the Treasury report, are receiving public benefits contrary to federal and state laws.
http://www.newsmax.com/JamesWalsh/Illegal-Aliens-IRS-Tax/2011/09/23/id/412134
Wikipedia: “Several similarities between Hitler and Chaplin have been noted and may have been a pivotal factor in Chaplin’s decision to make The Great Dictator.
Chaplin and Hitler had superficially similar looks, most famously their toothbrush mustaches, and this similarity is often commented upon. (Tommy Handley wrote a song named “Who is This Man Who Looks like Charlie Chaplin?”[20]) Furthermore, the two men were born only four days apart in April 1889, and both grew up in relative poverty with alcoholic fathers and ailing mothers. Both were great fans of composer Richard Wagner.
As Hitler and his Nazi Party rose to prominence, Chaplin’s popularity throughout the world became greater than ever; he was mobbed by fans on a 1931 trip to Berlin, which annoyed the Nazis, who published a book in 1934 titled The Jews Are Looking at You, in which the comedian was described as “a disgusting Jewish acrobat” (despite the fact that Chaplin was not Jewish). Ivor Montagu, a close friend of Chaplin, relates that he sent Chaplin a copy of the book and always believed this was the genesis of Dictator.
Charlie Chaplin’s son Charles Chaplin, Jr. describes how his father was haunted by the similar backgrounds of Hitler and himself. He writes,
Their destinies were poles apart. One was to make millions weep, while the other was to set the whole world laughing. Dad could never think of Hitler without a shudder, half of horror, half of fascination. “Just think,†he would say uneasily, “he’s the madman, I’m the comic. But it could have been the other way around.”
When interviewed about this film being on such a touchy subject, Charlie Chaplin had only this to say: “Half-way through making The Great Dictator I began receiving alarming messages from United Artists … but I was determined to go ahead, for Hitler must be laughed at.”
Chaplin sat “for hours watching newsreels of the German dictator, exclaiming: ‘Oh, you bastard, you!”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Dictator
Congress contemplates draconian punishment for Internet lies.
By ORIN S. KERR
“Imagine that President Obama could order the arrest of anyone who broke a promise on the Internet. So you could be jailed for lying about your age or weight on an Internet dating site. Or you could be sent to federal prison if your boss told you to work but you used the company’s computer to check sports scores online. Imagine that Eric Holder’s Justice Department urged Congress to raise penalties for violations, making them felonies allowing three years in jail for each broken promise. Fanciful, right?
Think again. Congress is now poised to grant the Obama administration’s wishes in the name of “cybersecurity.”
The little-known law at issue is called the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. It was enacted in 1986 to punish computer hacking. But Congress has broadened the law every few years, and today it extends far beyond hacking. The law now criminalizes computer use that “exceeds authorized access” to any computer. Today that violation is a misdemeanor, but the Senate Judiciary Committee is set to meet this morning to vote on making it a felony.
The law even goes beyond criminal law. It allows civil suits filed by private parties. As a result, federal courts have been flooded with silly disputes. In one recent case, an employer sued a former employee for excessive Internet usage from work.
Remarkably, the law doesn’t even require devices to be connected to the Internet. Since 2008, it applies to pretty much everything with a microchip. So if you’re visiting a friend and you use his coffeemaker without permission, watch out: You may have committed a federal crime.
… Until now, the critical limit on the government’s power has been that federal prosecutors rarely charge misdemeanors. They prefer to bring more serious felony charges. That’s why the administration’s proposal is so dangerous. If exceeding authorized access becomes a felony, prosecutors will become eager to charge it. Abuses are inevitable.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903285704576562294116160896.html
By TARYN ASHER
WARREN, Mich. (WJBK) – If you spot Jeff Haman, you will likely notice his holstered .45 caliber carried out in the open. It’s his legal right, but you wouldn’t think so when you hear what Haman claims happened as he was walking home in August 2009 on Twelve Mile Road west of Hoover.
We’re told it all started because people started calling 911 saying they saw a man walking down the street with a gun in the open.
“I could hear the tires kind of screeching,” said Haman. “As he was pulling up, I saw that he had his firearm pulled out aimed straight at me. I went down to my knees and then he yelled at me and told me to lay down on my stomach with my hands straight out towards him, and the whole time he had the gun trained on me.”
Treated as a common criminal, Haman claims. Moments later, two more Warren Police cruisers and three officers arrived.
“He grabbed me up by the chains scraping my knees after he’d dragged me up forcefully,” Haman told FOX 2.
Haman got his hands on the Warren Police dash cam video, but he claims it only picked up one cruiser’s view and exchanges with the officers after the alleged assault went down.
“You should at least tell us what you’re doing. You know what I mean? Call us to say, listen, I’m going to go out for a walk with my gun on my hip today,” an officer can be heard saying on that video.
“Walking around like this is just going to end up getting you hurt somehow. Express your rights the way you want to express it, but when you get hurt, don’t cry that somebody hurt you because you were expressing your rights. You’re just asking for trouble, brother.”
“Why? Would you do that if you had purple pants on that day? It’s totally legal. It’s constitutional. Why would you call the police if you’re leaving your house for anything,” Haman said.
Due to how he was allegedly treated, Haman, a gun advocate, former firearms dealer and member of Michigan Open Carry, has decided to sue Warren Police for $600,000.
Warren Police Commissioner Jere Green, who was named in the suit, couldn’t comment specifically, but he said he supports the officer’s actions 100-percent. Officers, he said, are duty bound and can’t assume someone openly carrying a gun is following the law.
“This is a police officer. He works for the community. He works for me. What he did was wrong,” said Haman.
Haman said he is filing the lawsuit because he doesn’t want this to happen anyone else and that a lot people are not informed about the open carry laws, including police officers. He wants this to send a message.
“Fathom the odd hypocrisy that Congress wants every citizen to prove they are insured, but not that they are citizens.”
– Ben Stein
“The great virtue of a free market system is that it does not care what color people are; it does not care what their religion is; it only cares whether they can produce something you want to buy.
It is the most effective system we have discovered to enable people who hate one another to deal with one another and help one another.”
– Milton Friedman
“In this day and age, it seems that just believing in the Constitution can make you an enemy of the state and a target of the government. A friend of the Second Amendment, and Founder of Committees of Safety in Connecticut, Walter Reddy, just learned this truth the hard way.
In late January, 2011, Walter had a conversation with a man he believed to be his friend. A few days later, this man reported to the local police a list of inflammatory statements Walter had supposedly had made to him, but his friend refused to sign a statement for the police verifying he heard these statements. Walter’s home was raided by a swat team on Valentine’s Day, and his tiny collection of firearms seized. †â€
“…two of the most unlikely people in the country have become enemies of the state: an eleven-year-old girl who wants to save a baby bird, and a manufacturing company that has managed to stay in business (and continue hiring!) in the midst of the worst recession in the nation’s history.
A few months ago, a government agent from FWS showed up to the home of an eleven-year-old girl with a federal summons in one hand and a citation for $535 in another.
The girl’s crime? Saving a baby woodpecker from being killed and eaten by the family cat. The bird’s mother was nowhere to be seen, so the girl (an aspiring vet) convinced her parents to let her care for it for a few days until the bird was well enough to fly away on its own.
Noble act? Wrong. Federal crime. It turns out that the bird is on the government list of protected species… and according to the government’s newspeak, protecting a bird that’s on the protected species list is a crime.
It sort of echoes Thomas Jefferson’s line about King George having “erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people…” It seems not too much has changed.
What’s more, the agent obviously couldn’t come alone to confront an 11-year old girl and her mother. No, that wouldn’t be threatening enough. That’s why FWS requested to be escorted by a Virginia State Police Trooper who “stood on the porch and said nothing.”
It’s government fear and intimidation tactics at their best… a far cry from supporting and defending the Constitution.
Then there’s the case of Gibson Guitar, a legendary American company that manufactures some of the most famous, high quality guitars in the industry. Less than two weeks ago, armed government agents (also from the US Fish and Wildlife Service) raided Gibson Guitar’s manufacturing plants and corporate headquarters in Tennessee.
Gibson Guitar’s crime? Being in possession of a rare ebony wood imported from India; they use it in their manufacturing.
Here’s what’s funny: possession of said wood is not illegal in the United States.
Here’s what’s really funny: Gibson Guitar has clear evidence– letters from the Indian government– proving that their possession of the wood is not illegal in India either.
And… here’s what’s really, really funny: This is the second time in two years that the company has been raided and inventory been seized by federal agents. Gibson’s management team is STILL waiting for a court hearing to get their property back from the 2009 seizure.
Again, echoes of Thomas Jefferson: that King George “[deprived] us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury.”
Welcome to the new reality. Executive agencies in the United States have extraordinary unchecked power. They can seize your assets, freeze your bank accounts, intercept your emails, comb through your credit card transactions, and even take away your children… all without so much as a court order or any form of oversight.
We’ve explored before how you can end up on the wrong side of a government agency, even if you haven’t done anything illegal. If you are so much as suspected of wrongdoing, they can come after you… even if you’re just in the wrong place at the wrong time, they can come after you.
These are two cases where the government has come after its citizens– even when they are doing the RIGHT thing.”