Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
Stewart Rhodes writes today on the Oath Keepers website that the Southern Poverty Law Center is now officially part of the Department of Homeland Security. Rhodes sources a DHS document, entitled “Countering Violent Extremism Working Group,” that lists Richard Cohen as a member of the DHS created group. Cohen is president and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center. In addition to Cohen, a number of law enforcement officials are members of the DHS group, including Austin Chief of Police Art Acevedo.
Download pdf document HERE
“What does the working group do? Make recommendations on training and how to use all of the local resources — police, social services, media, NGO’s, you name it – to fight ‘extremism.’ So, now no need to file a FOIA request to discover that SPLC is writing the reports naming constitutionalists as possible terrorists. Now it is in your face and the mask is off,” writes Rhodes.
The document encourages local “partners” and the feds to work together to share “threat-related information… and develop case studies that can be used by local authorities as a learning tool for law enforcement personnel” in order to prevent “ideologically-motivated violent crime (radicalization, violent extremism, etc.),” in short the patriot movement.
In early April of 2009, a document produced by the Department of Homeland Security, “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment,” characterized patriot political groups that reject “federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or [reject] government authority entirely” as domestic terrorists.
The DHS report followed similar reports issued by the Missouri Information Analysis Center and the Virginia Fusion Center. The MIAC report specifically describes supporters of presidential candidates Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin, and Bob Barr as “militia” influenced terrorists and instructs the Missouri police to be on the lookout for supporters displaying bumper stickers and other paraphernalia associated with the Constitutional, Campaign for Liberty, and Libertarian parties.
According to the Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, the MIAC documents were heavily influenced by “faulty and politicized research issued by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and Anti Defamation League (ADL).” In 2008, law enforcement officers from across Missouri gathered in the town of Arnold to hear from ADL experts on right-wing extremism.
The SPLC and the Anti-Defamation League work hand-in-hand with the Department of Homeland Security to demonize patriot and constitutionalist organizations,” we wrote on April 10, 2010, after the government attempted to frame the Hutaree in Michigan. “SPLC’s Mark Potok appears on corporate media networks almost daily peddling his organization’s hysterical rantings and fairy tales about impending violence and mayhem that will be perpetuated by patriot groups and individuals.”
In 2009, DHS boss Janet Napolitano showered kudos on the ADL during a conference held on April 22 of that year. “In recent years, the Department has placed our employees in your advanced training school to educate us on the tactics used by extremists and terrorists,” Napolitano said.
The ADL is currently involved in brainwashing children in the Austin, Texas, school system under the guise of preventing cyberbullying and guarding against so-called hate speech. “The ADL said schools have a duty to protect students and exercise precautions against cyberbullying that happens on campus through policies, supervision, reporting processes and education,” reports KXAN. “Through the years, the League has been a leading provider of anti-bias education and diversity training programs that help create and sustain inclusive home, school, community and work environments,” the ADL website states.
Both the ADL and the SPLC have manufactured a cottage industry around the bogus threat of the “modern militia movement” and specialize in going after key individuals and leaders of the constitutionalist, Libertarian, and patriot movements.
Alex Jones is a favored target of the ADL-SPLC propaganda and demonization project. A Google search of the ADL website produces dozens of references to the radio talk show host, most related to the Pittsburgh cop killer and admitted white supremacist Richard Poplawski. Poplawski posted comments on the Infowars website.
Other ADL targets include the Oath Keepers and Three Percenters, who are according to the ADL “both part of an anti-government extremist movement that has grown since President Obama took office, promote the idea that the federal government is plotting to take away the rights of American citizens and must be resisted. The two groups are apparently trying to make inroads in the U.S. military,” a distortion that plays right into the DHS “rightwing extremism” document that claims returning veterans pose a violent threat.
In 2009, DHS boss boss Janet Napolitano showered kudos on the ADL during a conference held on April 22, 2009. “In recent years, the Department has placed our employees in your advanced training school to educate us on the tactics used by extremists and terrorists,” Napolitano admitted.
The vicious campaign against the Oath Keepers escalated earlier this week when the CPS in New Hampshire kidnapped the newborn baby of John Irish and Stephanie Janvrin. Authorities said the child was taken in part due to Irish’s association with the patriot group the Oath Keepers. “The Division became aware and confirmed that Mr. Irish associated with a militia known as the Oath Keepers,” confirming the fact that Irish’s political beliefs were the primary reason the child was snatched.
As Stewart Rhodes notes on the Oath Keepers website, the DHS spawned working group details how they plan to utilize local social welfare and mental health agencies to counter “violent extremism” as defined by the government, the SPLC, and the ADL, thus revealing that Irish and Janvrin’s newborn was kidnapped as part of an effort to criminally harass and punish members of the patriot community.
View Original Article HERE
Friday, October 8, 2010
Government Seizes Newborn Baby Over Political Beliefs Of Parents
PrisonPlanet.com
Paul Joseph Watson
Couple who took part in Oath Keepers online discussion forum have child snatched in shocking new level of police state persecution.
UPDATE: We have now obtained a copy of the affidavit which can be viewed below. This confirms that Irish was targeted partly because of his association with Oath Keepers, in addition to the fact that he bought guns. Apparently, exercising the second amendment is now reasonable justification for the state to steal your child in America.
A newborn baby was ripped from its mother’s arms by officials from the New Hampshire Division of Family Child Services accompanied by police after authorities cited the parents’ association with the Oath Keepers organization as one of the primary reasons for the snatch, heralding a shocking new level of persecution where Americans’ political beliefs are now being used by the state to kidnap children.
What was supposed to be one of the most joyous occasions of their lives turned into a nightmare for Johnathon Irish and Stephanie Janvrin, after they were told by The Director of Security and the Head Nurse at Concord Hospital that their baby would be taken to be checked by the hospital pediatrician.
“They lied to us – they got us to allow them to take our daughter under false pretenses, we didn’t even have a choice,” said Irish.
When Irish tried to stop his daughter being taken, the baby was immediately wheeled out in a bassinet, after which Irish saw three men in suits accompanied by uniformed police officers as well as detectives and social workers. who proceeded to try to search Irish.
“They forced me to stand up, held my hands behind my back and patted me down,” said Irish, before police told him they were taking the baby.
“My fiancé didn’t even get any time to bond with the baby – they came in and stole our child,” said Irish. The parents were given a couple of minutes with their daughter before being forced by police to leave the hospital. Irish was subsequently told that a “security officer” would follow his every move.
The affidavit in support of the decision to take the child, which has been verified by Oath Keepers, states, “The Division became aware and confirmed that Mr. Irish associated with a militia known as the Oath Keepers,” confirming that political beliefs were, amongst other reasons, one of the primary factors behind the snatching of the baby.
Even if the additional reasons cited in the affidavit, which are unproven at this time, could be considered sufficient reason for the state to take the baby, the fact that political affiliations were even mentioned is a frightening indictment of how far the government’s war on Americans who dissent against authority has advanced.
“Regardless of the other allegations, it is utterly unconstitutional for government agencies to list Mr. Irish’s association with Oath Keepers in an affidavit in support of a child abuse order to remove his daughter from his custody.” writes Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes. “Talk about chilling speech! If this is allowed to continue, it will chill the speech of not just Mr. Irish, but all Oath Keepers and it will serve as the camel under the tent for other associations being considered too risky for parents to dare. Thus, it serves to chill the speech of all of us, in any group we belong to that “officials” may not approve of. Don’t you dare associate with such and such group, or you could be on “the list” and then child protective services might come take your kids.”
The parents were not even full members of the Oath Keepers organization, they were merely on a discussion list related to the group. This makes the case even more shocking – you don’t even have to be directly associated with a group that the government deems to be a “militia” to have your baby stolen – you merely have to be involved in online discussions of issues relating to the constitution and freedom in America.
The Oath Keepers organization is not a “militia,” as the affidavit claims, it is merely a loose network of current and former military and law enforcement professionals who have sworn not to obey unconstitutional orders such as gun confiscation, warrantless searches and mass internment of Americans. The group is committed to non-violence.
If this case is allowed to stand it opens up a hellish future for free speech and political discourse in America. If parents live in fear of having their children stolen by the state because they criticize the government, the United States can rank itself amongst the worst dictatorships in history who invoked the threat of taking people’s children if they spoke out against tyranny.
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes has announced that a legal defense fund will be created to help Irish, and that the organization, “will actively pursue aggressive legal remedy and redress.”
“We will assist in locating competent local legal counsel in New Hampshire and additional expert legal counsel from around the country in First Amendment and child custody law,” wrote Stewart on the Oath Keepers website.
“There can be no freedom of speech, no freedom of association, no freedom to even open your mouth and “speak truth to power,” no freedom AT ALL, if your children can be black bagged and stolen from you because of your political speech and associations — because you simply dare to express your love of country, and dare to express your solidarity and fellowship with other citizens and with active duty and retired military and police who simply pledge to honor their oath and obey the Constitution. It was to prevent just such outrageous content based persecution of political dissidents that our First Amendment was written.”
Watch the video below in which John Irish describes what happened
We join with the Oath Keepers organization in asking people to flood the relevant organizations with calls and emails demanding the release of the baby. Please be polite.
Contact New Hampshire DCWY
Telephone (603) 271-4711
Toll Free Number (800) 852-3345
Fax Number (603) 271-4729
E-mail:Click here to email. Click here to email.
Contact Concord Hospital
(603) 225-2711
Toll Free Instate: (800) 327-0464
Statement by Jonathon Irish
My name is Johnathon Irish and my fiance’s name is Stephanie Taylor, she uses my grandfathers last name Janvrin on the internet. Our daughter Cheyenne was born at 11:37 on 6 October. She wasn’t even 16 hours old when they came in and stole her from us, the head of security had come in a nurse while Cheyenne was sleeping lied to us telling us that they just wanted to take her to the nursery to see the doctor to be discharged. Even though I said NO to have the doctor come in the room they took her anyway, I followed then out to the nursery because I didn’t want my daughter out of my sight, as we were walking out I saw several gentlemen wearing suits with detective badges and my gut just started wrenching.
They rushed her into the nursery and locked her in, while I was talking to one of the other nurses the head of security comes up behind me, grabs my arm and starts walking me down the hall saying “you need to keep an open mind, you need to just hear them out” and he just kept repeating himself ignoring my questions as to who “they” were. When he got me in Stephanie’s hospital room and sat me down on the couch the police department and DCYF workers showed up. 3 uniformed patrol officers and 3-4 detectives with 2 DCYF social workers walked in the room, one of the patrol man asked if he could pat me down, I said NO not giving consent that I just want to know why the hell everyone is there.
The officer grabbed my wrist, bent it behind my back and stood me up and proceeded to pat me down anyway. They took my pocket knife and BIC lighter, they then asked me if I had any other weapons on me which I told them no. They then gave us a fabricated affidavit with no facts in it what so ever telling us that they were taking custody of our newborn daughter. If anyone has any other questions I am willing to answer any and all questions and clarify anything that someone may not understand. To be honest, I don’t even understand this myself.
View Article With Pics and Affidavit HERE
Related Article Oath Keepers Statement HERE
Paul Joseph Watson
Couple who took part in Oath Keepers online discussion forum have child snatched in shocking new level of police state persecution.
UPDATE: We have now obtained a copy of the affidavit which can be viewed below. This confirms that Irish was targeted partly because of his association with Oath Keepers, in addition to the fact that he bought guns. Apparently, exercising the second amendment is now reasonable justification for the state to steal your child in America.
A newborn baby was ripped from its mother’s arms by officials from the New Hampshire Division of Family Child Services accompanied by police after authorities cited the parents’ association with the Oath Keepers organization as one of the primary reasons for the snatch, heralding a shocking new level of persecution where Americans’ political beliefs are now being used by the state to kidnap children.
What was supposed to be one of the most joyous occasions of their lives turned into a nightmare for Johnathon Irish and Stephanie Janvrin, after they were told by The Director of Security and the Head Nurse at Concord Hospital that their baby would be taken to be checked by the hospital pediatrician.
“They lied to us – they got us to allow them to take our daughter under false pretenses, we didn’t even have a choice,” said Irish.
When Irish tried to stop his daughter being taken, the baby was immediately wheeled out in a bassinet, after which Irish saw three men in suits accompanied by uniformed police officers as well as detectives and social workers. who proceeded to try to search Irish.
“They forced me to stand up, held my hands behind my back and patted me down,” said Irish, before police told him they were taking the baby.
“My fiancé didn’t even get any time to bond with the baby – they came in and stole our child,” said Irish. The parents were given a couple of minutes with their daughter before being forced by police to leave the hospital. Irish was subsequently told that a “security officer” would follow his every move.
The affidavit in support of the decision to take the child, which has been verified by Oath Keepers, states, “The Division became aware and confirmed that Mr. Irish associated with a militia known as the Oath Keepers,” confirming that political beliefs were, amongst other reasons, one of the primary factors behind the snatching of the baby.
Even if the additional reasons cited in the affidavit, which are unproven at this time, could be considered sufficient reason for the state to take the baby, the fact that political affiliations were even mentioned is a frightening indictment of how far the government’s war on Americans who dissent against authority has advanced.
“Regardless of the other allegations, it is utterly unconstitutional for government agencies to list Mr. Irish’s association with Oath Keepers in an affidavit in support of a child abuse order to remove his daughter from his custody.” writes Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes. “Talk about chilling speech! If this is allowed to continue, it will chill the speech of not just Mr. Irish, but all Oath Keepers and it will serve as the camel under the tent for other associations being considered too risky for parents to dare. Thus, it serves to chill the speech of all of us, in any group we belong to that “officials” may not approve of. Don’t you dare associate with such and such group, or you could be on “the list” and then child protective services might come take your kids.”
The parents were not even full members of the Oath Keepers organization, they were merely on a discussion list related to the group. This makes the case even more shocking – you don’t even have to be directly associated with a group that the government deems to be a “militia” to have your baby stolen – you merely have to be involved in online discussions of issues relating to the constitution and freedom in America.
The Oath Keepers organization is not a “militia,” as the affidavit claims, it is merely a loose network of current and former military and law enforcement professionals who have sworn not to obey unconstitutional orders such as gun confiscation, warrantless searches and mass internment of Americans. The group is committed to non-violence.
If this case is allowed to stand it opens up a hellish future for free speech and political discourse in America. If parents live in fear of having their children stolen by the state because they criticize the government, the United States can rank itself amongst the worst dictatorships in history who invoked the threat of taking people’s children if they spoke out against tyranny.
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes has announced that a legal defense fund will be created to help Irish, and that the organization, “will actively pursue aggressive legal remedy and redress.”
“We will assist in locating competent local legal counsel in New Hampshire and additional expert legal counsel from around the country in First Amendment and child custody law,” wrote Stewart on the Oath Keepers website.
“There can be no freedom of speech, no freedom of association, no freedom to even open your mouth and “speak truth to power,” no freedom AT ALL, if your children can be black bagged and stolen from you because of your political speech and associations — because you simply dare to express your love of country, and dare to express your solidarity and fellowship with other citizens and with active duty and retired military and police who simply pledge to honor their oath and obey the Constitution. It was to prevent just such outrageous content based persecution of political dissidents that our First Amendment was written.”
Watch the video below in which John Irish describes what happened
We join with the Oath Keepers organization in asking people to flood the relevant organizations with calls and emails demanding the release of the baby. Please be polite.
Contact New Hampshire DCWY
Telephone (603) 271-4711
Toll Free Number (800) 852-3345
Fax Number (603) 271-4729
E-mail:Click here to email. Click here to email.
Contact Concord Hospital
(603) 225-2711
Toll Free Instate: (800) 327-0464
Statement by Jonathon Irish
My name is Johnathon Irish and my fiance’s name is Stephanie Taylor, she uses my grandfathers last name Janvrin on the internet. Our daughter Cheyenne was born at 11:37 on 6 October. She wasn’t even 16 hours old when they came in and stole her from us, the head of security had come in a nurse while Cheyenne was sleeping lied to us telling us that they just wanted to take her to the nursery to see the doctor to be discharged. Even though I said NO to have the doctor come in the room they took her anyway, I followed then out to the nursery because I didn’t want my daughter out of my sight, as we were walking out I saw several gentlemen wearing suits with detective badges and my gut just started wrenching.
They rushed her into the nursery and locked her in, while I was talking to one of the other nurses the head of security comes up behind me, grabs my arm and starts walking me down the hall saying “you need to keep an open mind, you need to just hear them out” and he just kept repeating himself ignoring my questions as to who “they” were. When he got me in Stephanie’s hospital room and sat me down on the couch the police department and DCYF workers showed up. 3 uniformed patrol officers and 3-4 detectives with 2 DCYF social workers walked in the room, one of the patrol man asked if he could pat me down, I said NO not giving consent that I just want to know why the hell everyone is there.
The officer grabbed my wrist, bent it behind my back and stood me up and proceeded to pat me down anyway. They took my pocket knife and BIC lighter, they then asked me if I had any other weapons on me which I told them no. They then gave us a fabricated affidavit with no facts in it what so ever telling us that they were taking custody of our newborn daughter. If anyone has any other questions I am willing to answer any and all questions and clarify anything that someone may not understand. To be honest, I don’t even understand this myself.
View Article With Pics and Affidavit HERE
Related Article Oath Keepers Statement HERE
Cash-Strapped States Resurrect "Debtors' Prisons"
truth-out.org
by: Nadia Prupis
Two reports published by NYU's Brennan Center for Justice and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reveal a rising trend of patently unconstitutional practices in cash-strapped states, where a growing number of impoverished people are jailed for being unable to pay their legal fees - including charges for use of public defenders, a guaranteed right in the United States. The resurgence of these draconian "debtors' prisons" has been documented in at least 13 of the 15 states with the largest prison populations in the country, including California, Arizona, Michigan and Alabama.
"Incarcerating people simply because they cannot afford to pay their legal debts is not only unconstitutional but also has a devastating impact upon men and women whose only crime is that they are poor," said ACLU senior staff attorney Eric Balaban.
Many states view the fees as a method for helping to alleviate budget deficits. In New Orleans, Louisiana, legal fines comprise almost two-thirds of criminal courts' operating budgets. But the ACLU found in its report, "In for a Penny: The Rise of America's New Debtors' Prisons," that jailing individuals for failing to pay legal fees actually places the financial burden on the state, wasting taxpayer money and resources to keep those individuals in jail or on public welfare as they struggle to pay their overwhelming debts.
Moreover, these and other penalties creates obstacles for those re-entering society after completing their criminal sentence; the Brennan Center report, "Criminal Justice Debt: A Barrier to Reentry," notes that eight of the 15 states studied suspend driving privileges of individuals who miss debt payments, while seven states require them to complete their full payments before regaining eligibility to vote. Such unnecessary setbacks often pave the way for those on probation to return to jail through no fault of their own.
"We are undermining the integrity of our criminal justice system and creating a two-tiered system of justice in which the poorest among us are punished more harshly than those with means, at a great cost to taxpayers," said ACLU deputy legal director Vanita Gupta.
Imprisoning probationers for failing to pay court debts was found unconstitutional in 1980, when Georgia resident Danny Bearden was sent to prison for two years when he could not pay $550 in legal fees, despite his efforts. In Bearden v. Georgia, the Supreme Court ruled that such practices violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment - but states throughout the country have begun openly disregarding these principles in their efforts to balance their budgets.
The ACLU report highlights a few exemplary cases. Gregory White, a homeless man in Louisiana, was arrested for stealing $39 worth of food from a grocery store and assigned $339 in legal fees; when he was jailed for being unable to pay, White spent 198 days in jail at a cost of $3,5000 to the city.
Georgia resident Ora Lee Hurley owed $705 in fines from a 1990 drug possession conviction and remained in jail for eight months for failing to pay.
Kawana Young, a 25-year-old single mother in Michigan, was told after the fact that her community service hours would not satisfy her debts because she had volunteered with a nonprofit organization. Young has since been jailed five times for being unable to pay her fees.
And Percy Dear, a New Orleans resident who suffers from epilepsy, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, was arrested for begging in 2007. After pleading guilty, Dear was sentenced with either paying an immediate fine of $200 or spending 20 days in jail. Dear was unable to pay his fine at once and was incarcerated. These particular "fine or time" sentences are a glaring example of methods that plainly punish indigent cases while allowing wealthy individuals to go free on the same charges.
Judge Calvin Johnson, who served for 17 years in the Criminal District Court or Orleans Parish, said that regularly sentencing defendants in a "fine or time" method could have cost the city more than it collected. "30 days or $100 - that was something I heard every day," said Johnson in the ACLU report. "Now, how can you describe a system where the city pays $23 a day to the Sheriff to house someone in jail for 30 days to collect $100 as anything other than crazy?"
"People are emerging from the criminal justice process with significant debts that they cannot hope to repay," said Brennan Center Deputy Director Rebekah Diller. "As a result, these fees are creating new paths back to prison for those unable to pay."
Former Montgomery County, Ohio, public defender Glen H. Dewar is profiled in the ACLU report for his efforts in eliminating the state's debtors' prisons. Dewar stated in the report, "My estimate is that 20 to 25 percent of all local incarcerations statewide are for fines and costs, while about 50 percent of arrests are for fines and costs ... [until 2000], none of the persons arrested for nonpayment of fines and costs appeared on any court docket. Nor were they ever scheduled to appear at any particular time before any particular judge or magistrate." Before county jail records were computerized, Dewar said, "the scope of the problem, in terms of both numbers of arrests and days in jail, remained hidden ... the county also expanded jail space at a cost of millions, unaware of the fact that it was not for criminals but debtors."
As noted in the Brennan Center report, several states have also started to utilize practices that violate the Sixth Amendment, which guarantees defendants a right to counsel. Florida, North Carolina and Virginia have all implemented mandatory defender fees and provide no opportunity to waive them for indigent cases.
According to the report, "defender fees often discourage individuals from exercising their constitutional right to an attorney - leading to wrongful convictions, over-incarceration and significant burdens on the operation of courts. In Michigan, for example, the National Legal Aid and Defender Association found that the threat of paying the full cost of assigned counsel resulted in misdemeanor defendants systematically waiving their right to counsel - at a rate of 95 percent in one county." In Virginia, defendants often face up to $1,235 per count for some felonies.
The Brennan Center recommends that states eliminate public defender fees and offer community service programs that build job skills, among other state and local policy reforms; the ACLU similarly recommends that a judicial assessment of a convicted defendant's ability to pay fines must be comprehensive.
Read Original Article HERE
by: Nadia Prupis
Two reports published by NYU's Brennan Center for Justice and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reveal a rising trend of patently unconstitutional practices in cash-strapped states, where a growing number of impoverished people are jailed for being unable to pay their legal fees - including charges for use of public defenders, a guaranteed right in the United States. The resurgence of these draconian "debtors' prisons" has been documented in at least 13 of the 15 states with the largest prison populations in the country, including California, Arizona, Michigan and Alabama.
"Incarcerating people simply because they cannot afford to pay their legal debts is not only unconstitutional but also has a devastating impact upon men and women whose only crime is that they are poor," said ACLU senior staff attorney Eric Balaban.
Many states view the fees as a method for helping to alleviate budget deficits. In New Orleans, Louisiana, legal fines comprise almost two-thirds of criminal courts' operating budgets. But the ACLU found in its report, "In for a Penny: The Rise of America's New Debtors' Prisons," that jailing individuals for failing to pay legal fees actually places the financial burden on the state, wasting taxpayer money and resources to keep those individuals in jail or on public welfare as they struggle to pay their overwhelming debts.
Moreover, these and other penalties creates obstacles for those re-entering society after completing their criminal sentence; the Brennan Center report, "Criminal Justice Debt: A Barrier to Reentry," notes that eight of the 15 states studied suspend driving privileges of individuals who miss debt payments, while seven states require them to complete their full payments before regaining eligibility to vote. Such unnecessary setbacks often pave the way for those on probation to return to jail through no fault of their own.
"We are undermining the integrity of our criminal justice system and creating a two-tiered system of justice in which the poorest among us are punished more harshly than those with means, at a great cost to taxpayers," said ACLU deputy legal director Vanita Gupta.
Imprisoning probationers for failing to pay court debts was found unconstitutional in 1980, when Georgia resident Danny Bearden was sent to prison for two years when he could not pay $550 in legal fees, despite his efforts. In Bearden v. Georgia, the Supreme Court ruled that such practices violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment - but states throughout the country have begun openly disregarding these principles in their efforts to balance their budgets.
The ACLU report highlights a few exemplary cases. Gregory White, a homeless man in Louisiana, was arrested for stealing $39 worth of food from a grocery store and assigned $339 in legal fees; when he was jailed for being unable to pay, White spent 198 days in jail at a cost of $3,5000 to the city.
Georgia resident Ora Lee Hurley owed $705 in fines from a 1990 drug possession conviction and remained in jail for eight months for failing to pay.
Kawana Young, a 25-year-old single mother in Michigan, was told after the fact that her community service hours would not satisfy her debts because she had volunteered with a nonprofit organization. Young has since been jailed five times for being unable to pay her fees.
And Percy Dear, a New Orleans resident who suffers from epilepsy, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, was arrested for begging in 2007. After pleading guilty, Dear was sentenced with either paying an immediate fine of $200 or spending 20 days in jail. Dear was unable to pay his fine at once and was incarcerated. These particular "fine or time" sentences are a glaring example of methods that plainly punish indigent cases while allowing wealthy individuals to go free on the same charges.
Judge Calvin Johnson, who served for 17 years in the Criminal District Court or Orleans Parish, said that regularly sentencing defendants in a "fine or time" method could have cost the city more than it collected. "30 days or $100 - that was something I heard every day," said Johnson in the ACLU report. "Now, how can you describe a system where the city pays $23 a day to the Sheriff to house someone in jail for 30 days to collect $100 as anything other than crazy?"
"People are emerging from the criminal justice process with significant debts that they cannot hope to repay," said Brennan Center Deputy Director Rebekah Diller. "As a result, these fees are creating new paths back to prison for those unable to pay."
Former Montgomery County, Ohio, public defender Glen H. Dewar is profiled in the ACLU report for his efforts in eliminating the state's debtors' prisons. Dewar stated in the report, "My estimate is that 20 to 25 percent of all local incarcerations statewide are for fines and costs, while about 50 percent of arrests are for fines and costs ... [until 2000], none of the persons arrested for nonpayment of fines and costs appeared on any court docket. Nor were they ever scheduled to appear at any particular time before any particular judge or magistrate." Before county jail records were computerized, Dewar said, "the scope of the problem, in terms of both numbers of arrests and days in jail, remained hidden ... the county also expanded jail space at a cost of millions, unaware of the fact that it was not for criminals but debtors."
As noted in the Brennan Center report, several states have also started to utilize practices that violate the Sixth Amendment, which guarantees defendants a right to counsel. Florida, North Carolina and Virginia have all implemented mandatory defender fees and provide no opportunity to waive them for indigent cases.
According to the report, "defender fees often discourage individuals from exercising their constitutional right to an attorney - leading to wrongful convictions, over-incarceration and significant burdens on the operation of courts. In Michigan, for example, the National Legal Aid and Defender Association found that the threat of paying the full cost of assigned counsel resulted in misdemeanor defendants systematically waiving their right to counsel - at a rate of 95 percent in one county." In Virginia, defendants often face up to $1,235 per count for some felonies.
The Brennan Center recommends that states eliminate public defender fees and offer community service programs that build job skills, among other state and local policy reforms; the ACLU similarly recommends that a judicial assessment of a convicted defendant's ability to pay fines must be comprehensive.
Read Original Article HERE
Thursday, October 7, 2010
National Police Misconduct NewsFeed Daily Recap 10-06-10
Injustice Everywhere
Here are the 27 reports of police misconduct tracked in our National Police Misconduct News Feed for Wednesday, October 6, 2010:
A Phoenix Arizona police officer has been arrested on an aggravated assault charge and may be facing additional charges, possibly including murder, for fatally shooting an unarmed man while responding to a domestic dispute call. The incident started when the man’s mother called 911 in hopes of having the police help calm her son down who was causing damage in a trailer home. When the police came the man told them they couldn’t enter without a warrant, at which point officer Richard Chrisman allegedly put his gun to the man’s temple and replied “I don’t need no warrant, motherf*****.” At that point, according to another officer on the scene, Chrisman went hands-on with him, tasered him, peppersprayed him from a foot away, then shot a dog that was barking but not threatening the officers. The second officer talked the situation down and the man tried to leave on his bicycle but Chrisman fought with him over the bicycle before pulling out his gun and firing 2-3 shots, killing the man. It should be said that, if it wasn’t for the second officer coming forward, I’m sure the officer wouldn’t have been charged. The mother says she regrets ever calling the police for help.
Oakland California has settled a lawsuit for $1,200,000 to a woman who was left permanently disfigured by a SWAT team’s flash-bang grenade that burned 11% of her body when it hit her as she slept during a drug raid. That raid apparently involved property owned by a man involved in a suit against the department over falsified search warrants and this raid was also questionable as the two women at the home weren’t charged. The city settled a suit by the other woman for $45,000 previously.
A now-retired Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper has been charged with misdemeanor assault for slamming a handcuffed female accident face-first into concrete divider wall on dashcam video when he responded to her 911 call. The accident was apparently caused when a drunk friend she was driving home had grabbed her steering wheel though the suit claims she wasn’t drunk.
Maricopa County Arizona has settled a lawsuit for $600,000 to a man who hit by a deputy’s cruiser and left pinned underneath it while the deputy fought with family members who came out after hearing what happened when the deputy attempted to block the man in during a traffic stop.
The Jackson Wyoming police are being sued by an Idaho resident who was tasered multiple times when he protested about being pulled over for having out-of-state tags. While the police chief is defending his officers, the incident sparked a policy change that restricted taser use to incidents where officers or the public was in danger instead of in compliance situations.
Rutland Vermont has settled a lawsuit for $45,000 to a man who was shot over 20 times with pepperball rounds while he was shackled in a holding cell for being argumentative with police, the officer who repeatedly shot him was fired over the incident.
An Owensboro Kentucky police officer has been suspended without pay for 6 months after failing to intervene when another officer attacked a after taunting him on surviellance video. That officer was fired over the incident.
A now-former Fallowfield Pennsylvania police officer has been sentenced to probation for obstruction after failing to report finding a 17-year-old boy who had run away from home… instead he allegedly took the boy to his home and had sex with him twice.
A 34-year-old Norfolk Virginia police officer is the subject of a lawsuit filed by a 60-year-old woman who claims that the officer sexually assaulted her while on-duty when he responded to her 911 call requesting medical assistance when she mixed prescription medication with alcohol. She also claims that the officer returned later and raped her again though, according to the lawsuit, he claimed it was consensual.
An Indian Shores Florida police detective has resigned after a lengthy 15 month criminal and internal investigation into numerous allegations that included sexual battery, supplying a minor with alcohol, and association with a known criminal. He won’t face any charges as the statute of limitations apparently expired for the sexual battery allegations.
A Minneapolis Minnesota police officer has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for multiple armed robberies to be served concurrently with an 8-year federal sentence for bank robbery. He still faces more charges for robberies that occurred in a different county.
A Buffalo New York police officer has been charged with criminal trespassing and harassment after he barged into a home and began assaulting a man who he believed to be having an affair with his girlfriend then attacking his mom and her boyfriend when they tried to intervene. Ultimately it ended up that the officer had the wrong address.
A Plainfield New Jersey police officer has been charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, assaulting an officer and drunk driving after he fought with police who responded to calls about his repeated attempts to start fights in a bar parking lot.
A Duquesne Pennsylvania police officer is under investigation after receiving 9 citations after some of her dogs attacked a group of people including a 12-year-old girl who was bitten. The officer allegedly came out, ignored everyone and refused to offer assistance to victims as she dragged her dogs back onto her property… The dogs weren’t shot.
Two Ripley Tennessee police officers have been indicted over unrelated incidents. One officer was charged with official oppression over a wrongful arrest and the other officer was charged with theft and official misconduct… Did I ever mention how much I hate news articles that don’t really explain what happened?
A Suffolk New York police officer and an investigator for the District Attorney’s office have been arrested on felony computer trespass charges. At this point I should mention how much more I hate subscription news sites.
A Lancaster Pennsylvania police officer has been charged with assault and reckless endangerment for ramming a woman’s car and ran her off the during an alleged domestic dispute, though the report does not specify what their relationship was.
A Grand Rapids Michigan police officer is accused of illegally shutting down a business for not displaying a license that they weren’t legally required to display. However, by the time that was cleared up in court the owners had lost their business and went into debt. The officer isn’t facing any disciplinary action .
A now-former Texas Department of Public Safety trooper has pled guilty to illegally selling drivers licenses to unqualified applicants.
A Tea South Dakota police officer who was hired despite being fired from the Souix Falls PD over being arrested on drug and alcohol charges has pled guilty to obtaining Oxycodone by fraud and DUI charges in a plea deal that requires him to also plead guilty to another DUI charge he was facing in a different county.
A Wilmington North Carolina police officer is the subject of a lawsuit alleging he caused an accident that injured an 81-year-old man when he ran a red light while on duty.
A Gaston County North Carolina police officer is facing DUI charges after crashing into a group of trees with his pickup truck while off-duty.
A Riviera Beach Florida police officer is on paid leave while he’s the subject of an unspecified internal and criminal investigation.
Mendenhall Mississippi residents have filed a petition with that city demanding that they either fire or suspend their police chief without pay while he’s under investigation over allegations that his officers stole $7,000 and other property from a man they detained but didn’t charge. Residents are still stinging from having to pay their former chief’s salary for several months while he was on leave facing molestation charges.
A Los Angeles California police detective has been arrested on seven felony counts of workers compensation fraud, perjury and attempted grand theft.
An Anchorage Airport police officer is under investigation after he received a citation for solicitation when he was allegedly caught up in a prostitution sting operation.
And finally, 89 Puerto Rico law enforcement officers from different departments have been arrested as part of a massive FBI raid that resulted from a 2-year long investigation into allegations of corruption and drug trafficking where officers allegedly supplied protection for drug While we haven’t previously tracked incidents from US territories since we didn’t have law enforcement employment numbers from those places, now that we do I’ve decided to start.
That’s it for today, stay safe out there!
View Article With links HERE
Here are the 27 reports of police misconduct tracked in our National Police Misconduct News Feed for Wednesday, October 6, 2010:
A Phoenix Arizona police officer has been arrested on an aggravated assault charge and may be facing additional charges, possibly including murder, for fatally shooting an unarmed man while responding to a domestic dispute call. The incident started when the man’s mother called 911 in hopes of having the police help calm her son down who was causing damage in a trailer home. When the police came the man told them they couldn’t enter without a warrant, at which point officer Richard Chrisman allegedly put his gun to the man’s temple and replied “I don’t need no warrant, motherf*****.” At that point, according to another officer on the scene, Chrisman went hands-on with him, tasered him, peppersprayed him from a foot away, then shot a dog that was barking but not threatening the officers. The second officer talked the situation down and the man tried to leave on his bicycle but Chrisman fought with him over the bicycle before pulling out his gun and firing 2-3 shots, killing the man. It should be said that, if it wasn’t for the second officer coming forward, I’m sure the officer wouldn’t have been charged. The mother says she regrets ever calling the police for help.
Oakland California has settled a lawsuit for $1,200,000 to a woman who was left permanently disfigured by a SWAT team’s flash-bang grenade that burned 11% of her body when it hit her as she slept during a drug raid. That raid apparently involved property owned by a man involved in a suit against the department over falsified search warrants and this raid was also questionable as the two women at the home weren’t charged. The city settled a suit by the other woman for $45,000 previously.
A now-retired Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper has been charged with misdemeanor assault for slamming a handcuffed female accident face-first into concrete divider wall on dashcam video when he responded to her 911 call. The accident was apparently caused when a drunk friend she was driving home had grabbed her steering wheel though the suit claims she wasn’t drunk.
Maricopa County Arizona has settled a lawsuit for $600,000 to a man who hit by a deputy’s cruiser and left pinned underneath it while the deputy fought with family members who came out after hearing what happened when the deputy attempted to block the man in during a traffic stop.
The Jackson Wyoming police are being sued by an Idaho resident who was tasered multiple times when he protested about being pulled over for having out-of-state tags. While the police chief is defending his officers, the incident sparked a policy change that restricted taser use to incidents where officers or the public was in danger instead of in compliance situations.
Rutland Vermont has settled a lawsuit for $45,000 to a man who was shot over 20 times with pepperball rounds while he was shackled in a holding cell for being argumentative with police, the officer who repeatedly shot him was fired over the incident.
An Owensboro Kentucky police officer has been suspended without pay for 6 months after failing to intervene when another officer attacked a after taunting him on surviellance video. That officer was fired over the incident.
A now-former Fallowfield Pennsylvania police officer has been sentenced to probation for obstruction after failing to report finding a 17-year-old boy who had run away from home… instead he allegedly took the boy to his home and had sex with him twice.
A 34-year-old Norfolk Virginia police officer is the subject of a lawsuit filed by a 60-year-old woman who claims that the officer sexually assaulted her while on-duty when he responded to her 911 call requesting medical assistance when she mixed prescription medication with alcohol. She also claims that the officer returned later and raped her again though, according to the lawsuit, he claimed it was consensual.
An Indian Shores Florida police detective has resigned after a lengthy 15 month criminal and internal investigation into numerous allegations that included sexual battery, supplying a minor with alcohol, and association with a known criminal. He won’t face any charges as the statute of limitations apparently expired for the sexual battery allegations.
A Minneapolis Minnesota police officer has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for multiple armed robberies to be served concurrently with an 8-year federal sentence for bank robbery. He still faces more charges for robberies that occurred in a different county.
A Buffalo New York police officer has been charged with criminal trespassing and harassment after he barged into a home and began assaulting a man who he believed to be having an affair with his girlfriend then attacking his mom and her boyfriend when they tried to intervene. Ultimately it ended up that the officer had the wrong address.
A Plainfield New Jersey police officer has been charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, assaulting an officer and drunk driving after he fought with police who responded to calls about his repeated attempts to start fights in a bar parking lot.
A Duquesne Pennsylvania police officer is under investigation after receiving 9 citations after some of her dogs attacked a group of people including a 12-year-old girl who was bitten. The officer allegedly came out, ignored everyone and refused to offer assistance to victims as she dragged her dogs back onto her property… The dogs weren’t shot.
Two Ripley Tennessee police officers have been indicted over unrelated incidents. One officer was charged with official oppression over a wrongful arrest and the other officer was charged with theft and official misconduct… Did I ever mention how much I hate news articles that don’t really explain what happened?
A Suffolk New York police officer and an investigator for the District Attorney’s office have been arrested on felony computer trespass charges. At this point I should mention how much more I hate subscription news sites.
A Lancaster Pennsylvania police officer has been charged with assault and reckless endangerment for ramming a woman’s car and ran her off the during an alleged domestic dispute, though the report does not specify what their relationship was.
A Grand Rapids Michigan police officer is accused of illegally shutting down a business for not displaying a license that they weren’t legally required to display. However, by the time that was cleared up in court the owners had lost their business and went into debt. The officer isn’t facing any disciplinary action .
A now-former Texas Department of Public Safety trooper has pled guilty to illegally selling drivers licenses to unqualified applicants.
A Tea South Dakota police officer who was hired despite being fired from the Souix Falls PD over being arrested on drug and alcohol charges has pled guilty to obtaining Oxycodone by fraud and DUI charges in a plea deal that requires him to also plead guilty to another DUI charge he was facing in a different county.
A Wilmington North Carolina police officer is the subject of a lawsuit alleging he caused an accident that injured an 81-year-old man when he ran a red light while on duty.
A Gaston County North Carolina police officer is facing DUI charges after crashing into a group of trees with his pickup truck while off-duty.
A Riviera Beach Florida police officer is on paid leave while he’s the subject of an unspecified internal and criminal investigation.
Mendenhall Mississippi residents have filed a petition with that city demanding that they either fire or suspend their police chief without pay while he’s under investigation over allegations that his officers stole $7,000 and other property from a man they detained but didn’t charge. Residents are still stinging from having to pay their former chief’s salary for several months while he was on leave facing molestation charges.
A Los Angeles California police detective has been arrested on seven felony counts of workers compensation fraud, perjury and attempted grand theft.
An Anchorage Airport police officer is under investigation after he received a citation for solicitation when he was allegedly caught up in a prostitution sting operation.
And finally, 89 Puerto Rico law enforcement officers from different departments have been arrested as part of a massive FBI raid that resulted from a 2-year long investigation into allegations of corruption and drug trafficking where officers allegedly supplied protection for drug While we haven’t previously tracked incidents from US territories since we didn’t have law enforcement employment numbers from those places, now that we do I’ve decided to start.
That’s it for today, stay safe out there!
View Article With links HERE
27 Signs That The Standard Of Living For America’s Middle Class Is Dropping Like A Rock
theeconomiccollapseblog.com
If you still have a job and you can put food on the table and you still have a warm house to come home to, then you should consider yourself to be very fortunate. The truth is that every single month hundreds of thousands more Americans fall out of the middle class and into poverty. The statistics that you are about to read are incredibly sobering. Household incomes are down from coast to coast. Enrollment in government anti-poverty programs sets new records month after month after month. Home ownership is down, personal bankruptcies are way up and there are not nearly enough jobs to go around. Meanwhile, the price of basics such as food and health care continue to skyrocket. Don't be fooled by a rising stock market or by record bonuses on Wall Street. The U.S. economy is not getting better. After World War II, the great American economic machine built the largest and most vigorous middle class in the history of the world, but now America's middle class is disintegrating at a blinding pace.
Most of those who write about the plight of the American middle class believe that things can be turned around and that the middle class will eventually be stronger than it ever has been. But unfortunately, that is just not the case. As a society, we have lived far, far beyond our means for decades. Now the bills are coming due and none of our leaders seem to know what to do.
Meanwhile, the U.S. economy is being rapidly assimilated into the emerging one world economy. Middle class American workers now find themselves in direct competition for jobs with the cheapest labor on the other side of the globe. Of course many multinational corporations have taken advantage of this by moving factories and jobs to countries like China where blue collar workers make about a dollar an hour. This has helped raise the standard of living for workers in those nations by a nominal amount, but it has been absolutely devastating for the standard of living of America's middle class.
So what does all of this mean?
It means that the U.S. economy is headed for collapse and middle class Americans are in for some really, really hard times.
The following are 27 signs that the standard of living for America's middle class is dropping like a rock....
#1 Household spending for the middle fifth of all U.S. income earners was down 3.5% in 2009. That was the steepest one year decline since records began being kept back in 1984.
#2 Median household income in the United States fell from $51,726 in 2008 to $50,221 in 2009.
#3 According to one new report, in 2009 residents of New York state experienced their first full-year decline in income in more than 70 years.
#4 Of the 52 largest metro areas in the United States, only the city of San Antonio did not see a decline in median household income in 2009.
#5 Home ownership in the United States declined for the third year in a row in 2009.
#6 In 2009, approximately 4 million Americans fell out of the middle class and now live below the federal poverty line.
#7 The number of Americans enrolled in the food stamp program has set a new all-time record for 20 consecutive months.
#8 In July (the last month for which data is available), 41.8 million Americans were on food stamps.
#9 The number of Americans in the food stamp program skyrocketed more than 55 percent between December 2007 and July 2010.
#10 In 2009, more than 48 million Americans were enrolled in the Medicaid program.
#11 One out of every six Americans is now enrolled in at least one anti-poverty program run by the U.S. government.
#12 According to one recent study, approximately 21 percent of all children in the United States are living below the poverty line in 2010.
#13 According to the Cato Institute, anti-poverty spending by the U.S. government has increased 89 percent over the past decade.
#14 The cost of health care increased a staggering 9.6% for all U.S. households from 2007 to 2009.
#15 It turns out that only the top 5 percent of all U.S. households have earned enough additional income to match the rise in housing costs since 1975.
#16 35 percent of all U.S. households now live on $35,000 or less.
#17 New York state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli says that Wall Street bonuses for 2009 were up 17 percent when compared with 2008.
#18 According to a poll taken in 2009, 61 percent of Americans "always or usually" live paycheck to paycheck. That was up substantially from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.
#19 Today, 28% of all American households have at least one member that is searching for a full-time job.
#20 Nearly 10 million Americans now receive unemployment insurance, which is almost four times as many that were receiving it back in 2007.
#21 A recent Pew Research survey found that 55 percent of the U.S. labor force has experienced either unemployment, a pay decrease, a reduction in hours or an involuntary move to part-time work since the recession began.
#22 In 2009, 43.6 million Americans were living in poverty. Sadly, the number of Americans living in poverty has increased for three consecutive years, and the 43.6 million poor Americans in 2009 was the highest number that the U.S. Census Bureau has ever recorded in 51 years of record-keeping.
#23 A staggering 25 percent of all American adults now have a credit score below 599.
#24 It is estimated that nearly a third of all Americans cannot qualify for a mortgage because of low credit scores.
#25 For the first time in U.S. history, banks own a greater share of residential housing net worth in the United States than all American households put together.
#26 Over 1.4 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009, which represented a stunning 32 percent increase over 2008.
#27 According to a new report by the U.S. Census Bureau, the bottom fifth of all U.S. income earners brought in just 3.4 percent of all income in 2009 while the top fifth brought in a whopping 49.4 percent of all income.
So is there any hope that things will turn around soon?
No, not really.
At this point, even some of the top economic authorities in the nation are admitting that we are headed for very difficult times.
Goldman Sachs recently announced that the U.S. economy is likely to be either "fairly bad" or "very bad" over the next 6 to 9 months.
Not only that, but Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke now says that the U.S. economy is in a situation that is dire and "unsustainable".
Not that Goldman Sachs or Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke should be trusted when it comes to the economy.
When it comes to the problems we are facing, the truth can be found in the long-term trends. If you have not done so already, please read "11 Long-Term Trends That Are Absolutely Destroying The U.S. Economy". It will open your eyes to the true horrors that our economy is now facing.
But statistics alone do not tell the real story.
Sometimes what gets lost in the endless economic statistics is the very real pain of the millions of Americans who are trying to live through this. The following story from the Unemployed Friends website is from a woman named Leetah who is desperately hoping to be able to get through this upcoming winter....
The place I live in right now has no jobs and no places to live. My fiance, Lloyd, and I have been looking for anything but he lost his job from McDonald's and the factories (the only jobs to make a living off of) consider him an insurance liability. I can't get hired to a factory because of I was fired from our major factory for attendance (I had to miss 3 days of work because I was sick). So we are moving to the Edmond/OKC region where we are hoping to find a job and a place with running water and heating. We've spent the last few years without heat and running water and so having a place with water and heat would be heaven.
Winter is coming up fast and I am so afraid. Last winter we almost died from the cold and now the thought of cold makes my throat close up and my heart pound. But it isn't just ourselves we are looking out for, we have our dog too. Our wonderful APBT Maggie who is 2-years-old and has been with us since she was 5-months-old. She's our baby girl and we can't lose her. We almost lost her to the cold too and it scared me so much. We are going to be living in our car soon with our dog.
I am hoping to be able to keep our food stamps in the new city so we can still eat. I have already applied for ten+ jobs and nothing yet but I am keeping my hopes up. Hopefully it will get easier to find a job once we get there. Then we just have to save up and then we can afford an apartment. Now finding an apartment with my awesome dog is another story.
Please say a prayer for those who are out of work and on the verge of being forced out on the street.
You never know, you might be next.
Read Article With Links HERE
If you still have a job and you can put food on the table and you still have a warm house to come home to, then you should consider yourself to be very fortunate. The truth is that every single month hundreds of thousands more Americans fall out of the middle class and into poverty. The statistics that you are about to read are incredibly sobering. Household incomes are down from coast to coast. Enrollment in government anti-poverty programs sets new records month after month after month. Home ownership is down, personal bankruptcies are way up and there are not nearly enough jobs to go around. Meanwhile, the price of basics such as food and health care continue to skyrocket. Don't be fooled by a rising stock market or by record bonuses on Wall Street. The U.S. economy is not getting better. After World War II, the great American economic machine built the largest and most vigorous middle class in the history of the world, but now America's middle class is disintegrating at a blinding pace.
Most of those who write about the plight of the American middle class believe that things can be turned around and that the middle class will eventually be stronger than it ever has been. But unfortunately, that is just not the case. As a society, we have lived far, far beyond our means for decades. Now the bills are coming due and none of our leaders seem to know what to do.
Meanwhile, the U.S. economy is being rapidly assimilated into the emerging one world economy. Middle class American workers now find themselves in direct competition for jobs with the cheapest labor on the other side of the globe. Of course many multinational corporations have taken advantage of this by moving factories and jobs to countries like China where blue collar workers make about a dollar an hour. This has helped raise the standard of living for workers in those nations by a nominal amount, but it has been absolutely devastating for the standard of living of America's middle class.
So what does all of this mean?
It means that the U.S. economy is headed for collapse and middle class Americans are in for some really, really hard times.
The following are 27 signs that the standard of living for America's middle class is dropping like a rock....
#1 Household spending for the middle fifth of all U.S. income earners was down 3.5% in 2009. That was the steepest one year decline since records began being kept back in 1984.
#2 Median household income in the United States fell from $51,726 in 2008 to $50,221 in 2009.
#3 According to one new report, in 2009 residents of New York state experienced their first full-year decline in income in more than 70 years.
#4 Of the 52 largest metro areas in the United States, only the city of San Antonio did not see a decline in median household income in 2009.
#5 Home ownership in the United States declined for the third year in a row in 2009.
#6 In 2009, approximately 4 million Americans fell out of the middle class and now live below the federal poverty line.
#7 The number of Americans enrolled in the food stamp program has set a new all-time record for 20 consecutive months.
#8 In July (the last month for which data is available), 41.8 million Americans were on food stamps.
#9 The number of Americans in the food stamp program skyrocketed more than 55 percent between December 2007 and July 2010.
#10 In 2009, more than 48 million Americans were enrolled in the Medicaid program.
#11 One out of every six Americans is now enrolled in at least one anti-poverty program run by the U.S. government.
#12 According to one recent study, approximately 21 percent of all children in the United States are living below the poverty line in 2010.
#13 According to the Cato Institute, anti-poverty spending by the U.S. government has increased 89 percent over the past decade.
#14 The cost of health care increased a staggering 9.6% for all U.S. households from 2007 to 2009.
#15 It turns out that only the top 5 percent of all U.S. households have earned enough additional income to match the rise in housing costs since 1975.
#16 35 percent of all U.S. households now live on $35,000 or less.
#17 New York state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli says that Wall Street bonuses for 2009 were up 17 percent when compared with 2008.
#18 According to a poll taken in 2009, 61 percent of Americans "always or usually" live paycheck to paycheck. That was up substantially from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.
#19 Today, 28% of all American households have at least one member that is searching for a full-time job.
#20 Nearly 10 million Americans now receive unemployment insurance, which is almost four times as many that were receiving it back in 2007.
#21 A recent Pew Research survey found that 55 percent of the U.S. labor force has experienced either unemployment, a pay decrease, a reduction in hours or an involuntary move to part-time work since the recession began.
#22 In 2009, 43.6 million Americans were living in poverty. Sadly, the number of Americans living in poverty has increased for three consecutive years, and the 43.6 million poor Americans in 2009 was the highest number that the U.S. Census Bureau has ever recorded in 51 years of record-keeping.
#23 A staggering 25 percent of all American adults now have a credit score below 599.
#24 It is estimated that nearly a third of all Americans cannot qualify for a mortgage because of low credit scores.
#25 For the first time in U.S. history, banks own a greater share of residential housing net worth in the United States than all American households put together.
#26 Over 1.4 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009, which represented a stunning 32 percent increase over 2008.
#27 According to a new report by the U.S. Census Bureau, the bottom fifth of all U.S. income earners brought in just 3.4 percent of all income in 2009 while the top fifth brought in a whopping 49.4 percent of all income.
So is there any hope that things will turn around soon?
No, not really.
At this point, even some of the top economic authorities in the nation are admitting that we are headed for very difficult times.
Goldman Sachs recently announced that the U.S. economy is likely to be either "fairly bad" or "very bad" over the next 6 to 9 months.
Not only that, but Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke now says that the U.S. economy is in a situation that is dire and "unsustainable".
Not that Goldman Sachs or Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke should be trusted when it comes to the economy.
When it comes to the problems we are facing, the truth can be found in the long-term trends. If you have not done so already, please read "11 Long-Term Trends That Are Absolutely Destroying The U.S. Economy". It will open your eyes to the true horrors that our economy is now facing.
But statistics alone do not tell the real story.
Sometimes what gets lost in the endless economic statistics is the very real pain of the millions of Americans who are trying to live through this. The following story from the Unemployed Friends website is from a woman named Leetah who is desperately hoping to be able to get through this upcoming winter....
The place I live in right now has no jobs and no places to live. My fiance, Lloyd, and I have been looking for anything but he lost his job from McDonald's and the factories (the only jobs to make a living off of) consider him an insurance liability. I can't get hired to a factory because of I was fired from our major factory for attendance (I had to miss 3 days of work because I was sick). So we are moving to the Edmond/OKC region where we are hoping to find a job and a place with running water and heating. We've spent the last few years without heat and running water and so having a place with water and heat would be heaven.
Winter is coming up fast and I am so afraid. Last winter we almost died from the cold and now the thought of cold makes my throat close up and my heart pound. But it isn't just ourselves we are looking out for, we have our dog too. Our wonderful APBT Maggie who is 2-years-old and has been with us since she was 5-months-old. She's our baby girl and we can't lose her. We almost lost her to the cold too and it scared me so much. We are going to be living in our car soon with our dog.
I am hoping to be able to keep our food stamps in the new city so we can still eat. I have already applied for ten+ jobs and nothing yet but I am keeping my hopes up. Hopefully it will get easier to find a job once we get there. Then we just have to save up and then we can afford an apartment. Now finding an apartment with my awesome dog is another story.
Please say a prayer for those who are out of work and on the verge of being forced out on the street.
You never know, you might be next.
Read Article With Links HERE
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
National Police Misconduct NewsFeed Daily Recap 10-05-10
Injustice Everywhere
A Marco Florida police officer is the subject of a lawsuit accusing him of using excessive force when he stopped his police cruiser, beat 3 handcuffed men in the back of that cruiser, then sealed the cruiser up after releasing pepperspray in the vehicle, all of which was captured on video and all because they kept taunting the officer on the way to jail. The officer initially received 2 weeks suspension and was charged with battery but was allowed to enter a pre-trial diversion program that cleared his record and his suspension was overturned by a state panel, ultimately leaving him with a clean record and free pass.
Watertown New York has settled a lawsuit for $600,000 to a man who was shot 3 times by a police officer who broke into his apartment through a 2nd floor window hunting for his ex-girlfriend who he then kidnapped. That officer was sentenced to 15 years in prison for attempted murder, kidnapping, burglary, and grand larceny.
An Owensboro Kentucky police officer has been fired for violating policies including use unnecessary force after jail video showed him repeatedly challenging a detainee to stand up and when he finally did the officer and others jumped on him and began beating him. Investigators also found that a report over the incident filed by another officer had discrepancies when compared to the video.
Flagler County Florida and the sheriff of Flagler County have both settled a lawsuit for unspecified sums to the daughter of a former state attorney who claims deputies used excessive force when they forced her into a restraint chair for refusing to strip and shower in front of male deputies after being arrested on a disorderly intoxication charge that was dismissed later.
Seaside Heights New Jersey has settled a lawsuit for $75,000 to a man claiming police officers there injured his shoulder after they cuffed his arms behind his back despite being told by him and his fiancee that he had an injured shoulder and then choked him into unconsciousness without cause. They also arrested his fiancee for asking why he was being arrested. The incident apparently escalated through a series of misunderstandings after the man had responded to an obscenity yelled at him.
A Vernal Utah police sergeant was allowed to enter into a diversion agreement that will dismiss a felony assault charge he faced for pistol-whipping a suspect arrested after he allegedly shot another officer in the leg. The charge will be dismissed in a year in exchange for a $1,000 fine and his decertification as a police
New York NY has settled a lawsuit for $300,000 to two brothers who were falsely arrested by narcotics cops on drug charges but freed once surveillance video of the arrest came out showing the charges were trumped up. One of the officers already pled guilty to a felony charge after resigning while the other is awaiting trial after becoming a cop in Nassau County NY.
Three Basalt Colorado police officers are the subject of a lawsuit filed by a man claiming officers injured him when they beat him while arresting him for yelling “don’t let the door hit you in the ass” while they were leaving after conducting a bar “walkthrough”. Those charges were eventually dismissed.
The New Mexico Region III Narcotics Task Force was accused of using excessive tactics when they raided a Montessory school with students aged 11-14 in search of marijuana in that school’s greenhouse. While teachers say the kids thought the armed military helicopter the task force used was neat, they didn’t think the armored officers armed with assault weapons were necessary. While officers didn’t find any pot, they did find plenty of tomatoes.
A Garden Grove California police officer has been arrested on two counts of felony forcible sodomy over allegations that he sexually assaulted two women that he dated.
Two Philadelphia Pennsylvania police officers have been arrested arrested after they detained then robbed an undercover agent posing as a drug dealer as part of a sting operation targeting corrupt officers. [0]
Four Anchorage Alaska police officers will go through “retraining” after an investigation found they violated departmental policy in a recorded incident where they threatened to taser and arrest a man for refusing to let them enter his apartment without a warrant over an animal complaint.
A Milford Connecticut police officer has been suspended for 5 days and prohibited from driving any departmental vehicles for 9 months after the release of dahscam videos involving offices using excessive speed through an FOIA request prompted an investigation into that officer’s consistent use of excessive speed while responding to calls.
A Newark New Jersey police officer has been granted a pretrial diversion deal involving counseling and community service that will ultimately clear his record of a domestic abuse charge involving a female teenage relative.
An Ishpeming Michigan police officer has resigned and has been sentenced to pay a $600 fine after pleading guilty to a domestic violence charge.
The police chief of Helotes Texas has been suspended after Texas Rangers searched his home as part of an unspecified investigation.
A Macomb County Michigan deputy is under investigation after accused of sending text messages when he rear-ended another vehicle while transporting prisoners from court to jail.
The police chief of Ashley Pennsylvania has been suspended while he’s the subject of an investigation by state police into an unspecified complaint about threats he allegedly made.
Finally, a part-time sworn police officer in Pinetops North Carolina is a suspect in the shooting death of a college student who’s body was found in the officer’s dorm room after he died from a bullet wound to the head. Police aren’t releasing any more details except that the officer was also discovered nearby holding an emptied gun.
That’s it for today, stay safe out there.
View Article With Links HERE
A Marco Florida police officer is the subject of a lawsuit accusing him of using excessive force when he stopped his police cruiser, beat 3 handcuffed men in the back of that cruiser, then sealed the cruiser up after releasing pepperspray in the vehicle, all of which was captured on video and all because they kept taunting the officer on the way to jail. The officer initially received 2 weeks suspension and was charged with battery but was allowed to enter a pre-trial diversion program that cleared his record and his suspension was overturned by a state panel, ultimately leaving him with a clean record and free pass.
Watertown New York has settled a lawsuit for $600,000 to a man who was shot 3 times by a police officer who broke into his apartment through a 2nd floor window hunting for his ex-girlfriend who he then kidnapped. That officer was sentenced to 15 years in prison for attempted murder, kidnapping, burglary, and grand larceny.
An Owensboro Kentucky police officer has been fired for violating policies including use unnecessary force after jail video showed him repeatedly challenging a detainee to stand up and when he finally did the officer and others jumped on him and began beating him. Investigators also found that a report over the incident filed by another officer had discrepancies when compared to the video.
Flagler County Florida and the sheriff of Flagler County have both settled a lawsuit for unspecified sums to the daughter of a former state attorney who claims deputies used excessive force when they forced her into a restraint chair for refusing to strip and shower in front of male deputies after being arrested on a disorderly intoxication charge that was dismissed later.
Seaside Heights New Jersey has settled a lawsuit for $75,000 to a man claiming police officers there injured his shoulder after they cuffed his arms behind his back despite being told by him and his fiancee that he had an injured shoulder and then choked him into unconsciousness without cause. They also arrested his fiancee for asking why he was being arrested. The incident apparently escalated through a series of misunderstandings after the man had responded to an obscenity yelled at him.
A Vernal Utah police sergeant was allowed to enter into a diversion agreement that will dismiss a felony assault charge he faced for pistol-whipping a suspect arrested after he allegedly shot another officer in the leg. The charge will be dismissed in a year in exchange for a $1,000 fine and his decertification as a police
New York NY has settled a lawsuit for $300,000 to two brothers who were falsely arrested by narcotics cops on drug charges but freed once surveillance video of the arrest came out showing the charges were trumped up. One of the officers already pled guilty to a felony charge after resigning while the other is awaiting trial after becoming a cop in Nassau County NY.
Three Basalt Colorado police officers are the subject of a lawsuit filed by a man claiming officers injured him when they beat him while arresting him for yelling “don’t let the door hit you in the ass” while they were leaving after conducting a bar “walkthrough”. Those charges were eventually dismissed.
The New Mexico Region III Narcotics Task Force was accused of using excessive tactics when they raided a Montessory school with students aged 11-14 in search of marijuana in that school’s greenhouse. While teachers say the kids thought the armed military helicopter the task force used was neat, they didn’t think the armored officers armed with assault weapons were necessary. While officers didn’t find any pot, they did find plenty of tomatoes.
A Garden Grove California police officer has been arrested on two counts of felony forcible sodomy over allegations that he sexually assaulted two women that he dated.
Two Philadelphia Pennsylvania police officers have been arrested arrested after they detained then robbed an undercover agent posing as a drug dealer as part of a sting operation targeting corrupt officers. [0]
Four Anchorage Alaska police officers will go through “retraining” after an investigation found they violated departmental policy in a recorded incident where they threatened to taser and arrest a man for refusing to let them enter his apartment without a warrant over an animal complaint.
A Milford Connecticut police officer has been suspended for 5 days and prohibited from driving any departmental vehicles for 9 months after the release of dahscam videos involving offices using excessive speed through an FOIA request prompted an investigation into that officer’s consistent use of excessive speed while responding to calls.
A Newark New Jersey police officer has been granted a pretrial diversion deal involving counseling and community service that will ultimately clear his record of a domestic abuse charge involving a female teenage relative.
An Ishpeming Michigan police officer has resigned and has been sentenced to pay a $600 fine after pleading guilty to a domestic violence charge.
The police chief of Helotes Texas has been suspended after Texas Rangers searched his home as part of an unspecified investigation.
A Macomb County Michigan deputy is under investigation after accused of sending text messages when he rear-ended another vehicle while transporting prisoners from court to jail.
The police chief of Ashley Pennsylvania has been suspended while he’s the subject of an investigation by state police into an unspecified complaint about threats he allegedly made.
Finally, a part-time sworn police officer in Pinetops North Carolina is a suspect in the shooting death of a college student who’s body was found in the officer’s dorm room after he died from a bullet wound to the head. Police aren’t releasing any more details except that the officer was also discovered nearby holding an emptied gun.
That’s it for today, stay safe out there.
View Article With Links HERE
One Out Of Every Six U.S. Taxpayers Will Be Hit By A Tax Increase Averaging $3,900 This Year And Most Of Them Don’t Even Realize It
endoftheamericandream.com
Did you know that there are two different sets of federal income tax rules in the United States? It's true. Each year, most U.S. taxpayers either pay income tax under the system that most of us are familiar with or they pay the "Alternative Minimum Tax" - whichever amount ends up being greater. For years, the U.S. Congress has passed one year "fixes" that have exempted millions of middle class American families from the Alternative Minimum Tax. This has essentially been a huge tax cut each year for those millions of American families. But this year, the Democrat-controlled Congress has not passed a "patch" for the Alternative Minimum Tax. So now one out of every six U.S. taxpayers is going to be hit by the Alternative Minimum Tax. The taxpayers most likely to be affected are married couples, very large families, home owners and taxpayers in states that have high state and local taxes. The average tax increase that these taxpayers will be facing is going to be approximately $3,900 and most of them have no idea that it is coming. At a time when an increasing number of families is barely getting by, a tax increase of this magnitude is simply going to crush the American Dream for literally millions of families. Talk about a cruel surprise for tens of millions of Americans this upcoming tax season!
Would you be able to sit down and write a check for an extra four thousand dollars this upcoming April?
So where in the world did this insane alternate tax system come from anyway?
Well, back in 1969 the Alternative Minimum Tax was implemented with the intention of catching high income individuals who were avoiding paying taxes altogether by abusing certain loopholes. But unfortunately, the Alternative Minimum Tax has not really been adjusted for inflation since that time, so now the Alternative Minimum Tax applies to millions of ordinary middle class American families.
Fortunately, the U.S. Congress has been passing a "fix" to this problem each year to avoid this problem, but so far this year the U.S. Congress has not acted.
So now we are on the verge of a complete and total mess.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, approximately 4.5 million American households paid the Alternative Minimum Tax in 2009.
If nothing changes, 27.2 million American households will pay it in 2010.
Are you starting to get the picture?
Do you know if the Alternative Minimum Tax will apply to you this year?
You might want to find out.
The temporary reprieve for middle class taxpayers that Congress passed last year expired at the end of 2009.
Therefore, every penny that you have earned in 2010 is subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax if it applies to you.
Of course Congress could still act and help all of us out by doing something about the Alternative Minimum Tax by the end of the year.
But considering the fact that this Congress is so incompetent that they wouldn't be able to find their feet if they weren't attached to the end of their legs, it is hard to be able to count on them to do anything correctly.
In fact, there is very little appetite in Congress right now to do anything that would add to the federal budget deficit in future years.
The truth is that simply eliminating the Alternative Minimum Tax without making equivalent cuts in U.S. government spending would add approximately $626 billion to the national debt over the next ten years.
So this Congress might just decide to let the middle class suffer.
In fact, all of us will be coughing up more taxes soon. In all, there are more than 100 tax provisions that have either already expired or are about to expire.
2011 is already being dubbed "the year of the tax increase", and unless something changes really, really quickly many of us are going to get some really nasty surprises early next year.
So are you ready to pay even more taxes?
Are you ready to be squeezed like a melon even though it is very likely that the U.S. government will never have a balanced budget ever again?
The U.S. government has piled up the biggest mountain of debt in the history of the world in our names, and in the end we are all going to pay for it in one way or another.
View Article With Links HERE
View Related Article HERE Supreme Court spouse:
'Tax crisis' coming Jan. 1
Did you know that there are two different sets of federal income tax rules in the United States? It's true. Each year, most U.S. taxpayers either pay income tax under the system that most of us are familiar with or they pay the "Alternative Minimum Tax" - whichever amount ends up being greater. For years, the U.S. Congress has passed one year "fixes" that have exempted millions of middle class American families from the Alternative Minimum Tax. This has essentially been a huge tax cut each year for those millions of American families. But this year, the Democrat-controlled Congress has not passed a "patch" for the Alternative Minimum Tax. So now one out of every six U.S. taxpayers is going to be hit by the Alternative Minimum Tax. The taxpayers most likely to be affected are married couples, very large families, home owners and taxpayers in states that have high state and local taxes. The average tax increase that these taxpayers will be facing is going to be approximately $3,900 and most of them have no idea that it is coming. At a time when an increasing number of families is barely getting by, a tax increase of this magnitude is simply going to crush the American Dream for literally millions of families. Talk about a cruel surprise for tens of millions of Americans this upcoming tax season!
Would you be able to sit down and write a check for an extra four thousand dollars this upcoming April?
So where in the world did this insane alternate tax system come from anyway?
Well, back in 1969 the Alternative Minimum Tax was implemented with the intention of catching high income individuals who were avoiding paying taxes altogether by abusing certain loopholes. But unfortunately, the Alternative Minimum Tax has not really been adjusted for inflation since that time, so now the Alternative Minimum Tax applies to millions of ordinary middle class American families.
Fortunately, the U.S. Congress has been passing a "fix" to this problem each year to avoid this problem, but so far this year the U.S. Congress has not acted.
So now we are on the verge of a complete and total mess.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, approximately 4.5 million American households paid the Alternative Minimum Tax in 2009.
If nothing changes, 27.2 million American households will pay it in 2010.
Are you starting to get the picture?
Do you know if the Alternative Minimum Tax will apply to you this year?
You might want to find out.
The temporary reprieve for middle class taxpayers that Congress passed last year expired at the end of 2009.
Therefore, every penny that you have earned in 2010 is subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax if it applies to you.
Of course Congress could still act and help all of us out by doing something about the Alternative Minimum Tax by the end of the year.
But considering the fact that this Congress is so incompetent that they wouldn't be able to find their feet if they weren't attached to the end of their legs, it is hard to be able to count on them to do anything correctly.
In fact, there is very little appetite in Congress right now to do anything that would add to the federal budget deficit in future years.
The truth is that simply eliminating the Alternative Minimum Tax without making equivalent cuts in U.S. government spending would add approximately $626 billion to the national debt over the next ten years.
So this Congress might just decide to let the middle class suffer.
In fact, all of us will be coughing up more taxes soon. In all, there are more than 100 tax provisions that have either already expired or are about to expire.
2011 is already being dubbed "the year of the tax increase", and unless something changes really, really quickly many of us are going to get some really nasty surprises early next year.
So are you ready to pay even more taxes?
Are you ready to be squeezed like a melon even though it is very likely that the U.S. government will never have a balanced budget ever again?
The U.S. government has piled up the biggest mountain of debt in the history of the world in our names, and in the end we are all going to pay for it in one way or another.
View Article With Links HERE
View Related Article HERE Supreme Court spouse:
'Tax crisis' coming Jan. 1
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