Dragonaters

Illegal alien gets justice in Georgia

2012-01-28T13:24:00.002-05:00

Five days after President Obama delivered the 2012 State of the Union Address to Congress and the nation, a hearing to determine whether President Barack Obama is eligible to be on the primary ballot in Georgia took place on Thursday, with the defendants, Obama and his legal team, notably absent. Georgia Deputy Chief Judge Michael Malihi subpoenaed the president last week after refusing to hear his legal team's challenge to the case, but neither Obama nor his lawyers ever planned on showing up. The Judge pulled the lawyers for the three cases into chambers before it all began and advised them that he would be issuing a default judgment in our favor, since the Defense council failed to show, and wanted to end it there. We argued that all the evidence needed to be entered in to record so the Judge allowed for a speedy hearing where all evidence was entered into the court record. What that means is this... Any appeal, if one is even possible, would be based on the evidence provided by the lawyers in each case. Obama's lawyer may be disbarred or jailed for contempt of court.

In his high school yearbook coke dealer Hussein Obama Soetoro was listed in the official Dope Smokers Club, now in charge of life sentences for pot smokers, SWAT raids on medical marijuana clinics, raising heroin production 10,000% in Afghanistan and giving 20,000 guns to the Mexican Mafiya to chop heads off cops and politicians

"Shit's gettin way too complicated for me. There are white folks, and then there are ignorant mutherfuckers like you! You can put lipstick on a pig. Sorry ass mutherfucker's got nuttin on me. I inhaled frequently - that was the point. Pot helped, and booze. A little blow when you could afford it. Junkie, pothead, that where I was headed."
-Barack Hussein Obama Soetoro, Dreams From My Father MP3
http://www.archive.org/details/ObamaInauguralMashup/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G271ckpr7hg
http://piratenews.org/obamacrimes.html

Dragonater invited to appear on Travel Channel

2012-01-20T18:32:00.001-05:00

Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort owner in head-on crash on the Dragon

I got this email today:

Footage wanted for show on Travel Channel

Hello,

I am a Casting Assistant for Powderhouse Productions, and I'm currently working on a new show for the Travel Channel called America's Wildest Roads. We recently completed filming a segment on The Dragons Tail/Deal's Gap‬, and are looking for some amateur videos showcasing how dangerous this road can be. I came across your youtube channel, and am very interested in your video titled "Deals Gap Resort Owner In Head On Crash On Dragon"

If you own the rights to this video, and are interested, we'd love for you to submit it to be considered for the program. It can be done entirely online and only takes a few minutes.

Should you have any other questions please don't hesitate to ask!

Best,

Kari Stern
Casting Assistant
Powderhouse Productions
PowderHouse.net

The show was broadcast on Dec 11.

Watch the TV show here: Can You Brave The Dragon Tail?

I guess I should read my email more often than every 2 months?

Dragonslayer 101

2012-01-20T10:56:00.000-05:00

Sportbiker gives the finger

2012-01-16T08:00:00.001-05:00

Some people will do anything to be on TV

John Hopkins gives a finger

I don't know why people keep harping on that old fool Chuck Norris when we have motorcycle racers around. Suzuki rider John Hopkins opted to have one of his fingers amputated rather than risk not being able to race when the 2012 Superbike season starts at Philip Island.

Trouble for Hopper started last summer when he was called up by Suzuki to fill a wildcard shot in MotoGP for the Czech Grand Prix. What looked to be a simple fall in practice turned into a calvary of six operations with, apparently, the prospect for more.

Hopkins was remarkably upbeat as he posted a picture of his hand on twitter...

Ha ha?....awesome.

Only pussies drive Prius

2012-01-16T07:44:00.000-05:00

Red Light Cameras Ticketing Drivers Who Stop at Lights

Cities increasingly using red light cameras to ticket drivers who come to a full stop.

Cities around the country have begun dropping the use of red light cameras,which were once touted as the best way to stop drivers from "blowing through" red lights. Disappointed municipal officials invariably point to the systems' failure to generate the promised amount of revenue as the reason for the change. To keep from losing more clients, the red light camera industry's latest move has been to ticket drivers who stop at red lights to boost the number of potential violations.

Several years ago the industry significantly increased its yield by transitioning away from ticketing vehicles for running red lights. Instead, camera focused on right-hand turn lanes so they could mail citations to the owners of vehicles that make slow, rolling right turns on red. In some jurisdictions, right-turn tickets account for 90 percent of all tickets issued -- even though national and local data suggest the maneuver is not dangerous. In some cases, however, right-turn tickets failed to be profitable when the public refused to pay citations -- as happened in Los Angeles, California -- or because of legislative restrictions on right-turn citations -- as happened in Florida.

Last April, the city of Denver became the first jurisdiction in Colorado to allow a private company, Affiliated Computer Services, to issue red light camera tickets to stationary vehicles. Issuing tickets to stopped drivers only required a simple software change, but it boosted the city's profit fourfold.

Newark, California is one of the cities where ninety percent of the $480 tickets issued by Redflex Traffic Systems of Australia go to the owners of vehicles photographed turning right on red. Through December 2011, the change has contributed significantly to the grand total of 41,575 tickets Redflex has been issued, worth $19,956,000.

One of those ticket recipients, who asked not to be identified, drove his Toyota Prius on August 27 at the intersection of Newark Boulevard and Jarvis Avenue. He pulled up to the intersection at a speed of 16 MPH with his turn signal activated. He came to a full stop and waited for several seconds for traffic to clear before proceeding. His front tire crossed the first line of the crosswalk, which Newark and Redflex contend is a serious violation of the law. At 9:42pm, there were no pedestrians visible anywhere near the intersection. Though the Prius driver was outraged at receiving the ticket, he decided to plead guilty before a judge known for reducing turning tickets to $110 rather than risk losing the full $480.

"It is extremely easy to beat this type of ticket in court. Your easiest defense is to simply throw the ticket away. If it does not come with a return receipt that requires a signature, there is no proof that you actually got the ticket."
-Norman G. Fernandez, attorney, BikerLawBlog.com, free ebook How to Beat a Speeding Ticket - Photo RADAR
http://bikerlawblog.com

Only the DUMB pay Photo Radar Tickets
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8b0K6YIGFc

"Your photo radar defense: Ignoring The Letter. When you receive a general post letter advising you of your photo radar citation, you have the option of just ignoring it. All states have guidelines on how the citation must be served. In effect, your payment or appearance at the courthouse is your acceptance of service. By not responding to the letter, you are refusing acceptance of service. In addition, none of the departments are making personal service to anyone that lists a PO Box as their mailing address on their vehicle registrations."
-Lt "Radar" Roy Reyer, Maricopa County Sheriff Office, Phoenix, Arizona, RadarBusters.com, Your Photo Radar Defense

75% of AZ Drivers Refuse to Pay Photo Traffic Tickets

85% of TX Drivers Refuse to Pay Photo Traffic Tickets
http://naturaltreasure.net/scameras/?p=224

"Starting tomorrow, photo-enforcement-violation notices must finally state the truth about what's going on -- namely, that you don't need to respond or identify the driver in the picture. Cities and, for a while, the state of Arizona, have for years employed something of a ruse to help get speeders and red-light runners caught by the machines to pay up. They sent an initial notice of violation that has no legal teeth, yet contained a passive threat that blowing off the notice might not be in the motorists' best interest. A few years ago, we caught the city of Scottsdale lying blatantly in its notices, which it falsely called a "summons." The notice stated that those who didn't respond would be subject to fines, fees and driver's license suspension. An Arizona Department of Public Safety notice of violation that we published two years ago shows the more-typical trick. Appearing below DPS insignia, the notice states simply that the motorist should fill out the form and sent it back by the "respond-by date." While the DPS freeway cameras were online, (that program ended last summer), thousands of people likely responded like sheep to those notices -- even though they didn't have to. As numerous articles in New Times and elsewhere have pointed out, ignoring those notices only meant the possibility of a ticket being served at the offender's home by a process server. True, having a server come out meant an additional $25 added to the fine. But if the server never comes, or the motorist doesn't appear to be home when the server comes -- always a distinct possibility -- then the photo enforcement ticket becomes invalid. Now, thanks to a bill that Governor Jan Brewer signed, notices of violation must confess that: (a) the notice is not a court issued document; (b) the recipient is under no obligation to identify the person or respond to the notice; and (c) failure to respond to the notice may result in official service that may result in an additionally levied fee. The new law also mandates that $13 of every ticket goes to the "GITEM" task force, which has a mission of "strict enforcement" of immigration and gang laws."
-Phoenix News Times, Arizona Photo-Enforcement Notices Must Now State the Truth: Motorists Have No Duty to Respond or Identify Driver, Jul. 19 2011
http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2011/07/arizona_photo_enforcement_noti.php

Knoxville Code, Section 8-1, Issuance of process.
The city judge shall issue process on the complaint of any person when it appears to the city judge that any provision of this Code or other ordinance of the city has been violated. He shall try no case until process has been regularly sued out, served and returned.
http://library.municode.com/index.aspx?clientid=11098

TN Rules of Civil Procedure
RULE 4. PROCESS
Rule 4.01: Summons; Issuance; By Whom Served; Sanction for Delay.
(1) Upon the filing of the complaint the clerk of the court wherein the complaint is filed shall forthwith issue the required summons and cause it, with necessary copies of the complaint and summons, to be delivered for service to any person authorized to serve process. This person shall serve the summons, and the return endorsed thereon shall be proof of the time and manner of service. A summons may be issued for service in any county against any defendant, and separate or additional summonses may be issued against any defendant upon request of plaintiff. Nothing in this rule shall affect existing laws with respect to venue.
(2) A summons and complaint may be served by any person who is not a party and is not less than 18 years of age. The process server must be identified by name and address on the return.
(3) If a plaintiff or counsel for plaintiff (including third-party plaintiffs) intentionally causes delay of prompt issuance of a summons or prompt service of a summons, filing of the complaint (or third-party complaint) is ineffective.
[Amended by order filed December 10, 2003; effective July 1, 2004.]
Rule 4.03: Summons; Return.
(1) The person serving the summons shall promptly make proof of service to the court and shall identify the person served and shall describe the manner of service. If a summons is not served within 90 days after its issuance, it shall be returned stating the reasons for failure to serve. The plaintiff may obtain new summonses from time to time, as provided in Rule 3, if any prior summons has been returned unserved or if any prior summons has not been served within 90 days of issuance.
(2) When process is served by mail, the original summons, endorsed as below; an affidavit of the person making service setting forth the person's compliance with the requirements of this rule; and, the return receipt shall be sent to and filed by the clerk. The person making service shall endorse over his or her signature on the original summons the date of mailing a certified copy of the summons and a copy of the complaint to the defendant and the date of receipt of return receipt from the defendant. If the return receipt is signed by the defendant, or by person designated by Rule 4.04 or by statute, service on the defendant shall be complete. If not, service by mail may be attempted again or other methods authorized by these rules or by statute may be used.
http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/courts/rules

Year of the Dragon

2012-01-16T07:25:00.000-05:00

TN law to make right turns legal

2012-01-14T12:53:00.004-05:00

Current TN Code allows life in prison for every motorist in Tennessee. Exceeding the speed limit by 1 mph, or perping any other traffic crime, is punished by 30 days in jail, per single offense. Every motorist can be convicted under the Habitual Motor Vehicle Offender law in TN Code, requirign a life sentence in state prison. Driving after consuming 1 alcohol beverage, or not driving and not consuming any alcohol, while being involved in a fatal accident, is punished by death penalty under TN Code.

NMA Tennessee Alert: Support Right-Turn-On-Red Bill

National Motorists Association

Dear Tennessee Member,

The NMA urges Tennessee members to support legislation that would allow right-turns-on-red at all intersections without coming to a full stop. Introduced by Rep. Ryan A. Haynes, House Bill 64 also has the support of Sen. Stacey Campfield.

The bill comes on the heels of legislation passed last year (Public Act 425) that essentially banned camera tickets for right-turn-on-red violations. Camera companies ATS and Reflex reacted quickly with lawsuits claiming the law infringes on their contracts with various Tennessee municipalities.

Camera vendors rely on right-turn-on red citations for the bulk of their revenues. HB 64 would make it more difficult to bring back right-on-red citations, further eroding company profits.

Studies have shown that right-turns-on-red have very little impact on driver safety, in contrast to red-light cameras, which invariably put revenue generation ahead of public safety. (Learn more about the problems with red-light cameras.)

Contact your House and Senate members and tell them to stand up for motorists’ rights in Tennessee by supporting HB 64.

John Bowman
National Motorists Association

HOUSE BILL 64

By Haynes

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 55, Chapter 8, relative to right turns on red signals.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:

SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 55-8-110(a)(3)(A), is amended by
deleting the language:

"A right turn on a red signal shall be permitted at all intersections within the state; provided, that the prospective turning car shall come to a full and complete stop before turning and that the turning car shall yield the right-of-way to pedestrians and cross traffic traveling in accordance with their traffic signal; provided, further, such turn will not endanger other traffic lawfully using the intersection."

and by substituting instead the following language:

"A right turn on a red signal shall be permitted at all intersections within the state; provided, that the prospective turning car shall yield the right-of-way to pedestrians and cross traffic traveling in accordance with their traffic signal; provided, further, the turn will not endanger other traffic lawfully using the intersection."

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2011, the public welfare requiring it.

The Wall of Life

2012-01-03T12:15:00.000-05:00

THE WALL OF DEATH from benedict campbell on Vimeo.

wall-of-death.co.uk

benedict1.com

Courts ban cops with above-moron I.Q.s

2012-01-02T12:49:00.002-05:00

"Dumb cops, dumb cops, whatcha gonna do, whatcha going to do with a low IQ?" (theme song from COPS TV)
-Jay Leno (comedic Italian-American, motorhead collector, biker gangster, and rider of a 266MPH street-legal jet-engined All-American sportbike), NBC TV, Tonight Show

Gansta Govt is terrified of its employees who figure out 99% of what govt does is illegal. In USA today, 100% of police are criminal gangbangers, according to all cops, all prosecutors, all judges. That's THE LAW.

And ever driver faces a life sentence in prison for every year of driving safely and normaly. That's THE LAW.

Cops cover cop cars in cop poo

Court OKs Barring High IQs for Cops

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

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

“This kind of puts an official face on discrimination in America against people of a certain class,” Jordan said today from his Waterford home. “I maintain you have no more control over your basic intelligence than your eye color or your gender or anything else.”

He said he does not plan to take any further legal action.

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

Most Cops Just Above Normal The average score nationally for police officers is 21 to 22, the equivalent of an IQ of 104, or just a little above average.

Jordan alleged his rejection from the police force was discrimination. He sued the city, saying his civil rights were violated because he was denied equal protection under the law.

But the U.S. District Court found that New London had “shown a rational basis for the policy.” In a ruling dated Aug. 23, the 2nd Circuit agreed. The court said the policy might be unwise but was a rational way to reduce job turnover.

Jordan has worked as a prison guard since he took the test.

Comments

And cops wonder why the "upper crust" of society has so little respect for them. At an average IQ of 104, basically half of the public is more intelligent that the cops they have to deal with.

and why is this a surprise? in all countries 99% of the cops failed to be good criminals so they ended up doing police work. idiots never qualify as great criminal masterminds...it doesn't have to do with 'being bored'...the intelligent ones will question stupid orders...and that is not acceptable even in corporations...

intelligence knows how to deal with potential boredom.

Perhaps they are more inclined to put 7 bullets in the chest of an elderly person protecting their property?

Shoot first...ask questions later.

That isn't a bright idea.

And they tell us that ignorance is no excuse.

So basicly cops are sociopaths with a lience to kill with the average inteligence of a bus driver.

Cop: Do you have any idea why I pulled you over today sir?
Me: Um, because you were a straight C- student in school?
Cop: OK asshole,step out of the car.

and they have to love donuts and have mustaches.

See also:

Unions Rush to Defend Arrested Drunk Cop Driving 143 Mph. 2d 1h

Now cops can enter homes to shut off natural gas valves!! 12/30/11

See Something Say Something results in Mall Cops reporting a guy to DHS for looking at the funny paper

'I’m a cop, I can do whatever I want' - Pulls Out Gun and Executes Man

Pussy Cop Shoots and Kills Family's Jack Russel Terrier While Trespassing

Cop abuses citizens right to travel.

CHICAGO Cops Warn Restaurants About Orders Called In From Cell Phones

The Old Lady Next Door Was Escorted By The Cops To A Homeless Shelter

Ideas & Trends; Help Wanted Invoking the Not-Too-High-IQ Test

NY Times

WANTED: a few not-so-bright cops.

That is the official hiring policy in this former whaling village, where Police Department officials refused to grant Robert J. Jordan a job interview because they considered him to be too smart, then waged a three-year court fight to protect their right to favor mediocre applicants.

And won.

The City of New London contends that applicants who score too high on a pre-employment test are likely to become bored in patrol jobs, and leave the force soon after the city has paid to train them. Similar cutoffs, it turns out, are frequently used by employers when they are looking for workers who must follow rigid procedures, including bank tellers, customer service representatives and security guards.

In 1996 Mr. Jordan scored 33 out of 50 on the exam, which is used by 40,000 employers across the country, including National Football League teams for potential draft choices. That was 6 points too high to qualify for an interview with the New London police.

When Mr. Jordan heard about other people being hired even though he hadn't been called, he went to the Police Department to protest that he felt sure he must have passed. He says he was curtly informed that he did not ''fit the profile,'' which litigation revealed was a score of 20 to 27.

''Bob Jordan is exactly the type of guy we would want to screen out,'' said William C. Gavitt, the deputy police chief, who interviews candidates. ''Police work is kind of mundane. We don't deal in gunfights every night. There's a personality that can take that.''

This month, a Federal judge in New Haven has ruled that the practice was constitutional since the city treats all smart would-be officers the same, and thus did not discriminate against Mr. Jordan. ''Plaintiff may have been disqualified unwisely but he was not denied equal protection,'' Judge Peter C. Dorsey of the United States District Court wrote.

Mr. Jordan, 48, is a life-insurance salesman who had dreamed of a second career protecting and serving, with an eye on the pension. He said he was astounded that he could be shut out on the basis of brain power, but not gender, sexual orientation or race.

''Being reasonably intelligent does not make you part of a protected class,'' he said, chuckling at his new command of legalese. For a certified wise man, Mr. Jordan is remarkably modest about his academic achievements, volunteering that it took him 26 years to get a bachelor's degree in literature from Charter Oak State College in New Britain, Conn. ''I'm eminently trainable,'' he said. ''I'm not up there with Mozart.''

At first the decision was greeted as a great punch line in New London, a city of 27,000. But as the news sunk in, many people said the rule was insulting to their police force, and nonsensical at a time when law-enforcement officers must deal with complicated social problems.

''Your average dunderhead is not the person you want to try to solve a fight between a man and his wife at 2 A.M.,'' said Nick Checker, 35, a local playwright. ''I'd rather have them hire the right man or woman for the job and keep replacing them than have the same moron for 20 years.'' Millie McLaughlin, 82, the lunch lady at Harbor Elementary School, worries that pupils will think that ''if they study too hard, they won't get a job.''

And Gilbert G. Gallegos, the national president of the Fraternal Order of Police, said that besides reinforcing keystone Kop stereotypes, the city's stance was self-defeating. ''The better the caliber of the police officer, the fewer problems you have in the community.''

Mr. Jordan had run afoul of turnover rates, which have been the subject of decades of study by management theorists. The publisher of the test, Wonderlic Inc. of Libertyville, Ill., has a section in its ''User's Manual'' warning clients about the cost of replacing workers who quit because they become dissatisfied with repetitive work. ''Simply hiring the highest scoring employee can be self-defeating,'' the manual says.

Wonderlic's president, Charles F. Wonderlic Jr., said variations of the 12-minute test used in New London have been given to 125 million people since his grandfather founded the company in 1937. Mr. Wonderlic said hundreds of employers have used his suggested maximum scores to exclude overly qualified applicants for positions where creativity could be a detriment. ''You can't decide not to read someone their Miranda rights because you felt it would be more efficient, or you thought they knew them already,'' Mr. Wonderlic said.

On the other hand, an expert witness for Mr. Jordan was paid $350 an hour for his conclusion that patrol work is ''cognitively complex and intellectually demanding.'' The expert, Frank J. Landy, a psychologist in Walnut Creek, Calif., pointed to the demands of such modern practices as community-oriented policing as an indication of ''the range and challenge of tasks performed by a typical patrol officer.''

MR. Jordan said he would appeal the ruling if his lawyers are willing to continue the case now that he has used up his savings. In the meantime, he is supplementing his insurance business by working for $26,000 a year -- $15,000 less than he would make as a New London patrolman -- as a state prison guard. ''In those dormitories, there's 110 inmates and one of you,'' he said. ''Your mouth better be connected to your brain.''

While those with badges and guns are called New York's finest, they will continue to be New London's fair to middling: New London officials say they plan to keep using the test to fend off smarty-pants.

Interview with ROBERT JORDAN

September 12, 2000

CNN Legal Analyst Greta Van Susteren interviewed Robert Jordan on September 12, 2000. The following is an edited transcript of the interview.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN: Hello and welcome to Greta@Law. Robert Jordan is a smart man -- A little too smart for the New London, Connecticut, police department. His application to join the city's finest was rejected because he scored too high on the entrance exam. He sued the city for discrimination, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit sided with the New London police department, saying its hiring policy may not be smart, but it is a rational way to reduce job turnover. Bob Jordan, thank you for joining me today.

ROBERT JORDAN: Thank you for having me, Greta.

GVS: Bob, are you too smart to be a cop?

RJ: Absolutely not. I would worry about being smart enough. I don't think you can be too smart in an occupation like a policeman.

GVS: Take me back, Bob. What happened to you? You took an exam and what was the score?

RJ: I scored a 33 out of a possible 50. It's just a silly, standardized, off-the-shelf intelligence test, referred to as the Wonderlic Test. I believe you have 12 minutes to get as many answers correct -- unless you want to get the job as a police officer in New London -- as possible and I guess an equivalent score is 125 or merely two standard deviations above the mean for the relevant IQ score.

GVS: Now, Bob, the Wonderlic Test -- is that actually administered by the New London police, or is that one you took separately?

RJ: It was a regional exam, so that if you were interested in working for a number of departments, they all drew from this consortium called the Law Enforcement Council. Rather than everybody give their own test, you take one regional test and departments that are interested can draw from those test takers.

GVS: Now according to what I've read, Bob, the New London police only interview those who score between 20 and 27 and you got a 33, and that the average score nationally is a 21 to 22 with an IQ equivalent of 104 and your IQ is 125. What did you say to the New London police when they said, in essence, Bob, you're too smart?

RJ: Well, actually, the person I talked to was the personnel manager and when I inquired as to why I hadn't had an opportunity to at least return some biographical information to them because I understood that they were interviewing people, that's when he told me that, quote, "Listen, Mr. Jordan, we don't like to hire people with a too high an IQ to be a cop in this town." Of course, I was aghast at the philosophy he was espousing and when I asked him to elaborate on why he had made this determination, he suggested that the role of a police officer in society was a very boring, routine, mundane, unchallenging type of position, and someone with any gray matter between their ears would rapidly become disenchanted and leave that type of work for something more exciting like being a personnel manager for the city of New London. (Editor's Note: The New London, Connecticut Police Department declined to comment on the case.)

GVS: So you went to the federal district court, you lost there, you went to the U.S. Court of Appeals, you lost there, and they said that it was, they found that New London had shown a rational basis for the policy and that there was a rational way to reduce job turnover. You're not going to the U.S. Supreme Court, Bob?

RJ: Unless my attorney was willing to do it pro bono, I'm afraid that this is it for me. I'm financially exhausted over all of this, but I might add that there is absolutely no data whatsoever, Greta, to support this so-called rational policy that the Wonderlic Company espouses. In other words, there are absolutely no empirical studies that have ever been, no scientific evidence, no exit interviews that have ever been conducted to prove that intelligent people leave law enforcement disproportionately. I'm sure as a society at large, we'd be happy to hear that fact.

GVS: You also wrote a letter on April 9, 1997 to the president of the United States, Sen. Christopher Dodd, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, and the governor of Connecticut, John Rowland. Have any of those gentlemen responded to you?

RJ: No, they have not. Apparently, no one is interested in having a constituent named Bob, because I have actually written my own personal congressman twice, and I just cannot get a response from anybody. Nobody seems to care about my plight.

GVS: Why do you want to be a police officer?

RJ: I had done the work both on part time, in a municipality, and on a seasonal basis for the state of Connecticut through the Department of Environmental Protection, Law Enforcement in the Parks, that sort of activity. I enjoyed patrol work. I thought I had a real knack of dealing with people, which isn't surprising because I have been selling life insurance since I was 22-years-old. I developed a lot of people skills over the years, and I thought I might like to do it on a full-time basis. It doesn't seem that unreasonable at age 45 to want to have a career change since the spokesman for the most recent state trooper graduating class this summer was a 53-year-old former attorney from Fairfield County. He was chosen by his classmates to be the speaker because he did such an excellent job, I guess, as a candidate for the state trooper in Connecticut. That class by the way, included more ex-nurses and teachers and other highly educated professionals than any other class. I think that you want to encourage people to go into service helping the public, who are educated and flexible enough to adapt to whatever the demands, and certainly in police work you have changes in society, demographics, policing policies, community policing.

GVS: You know, as I listen to you, Bob, I've got to tell you, when I first read of your plight, I thought there must be something wrong -- certainly someone can't be too smart for a job, certainly someone would not be disqualified for scoring too high on an entrance exam. Have you thought about being clever, and go back and take the exam and throw a couple questions?

RJ: You know, if I had little or no pride in myself, if I could shake off the values that were inculcated into me in grammar school where you take a test to select as many correct answers as possible, not the other way around. If I wanted to be a bureaucrat, I guess I could do that, but I'm not going to that. I fortunately was hired by the Connecticut Department of Correction, and I feel a good deal of loyalty toward them now, because at least they gave me an opportunity to serve in a way I think that society gets a good officer from me. And I get to have a living wage and good benefit package for my family.

GVS: Thank you, Robert Jordan, for joining me. Thanks to our viewers for logging on to Greta@Law. For more legal news and commentary, go to CNN.com/Law. And also visit the Burden of Proof home page at CNN.com/Burden.

The courts have barred all Amerikans from having high I.Q.s, and every day require All Amerikans to consume poisons that lower I.Q. by 30 points.

The 100-million Amerikans who refused to comply with this law were executed and turned into Solent Green cosmetic products for resale.

Any journalist who reports actual facts is fired immediately. Ask Glenn Beck, fired 1 week after reporting Congressman Ron Paul's plan to nationalize the foreign private "Federal" Reserve Bank that counterfeits all so-called "US dollar bills" (Federal Reserve Debt Notes) and steals 100% of national income tax revenue. DOH!!!

Fox News made in Commie China: google Deng Wen Di Murdoch

New Year Chillout

2012-01-02T10:46:00.000-05:00

Click for free MP3 download

Ambient thrills and chills from the surface of the moon....wherever that may be.

Playlist:

Bassic: Tranquility Bass
Vangelis: Bladerunner Blues
Cardamar: Nebra Skydisk mix
Apollo 11: Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins, Mission Control
Apollo 16
Apollo 17
Space Shuttle Columbia: Final Voyage
Astronauts Gone Wild: Bart Sibrel

Hollywood Award-Winning Apolloscam Archive by Pirate News

Fair use for non-commercial news and educational use per 17 USC 107

Merry Christmas

2011-12-20T04:23:00.001-05:00

Jeremiah 10 Christmas Cards

1: Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:
2: Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
3: For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
4: They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
5: They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.
6: Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might.
7: Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee.
8: But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities.
9: Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple is their clothing: they are all the work of cunning men.
10: But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.
11: Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.
12: He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion.
13: When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.
14: Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
15: They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
16: The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: The LORD of hosts is his name.
17: Gather up thy wares out of the land, O inhabitant of the fortress.
18: For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this once, and will distress them, that they may find it so.
19: Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it.
20: My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth of me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.
21: For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.
22: Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons.
23: O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.
24: O LORD, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.
25: Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate.

$14-Million Lawsuit Filed Against Killer Trucker on the Dragon

2011-12-15T04:11:00.002-05:00

Truck driver Bobby Coleman didn't even get a traffic ticket for murdering Ike Woodard. This was the 2nd murder of a biker by a trucker on the Dragon. Slow rescue by Rural Metro Taxi Service was a contributing factor in Ike's death. Trucks are already banned in Blount County on Foothills Parkway and US441 in Sevier County.

"No one here will ever know the exact details of what happened, but the rear trailer wheels passed over Ike and his bike, and the trailer stopped clear of him after running him over, so it is possible that Ike stopped for the truck, and the truck wasn't able to stop in time for him."
-PZFZ1, ETR Forum

"The truck traveled 20-30 feet AFTER hitting, dragging and running over Ike and his bike, UPHILL. I haven't driven flatbeds, but I have hauled gas tankers. I can tell you, an empty tank weighs about the same as the trailer that killed Ike and is what I used to call a two door sports coupe. I could beat my buddy's Mitsubishi pick up off the line with one. Granted, his was a 4-banger 5 speed, but we're talking big rig versus pick-up. The truck that killed Ike was going speed limit or better. I assure you. It wasn't escorted because it was fairly early in the AM and I hadn't arrived yet (I was the first local that I was aware of there that day). I was on my first northbound pass of the day when I came up on the scene. One of his buddies was in shock and told me it was Ike. I spoke to Trooper Skeen about it and he said it didn't look good. They had diverted in the air to Blount Memorial. He was dead at that point. Assuming the family is suing out of greed is a little myopic as well. He has two minor daughters that deserve at least a benefit. He had medical bills that mounted even though his life wasn't spared. His mother has to deal with all of that sort of crap, too. A case like this will be settled out of court for a paltry sum. After she pays her shark of a lawyer, she won't see anywhere near $14 million. Get real."
-CreekDevil, ETR Forum

Family sues for $14.5M in fatality on ‘Dragon’

By Wes Wade
Maryville Daily Times

The family of a motorcyclist killed in a collision with a tractor-trailer on “The Dragon” in August has filed a $14.5 million lawsuit in Blount County Circuit Court.

The suit was filed Thursday on behalf of several family members of 45-year-old Christiana resident Dwight Ross Woodard, who died the morning of Aug. 3 after a collision with a tractor-trailer driven by Bobby Frank Coleman, 47, of Nashville, Ga.

Coleman is named as a defendant in the suit along with his employer, the Blackshear, Ga.-based Thom’s Transport Company Inc.

The complaint alleges that Coleman violated several state statutes as his truck crossed into Woodard’s lane of travel, blocking both lanes of U.S. Highway 129 in a curve near Mile Marker 5. According to a Tennessee Highway Patrol report, Woodard was traveling southbound on his Triumph Triple Speed motorcycle when he struck the left side of the trailer as it crossed over into his lane.

Criminal charges have not been filed in the crash.

According to the complaint, Woodard remained conscious and alert until an ambulance arrived nearly an hour after the wreck, but died about 30 minutes later on his way to the hospital.

Those listed as plaintiffs in the suit include Woodard’s two daughters, ages 14 and 8, and Woodard’s mother, Patricia Thompson. They seek compensation for damages to include wrongful death, medical and funeral expenses and lost future earnings. A jury was requested to try the case.

Thom’s Transport Company Inc. declined to comment.

TDOT opposes ban

Several Nashville riders, including members of Woodard’s family, mounted a campaign shortly after the crash to persuade legislators to ban tractor-trailers longer than 30 feet from using the Dragon, an 11.1-mile stretch of U.S. 129 from Tabcat Creek to the North Carolina state line at Deals Gap.

But in a letter to U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr. dated Oct. 19, Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) Commissioner John C. Schroer said it was the department’s decision not to implement a ban on tractor-trailers from using the highway.

“It is our position that the economic impact of restricting tractor-trailers along this federally designated U.S. route would severely impact commerce, as there is no reasonable alternative route for commercial traffic in this vicinity,” Schroer wrote.

The commissioner added that TDOT provides enhanced safety advisories in regards to potentially dangerous roadways and that it is the responsibility of motorists to exercise a greater amount of caution when traveling winding mountain roads.

“We recognize that this was a tragic event,” Schroer continued. “However, we do not feel we can give priority to one group of motorists over another by restricting certain types of vehicles from U.S. 129.”

The letter also noted that TDOT, in conjunction with the motorcycle industry, had conducted a series of studies on the Dragon in 2008 to identify the root cause of severe crashes and to then implement safety improvements. In researching fatal crashes, the department said that during the last three years only one crash involved a collision between a motorcycle and tractor-trailer.

According to Schroer’s statement, the study found that speed in relation to negotiating curves on the Dragon was the major underlying issue related to severe crashes and fatalities. TDOT has since implemented a series of improvements along the corridor, including posting new signage and markings, paving pull-off areas and installing enhanced signage discouraging truck traffic from using the highway, the letter states.

TDOT records indicate that 17 motorcycle fatalities have occurred on the Dragon during the past six years.

see also:

Dragonater Archive: Trucker murders another biker on the Dragon

Court Says Dragon Speed Limit is 65 MPH - Critical info for winning a wrongful death case.

Biker Tickets Increase 11,400% on the Dragon - THP refuses to enforce ANY law against trucks on the Dragon

TDOT Report Bans All Biker Business on the Dragon - TDOT refuses to ban killer truacks on the Dragon, refuses to require flag vehicles for big trucks, refuses to enforce ANY current law against trucks on the Dragon

Deals Gap Dragon 'Dragstrip' - BCSO and THP refuse to enforce ANY law against trucks on the Dragon

ETR Forum posts

Dragonslayer down

2011-12-15T03:45:00.001-05:00

RIP David Spotts, Dragon photographer. See you later.

David with Gap Yoda at the Overlook (june & july), photos by The Dragonater

photo by The Dragonater

Deals Gap Dragon on the Travel Channel

2011-12-15T03:43:00.000-05:00

The Learning Channel does not teach countersteering at Deals Gap

America's Wildest Roads: Wet and Wild

Tornado Alley, The Dragon, the Overseas Highway and Route 4 ... these are just 4 of the roads featured in this special all about the wet and wild roads of the US.

Why the 55mph national speed limit was repealed

2011-12-15T03:10:00.000-05:00

The NMA will pay your speeding ticket if you lose in court, even if you cover a cop car in poo

Repealing the 55 MPH Speed Limit

by Gail Morrison
LewRockwell.com

In 1990, I first learned of the National Motorists Association (NMA) when I got a speeding ticket in Texas. I fought the ticket and was found guilty. I was naive in my belief that if I wasn’t guilty of the charges, I could go before the judge and explain that there was a misunderstanding and charges would be dropped.

I was amazed at how I had been treated in the court system. When I appealed the guilty verdict, it seemed to affect the people representing the system. Prior to the appeal the DA was pleasant and somewhat paternalistic. At the request of the judge, he explained to me the procedure and escorted me to the law library. There he advised me to just pay for the ticket and go my way. However, when the trial time came the DA went for the throat – mine! Well, I lost the appeal as well, and the fine went from $10 to $144 – but during that time, I learned what was happening to motorists all over these United States.

During my research to find how to change a system that is grossly unfair, I came across a book titled "How to Beat the Radar Rap" and through the publisher I was put in touch with Jim Baxter, President of NMA. And it was through this heroic organization that I found out that there is a method to setting speed limits and placing stop signs. About this same time I met a traffic engineer who gave me a book entitled, "National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices" (NCUTCD). This is where I first heard the term "the 85th percentile" it means that traffic engineers believe the speed limits should be set at 85% of the speed adopted by free flowing traffic. But, he told me his hands were tied – all decisions were political.

Many phone calls went back and forth to Mr. Baxter and soon he asked me to be the Texas State Chapter Coordinator. That seemed like too much responsibility but I agreed to be an area coordinator. But within a few months I was Texas State Chapter Coordinator with six area coordinators under me. I lived 130 miles from Austin and for two years, I burned up a lot of rubber. We were instrumental in having several laws passed, e.g., keeping the 70 mph’s speed limit, temporarily suspended, in effect, making it easy for Texas to raise its speed limit with the repeal of National Maximum Speed Limit (NMSL). And we helped to defeat a law that would allow a judge to be fired if he didn’t collect enough traffic-fine revenue.

Every year, NMA would have a national coordinators meeting, and my colleagues urged that I be sent to Washington to bring about the repeal of the NMSL. But NMA had already retained a lobbyist in DC and he was supposed to be good. He did get a modification of the NMSL, a raise in speed limits to 65 mph in rural areas. But the hoped-for repeal of NMSL did not happen. Then in August 1994, Jim Baxter asked me if I move to Washington, D.C., and lobby for the repeal. I told Mr. Baxter: Yes, although repealing a law "cast in concrete" for 23 years seemed like an impossible dream.

On a trip back from the NMA national headquarters in Wisconsin, I drove through Washington, D.C., and met with the NMA lobbyist, who told me "you are not needed on this issue." He went on to tell me, "you cannot use my office, you cannot receive phone calls or mail, you cannot store anything." He leaned forward and said "you cannot even use the bathroom." I replied, "I guess I will have to find a place on the Hill." To which he said. "You won’t be able to afford it."

Leaving the restaurant and my new colleague, I walked around the block and stopped to talk with a woman working in her front yard. She said she was renovating an apartment, but that it wouldn’t be ready until December. I was delighted, as I would not be moving to the District until then, and I felt that an apartment on Capitol Hill would be ideal for office and living. I knew I would need to be close to the House and Senate offices.

I drove home and packed up my belonging, and loaded them into a 24’ Ryder truck. I got behind the wheel of a truck for the first time and drove alone, except for my dog and cat, to Washington. When I arrived, I was again awed by history of the area and by the importance of the Members of Congress. I felt small and insignificant by comparison.

Yet, I believed so strongly that the NMSL was a bad law, that I felt compelled to change it.

Fundamental to good law in America is the idea that the behavior of most people is reasonable. Laws are written to single out the unreasonable behavior of a minority.

Speed laws are based on the same ideas. Most people did not observe this law. It made criminals out of most motorists, leaving us with the dilemma of deciding if we should drive a safe speed or a legal speed.

But first I had to find someone to introduce a bill to repeal the National Maximum Speed Limits. As in all my work, the grassroots power of NMA activists all over the country was my secret weapon.

Scott Klugg, R-WI, introduced HR607 on January 20, 1995, but I felt it wouldn’t get the support it needed to pass. It read: A bill to amend title 23, United States Code, to eliminate penalties for noncompliance by States with requirements relating to the use of safety belts and motor cycle helmets, the national maximum speed limit, and the national minimum drinking age, and for other purposes. The reason I didn’t put NMA support behind this bill was: 1) I knew the motorcycle groups had strong, active lobbying efforts to get the repeal of the helmet law; 2) NMA membership is divided on the seat belt issue; the most important part was 3) The alcohol issue would not be popular.

Pat Roberts, R-KS, said that he would introduce a bill, but then reneged and suggested that he offer HR 1007, a bill to allow 65 mph in urbanized areas of 50,000 that could now only be posted at 55 mph. I quickly withdrew NMA support from this bill, believing this bill to be a mockery.

In January 1995, I visited the office of Larry Combest, R-TX.. I spoke with his Legislative Assistant, Lisa Elledge, who was handling transportation issues. She told me Larry offered a bill every year for – maybe for five or six years now, for a repeal of the NMSL. It was sort of an office joke she said, but he really wanted the repeal. I felt HR 427 was the bill to get behind and push it as hard as I could, and we worked well together.

The Surface Transportation subcommittee of the Transportation and Infrastructure hearing for changes in the National Highway (NHS) was to be held on March 1, 1995. I had visited all the offices of the members of the subcommittee. I knew enough now to know that the leadership on both sides was against repealing NMSL. I also knew that the leadership for NHTSA, FHwA, insurance companies, and 144 safety groups were also against a repeal. I was told that "NMSL was cast in concrete – it had been in effect for 23 years, and would NEVER be repealed. . . ."

I knew that I needed something to break this mindset – but I didn’t know what.

At first I thought if I just visited the opposing members and talked logic to them that they would see the error of their ways – but I quickly realize the proverbial "My mind is made up – don’t confuse me with facts" mentality. Besides, time was running out. I needed a member of the House subcommittee to offer the amendment. Bill Brewster, D- OK agreed to offer it. This proved to be a blessing, as Norman Y. Mineta, D-CA, was going to call for party unity against the bill – and because Mr. Brewster had agreed to offer it and he was a Democrat, Mr. Mineta had to drop this idea.

I knew it would be helpful if I could get support from some of the leadership. Tom Petri, R-WI, was an ideal choice, as he represented the state with the headquarters of NMA and he was the chairman of the Surface Transportation committee.

The committee meeting was coming soon and I needed to find someone to give testimony at the subcommittee hearing. I first called Jim Baxter to come Washington and give it, but he suggested that I ask Martin Parker of Martin R. Parker & Associates, Inc., Wayne, Michigan. I then called Dr. Parker. He declined, saying that he would need his study in order to testify. The title of his study was "The Effects of Raising and Lowering Speed Limits." He had been enlisted to conduct by the Office of Safety and Traffic Operations R&D, Federal Highway Administration (FhwA). I asked him where his study was? He told me that it was being review by the Transportation Research Board (TRB).

I started telephoning people and getting the proverbial run-around. I finally talked with Margarite, the secretary for Stephen Godwin, Director of Studies and Information.

She made me an appointment for that afternoon to visit with Mr. Godwin. The visit was disappointing as Mr. Godwin told me he had never heard of the study and maybe I didn’t have all my facts straight – nicely of course. I came home wondering in what to do next.

As I walked in through my front door, the phone was ringing. It was Margarite and she said that she had found the study and it was completed. She said she would send it over to me immediately. I then called Mr. Parker back and told him, and he said I could do whatever I wanted to with the study. But in the meantime he had made other plans and could not come to DC on the dates that I had asked about.

I made 10 copies of the full report and 535 of the commentary and summaries and I took them to all members of congress. Many members of congress started telephoning NHTSA and FHwA demanding to know where this study had been and why they hadn’t seen it when the Final Report was dated October 1992. This study was the turning point of the repeal.

Senator Don Nickles, R-OK and Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell were the cosponsors of the repeal in the Senate. S-476. Time was running out, as the Transportation subcommittee would be meeting soon and if an amendment wasn’t offered, it would just not go anywhere. I had spoken with all the members, save one, Senator Lauch Faircloth. No one wanted to handle this "hot potato." I had called Senator Faircloth’s office numerous times, but couldn’t seem to get through to the person that handled the transportation issues. On Monday, May 1, I called – again- and a George Howard answered the phone. I told him who I was and that I wanted to schedule an appointment. There was a silence on the other end of the phone. Then, he said, "You just aren’t going to leave me alone until I talk to you, are you?"

I was taken aback, but I took a deep breath and as pleasantly as I could muster said, "No, I’m not. The subcommittee meeting will be on the third and I need to talk with you."

He sighed and replied "If you can be in my office in 20 minutes I will meet with you."

"Yessssss!" I said. I was in Mr. Howard’s office in 10 minutes. He listened to all I had to say about the repeal, and then without a word he turned and picked up the telephone and punched in some numbers. Then, he said into the receiver, "I have this woman in my office who thinks that we can get rid of the speed limits."

A few minutes later he turned back to me and said "We will think about it." Mr. Howard telephoned me Tuesday morning and told me that the Senator would file an amendment.

I thought that meant that he would offer the amendment in the subcommittee. I was delighted and I called all the subcommittee members’ offices and told them. That evening Mr.

Howard called me back and said that the Senator had changed his mind, and wouldn’t be offering the amendment. I exclaimed "NO! I called all the subcommittee members and told them that the Senator would offer it." Mr. Howard’s sounded flabbergasted, as he cried out "YOU DIDN’T?" I was disappointed and slightly confused as well. "I said quietly, ‘I did, I thought it was a done deal.’"

I was really low, but I thanked him for calling me and then told him "at least by telling me this evening, you won’t have to see a grown woman cry tomorrow during the subcommittee meeting."

I was as surprised as everyone else when Senator Faircloth offered the amendment and called for a voice vote. Five yeas, including the Senator from Nevada who told me the night before that he would vote nay, and three nays and one abstaining. It passed and everyone was congratulating me.

I sighed as I reflected, and wrote in my journal: Where else but in the USA could I discuss flowers with the congresswoman from NY and the congressman from ID, both living next door to me, then walk to the Senate Office building for a meeting on the speed limits. I have come a long way since I got that speeding ticket in Victoria, Texas.

Ah, little did I know that the battle was just beginning and it would be fought with the "big guns." I had been ignored by the opponents of State’s Rights and the idea that people are basically capable of making rational choices. But there was a lull and I basked in the victory.

My first inkling of what was to come, came on May 8. A press conference was held on the east lawn of the Capitol. The biggest foes of freedom from both sides of the aisle were the leadership of the Transportation committees in the House and the Senate. They were joined with NHTSA, FHWA, and the leadership of the Highway Patrol of both Maryland and Virginia. I came early to visit with people who would be attending, giving out bumper stickers "LET’S END THE HYPOCRISY: REPEAL 55" and lapel pins that were a red circle with a slash through 55. Imagine my delight when I noticed during the filming of the conference a bumper sticker across one video camera and a lapel pin on the jaunty cap of another cameraman.

I didn’t let up my efforts. I continued to visit the offices. In fact, I personally visited every office in the House – 435 to be exact and 100 in the Senate. During these 11 months I literally wore out four pairs of shoes.

Over the next six months I steadily visited congressional offices smiling, waiting, answering questions, and supplying information concerning the wisdom of supporting the repeal. Sometimes I felt holding the votes together was like trying to hold mercury.

First the National Highway Systems bill went through the Senate on June 20, 1995 and passed 65-35. When the repeal went for a vote in the House September 20, 1995, the vote was 419 yeas, 7 nays, and 8 not voting. The language wasn’t the same and it had to go into Appropriation which was very ominous as the repeal of NMSL could have been tabled and never voted on again. During this time I had tried to get an appointment with Ricardo Martinez, Director of NHTSA, but was repeatedly turned down. All is well that ends well, and a veto-proof bill was sent to President Clinton for his signature. November 28, 1995, was the end of the National Maximum Speed Limits.

NMA had done the impossible, and benefitted every motorist in America, and I was so proud to be part of it.

Blount deputy on trial for 2nd murder of wife

2011-12-15T02:44:00.002-05:00

Alcoholic Blount County deputy Danny Brewer under arrest for shooting his nude wife, Jennifer L. Brewer, after the drunken ex-deputy spent a night fucking his bail bondsman. Deputy Brewer cost taxpayers a $5-million settlement after he murdered driver Jennifer Lowe Bean. Any relation to alleged alcoholic cokehead judge Brewer?

Homicide case against ex-Blount deputy sent to grand jury

By Lance Coleman
Knoxville News Sentinel
December 14, 2011

MARYVILLE, TENN. — The criminal homicide case against former Blount County sheriff's deputy Danny Brewer was bound over to a grand jury on Wednesday.

His $950,000 bond was kept in place.

General Sessions Judge Robert Gallegos ruled probable cause had been proven by Shari Taylor, assistant district attorney, that Brewer had killed his wife with a shotgun blast.

Defense attorney Tommy Hindman said the shooting was an accident.

Testimony from Blount County Sheriff's Office Detective J.T. Trentham that Brewer admitted to having an affair would not change his client's defense.

"It doesn't change our theory that what happened in that room is the only thing that matters," Hindman said.

Trentham was the only witness to testify in the hearing. He said Blount 911 emergency dispatchers were contacted at 11:19 a.m. on Sept. 8 about the shooting at Brewer's Sevier Avenue apartment in Blount County.

"When I got there, Mr. Brewer was in the front living room in a fetal position covered in blood," the detective said. "He was making a statement, 'It was an accident. The safety was on, it should not have happened."'

Trentham testified he then went back to the bedroom, where medical personnel were with Jennifer Brewer.

"There was a woman in bed totally nude with a shotgun wound to the chest, and there was blood on the bedding," he said.

A short time later, Brewer was interviewed by Trentham at the Blount County Sheriff's Office. The detective said during Wednesday's hearing that Brewer smelled of alcohol and told him he'd drank three or four beers.

"He was very distraught over the situation but he was coherent," Trentham said.

The detective said Brewer stated he had come home from work at 4:30 or 5 a.m. on Sept. 8, and his wife got up later to take their 3-year-old child to day care and returned home.

"She got back in bed. At some point there was sexual intercourse, then he got up to show her the shotgun he had purchased, and while this was going on, the shotgun discharged," Trentham testified.

In the middle of the interview, Trentham said he was notified Jennifer Brewer had died, and that was when Brewer admitted he had been with Pam Gregory, a bail bondswoman.

"He said this was the person he was with until 4:30 or 5 a.m., that he was employed by her as a bounty hunter and that they had been having a 10-year love affair," Trentham testified.

Hindman asked Trentham about the state's toxicology report that showed Danny Brewer had a blood-alcohol level of 0.23 when he was interviewed. The legal definition of intoxication in drunk-driving cases is .08. Hindman asked the detective if he would've acted differently had he known how intoxicated Brewer was during the interview.

"I would have probably not (interviewed him) had I had the toxicology report in front of me," Trentham said.

Grand jury gets homicide case

By Austin Baird
Maryville Daily Times

A former Blount County law enforcement officer is a step closer to facing trial in the shooting death of his wife.

Danny Ray Brewer, 37, a former Blount County Sheriff’s Office deputy and Rockford police officer, had a preliminary hearing on criminal homicide charges Wednesday in Blount County General Sessions Court.

After hearing testimony, Judge Michael Gallegos sent the case to a grand jury to decide if the charges brought against Brewer warrant a trial.

The case will likely be heard on Jan. 9 or Feb. 16 when a grand jury convenes, though the date will depend upon the crowd of other cases working through the state’s docket.

The events surrounding the death of 29-year-old Jennifer Brewer on Sept. 8 remain unclear. However, Assistant District Attorney Shari Tayloe and Danny Brewer’s defense attorney, Tommy Hindman, each revealed information that could eventually decide the outcome of the case.

Detective testifies

Blount County Sheriff’s Office Detectives James Trentham and David Henderson are leading the investigation, the former being the first detective to arrive on the scene and the latter the detective who collected physical evidence for the case. The state called Trentham as its only witness at the hearing Wednesday.

Trentham, a detective of 10 years and an 18-year member of the Sheriff’s Office, testified that a couple of patrol officers and emergency responders were already on the scene when he arrived shortly before noon the day Jennifer Brewer died in the Maryville apartment she shared with her husband on Sevierville Road.

“I saw Mr. Brewer in the living room nude and covered in blood, curled up in the fetal position,” Trentham said at the hearing. “He was making statements like, ‘It was an accident, the safety was on, it shouldn’t have gone off.’”

When Trentham arrived, Jennifer Brewer was naked in their bed with a wound on the left side of her chest that was inflicted by a shotgun, he said. A couple of paramedics were attempting to save her, but she was declared dead that day at Blount Memorial Hospital.

Despite Danny Brewer’s claim that his wife’s death was an accident that happened when he was showing her a gun, Trentham testified the evidence doesn’t suggest an accidental shooting.

“My professional opinion is, yes, you have to take the totality of the case ... and there is information to conflict his story,” Trentham said.

High alcohol level

Two points of contention were raised: the amount of alcohol in Danny Brewer’s system and a purported decade-long affair between Brewer and his boss.

Trentham described Danny Brewer as “very distraught over the situation but coherent,” though he said he did smell alcohol on Brewer during an interview that took place the day of the shooting. He testified that Brewer admitted to having “three or four” drinks during that interview.

However, a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation toxicology report measured Brewer’s blood alcohol content at 0.23. The legal limit to operate a vehicle in Tennessee is .08.

Trentham testified the blood sample was drawn by a jail nurse during a break in the interview nearly an hour after police were dispatched.

Hindman tried to stress the fact that Brewer was intoxicated during the interview.

“By no means was he crawling, stumbling or anything like that,” Trentham said of Brewer’s sobriety. But he conceded, when pressed by Hindman, that the interview probably should have waited until Brewer was of clearer mind. “I would have probably waited if I knew his (blood alcohol content).”

Even though Gallegos left open the possibility of a criminal homicide charge, he declined to set the level of the crime (first-degree murder, manslaughter, etc.) that Brewer will face. Gallegos instead deferred that responsibility to the grand jury.

“We want to get in front of the grand jury as soon as possible,” Hindman said. “After all of the facts come forward, the picture will become clearer.”

Until then, Brewer will remain in custody at Blount County Jail unless he can come up with enough cash to make the $950,000 bond required for his temporary release.

See also:

11-09-2011 - Former deputy charged in fatal shooting remains in custody
09-30-2011 - Preliminary hearing set in former deputy homicide case
Slaying suspect Brewer gets public defender
09-23-2011 - Garner appointed to represent Brewer in criminal homicide case
09-20-2011 - Hospital stay delays preliminary hearing for murder suspect
09-10-2011 - Husband charged in Thursday’s shooting death

09-12-2011 - Homicide suspect was police officer involved in fatal crash

Blount County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded Thursday morning to the Sevier Avenue apartment complex where the couple lived in reference to a shooting. There they found 29-year-old Jennifer L. Brewer lying face up on a bed in the apartment at 11:19 a.m., according to a Sheriff’s Office report. The victim was bleeding from the left side of her chest.

Danny Brewer was also found in the apartment, naked, screaming and covered in blood. The report stated that deputies escorted the suspect from the room and recovered the gun believed to have been used in the shooting.

Danny Brewer was serving as a Rockford police officer on May 16, 2000, when he was involved in an accident that killed Jennifer Lowe Bean, 29, of Jackson Hills Drive, Maryville, according to a May 18, 2000, story in The Daily Times.

Brewer had been a Rockford officer for only two weeks after two years as a Blount County Sheriff’s Department deputy when he was on patrol in Rockford the night of May 16, 2000. At 9:10 p.m. he reportedly heard former co-worker Deputy Jim Stegall respond to a disturbance involving two men with knives at Meadow Valley Apartments on Wildwood Road near the Maryville city limits.

Brewer contacted Rockford Police Chief Robert Simerly from his location on Old Knoxville Highway between Four Corners Market and Pope’s Garden Center. Simerly told him to respond to back up the county officer in accordance with Rockford’s mutual aid agreement to assist other local law enforcement agencies.

According to the report, Brewer turned on his flashing red and blue lights, activated his siren, and started up Old Knoxville Highway toward Meadow Valley Apartments to back up Stegall. Meanwhile, Bean was traveling the same direction on Old Knoxville Highway.

Brewer apparently sped up on the straight stretch of highway after he rounded the curve at Williams Mill Road and Liscom Drive. A witness to the fatal collision said she pulled over to the right near Clayton Road to let the cruiser pass.

Ahead of her, she saw another car that was not pulling over. Bean was preparing to turn left off the highway onto Jackson Hills Drive. She was only four blocks from home.

According to the preliminary accident report, Brewer moved into the oncoming traffic lane, which was clear of vehicles, to pass the Bean car. The cruiser was never directly behind Bean’s Honda Accord as Brewer traveled in excess of the posted 45 mile per hour speed limit.

At some point, Bean activated her left turn signal. Then, she turned across the lane where Brewer was traveling, apparently unaware of his lights or siren.

Brewer braked as Bean turned left into his path and the front of his Jeep slammed into the driver’s side of Bean’s car.

The impact sent the Honda sliding several feet beyond the intersection, across a shallow roadside ditch and into a yard. The Rockford cruiser went over the curb at the end of Jackson Hills Drive and nosed down into the ditch.

Emergency responders attempted to resuscitate Bean but were unable to restore her heartbeat or breathing. She was pronounced dead on arrival at Blount Memorial Hospital.

Brewer was taken by Rural/Metro Ambulance Service to Blount Memorial Hospital, where he was treated for broken bones and other injuries.

Blount County slaying suspect is former police officer, deputy

By Hayes Hickman, Natalie Neysa Alund
Knoxville News Sentinel
September 12, 2011

A 37-year-old Blount County man charged in the shooting death of his wife last week is a former law enforcement officer, authorities said Monday.

Danny Ray Brewer, who is being held at the Blount County jail in lieu of $950,000 bond on a criminal homicide charge, served two separate stints with the Blount County Sheriff's Office, as well as the former Rockford Police Department, said Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission spokesman Christopher Garrett. The POST Commission certifies officers across the state.

Brewer was hired by the sheriff's office in July 1998, then resigned from his post there in April 2000, according to Garrett. In May of 2000, Brewer took a job with Rockford, but resigned in August of 2000 to return to work for the sheriffs's office.

He resigned from the sheriff's office again in July of 2002.

While serving as a Rockford officer, Brewer was involved in a crash that killed a 29-year-old Blount County woman in May 2000. Brewer was responding to a call for assistance from a sheriff's deputy in his police Jeep when he struck a car driven by Jennifer Lowe Bean.

Brewer was temporarily placed on administrative leave. The fatal crash resulted in a $5 million lawsuit, which was settled in 2003, a Blount County Circuit Court clerk said Monday. Specific terms of the settlement were not available Monday.

Blount deputies were called to Brewer's Sevier Avenue apartment Thursday, where they found Jennifer L. Brewer, 29, with a gunshot wound, according to a news release posted on the sheriff's website.

Jennifer Brewer was taken to Blount Memorial Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead. Her husband, according to the news release, was taken into custody at the scene.

Sheriff James Berrong has refused to answer any future questions from the News Sentinel, referring all calls to his public information officer, Marian O'Briant, who has not returned repeated phone calls.

"I’ll burn your house down, set your dog on fire and there won’t be a member of your family left, do you understand me? I won’t hire it done, I will do it myself! Do you understand me?”
-Blount County sheriff James Berrong talking to his secretary in the Blount County Justice Center, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit, Nuchols v. Berrong, No. 04-5645, July 11, 2005

Dragonslayer Down

2011-12-02T19:13:00.000-05:00

Cop arrests 5-year-old boy at school

2011-11-27T20:07:00.000-05:00

STP

Is your lawyer lernin?

2011-11-27T19:50:00.000-05:00

NY Times - What They Don’t Teach Law Students: Lawyering - One 2010 study of hiring at top-tier law schools since 2000 found that the median amount of practical experience was one year [for law school professors], and that nearly half of faculty members had never practiced law for a single day. If medical schools took the same approach, they’d be filled with professors who had never set foot in a hospital.

NY Times - 75% of judges are morons who never cracked a law book nor attended college

Cop attacks Blount sheriff, Blount sheriff attacks cop, FBI investigates

2011-11-27T00:16:00.000-05:00

Cop shows how to handle a traffic stop in Blount County...by ramming cops at Wide Open Throttle! Blounty deputies show how to treat a cop under arrest...by kicking him repeatedly while handcuffed! Which is better than BCSO treats BC cops...by shooting them dead by ambush! Do you feel safer now?

FBI looks into suspect, former officer beaten during arrest

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- The FBI is looking into claims that a Blount County Sheriff deputy beat a man during an arrest.

Click to the right to watch the video that supposedly shows BCSO's Sgt. Doug Moore punching and kicking former Sevierville police officer Timothy Coulter.

"The video speaks for itself," said Coutler's attorney Bryan Delius.

The video shows Coulter first slamming into a darkened deputy crusier. Deputies were attempting to arrest Coulter for domestic violence, outside a family Coulter Road home.

"[Coulter] regrets the events of that evening lead up to this and it certainly, it was wrong," said Delius. "But from the point in time that the accident happened, and the vehicles collided, he did everything that he should have appropriately to respond to that situation."

Immediately Coulter sticks his hands out the window, seeming to surrender. He's brought out, cuffed and that's when the violence begins.

"I think it clearly shows that Tim Coulter complied with the officer, the commands of the officer immediately," said Delius. "What we see is pretty discouraging."

Blount County Attorney Craig Garrett respond to our calls or knock at his door. Garrett says Blount County Sgt. Doug Moore was suspended for three days, but he's now back on duty.

Sgt. Moore was also involved in a 2008 fatal shooting of suspect Leroy Hickman.

Now the FBI has opened a federal investigation. Special Agent in Charge Richard Lambert says the Department of Justice will look at the amount of force used.

"Mr. Coulter with obviously cooperate. He will do whatever is asked of him from the federal authorities," said Delius.

Coulter plead guilty to reckless endangerment and vandalism, and was sentenced to judicial diversion after three years of probation.
What happens next, is up to the FBI.

"One would have to question if they would do this to an officer, from another jurisdiction, what would they do to someone who's not an officer?" said Delius. "That's obviously the concern expressed by those conducting the future investigation."

Delius says Coulter admits responsibility for his mistakes, and he accepts his punishment.

FBI opens probe of Blount deputy after video shows beating, Ex-Severville detective gets plea deal after arrest

MARYVILLE — A Blount County Sheriff's Office video released Tuesday shows one of its deputies repeatedly kicking and punching a former Sevierville police detective during an arrest this year, prompting the FBI to open an investigation.

The video, provided at the request of the News Sentinel, shows police in-cruiser footage from the March 25 arrest of former Sevierville Police Detective Timothy Coulter, 44. It was released by the Sheriff's Office after Coulter pleaded guilty Tuesday to criminal charges that stemmed from him ramming a sheriff's cruiser and nearly striking two sheriff's deputies.

Richard Lambert, special agent in charge of the FBI's Knoxville office, said Tuesday the agency reviewed the video and as a result opened a civil-rights investigation that could lead to federal charges.

"They (the U.S. Department of Justice) will determine whether the amount of force was more than what was reasonable," Lambert said.

Blount County Attorney Craig Garrett identified the deputy who struck Coulter as Sgt. Doug Moore. Garrett said he was suspended without pay for three days following the incident. Garrett said no further action was taken against Moore, who has been with the department more than a decade.

According to a statement from the Sheriff's Office released Tuesday, deputies were unable to control Coulter during the arrest.

"The deputy delivered strikes to Coulter that were acceptable based on the circumstances, however were not in accordance with BCSO training or policy and procedure," the Sheriff's Office statement reads. "The Blount County Sheriff's Office has taken appropriate action against the deputy, and the investigation was closed with no further actions."

On March 25, deputies learned Coulter had been involved in a domestic situation in Sevier County, was threatening suicide and was traveling to his family's farm in Blount County, according to arrest warrants.

Deputies found his white Ford F-350 pickup in the driveway of a residence off Davis Ford Road. They blocked the road and called him on his cellphone, warrants show. He told a deputy he had a gun with him and he intended to harm any officer who attempted to contact him.

The video, most of which was shot at night, came from a camera in Moore's cruiser.

It shows Coulter drive out of the driveway toward Moore's unoccupied cruiser and ram the front end of it. Although they are not visible at the time of impact, arrest warrants state Moore and Sheriff Jim Berrong were standing nearby and were forced to dive into a ditch to avoid being struck.

After the impact, more police cruisers pull behind Coulter's truck and Coulter sticks his hands and head out the driver's side window.

An officer removes him from the truck at gunpoint and places him on the ground.

The deputy who subdued him then shouts, "We got 'im, we got 'im."

Moore then approaches Coulter, still on the ground surrounded by at least three other officers, and kicks him at least 11 times, according to the video. He then punches Coulter about four times, the video shows.

At least two deputies were treated for minor injuries at a local hospital and released, Berrong said Tuesday. He would not comment further on the video.

Coulter's defense attorney Bryan Delius said his client was in handcuffs while kicked and punched and sustained cracked ribs, facial abrasions and a knot on his head. Coulter was not treated for injuries he sustained during the incident.

The video, requested June 15 by the News Sentinel, was made public following Coulter's court hearing in Blount County, during which he pleaded guilty to one count of vandalism and two counts of reckless endangerment.

Coulter was immediately sentenced to three years of supervised probation.

He must pay a $100 fine, court costs and $8,448.81 in restitution to the Sheriff's Office for damage he caused to Moore's patrol car. Those were the terms of a plea agreement reached between Delius and Assistant Blount County District Attorney General Ryan Desmond. It was approved by Blount County Circuit Court Judge David Duggan, who also granted Coulter judicial diversion, a move that spares him jail and a conviction on his record if he complies with the terms of his probation.

The reckless endangerment charges to which Coulter pleaded guilty were reduced from more serious charges of aggravated assault.

Coulter had also been charged with DUI, possession of a handgun while intoxicated and violation of the implied consent law. Desmond said under the plea deal those charges would be dismissed.

Prior to the plea Coulter signed a civil release agreeing not to sue the county, Delius said.

Delius said the video disturbed him.

"Obviously, he did everything he could to comply," the lawyer said. "His arms and head are out of the vehicle's window before they even approach. We expect people who are paid law enforcement to act professional and with restraint. What is observed on the video is very concerning and disheartening."

Garrett called the incident a "very dangerous and very intense situation."

"Blount County's sheriff deputies hate to see a fellow officer make the type of mistakes Mr. Coulter made," Garrett said. "Everybody was kind of on edge. Officer Moore probably had some adrenaline pumping and may have reacted strongly to the incident, but he's been properly disciplined, and we consider the matter concluded."

Comments

Many people cannot fathom how this "judicial perversion" gets handed out to cops and public servants.....any one of us wold have jail time.
I hope folks don't wonder why so little respect exists for these double standard kangaroo courts and the soiled public servants who get coddled. BAAALONNNYYY!!!

"had also been charged with DUI, possession of a handgun while intoxicated and violation of the implied consent law" In Tennessee gun crime means hard time....unless you are a cop

"Prior to the plea Coulter signed a civil release agreeing not to sue the county, Delius said." So he can not sue them, they made sure beofre they agreed to the plea he took!

A few whacks to the ribs is pretty standard for a lot of places. The really disturbing part of this is that the Sheriff was on scene. Who flaunts the law/rules/procedures like that with the boss standing there? I hope it doesn't say something much more about the culture of the BCSO than just one exasperated deputy going overboard on one particular occasion.

Blount co cops are as corrupt as they come. They're also the reason I never go to blount county, and I was a maryville college grad.

The Blount County Sheriff`s Office Writes their own Laws as they go along.

What a joke!

Editorial: Video of beating proves value of openness in government

The in-cruiser police video that led to an FBI investigation of the beating of a suspect in Blount County demonstrates the value of cameras keeping an eye on law enforcement and underscores the public's need to have access to such records.

Blount County deputy Sgt. Doug Moore, who also is being sued for using excessive force and wrongful death in an unrelated matter [the ambush murder of a former cop in Maryville Police Department], is the subject of the FBI's civil-rights probe.

The video, obtained by the News Sentinel through an open records request, shows footage from the March 25 arrest of former Sevierville Police Detective Timothy Coulter. The Blount County Sheriff's Office released the video after Coulter pleaded guilty Tuesday to criminal charges stemming from his ramming a deputy's cruiser.

Blount County deputies learned Coulter had been involved in a domestic situation in Sevier County, was threatening suicide and on his way to his family farm in Blount County. Deputies found Coulter's pickup truck, blocked him in and called him on his cell phone, according to arrest warrants. He told a deputy he had a gun and warned that he would harm officers who tried to contact him.

The video shows Coulter's Ford F-350 ramming the front of Moore's unoccupied cruiser. Off-camera, Moore and Sheriff Jim Berrong leaped out of the way. Coulter surrendered, then was kicked at least 11 times and punched about four times by a deputy identified as Moore. Couter's defense attorney said his client sustained cracked ribs, cuts and a knot on his head.

Coulter pleaded guilt to reduced charges of reckless endangerment and was sentenced to three years probation. He must also pay restitution to Blount County for damage to Moore's cruiser.

Moore was suspended without pay for three days after the incident. The Sheriff's Office in a statement released last week that the blows Moore inflicted by Coulder were "acceptable," though "not in accordance with BCSO training or policy and procedure."

The Sheriff's Office can't have it both ways. Either Moore's actions were acceptable — meaning they were in line with policy — or they were not. When sheriff's officials speak out of both sides of their mouths, they appear more interested in protecting Moore than seeking justice.

There's enough smoke rising from the incident that Richard Lambert, special agent in charge of the FBI's Knoxville field office, initiated a civil-rights investigation. The U.S. Department of Justice, he said, "will determine whether the amount of force was more than what was reasonable."

A key piece of evidence in the FBI will be the in-cruiser video. Time and time again, videos have proven invaluable in determining what has happened at crime scenes — many times providing evidence that clears officers of wrongdoing. Videotapes, audiotapes of 911 calls, police incident reports and other records available to the public act as a check against police powers.

Some in the Tennessee Legislature have tried to blind the public by exempting incident reports and 911 calls from the Tennessee Public Records Act.

Such efforts are misguided. Secrecy causes citizens to lose confidence in the officials and agents entrusted with public institutions. When government operates in the sunshine, however, the public can have confidence its interests are being protected.

Openness doesn't make government weaker; openness makes government stronger.

Comments

ever notice that LEOs think that laws are for US to follow,certainly not THEM?? ever notice their black tinted windows??just try and have YOUR windows tinted black!! ever be going along at the speed limit and be passed by one of them going WAY faster?? ever notice that if you take their picture and they see you ,they will break your camera?? i could go on and on (and probably will)to protect and serve....yeah right!! they all act like they are jesus.but the fact is, sadly, they are mostly scum.

See also:

Blount sheriff on trial for murder of cop - A federal judge is ordering a Blount County Sheriff's Office sergeant to stand trial in a wrongful death lawsuit over a deadly arrest ruse, but the lawman will be seated alone at the defense table. U.S. District Judge Tom Varlan has rejected Sgt. Doug Moore's bid for immunity in the February 2008 shooting death of 61-year-old Leeroy Hickman Jr. outside Hickman's Grove Street home, saying there are too many unanswered questions that only a jury can answer. But in the same order, Varlan dismissed the case against Deputy Lesley Craig, who actually shot Hickman in the back, and Deputies Robert Berkley and Matthew Gilmore, who were part of the deadly ruse but did not fire any shots. It was Moore who set up the ruse to lure Hickman, himself a former lawman, out of his house to arrest him on a domestic violence warrant. Craig dressed in civilian clothes and pretended to be a friend of Hickman's daughter whose truck had broken down outside his house. But the plan quickly went awry, court records show. It was dark and rainy, and Craig's raised hood blocked her from the view of Moore and the other two deputies. Initially, the deputies could hear the conversation between Hickman and Craig because Craig had secretly phoned one of the deputies and left the phone open. But when her phone went dead, Moore, Berkley and Gilmore rushed out of the darkness toward Hickman. Craig ran to the back of her truck, but when she heard the deputies yell 'gun,' she opened fire on Hickman, who was facing his house with his back toward Craig. Hickman's widow alleges that Hickman was 'confused' and frightened when three strangers dressed in dark clothing suddenly rushed toward him and was trying to flee inside his house when he was shot in the back.

"I’ll burn your house down, set your dog on fire and there won’t be a member of your family left, do you understand me? I won’t hire it done, I will do it myself! Do you understand me?”
-Blount County sheriff James Berrong talking to his secretary in the Blount County Justice Center, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit, Nuchols v. Berrong, No. 04-5645, July 11, 2005

The Police Officer as Psychopath

Lawmakers demand arrest of Blount County court clerk Tom Hatcher

2011-11-26T23:36:00.000-05:00

False Academic Degrees

by Baker & Associates, attorneys at law

In today's tough economic climate, it can often be tempting for an individual to take some course of action designed to give them a little bit of an edge in the job hunt. For instance, an individual may claim to have a degree, such as a bachelor's degree in finance or a doctorate or master's degree of some sort in order to look more appealing to a potential employer. Embellishing a resume in this way is a fairly common occurrence, but many individuals do not know that such behavior is actual illegal.

T.C.A. 39-17-112 provides:

(a) It is an offense for any person to knowingly issue, sell or manufacture a false academic degree. As used in this subsection (a), "person" includes any individual, corporation, firm, company, partnership or association.

(b) It is an offense for an individual to knowingly use or claim to have a false academic degree to obtain:

(1) Employment;

(2) A promotion in employment; or

(3) Admission to a college, university or other institution of higher learning.

Such language obviously begs the question of what constitutes a "false academic degree;" a question that is conveniently answered in the next section of the statute.

(c) As used in this section, "false academic degree" shall mean any degree issued that meets one of the following criteria:
(1) Issued without requiring any student academic work;

(2) Issued based solely on the student's life experience or portfolio without requiring any post secondary work submitted to and evaluated by faculty with appropriate academic degrees from an institution that is:

(A) Accredited by a regional accrediting agency or other accrediting agency recognized by the United States department of education; and

(B) Authorized to operate in Tennessee pursuant to the provisions of title 49, chapter 7, part 20, relative to the authorization of post secondary institutions, or is exempted from authorization by the provisions of § 49-7-2004; or

(3) Issued using more than twenty-five percent (25%) of required credits based on the student's life experience or portfolio.

In essence then, it is illegal to have or claim to have a degree that is not earned by the individual based upon the completion or performance of a satisfactory amount of school work that correlates to the degree possessed. Violation of (a) of this statute is a class A misdemeanor carrying a jail sentence of up to eleven months and twenty-nine days and violation of (b) of the statute is a class C misdemeanor, carrying a sentence of up to thirty days in jail. if you or someone you know has been charged with this offense, contact an experienced East Tennessee criminal defense attorney serving Knox County, Sevier County, Sullivan County, Hamblen County, and surrounding areas for assistance with your case.

Bogus Degrees, No Apology, No Moral Compass

by Citizens for Better Government

MARYVILLE, TENN. -- The recent article in the The Daily Times about the Circuit Court Clerk, Tom Hatcher [former BCSO deputy sheriff], purchasing a bogus Bachelors degree with $3910 of County money highlights the absence of a clear moral compass in the county administration. It also shows the result of inadequate policies to govern the behavior of our county officials.

Hatcher purchased the "degree" from an outfit called Columbus Universityin Picayune, Mississippi. He issued a county purchase order on 12/29/04 to pay his $3910 "tuition." Apparently he was able to zip through his course requirements, while holding his full-time county job, because he claimed on his county website (until yesterday) that he was awarded his "Bachelors Degree" from Columbus in 2005.

All of this may have been feasible, since the Daily Times showed that the mailing address of Columbus University was actually the location of 'The Renewed Attitudes Massage and Body Sculpting Studio'.

This waste of taxpayer money is nothing new for Hatcher, who also seems to like nice cars, furniture, and refrigerators, as long as the citizens of the county are paying the bills.

If you claim a bogus degree and are found out, you can expect to be fired in most organizations. Not in Blount County. According to Mayor Cunningham: "The county has no control over how the elected officials spend the money appropriated to their budgets". The Mayor did not mention that he has a great deal of power as the head of the Budget Committee. He also should have substantial sway over the actions of the office holders through the use of the Mayor's office as a "bully pulpit". In addition, a Tennessee statute gives the county judges the power to remove Hatcher for "misbehavior in office". Yet, no one in the county administration, or judiciary, has done anything to censure Hatcher.

Of course, now that he has been caught red-handed, Hatcher has decided to reimburse the county for the $3910 the citizens paid for his bogus degree. Did he accompany the check with a public apology? No. Instead he further insulted the intelligence of Blount county citizens by claiming he: "did not realize the problems existed with Columbus University". As the kids say: "well duhhh". Maybe he should have gotten a clue from the willingness of the University to grant a degree with little work by him. Or, maybe he should have run a few Google searches before he decided to spend the citizens money. Such a search would have revealed that as far back as 1999 articles identified Columbus as a diploma mill; or that CBS 20/20 identified Columbus University as a source of "fake degrees" in May of 2004 (7 months before Hatcher bought his degree); or that the State of Texas listed Columbus University as a "source of fraudulent or substandard degrees". It seems that truth and remorse come hard to Mr. Hatcher.

The Mayor was given the information about the Circuit Court Clerk's waste of funds on a bogus diploma more than a week before the story broke in the paper. So far, the Mayor has done nothing to publicly chastise Hatcher. Apparently, if you misuse funds in Blount County and get caught, all you have to do is repay the money, and all is well with the Mayor. We continue to believe the Mayor is a better man than that, and hope he will show it.

Hatcher was able to get away with his actions, because Blount County does not have any tuition reimbursement policy. Citizens for Better Government has repeatedly pointed to the need for standards and policies in the county, only to be told by the mayor that we are: "dead wrong". We know one thing - without policies and standards - anything goes! Hatcher's actions prove it.

See also:

Tom Hatcher's son, judicial commissioner Dustin Hatcher, was arrested and convicted of felony pedophile rape committed inside the Blount County Justice Center, with photos of the criem spree posted on the walls of Tom Hatcher's court clerk office. Dustin was a recent graduate of car stereo installation (and fast removal) school.

Diploma Mill Columbus University Receives Tennessee County Tax Dollars

Beware of Columbus University — it is a diploma mill. And right now, it is stirring up a cyclone of confusion in Blount County, Tennessee, where employees used a county tuition reimbursement program to pay for unaccredited college degrees.

This is not the first time tax dollars ended up in the pockets of a fake degree mill; and the officials of Blount County plan to insure that tax coffers do not unwittingly feed money into the illegal businesses. The tuition reimbursement policy was revised in 2002; but nothing specifically ruled out employees’ use of the funds for unaccredited universities. In fact, nothing regarding accreditation was addressed at all.

We are not referring to the accredited Columbus State University in Georgia with a sprawling campus and fine academic and athletic programs. And this is not about Columbia University, the one with ground-breaking research and a world-renowned medical center. No, we are discussing the ’school’ with a storefront rather than a campus, and a mailbox instead of a sports team.

Columbus University was based in Lousiana until a CBS News story was the catalyst for an investigation, forcing the institution to close its doors in 2004. But it popped up again in Mississippi just a few months later, where it continues to flourish. The investigation followed disclosures that high-ranking government official, Charles Abell, held a master’s degree from the degree mill. At the time, Abell was Principal Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Personnel and Readiness.

Distance learning is a popular and fast-growing alternative that has drawn millions to online colleges and universities. Accredited online degrees are flexible; but the requirements for earning an online bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree are simliar in coursework and credits to those of traditional colleges and universities.

Reputable online degree programs are generally eligible for federal financial aid, something that is not true for diploma mills. Also, both the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education maintain a database of approved accrediting agencies and colleges for those wishing to double-check their e-learning choices.

Columbus University takes the money of willing victims and sends them a worthless college diploma. But at least Blount County, Tennessee, is working to see that it does not happen to their employees anymore.

online degrees, online schools, accredited online degree, online degree program, e-learning, diploma mill, unaccredited college degree, fake degrees, tuition reimbursement, colleges_and_universities, Columbus University, online bachelors degree, online masters degree, online doctoral degree, distance learning

Honda Gold Wing vs Boeing 737

2011-11-25T01:49:00.000-05:00

The entire Republic of Nuaru, airport at bottom

Boeing 737 vs. Honda Goldwing: who wins?

I was there
By John Laming

The runway on Nauru is 5200 feet long, the Pacific Ocean at both ends leaving no room for greaser landings. The airport terminal is barely 100 yards from the runway, and it seems that half the population of Nauru came to watch the arrival of the daily flights. I soon found out why this was such an attraction.

Through the window of the crew bus, I saw the Boeing 737 curve around the back of the island on close base leg and then suddenly there it was on short final with full flap and smoke streaming from both tailpipes. At 130 knots, it smacked down right on the 1000-foot marker with a flash of blue smoke from skidding tyres, while at the same time the top surfaces of the wings came alive with ground and flight spoilers. Simultaneously, the reversers opened wide with a shattering roar of increasing power. Now that was a man’s aeroplane.

A few months later, I had a command on the 737 and by the time I moved on ten years later, I had flown over 7000 hours on type. There were many exciting times flying the 737 – too many to mention here – except perhaps one that often repeated itself.

Nauru was a tiny phosphate-rich island with lots of money. There was no shortage of new cars, powerful motor bikes and beer, and inevitably each weekend would see the death of young men wiping themselves out in vehicle accidents caused by speed and alcohol. A favourite sport would be to race a departing 737, either in a car or on a motor bike. The main road around the island paralleled the runway by 50 yards and this gave a mile of straight but narrow road before it curved away from the surrounding ocean reef.

These obese young bloods (Editor’s note: According to the World Health Organization, Nauru is the world’s fattest country, with an average BMI of 34 to 35) had 1500cc Honda Goldwings and other equally massive motor bikes. They would cruise around the island playing loud rock and roll music from loud-speakers mounted on the bikes or on Land Rovers.

Occasionally, when the police were looking the other way, one would see a Nauruan sitting astride his Goldwing abeam the threshold of runway 12, revving the engine while waiting for the departing 737 to take off. Crash helmets were unheard of, and a T-shirt, shorts and sandals the only protection from a 100mph crash.

Backtracking the departure runway you knew that the race was about to begin. Turning to line up, you would see a Nauruan on his big bike casually waiting by the side of the runway. Passengers would wave from their windows and as the brakes were released, the Nauruan on his Goldwing would open up to full throttle to race us down the runway. At full thrust of 2.18 EPR, the ground trembled and spectators covered their ears to protect themselves from the incredible crackling roar which was the wonderful characteristic of the JT8D engines. A combined 31,000 pounds of thrust makes an awful lot of noise on a small island. With houses a few paces from the runway, noise abatement was for wimps.

It was quite a sight to see the Goldwing at full chat, with its rider head down, and burning rubber a few yards off our wing tip. At the 80 knot call, the Goldwing would be ahead of us by a nose but the game was well and truly over by rotate speed of 130 knots. It was good fun and few got hurt, although I often wondered how many of these riders nearly ended up in the Pacific Ocean as they negotiated the 45 degree bend in the road just a few yards from the end of the runway.

Following my retirement from airline flying at age 60, I have returned to visit Nauru on several occasions. The grunty Boeing 737-200 has been replaced by the quieter and bigger 737-400, but the motor bikes are still the big Goldwings and Yamahas – and now a little rusty from the salt spray of the Pacific rollers.

The headstones of their riders gradually fill the cemetery grounds.

Kia copies The Dragonater in new TV advert

2011-11-20T23:00:00.005-05:00

Watching the DVR tonight, spotted a new car ad filmed at Nashville Superspeedway under the lights...same as my TV show and blog post, First Track Day, from July. The Kia Electric Turbo Hybrid ad is new in November. The Kia ad even copied The Dragonater's Adobe After Effects...excellent taste and marketing skilz.

Download the full 2-hour documentary by The Dragonater

Too bad US aautomakers are too busy exporting factories to Communist China to patronize dying racetracks in USA. Govt-owned NSS is now officially closed for business.

Inside Edition TV and History Channel already copy The Dragonater, even featuring The Dragonater's name and websites every month.

Memphis TN news: Kia Optima Hybrid

Kia Web

Kia Blog

Final superbike race at NSS

TN passes new law requiring pigs suck your blood

2011-11-18T22:25:00.001-05:00

Sucking dick can get you out of an arrest in TN...ask Barbie Cummings, George W Bush and his lover Victor Ashe

Didn't the TeeVee Noos tell about the current Prohibition on alcohol in Tennessee and USSA? Do YOU know what to say or not during a traffic stop?

"Strictly speaking, a driver can register a BAC of 0.00% and still be convicted of a DUI. The level of BAC does not clear a driver when it is below the 'presumed level of intoxication.'"
—Tennessee Driver Handbook and Driver License Study Guide, 1990 to 2012

"One of the major defects in many methods of blood-alcohol analysis is the failure to identify ethanol to the exclusion of all other chemical compounds. Thus a client with other compounds in his blood or breath may have a high 'blood-alcohol' reading with little or no ethanol in his body. If you look at the warranties - it is sort of interesting - none of the breath machine manufacturers warrant these things to actually test blood alcohol."
—Lawrence Taylor, attorney at law, DUICENTER.COM, Drunk Driving Defense, 5th Edition (2000)

"Nearly 400 people were convicted of driving while intoxicated in the District since fall 2008 based on inaccurate results from breath test machines, and half of them went to jail, city officials said Wednesday. D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles said the machines were improperly adjusted by city police. The jailed defendants generally served at least five days, he said. Nickles's office has begun notifying the drivers, a move that immediately triggered at least one lawsuit against the District and could lead to requests for expungements, new trials and even deeper skepticism about the integrity of testing. The District's badly calibrated equipment would show a driver's blood-alcohol content to be about 20 percent higher than it actually was, Nickles said. All 10 of the breath test machines used by District police were wrong, he said. The problem occurred when the officer in charge of maintaining the machines improperly set the baseline alcohol concentration levels, Nickles said."
—Mary Pat Flaherty, Washington Post, 400 drunken-driving convictions in D.C. based on flawed test, official says, June 10, 2010

"Nancy Benoit also had a blood alcohol reading of .184, although Sperry said the blood alcohol and drug levels could be affected by the decomposition of her body. 'These (blood alcohol) results are not reliable for interpretation because the amount of alcohol in her system could have all come from the decomposition.'"
—Cindy Morley, Fayette Daily News, GBI: Chris Benoit's son was full of Xanax, July 18, 2007

New DUI Law for 2012 in Tennessee

The Tennessee DUI current law provides that a police officer who has probable cause to believe an individual is driving under the influence, they may request the person submit to a blood alcohol concentration test. If the person elects not to submit to the blood alcohol test they will be charged with a violation of the Tennessee implied consent law and will lose their driver's license for one year.

On May 20, 2011, the Tennessee legislature changed the DUI law starting in 2012. The new DUI law in Tennessee will require that anyone who has a prior DUI conviction, vehicular homicide due to intoxication conviction or aggravated vehicular homicide conviction or any person with a child under the age of 16 in the vehicle at the time, MUST submit to either a blood or breath test if they are believed to be driving under the influence. The new DUI law (HB 715 and SB 1270) states, in part:

“The test shall be performed in accordance with the procedure set forth in this section and shall be performed regardless of whether the driver does or does not consent to the test.”

The new DUI law in Tennessee raises constitutionality questions with regards to whether the forced blood alcohol tests would be admissible at trial. The 2012 DUI law has been submitted to the Governor and will go into effect on January 1, 2012.

HOUSE BILL 715
By Shipley
SENATE BILL 1270
By Beavers

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 39; Title 40 and Title 55, relative to driving under the influence.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:

SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 55-10-406(f), is amended by adding
the word "or" after subdivision (f)(1), by designating existing subdivision (f)(2) as (f)(4), and by adding the following new subdivisions (f)(2) and (f)(3):

(2) If a law enforcement officer has probable cause to believe that the driver of a
motor vehicle has committed a violation of § 55-10-401, § 39-13-213(a)(2) or § 39-13-218, and has been previously convicted of § 55-10-401, § 39-13-213(a)(2) or § 39-13-218, the officer shall cause the driver to be tested for the purpose of determining the alcohol or drug content of the driver's blood. The test shall be performed in accordance with the procedure set forth in this section and shall be performed regardless of whether the driver does or does not consent to the test.

(3) If a law enforcement officer has probable cause to believe that the driver of a motor vehicle has committed a violation of § 55-10-401, § 39-13-213(a)(2) or § 39-13-218 and a passenger in the motor vehicle is a child under the age of sixteen (16), the officer shall cause the driver to be tested for the purpose of determining the alcohol or drug content of the driver's blood. The test shall be performed in accordance with the procedure set forth in this section and shall be performed regardless of whether the driver does or does not consent to the test.

SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 55-10-406(f)(2), is amended by
deleting from subdivision (f)(4) the language “(f)(1)” and substituting instead the language “(f)(1), (f)(2) and (f)(3).”

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect January 1, 2012, the public welfare requiring it.

"Let me start with law enforcement contacts with respect to traffic stops, for suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The Fifth amendment of the Bill of Rights states that we are not to be forced to incrimnate ourselves. The actual wording is, you cannot be compelled to be a witness against yourself. If you are stopped for suspicion of DUI, these are your rights regardless of the laws of your state. First of all, you are to deny having consumed any alcoholic beverages whatsoever. You are never to admit to having one or two drinks. If you admit to consuming even one drop of alcohol, you open the door to 'probable cause', allowing the police officer to search your car for open containers. Next, you are never to submit to a Field Sobriety Test. You are to refuse to do so. They cannot make you walk the line, they cannot make you balance or anything else. Now when you are arrested, you are to refuse to allow a blood-alcohol test, regardless of what state law 'requires', such as revocation of driving priveleges for a period of time. That's an attempt to compel you to be a witness against yourself. Supreme Court decisions in this area are very specific with regards to your rights as folows: Lefkowitz vs Turley, and the Fifth Amendment, provides that no person shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, and permits him to refuse to any any other qustions put to him in any other proceeding, civil or criminal, formal or informal, where the answers might incriminate him in future criminal proceedings."
—George Gordon Law Hour, The Policeman is not your friend - He is your adversary, October 30, 2007

"I saw two officers as before, who rode up to me, with their pistols in their hands, said God damn you stop, if go an Inch further, you are a dead Man, and swore if we did not turn in to that pasture, they would blow our brains out. Major Mitchel of the 5th Regt clapd his Pistol to my head, and said he was going to ask me some questions, if I did not tell the truth, he would blow my brains out. I told him I esteemed myself a man of truth, that he had stopped me on the highway, & made me a prisoner, I knew not by what right; I would tell him the truth; I was not afraid."
—Paul Revere, owner of RevereWare¨, sworn affidavit: "Memorandum on Events of April 18, 1775" (declassified Top Secret), while under arrest (and subsequent escape) from Redcoat martial-law traffic police at Minute Man National Historic Park, Paul Revere Capture Site, on the eve of the American Revolutionary War and kicking off the Battle of Lexington and Concord, against the army, navy and courts of King George III, heriditary dictator of England who attempted "gun control" by an Assault Weapons Ban of defensive 50-caliber muskets and cannon, Paul Revere's Ride, by David Hackett Fischer

"Mr. Speaker, my subject today is whether America is a police state. If we are, what are we going to do about it? Most police states, surprisingly, come about through the democratic process with majority support. The masses are easily led to believe that security and liberty are mutually exclusive, and demand for security far exceeds that for liberty. Our government already keeps close tabs on just about everything we do and requires official permission for nearly all of our activities. One might take a look at our Capitol for any evidence of a police state. We see: barricades, metal detectors, police, military soldiers at times, dogs, ID badges required for every move, vehicles checked at airports and throughout the Capitol. The people are totally disarmed, except for the police and the criminals. But worse yet, surveillance cameras in Washington are everywhere to ensure our safety. Like gun control, people control hurts law-abiding citizens much more than the law-breakers. Centralized control and regulations are required in a police state. Not only do we need a license to drive, but we also need special belts, bags, buzzers, seats and environmentally dictated speed limits. Or a policeman will be pulling us over to levy a fine, and he will be toting a gun for sure. Let's reject the police state."
—Congressman Dr. Ron Paul, MD (R-TX, 1988 Libertarian Party candidate for President, Landslide GOP candidate for president in 2008 and 2012), speech in House of Representatives, United States Congress, "Are We Doomed To Be a Police State?" June 27, 2002

Pooper Troopers and the Thick Brown Line

2011-11-18T21:20:00.006-05:00

Pigs love poo... The fallout from an incident involving a trooper pursuing, pulling over and detaining a speeding Miami police officer at gunpoint has escalated in a war of words on Internet sites, and has continued to bubble over with the defacing of a trooper’s car with gallons of human feces.

Maybe this is the proper police procedure to handle cops on the Dragon?

Miami police chief disciplines officer in FHP caper

By David Ovalle and Diana Moskovitz
The Miami Herald
November 10, 2011

Miami Police officer Thomas Vokaty may have picked the wrong state trooper to pull over in an apparent retaliatory move in tensions between the two departments.

The trooper, identified as Cpl. Victor Luquis, has a brother Ronald Luquis, a sergeant in Miami Police's internal affairs division.

Luquis made a quick phone call. And pretty quickly, supervisors from both departments were involved. Sources close to the investigation said Luquis notified dispatch and called his brother.

The traffic stop — the trooper was not ticketed or arrested — was one of the latest actions in a back-and-forth feud between the Florida Highway Patrol and Miami police that started last month when Florida Highway Patrol trooper Donna Jane Watts drew her gun, handcuffed, then charged Miami Officer Fausto Lopez with reckless driving on Florida's Turnpike in Broward.

In her report, Watts wrote that Lopez was traveling at speeds in excess of 120 mph.

The incident, captured on video, has sparked furor among citizens, many upset at Lopez's alleged speed. It also brought anger from law enforcement officers who say Watts acted recklessly in drawing her weapon, yelling and handcuffing a fellow police officer.

In online law enforcement blog posts, Watts has been ridiculed and threatened. In recent days, somebody dumped feces on the patrol car of trooper Joe Sanchez, a former Miami commissioner. The car was parked in front of Sanchez's Miami home.

FHP adopts new motto
On Thursday, Miami interim Police Chief Manuel Orosa broke his silence on the events that have been roiling the department in recent weeks, and took a firm stand. He issued a formal warning to Vokaty, and tightened the department's policy for pulling over fellow law enforcement officers, mandating no traffic stops without approval from a supervisor and only if the targeted officer was involved in a felony.

Orosa's measures came two days after Vokaty, a 27-year-veteran, pulled over Luquis, in uniform and driving an FHP squad car, on Florida's Turnpike at Okeechobee Road despite "not having jurisdictional authority," according to a discipline report released Thursday.

Appearing at a routine morning roll call at Miami police headquarters, he tried to quell talk of tension between the agencies, stressing unity and a continued partnership.

In a later news release, Orosa said: "The recent traffic stop of an FHP trooper by one of our officers was an isolated incident, and his actions should not reflect negatively on the Miami Police Department or the professional men and women who work for us."

He added: "Additionally, I have attended roll calls and am pleased to say that all officers I've met with feel that the MPD and FHP are, and will always be, part of the greater law enforcement family in spite of the recent incidents."

FHP spokesman Sgt. Mark Wysocky agreed with Orosa, saying the recent incidents were isolated.

The initial traffic stop by Watts is being reviewed by FHP administration, Wysocky said, although Watts herself has not been suspended and is not under investigation. Watts was told several times by superiors the morning of Oct. 11 to back off after it was determined that she was following a speeding marked Miami police unit on Florida's Turnpike in Hollywood.

Watts did take some personal off, Wysocky said.

As for dumping human waste on Sanchez's squad car, Wysocky said "we're not accusing them."

The agency would not be investigating the incident further, he said earlier.

It was not clear whether Sanchez's home had security cameras mounted outside. "We were told there was no evidence,'' he said.

Vokaty will not be suspended, but he received a "record of formal counseling" for violating department policy.

Orosa said he has been in contact with FHP leaders since the initial incident "to keep the lines of communication open and ensure my commitment'' to the two agencies continuing to work together.

Miami Police and FHP conduct training, road blocks and other joint initiatives, he said.

"I look forward to our continued partnership for years to come," Orosa said in his statement.

Miami Herald staff writer Charles Rabin contributed to this report.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/fl-feces-on-fhp-car-20111109,0,117290.story

http://www.everydaynodaysoff.com/2011/11/11/stay-classy-miami-police-department-the-thick-brown-line/

See also:

Miami cop crashes patrol car into pole, poops his pants

Comments

Cops take a shit dump on other cops' cars in a TURD WAR.

Proof that all cops are morons.

The Perils of Cop on Cop Law Enforcement

November 15, 2011

UPDATE: I highly recommend you take a look at the attitude of Florida cops with respect to this trooper and her enforcement of traffic laws on other LEO’s. This is an extremely instructive forum thread, and you should see it before they hide it from the public:

LEOaffairs.com: Trooper Watts HOW DARE YOU?????

Back on October 30th, a Florida State Trooper actually pulled over a Miami Police Department officer in a marked squad car for traveling in excess of 120 miles per hour on the freeway, weaving in and out of traffic, and doing so without lights and sirens, ultimately executing a felony stop, which includes a drawn weapon and loud voice commands requiring the driver to exit the vehicle to and submit to handcuffing at gunpoint. It turns out, the MPD officer was on his way not to an urgent call, but an off-duty event at a school, with some “very important people” present. He was cited for misdemeanor reckless driving, and released, after a lengthy bitching out by the FHP trooper. You can bet your ass that if an average citizen were going 120 on the freeway and weaving in and out of traffic and failing to stop for 7 solid minutes of hot pursuit, he’d get a lot worse than a stint in cuffs and a stern talking to. He’d have his head caved in while the Fox news chopper circled overhead.

It appears that this incident is the culmination of a long-standing situation wherein MPD officers drive at crazy speeds on highways patrolled by the FHP, expecting what is known as “professional courtesy” from the troopers, meaning essentially that speeding laws simply don’t apply to Miami police officers like they do the rest of us. Apparently, Miami PD have worn out their welcome on the freeways of southern Florida and exhausted any “professional courtesy” the FHP was willing to extend.

The fallout from the event has become an even more interesting story than the unusual traffic stop itself. Police officers across the country, and especially the Miami Police Union, have severely criticized the Florida Highway Patrol officer’s actions, but beyond their stern official press release, and internet comments filled with righteous indignation and liberally seasoned with misogyny, they have resorted to some very juvenile retaliation in an effort to express their disgust for this violation of the “code.” In one instance, a load of human feces was spread all over an FHP trooper’s patrol car, and in another, a Miami PD officer pulled over and harassed (but did not cite) an FHP trooper as he was driving in Miami, although, that didn’t work out too well, when it turned out the trooper’s brother is a detective in the Internal Affairs division of the Miami PD. The feud is getting out of hand, and as incidents like this escalate, accompanied by heated rhetoric all over the police-focused blogosphere and social media sites, the Chief of Miami’s PD, Manuel Orosa told reporters at a recent press conference, “whatever issues may be out there have to stop, and stop now,” according to the Miami Herald.

For readers of CopBlock.org, this kind of reaction shouldn’t be surprising. After all, we have whole categories full of stories for this kind of double-standard, where the cops assume they are above the law, and get royally pissed whenever they are held to any sort of account, much less the same standards of behavior and compliance with the law they enforce on the rest of us. But this story is unique in the near universal consensus on the part of police officers across the country that the Florida trooper was in the wrong. Sometimes, when the police have to enforce the law against one of their own, there is substantial division in the LEO community, or at least an acknowledgment that the arrestee did something wrong, whether or not they agree with the collar. There seems to be almost no willingness to admit that the Miami cop was endangering the lives of everyone on that road, just because he was late for an *OFF DUTY* event. I’ve been pulled over for speeding before when I was late for work. I got a ticket and no sympathy whatsoever from the cop, and I sure as hell wasn’t going 120 mph.

The brazenness with which the LEO’s on PoliceOne, YouTube, and Big City Cops, for instance, assert that they ought to be entirely immune from any kind of restraint on their driving, regardless of where they are going or why is almost shocking, until you remember, these are the police. They typically recognize no authority but their own. However, that attitude is particularly ironic in light of recent events in Tucson, Arizona. Just a couple of days ago, a suspect managed to steal a police car and lead the cops and sheriff’s deputies on an 80+ mile high speed chase, on the freeway, at speeds in excess of 120 mph. Hmm. And last year, I wrote about this guy, who stole a cop car and drove recklessly around the city until he crashed into a bus and died as a result. Since that Miami PD officer did not at any point communicate with the FHP trooper via radio, she really had no reason not to assume a crime was in progress (and she was right).

Ultimately, what galls me most is the sense of entitlement to this double standard that pervades the law enforcement community, and the culture of back-scratching, covering up and outright dishonesty that goes along with it. Police can literally get away with murder, and their coworkers are loathe to do anything about it. Honest cops who do stand up and enforce the law against misbehaving fellow officers have their careers destroyed, or at the very least can expect to get no assistance or back-up if their lives are ever actually in danger. They’ll make no bones about it either, they’re happy to declare, out in the open for all to see, that their “brotherhood,” and loyalty to each other is far more important than actually obeying the laws they themselves are charged with enforcing on the rest of us. It absolutely creates corruption, fosters abuse of authority, and guarantees that the worst of the worst ascend to ever-higher positions within the force, while the good guys get run out of their jobs altogether.

Just look at the fiasco in New York City, where several officers are up on charges of corruption, including rampant ticket fixing and even covering up an aggravated assault by an officer. Far from being embarrassed by these cops “tarnishing the badge,” their fellow officers have been out in large numbers at the courthouse nearly every day to support these accused criminals, intimidating the press, and the prosecutor, and telling anyone who will listen that what they supposedly did was “no big deal,” a “courtesy,” and bizarrely, employing the Nuremberg defense, saying they were “just following orders.” Under the circumstances, how can anyone have any respect for the badge, or the men and women who wear it? I know I don’t.

Hookers Against Redlight...Cameras

2011-11-16T01:04:00.010-05:00

The official Cliff Clark Fan Club

CliffSpeaks.com has reappeared, several years after Clifford Clark had a massive stroke.

Mr Clark was charged with allegedly shooting a redlight traffic camera in Knoxville, Tennessee, a charge he vehemently denied, and Mr Clark invested $40,000 in his successful legal defense. BTW, Mr clark never got a redlight camera ticket, and was never sued by anyone for a redlight camera ticket, so he had no motive to shoot a poor defenseless camera doing God's work -- exporting millions of taxdollars from Knoxville to Redflex's account in the Bank of Australia.

Mr Clark, exployed as a software engineer before his stroke, is currently unable to operate and maintain a computer. Judge Mary Beth Leibowitz and Knox County DA Randy Nichols already signed a court order to dismiss all charges against Mr Clark, due to "incompetency from the stroke".

Click for redlight scamera archive

The dismissal had nothing whatseover to do with Mr Clark's current lawyer, Ron Newcomb -- also currently employed as a prosecutor in Blount County-- filing a subpoena 1 week prior, for Knox deputy Mark McConnell to testify that a Knox deputy confessed to shooting a traffic camera. The dismissal had nothing whatsoever to do with KPD, KCSO, Knox DA and Redflex destroying all ballistic evidence and audiotape evidence in this case. The dismissal had nothing to do with City of Knoxville firing Redflex for suspected bribery and contract fraud, with Redflex fleeing the jurisdiction and refusing to testify against Mr Clark. No sir, the dismissal had nothing to do with that.

So how did this website suddenly appear, complete with "Top Secret" data about Knox County deputies that the Knoxville DA threatened him with rearrest -- for reposting public information available to everyone from the Knox County Tax Assessor's website?

It seems Australian traffic scamera owner Redflex has 1-billion enemies, including Australia.

Bad Girls ^TM love Cliff Clark

According to Whois.com and GoDaddy.com, the owner of CliffSpeaks.com is not Mr Clark, but Terence Hooi, a/k/a A Pimp Named Outback...

Mr Clark's apparently has a fan club of high-class hookers, charging $800/hour and $4700/night. And perhaps a manwhore.

The cloned CliffSpeaks.com has no links nor photos, typical for saved webpages using Microsoft Explorer.

Note that pimpin and hookin are lawful professions in the Land of Oz. Much cheaper and more respectable than lawyers practicing as lawyers, prosecutors and judges. Infinitely more respectable than a traffic scamera mafia seizing control of the American Police State for the 53-nation British Empire (a/k/a the New World Order).

"Redflex Group is based in South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Redflex Holdings Limited was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in January 1997. Redflex Traffic Systems Inc has contracts with more then 130 USA cities, and is the largest provider of digital red light and speed enforcement services in North America."
—Redflex.com

"It is extremely easy to beat this type of ticket in court. Your easiest defense is to simply throw the ticket away. If it does not come with a return receipt that requires a signature, there is no proof that you actually got the ticket and they cannot prosecute you on that. What the legal system wants you to do is just send in the fine and not ask any questions. This can be a big money maker for some communities. One other form of defense to utilize on your behalf is the fact that when you are accused in court you must be faced by your accuser. Obviously the computer cannot appear in court as a defense method for the prosecution. Also, you do not have to identify yourself as the driver of the vehicle because it would violate your sixth amendment rights against self incrimination."
-Norman G. Fernandez, attorney at law, and Jes Beard, attorney at law in Chattanooga, Tennessee, JesBeard.com, How to Beat a Speeding Ticket - Photo RADAR

GoDaddy.com Whois search for CliffSpeaks.com

15 November 2011

The data contained in GoDaddy.com, Inc.'s WHOIS database, while believed by the company to be reliable, is provided "as is" with no guarantee or warranties regarding its accuracy. This information is provided for the sole purpose of assisting you in obtaining information about domain name registration records.

Any use of this data for any other purpose is expressly forbidden without the prior written permission of GoDaddy.com, Inc. By submitting an inquiry, you agree to these terms of usage and limitations of warranty. In particular, you agree not to use this data to allow, enable, or otherwise make possible, dissemination or collection of this data, in part or in its entirety, for any purpose, such as the transmission of unsolicited advertising and solicitations of any kind, including spam. You further agree not to use this data to enable high volume, automated or robotic electronic processes designed to collect or compile this data for any purpose, including mining this data for your own personal or commercial purposes.

Please note: the registrant of the domain name is specified in the "registrant" field. In most cases, GoDaddy.com, Inc. is not the registrant of domain names listed in this database.

Registrant:
Escortfiles

2/20 Medway Street
Box Hill North, VIC 3129
Australia

Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: CLIFFSPEAKS.COM
Created on: 04-Jan-08
Expires on: 04-Jan-12
Last Updated on: 15-Feb-11

Administrative Contact:
Hooi, Terence terence@messageforce.com
Escortfiles
2/20 Medway Street
Box Hill North, VIC 3129
Australia
0398986240

Technical Contact:
Hooi, Terence terence@messageforce.com
Escortfiles
2/20 Medway Street
Box Hill North, VIC 3129
Australia
0398986240

Domain servers in listed order:
NS63.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
NS64.DOMAINCONTROL.COM

Registry Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Registry Status: clientRenewProhibited
Registry Status: clientTransferProhibited
Registry Status: clientUpdateProhibited

Whois Server Version 2.0

Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net for detailed information.

Domain Name: CLIFFSPEAKS.COM
Registrar: GODADDY.COM, INC.
Whois Server: whois.godaddy.com
Referral URL: http://registrar.godaddy.com
Name Server: NS63.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
Name Server: NS64.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Status: clientRenewProhibited
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Updated Date: 15-feb-2011
Creation Date: 04-jan-2008
Expiration Date: 04-jan-2012

>>> Last update of whois database: Wed, 16 Nov 2011 05:36:52 UTC <<

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Escorts' files 'name MP' Craig Thomson

BY: EXCLUSIVE CAMERON STEWART
The Australian
August 25, 2011

THE head of a leading Melbourne escort agency has raised fresh allegations linking Labor MP Craig Thomson to the use of prostitutes in the city in 2005 and 2006.

The manager of the escort agency has told The Australian that its records show the company provided services booked in the name of "Craig Thomson" at Melbourne's Pacific International Suites in November 2005 and at "The Grand", most likely the Grand Hyatt, in December 2006.

When pressed for further details, the manager provided The Australian with the contact mobile number allegedly used for the bookings. The number provided was the same as that used by Mr Thomson when he was head of the Health Services Union.

However, the manager said the agency no longer held the credit card details for payment because the transactions took place so long ago.

These alleged escort agency bookings in November 2005 and December 2006 have not been disclosed previously. They follow the reporting of phone records which show that in April 2006 and June 2006 calls were made from Mr Thomson's Melbourne hotel rooms to various escort agencies.

Mr Thomson did not return The Australian's calls yesterday. He has previously strongly denied all allegations of irregular spending after it was revealed that his union credit card was used to pay for escort services in Sydney.

The Melbourne escort agency manager yesterday requested anonymity both personally and for the agency, saying that the success of any escort business relied on discretion. The Australian was unable to independently verify if Mr Thomson was staying at those Melbourne hotels at the time of the alleged escort bookings.

However, an affidavit filed in court during the defamation proceedings Mr Thomson began and later dropped against Fairfax alleges that he frequented both of these hotels during other visits to Melbourne in 2006.

He stayed in the Grand Hyatt on April 5, 2006. Phone records filed in court show a call was made from his room to Young Blondes escort agency and later to Confidential Models escort agency. On June 7, 2006, a call was made from his hotel room at the Pacific International Suites to an escort agency called Bad Girls. The new claims relate to November 2005 and December 2006.

The Australian can confirm that Mr Thomson was in Melbourne in early December 2006, dining at the Melbourne Supper Club on December 4, when he paid a $960 bill with a Diners Club credit card.

He is also likely to have been in Melbourne in early November 2005 when a senior Health Services Union delegation attended a meeting of more than 700 unionists at the Dallas Brooks Hall.

"I continue to reject claims of wrongdoing," Mr Thomson said in a statement on Monday.

Additional reporting: Paul Maley

Commie China sues Knoxville for ban on redlight camera tickets

2011-11-12T03:03:00.001-05:00

I suspect City of Knoxville Muni Corp is conspiring with Commie Chinese Lasercraft/ATS to lose this case on purpose, as an end run around the state law banning 100% of redlight scamera tickets. Notice how KNS always censors the actual facts and law from its adverts, er, so-called news?

"Lasercraft is a member of the Public Safety Equipment PSE group of companies. Public Safety Equipment (Intl) Ltd, Registered Office, Yeadon, Leeds, England. Beijing Mag Science & Technology Development Corp, Beijing, China."
http://www.lasercraftinc.com
http://www.pse-intl.com
http://www.maggroup.org

"Redflex Group is based in South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Redflex Holdings Limited was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in January 1997. Redflex Traffic Systems Inc has contracts with more then 130 USA cities, and is the largest provider of digital red light and speed enforcement services in North America."
—Redflex.com

$500,000 Knoxville Redflex invoice paid to National Australia Bank

COP.
2. to steal; filch. 3. to buy (narcotics). 4. cop out, a. to avoid one's responsibility, the fulfillment of a promise, etc.; renege; back out. 5. cop a plea, a. to plead guilty or confess in return for receiving a lighter sentence. b. to plead guilty to a lesser charge; plea-bargain.
—Random House Unabridged Dictionary

"It is extremely easy to beat this type of ticket in court. Your easiest defense is to simply throw the ticket away. If it does not come with a return receipt that requires a signature, there is no proof that you actually got the ticket."
-Norman G. Fernandez, attorney, BikerLawBlog.com, free ebook How to Beat a Speeding Ticket - Photo RADAR

"You've got all these speed cameras here. In L.A. people would say, 'Why don't you just shoot them out?'"
-Jay Leno, BBC Top Gear (crowd cheers wildly)

Tennessee: ATS Sues City Over Right Turn Ticket Money

Knoxville News Sentinel
11/11/11

Red light camera company sues a city because it is losing money without right on red citations.

Automated ticketing vendor American Traffic Solutions (ATS) filed suit Tuesday against Knoxville, Tennessee for its failure to issue tickets for turning right on a red light -- and that is costing the company a lot of money. A state law took effect in July banning the controversial turning tickets, but the Arizona-based firm contends the law should not apply to their legal agreement with the city, which anticipated the bulk of the money to come from this type of tickets.

Municipalities were disappointed in August when Attorney General Robert J. Cooper Jr shot down the argument that this statute somehow did not apply to existing contracts, writing that "the parties have no vested right in a particular level of revenue" (view opinion). ATS disagrees.

"Because of the uncertainty caused by the attorney general's opinion, Knoxville has been compelled to cease issuing citations to the owners of vehicles detected making illegal 'right turns on red' by traffic cameras based on the attorney general's opinion," ATS attorney C. Crews Townsend wrote. "In 2010, right-turn-on-red violations accounted for substantial fines collected by Knoxville pursuant to their respective ordinances. A portion of these fines were remitted to ATS pursuant to the agreement. This was a critical component of the agreement's consideration supporting the parties' contractual rights and obligations."

ATS bases its argument on the "legislative history" of the new law. Many friendly state lawmakers assured the company that a grandfather clause would be slipped into the bill. The final, adopted version contained no such language exempting existing photo enforcement programs from the law's provisions. ATS insists the lack of this provision is hurting the company's bottom line.

"Without a court order clarifying that Public Act 425 does not impact the agreement, the injury to ATS will remain significant, immediate and continuing," Townsend wrote. "If, as the attorney general has opined, Public Act 425 applies to existing contracts, including the agreement, then Public Act 425 has substantially impaired the agreement. Indeed, Knoxville has ceased prosecuting certain violations as required under the otherwise existing, valid, and enforceable agreement, and is causing ATS to lose substantial revenue."

ATS asked the Chancery Court for Knox County to declare the right turn law unconstitutional because it discriminates against traffic camera companies.

Lawsuit seeks to resume Knoxville red light camera citations -- Suit claims right-on-red ticket ban invalid

The vendor providing equipment for Knoxville's red-light camera enforcement program is suing the city because it no longer issues citations for improper right turns on red.

American Traffic Solutions Inc., based in Scottsdale, Ariz., filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Knox County Chancery Court. ATS has a five-year contract with Knoxville that was signed in 2009.

Tennessee lawmakers enacted Public Acts 425 this year, which since July 1 has banned issuing citations for an improper right turn on red if the only evidence is traffic camera video. While there were discussions among legislators about exempting existing contracts from the prohibition, that amendment did not make it into the final law.

Without that amendment, all cities across the state that had a contract with a red-light camera vendor had to cease issuing right-turn-on-red violations. The state attorney general in August issued an opinion stating the new law was constitutional and did not unlawfully impact existing contracts.

"Knoxville's decision has not been made in bad faith but is the result of the difficult position in which Knoxville has been placed in order to comply with Public Act 425," states the lawsuit.

"The statute inhibits Knoxville's ability to comply with the Agreement, a valid and enforceable contract and has caused ATS harm."

ATS's lawsuit basically asks the court to either declare Public Acts 425 to be unconstitutional because it impacts existing legal contracts with cities or to clarify that the law does not apply to existing agreements.

The legal filing also argues that the new law "irrationally disallows the use of photographic evidence to prosecute drivers who run red lights when turning right while allowing the use of photographic evidence to prosecute drivers who run red lights and continue straight through the intersection."

For Knoxville, the restriction on red-light violations for right turns on red has resulted in a nearly 90 percent drop in citations at the 14 intersections recording violations.

In Farragut, the new law has resulted in a nearly 50 percent reduction in citations, according to Ben Harkins, traffic enforcement manager for the town. Harkins said red-light camera citations have dropped from 2,812 issued in July, August, September and October of 2010 to 1,399 citations in the same time period this year,

Farragut has red-light cameras at four intersections. Those devices are supplied by RedFlex Traffic Systems.

Knoxville Police Department Capt. Gordon Catlett, who oversees the red-light camera enforcement program for the city, said red-light camera citations from August, September and October of 2010 totaled 30,078. For the same period this year, KPD has issued 3,224 citations based on the video evidence of a red-light camera.

"The big winners are the people who don't want to obey the law," Catlett said. "The big loser is the city of Knoxville, which loses its 50 percent margin."

The ATS contract with Knoxville does not specify a quota of monthly tickets, but includes a formula for sharing revenue from paid citations. Each violation carries a $50 fine. ATS gets 80 percent of all revenues up to $4,500 per camera per month. After revenues exceed $4,500, the money is split 50-50.

Knoxville has seen a significant reduction in revenues since passage of the law, according to Jim York, Knoxville finance director.

York said revenue for July, August and September from the red-light cameras has declined from $486,000 during that period in 2010 to $138,000 for the same months this year.

Catlett said that from Jan. 1, 2010, through Sept. 30, 2010, the city collected $1,417,020 in red-light camera revenues, but has seen collections drop to $740,689 for the same period this year. ATS' portion of red-light camera revenue for the same period has dropped from $2.085 million in 2010 to about $1.380 million this year.

Comments

Mr. Jacobs, You may want to recheck your facts. In the contract, with LaserCraft, (LaserCraft was purchased by A.T.S. last year), that was executed by then Mayor Haslam on February 3, 2009, in Exhibit “C” Titled “Maintenance”, In item # 12, it states; “At minimum, LaserCraft warrants and represents that seventy-five (75%) of all Potential Violations must be made available for prosecution.” Mr. Jacobs, that kind of looks like a quota requirement to me, what do you think? It does not say it’s a quota, but effectively it is a quota. It says that 75% of all violations that the system records, “must be made available for prosecution”, as in, a minimum of 75% of events recorded must receive citations according to the Contract.

Agreed, I talked with "Officer" Catlett and he is hands down one of the most ignorant and condescending people I've had the displeasure of dealing with. The man is nothing but a paid stooge for ATS. I don't mind paying a fine if I do something wrong but in my case ATS was mailing to the wrong address (One I've never even lived at!) and then charged me a $100 fine on top of the ticket and would refuse to drop it because of their mistake. Catlett and ATS are out for nothing but money and this lawsuit proves it. Personally, I got more choice words for Catlett but I'd rather not have my post removed.

I think the "must come to a complete stop" on a red turn actually makes things more danagerous. For example, you slow and are able to clearly see that you can safely go, but the gap is closing. Legally you have to stop completely while the gap continues to close, and when you are able go again, your gap in traffic is now much less. I know, you can come to a complete stop and wait for another gap, but the way people are, they will usually just try to go in the existing gap anyway, and thus the fact that they had to come to a complete stop (which they really have to do if it is a red light camera in which they ticket you if you don't) really makes it more dangerous because they are more likely to be hit by oncomming traffic. Of course, if someone doesn't bother to slow and make sure the coast is clear and just pulls out, that would be very dangerous. It seems to me that turning right on red should be a yield situation, not a complete stop situation.

To allow a FOR profit company to police a supposedly Free society goes against every fiber in my body. Supporters of this financial rape of citizens wrap their agenda up in a nice little box and cram it down our throats in the name of safety. I call BS

In most of these contracts around the country, municipalities have the right to “Terminate for Cause”, if the State of Federal Law changes, affecting the execution of the contracts. In the LaserCraft (ATS), contract with the City, from Article 4., titled “Termination”, section 4.1 “Termination for Cause”, it states; “Either party shall have the right to terminate this Agreement immediately by written notice to the other if (i) federal or state statues are amended to prohibit or substantially change the operation of photo red light enforcement systems;......” With this provision being part of the contract, why is ATS suing the City?

Mr. Jacobs, Exhibit "C", page 29 of the contract is titled 'Maintenance", but it does not say anything about "Vehicle Owner information" or anything like it. What it does say, is: “11. LaserCraft warrants and represents that fewer than ten present (10%) of all Potential Violations will be rejected due to LaserCraft’s Photo Red Light Enforcement Program’s inability to identify the registered owner of the vehicle, the state the vehicle is from, or the tag number on the license plate.” “12. At minimum, LaserCraft warrants and represents that seventy-five (75%) of all Potential Violations must be made available for prosecution.” This is the only reference to a Vehicle owner’s information on the entire page. If you couple this contract information with LaserCraft’s “Prosecutable Image Rates” claim in their proposals, a different meaning starts to become clear. “LaserCraft is aware that a few proposals submitted to the City will suggest that some Red Light Camera systems issue a low percentage of citations vs. actual violations. LaserCraft designed our system to capture the highest number of violations and issue the highest number of citations. As demonstrated by the table below, our issuance rate is better that 95% with the system we propose to Knoxville.” So LaserCraft claims that they have better than a 95% issuance rate for citations, and in the City of Knoxville they guarantee that at a minimum, 75% of all recorded violations will result in a prosecution, or issuance of a Violation. Call it what you want, the people of Knoxville know what it actually is.

The language in the LaserCraft contract, and its proposals, fits the very definition of Quota. Maybe you should read the definition of quota:

QUOTA
1: a proportional part or share; especially : the share or proportion assigned to each in a division or to each member of a body
2: the number or amount constituting a proportional share
3: a fixed number or percentage of minority group members or women needed to meet the requirements of affirmative action"
-Websters Dictionary

QUOTA
1.the share or proportional part of a total that is required from, or is due or belongs to, a particular district, state, person, group, etc.
2.a proportional part or share of a fixed total amount or quantity.
3.the number or percentage of persons of a specified kind permitted to enroll in a college, join a club, immigrate to a country, etc.
-Dictionary.com

I figured you for a mindless pig, and whaddya know? I was right. No one mentioned anything about school zones and no one is believing your fairy tale about 10-15 tix a day with little kids being bounced all over Knoxville with you being there to save them from certain disaster. By the way, the difference between turning right, merging into traffic and blasting straight through multiple lanes is obvious to anyone who doesn't have his over inflated head up his own self-serving rear end. I'll let you get back to saving the world now, Clark Kent.

"Boy I'm sure ats is upset at loosing a potential $2,679,900.00 year.
It breaks down ats gets $40 local gov. get $10 out of the $50 ticket with ats up to $4500 then it splits the $50 50/50 $25 each.
Now the numbers "I rounded a little".
30,000+ tickets for three months.
Ats $4500/$40= 113 tickets"rounded up"
Local gov 113 tickets X$10 = $1,300
That takes care of the first part of the money contract per month.
Now the 10,000tickets-113tickets=9887tickets.
9887ticketsX$25=$247,175.00 each per month.
Take ats $4500+$247,175.00=$251,675.00
3monthsX$251,675.00=$755,025.00
for the year $3,020,100.00
----
local
same 113 tickets X $10=$1,300.00
9887tickets X$25=247,175.00
$1,300X$247,175.00=$248,475.00
3 months X $248,475.00=$745,425.00
for the year $2,981,700.00
---
Grand total fleeced from the driver
$6,001,800.00 Just for the right on red.
NOT counting the red light scamers
or the speed trap scamers
JUST RIGHT ON RED.
Tell me the scamera's are not a money maker."

Reality Check

"It is extremely easy to beat this type of ticket in court. Your easiest defense is to simply throw the ticket away. If it does not come with a return receipt that requires a signature, there is no proof that you actually got the ticket."
-Norman G. Fernandez, attorney, BikerLawBlog.com, free ebook How to Beat a Speeding Ticket - Photo RADAR
http://bikerlawblog.com

Only the DUMB pay Photo Radar Tickets
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8b0K6YIGFc

"Your photo radar defense: Ignoring The Letter. When you receive a general post letter advising you of your photo radar citation, you have the option of just ignoring it. All states have guidelines on how the citation must be served. In effect, your payment or appearance at the courthouse is your acceptance of service. By not responding to the letter, you are refusing acceptance of service. In addition, none of the departments are making personal service to anyone that lists a PO Box as their mailing address on their vehicle registrations."
-Lt "Radar" Roy Reyer, Maricopa County Sheriff Office, Phoenix, Arizona, RadarBusters.com, Your Photo Radar Defense

75% of AZ Drivers Refuse to Pay Photo Traffic Tickets

85% of TX Drivers Refuse to Pay Photo Traffic Tickets
http://naturaltreasure.net/scameras/?p=224

"Starting tomorrow, photo-enforcement-violation notices must finally state the truth about what's going on -- namely, that you don't need to respond or identify the driver in the picture. Cities and, for a while, the state of Arizona, have for years employed something of a ruse to help get speeders and red-light runners caught by the machines to pay up. They sent an initial notice of violation that has no legal teeth, yet contained a passive threat that blowing off the notice might not be in the motorists' best interest. A few years ago, we caught the city of Scottsdale lying blatantly in its notices, which it falsely called a "summons." The notice stated that those who didn't respond would be subject to fines, fees and driver's license suspension. An Arizona Department of Public Safety notice of violation that we published two years ago shows the more-typical trick. Appearing below DPS insignia, the notice states simply that the motorist should fill out the form and sent it back by the "respond-by date." While the DPS freeway cameras were online, (that program ended last summer), thousands of people likely responded like sheep to those notices -- even though they didn't have to. As numerous articles in New Times and elsewhere have pointed out, ignoring those notices only meant the possibility of a ticket being served at the offender's home by a process server. True, having a server come out meant an additional $25 added to the fine. But if the server never comes, or the motorist doesn't appear to be home when the server comes -- always a distinct possibility -- then the photo enforcement ticket becomes invalid. Now, thanks to a bill that Governor Jan Brewer signed, notices of violation must confess that: (a) the notice is not a court issued document; (b) the recipient is under no obligation to identify the person or respond to the notice; and (c) failure to respond to the notice may result in official service that may result in an additionally levied fee. The new law also mandates that $13 of every ticket goes to the "GITEM" task force, which has a mission of "strict enforcement" of immigration and gang laws."
-Phoenix News Times, Arizona Photo-Enforcement Notices Must Now State the Truth: Motorists Have No Duty to Respond or Identify Driver, Jul. 19 2011
http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2011/07/arizona_photo_enforcement_noti.php

Knoxville Code, Section 8-1, Issuance of process.
The city judge shall issue process on the complaint of any person when it appears to the city judge that any provision of this Code or other ordinance of the city has been violated. He shall try no case until process has been regularly sued out, served and returned.
http://library.municode.com/index.aspx?clientid=11098

TN Rules of Civil Procedure
RULE 4. PROCESS
Rule 4.01: Summons; Issuance; By Whom Served; Sanction for Delay.
(1) Upon the filing of the complaint the clerk of the court wherein the complaint is filed shall forthwith issue the required summons and cause it, with necessary copies of the complaint and summons, to be delivered for service to any person authorized to serve process. This person shall serve the summons, and the return endorsed thereon shall be proof of the time and manner of service. A summons may be issued for service in any county against any defendant, and separate or additional summonses may be issued against any defendant upon request of plaintiff. Nothing in this rule shall affect existing laws with respect to venue.
(2) A summons and complaint may be served by any person who is not a party and is not less than 18 years of age. The process server must be identified by name and address on the return.
(3) If a plaintiff or counsel for plaintiff (including third-party plaintiffs) intentionally causes delay of prompt issuance of a summons or prompt service of a summons, filing of the complaint (or third-party complaint) is ineffective.
[Amended by order filed December 10, 2003; effective July 1, 2004.]
Rule 4.03: Summons; Return.
(1) The person serving the summons shall promptly make proof of service to the court and shall identify the person served and shall describe the manner of service. If a summons is not served within 90 days after its issuance, it shall be returned stating the reasons for failure to serve. The plaintiff may obtain new summonses from time to time, as provided in Rule 3, if any prior summons has been returned unserved or if any prior summons has not been served within 90 days of issuance.
(2) When process is served by mail, the original summons, endorsed as below; an affidavit of the person making service setting forth the person's compliance with the requirements of this rule; and, the return receipt shall be sent to and filed by the clerk. The person making service shall endorse over his or her signature on the original summons the date of mailing a certified copy of the summons and a copy of the complaint to the defendant and the date of receipt of return receipt from the defendant. If the return receipt is signed by the defendant, or by person designated by Rule 4.04 or by statute, service on the defendant shall be complete. If not, service by mail may be attempted again or other methods authorized by these rules or by statute may be used.
http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/courts/rules

$100 Manwhore

2011-11-12T02:12:00.000-05:00

My dear Friend,

I know of no Medicine fit to diminish the violent natural Inclinations you mention; and if I did, I think I should not communicate it to you. Marriage is the proper Remedy. It is the most natural State of Man, and therefore the State in which you are most likely to find solid Happiness. Your Reasons against entring into it at present, appear to me not well-founded. The circumstantial Advantages you have in View by postponing it, are not only uncertain, but they are small in comparison with that of the Thing itself, the being married and settled. It is the Man and Woman united that make the compleat human Being. Separate, she wants his Force of Body and Strength of Reason; he, her Softness, Sensibility and acute Discernment. Together they are more likely to succeed in the World. A single Man has not nearly the Value he would have in that State of Union. He is an incomplete Animal. He resembles the odd Half of a Pair of Scissars. If you get a prudent healthy Wife, your Industry in your Profession, with her good Œconomy, will be a Fortune sufficient.

But if you will not take this Counsel, and persist in thinking a Commerce with the Sex inevitable, then I repeat my former Advice, that in all your Amours you should prefer old Women to young ones. You call this a Paradox, and demand my Reasons. They are these:

1. Because as they have more Knowledge of the World and their Minds are better stor’d with Observations, their Conversation is more improving and more lastingly agreable.

2. Because when Women cease to be handsome, they study to be good. To maintain their Influence over Men, they supply the Diminution of Beauty by an Augmentation of Utility. They learn to do a 1000 Services small and great, and are the most tender and useful of all Friends when you are sick. Thus they continue amiable. And hence there is hardly such a thing to be found as an old Woman who is not a good Woman.

3. Because there is no hazard of Children, which irregularly produc’d may be attended with much Inconvenience.

4. Because thro’ more Experience, they are more prudent and discreet in conducting an Intrigue to prevent Suspicion. The Commerce with them is therefore safer with regard to your Reputation. And with regard to theirs, if the Affair should happen to be known, considerate People might be rather inclin’d to excuse an old Woman who would kindly take care of a young Man, form his Manners by her good Counsels, and prevent his ruining his Health and Fortune among mercenary Prostitutes.

5. Because in every Animal that walks upright, the Deficiency of the Fluids that fill the Muscles appears first in the highest Part: The Face first grows lank and wrinkled; then the Neck; then the Breast and Arms; the lower Parts continuing to the last as plump as ever: So that covering all above with a Basket, and regarding only what is below the Girdle, it is impossible of two Women to know an old from a young one. And as in the dark all Cats are grey, the Pleasure of corporal Enjoyment with an old Woman is at least equal, and frequently superior, every Knack being by Practice capable of Improvement.

6. Because the Sin is less. The debauching a Virgin may be her Ruin, and make her for Life unhappy.

7. Because the Compunction is less. The having made a young Girl miserable may give you frequent bitter Reflections; none of which can attend the making an old Woman happy.

8thly and Lastly They are so grateful!!

signed Benjamin Franklin
June 25, 1745

My email was suspended for emailing this story to a friend.

The email host is infowars.net by Alex Jones based in the UK, black heart of the Rothchild's Jew World Odor, formerly known as the British Empire.

Old Ben's Satanic Hellfire Club was in England.

But I still think Old Ben was a cool cat....er, tom cat.

Jury says 'Not Guilty' in murder of Blount biker, no charge for trucker who murdered biker on Dragon

2011-11-10T16:26:00.003-05:00

Why no ticket nor arrest for the trucker who broke the law to murder biker Ike Woodard? Why is Pellissippi Parkway named in honor of a convicted hit-and-run killer of a biker in Blount County?

Use apple cider vinegar for pain control to avoid DUI arrest in the After Life...

Jury returns verdict: Dallas Ray Skinner found not guilty of vehicular homicide

By Austin Baird
austin.baird@thedailytimes.com

Dallas Ray Skinner, a 50-year-old Vonore man, was found not guilty in the vehicular homicide case the state made against him for his role in the crash that ended the life of a longtime Maryville resident.

When the 12-person jury handed down its verdict Thursday, Ryan Desmond and Clinton Frazier, assistant district attorneys for Blount County who presented the case, had proven unsuccessful in their attempt to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Skinner was criminally responsible for the death of 49-year-old Randall Bowers.

Bowers was killed Aug. 10, 2008, when Skinner’s car and Bowers’ motorcycle collided on Six Mile Road just south of Chota Road and the motorcycle was knocked off the pavement.

Keith Lieberman, Skinner’s defense attorney, presented three main points to defend his client and sway the jury in his favor.

First, the trooper who first responded to the scene, James Dalton of the Tennessee Highway Patrol, cited Skinner for improper passing and a couple minor violations and released him from the scene instead of arresting him on more serious charges.

The trooper talked to witnesses at the scene and collected evidence, Lieberman argued, but it wasn’t until eight months after the wreck that a full investigation of the scene was completed and Skinner was charged with vehicular homicide.

Second, the crash reconstructionist the state called as an expert witness, Trooper Charles Massengill of the Tennessee Highway Patrol, testified under oath to the jury that he could not be 100 percent certain of his findings.

He was confident there was sufficient evidence on the road and the vehicles to prove Skinner caused the crash, Massengill said, but there was an off chance he was wrong.

Last, Bowers had hydrocodone in his system at the time of his death. Even though he was well within the therapeutic range, according to Shawn Hilsenbeck, the medical examiner, Lieberman suggested the painkiller he used intermittently after a couple knee surgeries could potentially have influenced his decision making and riding ability that day.

“There are no winners in a case like this,” Lieberman said. “A good man is gone, and two families are forever impacted. Nobody is out celebrating.

“We really appreciate the jury reaching the right decision. The easy thing to do would have been to get caught up in emotion, but they didn’t do that.”

Vehicular homicide trial goes to jury

By Austin Baird
The Daily Times
9 November 2011

MARYVILLE, TENN. -- The state of Tennessee rested its vehicular homicide case against 50-year-old Dallas Ray Skinner on Wednesday, and a Blount County jury has started its deliberation process.

A verdict is expected to be reached today, according to court observers, though the jurors will have time to sort through the facts in an attempt to reach a unanimous decision.

Skinner is charged with vehicular homicide for his alleged role in the Aug. 10, 2008, crash involving his Ford Taurus and a Victory Vegas Polaris motorcycle operated by 49-year-old Maryville resident Randall Darrell Bowers.

According to testimony and reports from Tennessee Highway Patrol, the collision — which took place on Six Mile Road about the length of three football fields south of Chota Road — sent Bowers flying from his motorcycle. He died from blunt force trauma and internal hemorrhage before he made it to the hospital.

Blount County Assistant District Attorney Ryan Desmond argued that Skinner passed a truck near Chota Road and recklessly continued in the left-hand side of the two-lane road in an attempt to pass Bowers. Skinner then crossed the solid yellow lines into the right lane of traffic, Desmond said, and made contact with Bowers’ bike twice.

He said the car’s rear quarter panel tapped the bike, causing Bowers to lose control and slam into the front of Skinner’s car. The motorcycle then flipped on its side and rolled several times which sent Bowers into the air, until he landed more than a hundred feet away in a driveway in front of Kagley’s Chapel Baptist Church.

Desmond turned to crash reconstructionist and THP Trooper Charles Massengill to try to convince the jury that Skinner was to blame for Bowers’ death.

“(I can tell) the car was positioned going toward the right lane because of reflective gear from the left side fork of the bike (that was) implanted in the front right bumper of the Taurus,” Massengill said. “There’s (also) no evidence to suggest the motorcycle being in the left lane.”

Skinner’s lawyer, Keith Lieberman, however, questioned Massengill’s methods. “(Massengill) said himself that he can’t be 100 percent certain,” Lieberman said. “He also wasn’t there to collect evidence the night of the accident ... and it took him more than eight months to conduct an investigation.”

There was a dramatic moment when Skinner waived his right established by the Fifth Amendment and opted to testify on his own behalf.

“(Bowers) would not leave me alone, he just wouldn’t,” Skinner told the jury. “I thought he kicked the back quarter panel, like some bikers will do ... but I never crossed the center line and I never touched that motorcycle.”

During cross examination by Desmond, where Skinner acknowledged that he sped up and was traveling in excess of the 45 mph speed zone. He also told the court he had stopped at a service station moments before, but was speeding in part because he had to use the restroom.

“Why didn’t you brake?” Desmond asked.

“I don’t know,” Skinner said. “I wanted to get back over. I didn’t know what was coming around that corner.”

He also said he felt just “one large impact,” which contradicted Massengill’s testimony.

Another point of contention came from the testimony of Stanley Sellers and Anita Duplantier, both friends of Skinner who were driving behind when the collision took place. Other witnesses claim Bowers slowed enough to wave at people in the parking lot and talk to Jimmy Rex Gredig, a friend of Bowers who owned the cabinet shop where churchgoers were talking at the time of the wreck, but Sellers and Duplantier said that Bowers blew threw the stop sign.

“He did not stop at the stop sign,” Sellers said. “His throttle was wide open.”

If the jury finds Skinner not guilty of vehicular homicide — a charge that could land him in prison for as many as 10 years — they will then be asked to consider lesser charges ranging from reckless aggravated assault, criminally negligent homicide and reckless homicide. All of those charges also are felonies.

The jury reconvenes today at 9 a.m.

Biker Chick Chat

2011-11-09T03:16:00.000-05:00

with Megan Fox goddess of Knoxville (sort of):

Google bans The Dragonater Blog, Killboy blog, ETR forum, WBCR blog, Maryville Daily Times newspaper

2011-11-05T16:34:00.019-04:00

Google Mapper arrested while spying on every local inhabitant and hacking their wifi

"Don't be evil."
-Google motto (evil laff)

I was wondering why my hits have dropped off recently. When I did a google search, none of my posts showed up. Only the home URL appears on google -- Dragonaters.blogspot.com, without a title. The problem seems to be with google US, not the foreign googles.

Killboy blog, ETR forum, WBCR radio blog and Maryville Daily Times newspaper are also banned by google. Coincidence? Why is google the top player for internet searches if it won't search some of the the most-popular sites on the web, or in this case, the only news sites in Blount County, Tennessee?

I've always used SubmitExpress.com to include google URL submissions, with over 100-million page views from my websites and over 10-million downloads of my videos.

I've also routinely submitted URLs directly to google, now google wants to know who you are and where you are before submitting websites to be indexed by google, and demands separate site submission for all videos. Google alleges it automatically searches all Blogger.com/Blogspot.com sites, without submission requests.

Now google (owner of youtube) has banned uploads of all videos, has banned all page counts of videos, and constantly threatens to delete all 100-million of its users' videos.

Is so-called law enforcement ordering google to censor my blog, as google admits is being done for "embarassing" info all over the planet? Never mind that kosher Russian google IS US law enforcement, staging violent "revolutionary" civil wars all over the planet to "justify" US military invasions, including the current US Civil War and martial law for the jew banksters owning the private foreign "Federal" Reserve Bank that counterfeits all so-called "US dollars" and steals 100% of (unconstitutional voluntary) "income taxes" (felony theft by deception by fraud).

Or perhaps I'm being punished for using Startpage.com for my searches on google, which blocks google from recording all my searches to use against me in a court of law?

Update 19 Nov 2011, google still bans the Dragonater:

Google has also banned posts by Killboy blog:

Google has banned posts by ETR forum:

Google has banned posts by WBCR radio blog:

Google has banned individual news stories by the Maryville Daily Times newspaper:

These bans certainly make certain Blount County politicians very happy, all the way to the bank.

Tennessee Auditors Arrive - 48 Blount Sheriff cars missing - Blount County Commissioner Jim Folts: "The state auditor arrived in the County a few weeks ago. The auditor was able to find only 239 vehicles. What happened to the other 48 vehicles? But the Sheriff wants the taxpayers to support a tax increase, so that he can have even more money to spend next year. Does this make sense to you?"

"I’ll burn your house down, set your dog on fire and there won’t be a member of your family left, do you understand me? I won’t hire it done, I will do it myself! Do you understand me?”
-Blount County sheriff James Berrong talking to his secretary in the Blount County Justice Center, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit, Nuchols v. Berrong, No. 04-5645, July 11, 2005

http://www.google.com/blogsearch

Google tells blogs, "Get to the back of the bus! Who do you think you are, Rosa Parks?"

Google Stop Indexing Blogger (Blogspot) Posts
http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/023133.html
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Webmasters/thread?tid=7908355c3d1637e8&hl=en
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/search.py?hl=en&forum=1&query=Google+appears+to+have+stopped+indexing+blogspot.com+more%3Aforum

After "resolving" these complaints by bloggers, Google now uses a hidden search engine for blogs, separate from Google.com, buried in the fine print next to "patent search", making it invisible for 99.9999% of casual surfers.
http://www.google.com/intl/en/about/products/index.html

Submitting a blog to google for indexing of websites does NOT get it indexed in google.com/blogsearch.

Blogs can only be submitted to:
http://blogsearch.google.com/ping

Go sign yourself up with Google Alerts. When you sign up for this put the URL (address of your blog) in the top box, where it says search terms. The when your blog updates, you can tell how long it takes the spiders to crawl your blog, because Google will send you an email, every time you update!
http://www.google.com/alerts

My individual posts do appear in this google blogsearch engine, but are invisible to 99.99% of surfers at google.com.

All photos posted on my blog are invisible to an image search on google.com, unless posted on regular websites or some forums.

Other blogs at blogspot.com ARE listed in google.com, for every webpage. Are these blogs only fronts for multinational corporate advertisors on google?

My blog Dragonaters.blogspot.com does not appear in google searches for "Deals Gap Dragon", despite being the #1 world newssource for daily news on that popular topic. My website DealsGapDragon.com is on the front page of google.com and dominates the following search pages. My videos on Deals Gap Dragon get over 1-million views each on Google Videos (not virtually banned) and youtube (owned by google).

Google quit caching websites, which previously allowed network users to bypass censorship of URLs, but you can add a browser extension to restore the google cache links. But 99.999% of google surfers will never do that.
http://www.ghacks.net/2010/05/01/bypass-internet-censorship-with-https-google-webcache/
http://www.wikihow.com/Bypass-Websense

How To Bypass Turkey’s Blogger Restriction, Communist China's Ban On Websites, And Other Blanket Bans Without Mucking Up Your Computer
http://techguidefortravel.com/2011/03/08/how-to-bypass-turkeys-blogger-restriction-and-other-blanket-bans-without-mucking-up-your-computer/

New Firefox Add-on Bypasses Google Anti-Piracy Filters: Following the success of MAFIAA Fire Redirector, the group behind the add-on, MAFIAA Fire, has just released a new add-on that hopes to reverse Google's censorship attempt. The add-on is called "Gee! No evil!", a play on Google's famous slogan of "Do No Evil", and it adds back the removed keywords such as "torrent" and "rapidshare".
http://www.digital-digest.com/news-63041-New-Firefox-Add-on-Bypasses-Google-Anti-Piracy-Filters.html

Google: US law enforcement tried to get videos removed from YouTube

The technology giant's biannual transparency report reveals a 70% rise in takedown requests from US government or police

The London Guardian
25 October 2011

Google faced down demands from a US law enforcement agency to take down YouTube videos allegedly showing police brutality earlier this year, figures released for the first time show.

The technology giant's biannual transparency report shows that Google refused the demands from the unnamed authority in the first half of this year.

According to the report, Google separately declined orders by other police authorities to remove videos that allegedly defamed law enforcement officials.

The demands formed part of a 70% rise in takedown requests from the US government or police, and were revealed as part of an effort to highlight online censorship around the world.

Figures revealed for the first time show that the US demanded private information about more than 11,000 Google users between January and June this year, almost equal to the number of requests made by 25 other developed countries, including the UK and Russia.

"I have reviewed the January 31, 2009 episode of Pirate News [by The Dragonater] entitled Obama Coronation. CTV will not cablecast any productions by you, or anyone acting on your behalf. You may have rights to appeal this decision."
-David Vogel, general manager, Community Television of Knoxville, 4 February 2009, Pirate News TV Banned Again

"Subject to section 624(d), a cable operator shall not exercise any editorial control over any public, educational, or governmental use of channel capacity provided pursuant to this section."
-THE CABLE COMMUNICATIONS ACT OF 1984, CABLE CHANNELS FOR PUBLIC, EDUCATIONAL, OR GOVERNMENTAL USE" 47.USC 531, Section 611(e)

"Knoxville must be the most corrupt city on Earth."
—City Councilmember Carlene Malone to Pirate News [The Dragonater], complaining about spontaneous combustion of her 2 cars during wrecker commission hearings for police-run cartheft rackets that stole 2 cars from The Dragonater

"Google does seem to be censoring many search results in USA, of sites that formerly turned up routinely. Even sites that I know have 100s of hits barely show up on google now. Even when URLs are indexed by search submission programs. Blogspot.com barely turns up in google, with a max of one page out of 100s, in the case of PirateNews-TV.blogspot.com. Ironically, my only page that appears on google is regarding the ban of my TV show. Other Pirate News blogs on myspace and yahoo groups are invisible to google. A google search of "pirate news" only lists 2 pages on PirateNews.org, which has over 100 pages of unique news and original research. Even contact info is censored. That's out of 26,000 links for "pirate news" on google search. PirateNews.org includes a sitemap.txt file which aids search robots in monthly search submissions."
-Pirate News TV Banned Again

"Chicago law professor Cass Sunstein, an early campaign advisor and Obama booster, was nominated to be administrator [Communist Russian czar] of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget. WorldNetDaily reported that, 'Barack Obama’s nominee for regulatory czar has advocated a Fairness Doctrine for the Internet that would require opposing opinions be linked and also has suggested angry e-mails should be prevented from being sent by technology that would require a 24-hour cooling off period.' According to Obama’s nominee, the internet is 'anti-democratic' because users can filter out information. 'A system of limitless individual choices, with respect to communications, is not necessarily in the interest of citizenship and self-government,' Sunstein wrote. 'Democratic efforts to reduce the resulting problems ought not be rejected in freedom’s name.' Sunstein would impose mandatory 'electronic sidewalks' on the internet. These 'sidewalks' would display links to opposing viewpoints. It is up to the government to impose civility on the internet, according to the professor, not only in regard to opinion but language as well. 'Software already exists to detect foul language. What we are proposing is more subtle, because it is easy to send a really awful e-mail message that does not contain any four-letter words.' The Office of Management and Budget reviews federal regulations before they are issued.”

-Infowars, Obama Nominee Advocates Internet Fairness Doctrine, April 28, 2009

UPDATE 11 MARCH 2010: Pirate News WINS in court! - CTV Board of Knox County puts Pirate News back on TV, illegal CTV producer contracts will be re-written to comply with the constitutions and law. PNTV producer John Lee represented himself pro se, after ACLU turned down the case. Full video of CTV Board hearing on First Amendment law.

Governments around the world requested private data about 25,440 people in the first half of this year, with 11,057 of those people in the US.

It is the first time Google has released details about how many of its users are targeted by authorities, as opposed to the number of requests made by countries.

"For the first time, we're not only disclosing the number of requests for user data, but we're showing the number of users or accounts that are specified in those requests too," said Dorothy Chou, a senior policy analyst at Google.

"We believe that providing this level of detail highlights the need to modernize laws like the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which regulates government access to user information and was written 25 years ago—long before the average person had ever heard of email."

Brazil made the most content removal requests in the first half of this year, according to the report, followed by Germany, the US and South Korea.

CIA and Google’s Joint Investment Raising Eyebrows

Cambridge startup Recorded Future trawls the internet for raw data that it uses in an attempt to predict world events—understandably interesting stuff. But what do both Google and the CIA both see in the company? Wired digs deeper.

Pulling in data from over half a million websites, Twitter feeds, and blog posts, Recorded Future's "spatial and temporal analysis" engine—search that covers both the where and when of an event—claims to reduce newsworthy events like missile launches and terrorist attacks to factors that can be detected before the next occurrence.

The ability to predict what people will be caring about (and searching for) is of obvious interest to a company like Google, whose investment in Recorded Futures is old news. But what has not been so obvious is that In-Q-Tel, the investing arm of the US intelligence community, invested in Recorded Futures along with Google in 2009. The exact sum both that either group has put into the startup isn't known, other than that it is under $10 million, but both have members on Recorded Future's board of directors.

Wired's Noah Shachtman points out that this isn't the first time Google and the intelligence community have done business together. Nor is anyone accusing the two of colluding on some sinister plot, so put the tinfoil hat back in its drawer for now. But the fact of the matter is that, for the first time, Google and the CIA have a strong mutual interest in the same project, and are actively contributing advice and insight to Recorded Futures—a contribution the company's CEO says has been "very helpful."

What you make of this fact depends partially on your opinion of both Google and the CIA, but it certainly lends some credence to those who think the former isn't taking its peaceful, "don't be evil" ethos as seriously as it once claimed. But even some used to aiming a critical eye at the nation's intelligence apparatus suggest a wait and see attitude. Explains Steven Aftergood, Director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists, "to me, whether this is troublesome or not depends on the degree of transparency involved." Should we be left in the dark regarding the CIA and Google's relationship vis-à-vis Recorded Future, Aftergood expects the rise of "public skepticism or worse, both here and abroad, and not without reason." [Wired]

UPDATED MISSING LINK?

Change the Title Tags to increase Traffic in Blogger - Based on default, Title tags in blogger can only show the first title set in the blog. It will be hard to increase the blog traffic and SEO (Search Engines Optimization) because the keywords appeared would not match the Post title. Then, how to make the title tags appear as the Post titles? It is simple. Some steps you have to do...

How to Add a Google Sitemap for Blogger Blogs

How to add a google sitemap to your blog

Submit a complete sitemap to your blogger blog for better indexing

Cop arrested for fake traffic tickets and overtime fraud to meet illegal quota

2011-11-05T15:23:00.000-04:00

Mugshot of deputy William S. Marciante Jr

St. Charles Sheriff's deputy arrested for issuing bogus traffic tickets

A St. Charles Parish Sheriff's deputy was arrested Wednesday after an investigation revealed that he had been issuing false seat belt citations to motorists he never stopped over a period of several months and claimed overtime pay for doing it.

William S. Marciante Jr., of Luling, a five-year veteran of the department, was booked with 27 counts of malfeasance in office, 21 counts of injuring public records, 21 counts of forgery and six counts of payroll fraud. He remained in the St. Charles Parish jail with bond set at $50,000 by Judge Emile St. Pierre.

Marciante has been fired.

Authorities say that between February and May, Marciante wrote a total of 21 citations for seatbelt violations to unsuspecting motorists who were never stopped. Evidence from Marciante's patrol vehicle and his dashboard camera shows that none of the traffic stops took place. Furthermore, Capt. Pat Yoes said, Marciante did not work during the times he issued the citations and submitted for overtime pay. More than 12 cases have been confirmed through handwriting analysis that Marciante forged signatures on the citations.

Yoes, the Sheriff's Office spokesman, said investigators believe that Marciante randomly chose some of his victims as they drove past him.

"We don't really know how he did it," Yoes said. "But it was random. It was evenly distributed among men and women, black and white."

The St. Charles Sheriff's Office received a grant from the Louisiana Highway Safety Administration last summer to promote seatbelt safety and enforcement. That grant pays deputies overtime for writing seatbelt citations.

Yoes said Marciante's actions were discovered when a motorist received a routine letter from the Sheriff's Office in August, notifying her of a bench warrant for failure to appear in traffic court for a seat belt violation. The motorist responded saying she had never been stopped for the violation nor received a citation, Yoes said. That sparked the investigation.

"To say I am disgusted is an understatement," St. Charles Sheriff Greg Champagne said in a written statement. "This job is difficult enough. Because of Marciante's actions, the job has gotten a little harder. It is mind-boggling to understand how someone would be so irresponsible and think it would not eventually be detected. We have checks and balances in place. Once we discovered discrepancies, we immediately investigated and took swift actions. Marciante's arrest should serve as an example to anyone who chooses to victimize the very people we take an oath to rob and protect."

Ex-officers seek to stop traffic grants

By Daniel Borunda
EL PASO TIMES
11/01/2011

Five former El Paso police officers have filed a request for an injunction against city officials, alleging police have an illegal quota system for traffic tickets.

The ex-officers claim they were forced to resign, but City Manager Joyce Wilson said the officers resigned when faced with termination linked to allegations of falsified time sheets.

The resignations come after an investigation began in late summer regarding the misappropriation of overtime linked to the Selective Traffic Enforcement Program, or STEP, grant. The investigation has since expanded beyond traffic grants.

A week ago, Lt. Alfred Lowe, head of the Crimes Against Persons Unit, was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into overtime regarding a state grant paying for anti-gang operations.

The petition for an injunction was filed last week in the 34th District Court and seeks to stop the El Paso Police Department from using state traffic enforcement grants and alleges that a quota system is being used.

A hearing date is pending on the petition filed by ex-officers Luis Acosta, Ana Reza, Jorge Arellano, Michael Arzaga and Luis Alonzo Ortiz against Police Chief Greg Allen, Wilson and Mayor John Cook.

Each officer was with the department for more than 10 years until their resignations in late August and September. They are represented by lawyers Stuart Leeds and Theresa Caballero.

Leeds and Caballero provided the El Paso Times with a copy of an internal police email where a traffic sergeant complains to officers that not enough citations are being issued as part of a Click-It-or-Ticket seat-belt enforcement grant.

The May 26 email by Sgt. Jack Matthews of the Traffic Division stated "the performance standard set forth in the grant is a minimum of three seat-belt violations per hour of work per officer. If you think that you cannot meet this goal during your five-hour shift, then do not work the grant ... those that do not produce what is required will not be considered to work any traffic-related grants in the future."

Matthews was a past grant administrator, according to city documents, and retired Aug. 20, about the time the grants investigation was under way. Matthews has not been accused of wrongdoing.

Leeds said the email is proof that a quota system, though using a different name, is used by the Police Department in violation of state law.

"This proves this is all about money," Leeds said. "It is not about law enforcement and criminal justice. The people of El Paso are being hunted" for traffic citations.

Police and city officials denied the allegations. Police officials have said performance standards are not a quota system.

"These attorneys are representing their clients who resigned voluntarily in lieu of termination," Wilson said in a statement.

"The El Paso Police Department does not have a quota system and the issue at hand has nothing to do with quotas -- it has to do with falsifying time records. The lawsuit is without merit and our legal team is preparing a response."

Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com; 546-6102.

US governor loses rape case in Fed traffic court, Top Secret case under National Security

2011-11-04T17:05:00.000-04:00

Governor Jesse Ventura, potential Libertarian candidate for Vice President in 2012 with Congressman Ron Paul, US Navy SEAL, host of the #1 rated show on TruTV, star of the movie Predator, now applying for Mexican citizenship to flee USA as a refugee of the Police State

This is why you must ALWAYS record EVERY traffic stop and NEVER erase your recording, because police usually erase their tapes when you fight them in court. And ALWAYS carry a printout of Operation Northwoods when traveling by air or highway, and ALWAYS hand that copy to police or TSA private security guards. Because if anybody has a need to know who the real terrorists are, its the cops.

"I've now been stripped of my patriotism, I have no more feelings for the government that runs this country today, because they deny me my right in court. Going after veterans seems to be the trend. Every time a veteran tries to defend their Constitutional rights we seem to be getting tramped down. I wanted to exercise my right to have a trial by jury and the government won't allow it to happen. What they [the federal judge] claim is they [the federal court] have no jurisdiction [over federal TSA airport screeners]. If the federal court doesn't have jurisdiction over a [federal] constitutional question, then who the Hell does? What they're saying is I have to go to the [federal] Court of Appeals -- 'I'm guilty' and I have to go to the Court of Appeals [when there has never been any criminal charge in any court] to be proved innocent. I can't have a jury trial. It has to go to the federal Court of Appeals which is three judges who will make the decision, and they say it's because of 'secrecy reasons'. So clearly they won't allow an open trial to happen concerning the Fourth Amendment -- regarding illegal search and seizure -- of our Constitution. Clearly now we're all guilty until proven innocent. The problem is we can't even prove we're innocent in front of a jury. I thought we were guaranteed a right of trial a jury of your peers, or fellow citizens? Clearly the government doesn't want this goign in front of citizens, because then the government would lose. And if they lost it would open up Pandora's Box. The other question they don't want out of the box, is why is it the government's job to provide [free] security for the airlines, when the airlines are a private business? When you drive around the country, our border agents are no longer on the border, they are on interstate highways. I predict that within a decade, you will have to show I.D. to travel state to state [try driving without a driver license internal passport], because the Constitution is now more. The Bill of Rights are no more -- that was proven to me today, when I wasn't allowed to go to court on them. In the press conference today, I said I guess the only recourse I have is to win the presidency. As president of the United States, could I go to court over my 4th Amendment rights? When I first heard about the decision, it was like havign my guts pulled out. They gutted me as far as my patriotism goes. I have no patriotism to this government today. As my t-shirt says, 'I love my country but not my government.' I will no longer refer to this country as the United States of America -- I will refer to it as the Fascist States of Amerika. The rulings [in my case] are secret -- [the judge in] my court case said that -- it's not legal to know what the TSA can do, or not. It's considered National Security. So there's no way to know if you're being abused or not. There's no way to know the rules, and no way to hold the government accountable."
-Governor Jesse Ventura, regarding the Top Secret opinion by Federal Traffic Court allowing TSA airport screeners to rape and irradiate him before and after every flight, Infowars Radio 4 November 2011

"The idiots asked him for autographs after they groped him. He's like 'NO'. Then I was like 'hey, I shot video and photos of him' [being gateraped by TSA], but he's like, 'Let me see it, it's embarassing, erase it.' Later it would have been good actually in court [because TSA erased all their video to destroy evidence]. I said 'OK'. By the time he got on the plane he was in a controlled rage."
-Alex Jones, Infowars Radio 4 November 2011

Jesse Ventura loses bid to halt airport searches

Minneapolis Star Tribune
November 3, 2011

Jesse Ventura wants airport security screeners to keep their hands off "The Body."

But a judge ruled on Thursday that the former Minnesota governor's concerns about modesty, personal freedom and constitutional rights were misplaced when he filed a federal lawsuit in St. Paul last January.

Challenges to the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) procedures must be brought in Circuit Courts of Appeals, wrote U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson in dismissing Ventura's lawsuit.

Ventura, who served as governor of Minnesota from 1999 through 2002 and earlier had a professional wrestling career as Jesse "The Body" Ventura, currently hosts a program on the truTV network called "Conspiracy Theory."

After getting a titanium implant in his hip in 2008, Ventura's lawsuit says, he started lighting up airport magnetometers. At first, screeners waved a magnetic hand wand over him and sent him on his way. But last year, the TSA initiated enhanced screening procedures, his complaint says, which meant he had to go through invasive full-body scans or pat-down searches.

The scans reveal too much and the pat-downs require a security officer to grope his body, "including private and sensitive areas," his suit says.

Last November, he triggered the extra search procedures at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Having done so, the suit says, Ventura was not free to leave the area or to decline his scheduled flight to avoid the additional screening. Ventura argued that the TSA's policy results in an unreasonable search and seizure in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.

Certain members of Congress are exempt from the digital body screens and pat-downs, as are airline pilots, Ventura said, so why can't other frequent fliers get equal treatment [Equal Protection under the 14th Amendment]? The judge said that if he really wants an answer, he'll have to ask the Circuit Court of Appeals.

Ventura's attorney, David Bradley Olsen, declined to comment. "Governor Ventura will speak to the press on Friday, Nov. 4, at noon, in front of the Federal Court Building in St. Paul," he said.

Dan Browning • 612-673-4493

Read the complaint filed by Ventura alleging 'sexual assault' by TSA

Ventura says he's done flying commercial, is applying for Mexican citizenship

Minniapolis Star Tribune
November 4, 2011

One day after Jesse Ventura lost his legal challenge to airport pat-downs and full-body scans, the former Minnesota governor declared Friday that he will "never fly commercial again" and just might run for president so he can change passenger security measures.

Ventura made his comments outside the federal courthouse in St. Paul, where in January he sued in opposition to January the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) airport security procedures. The suit was thrown out because it must be brought in the Circuit Courts of Appeals, wrote U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson.

After getting a titanium implant in his hip in 2008, Ventura's the suit said, he started lighting up airport magnetometers. At first, screeners waved a magnetic hand wand over him and sent him through. But last year, the TSA's enhanced screening procedures meant he had to go through invasive full-body scans or pat-downs, the suit added.

The scans reveal too much and the pat-downs require a security officer to grope his body, "including private and sensitive areas," the suit read.

"I will never ride commercial again," Ventura said to reporters Friday, adding that he hasn't flown in a year.

He complained that the federal courts are denying him constitutional rights and that he's unsure whether he will appeal Thursday's dismissal.

He contended that passengers are guilty until proven innocent. "I will not in a free country be treated like a criminal," he said.

Ventura added that he and his wife, Terry, intend to apply for Mexican citizenship and become dual citizens. The two have spent long stretches of time living in Mexico since he left office.

He then zeroed in on a longtime political reporter: "Look up, [Pat] Kessler," he began, pausing for effect to say that the only way he can change airport security is to run for president.

Asked whether he would actually run, Ventura responded, "I'm thinking about it." That's something he's done in previous election cycles, but he has never been a candidate for the White House.

Ventura, governor from 1999 through 2002 and earlier a pro wrestler as Jesse "The Body" Ventura, currently hosts "Conspiracy Theory" on the truTV network.

Dan Browning • 612-673-4493

Wow: Jesse Ventura sues TSA for 'unlawful sexual assault'

By Brian Lambert
Minniapolis Post
Jan. 25, 2011

No one pats down the Body, unless the Body wants to be patted down. With people like Michele Bachmann sucking up so much attention, we may have forgotten past royalty in the game of “me.” Mark Albert of KSTP says of the latest Jesse Ventura incident: “In a complaint filed Monday morning in the U.S. District Court for Minnesota, Ventura is suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its secretary, Janet Napolitano, as well as the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and its administrator, John Pistole. Ventura accuses the agencies of violating his ‘basic rights to privacy and dignity, and his right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures,’ after he received a pat-down by a TSA agent at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in November 2010. Ventura, who said he has a titanium implant after hip replacement surgery in 2008, alleges the pat-down included ‘warrantless, non-suspicion-based offensive touching, gripping and rubbing of the genital and other sensitive areas of his body,’ which, the lawsuit contends, met ‘the definition for an unlawful sexual assault.' "

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF MINNESOTA

Governor Jesse Ventura, a/k/a James Janos,
Plaintiff,
v.
Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the
Department of Homeland Security; the
United States Department of Homeland
Security; John S. Pistole, Administrator
of the Transportation Security
Administration; and the United States
Transportation Security Administration,
Defendants.

Civil No. 11-174 (SRN/AJB)

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

David Bradley Olsen and Wesley T. Graham, Henson & Efron, PA, 220 South Sixth St.,
Suite 1800, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402, for Plaintiff.
Ana H. Voss, United States Attorney’s Office, 300 South Fourth Street, Suite 600,
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55415, and Tamara Ulrich, United States Department of Justice,
Civil Division, P.O. Box 883, Washington, D.C. 20044, for Defendants.
SUSAN RICHARD NELSON, United States District Judge

This matter is before the Court on Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss [Doc. No. 7].
For the reasons stated below, this Court grants the Motion to Dismiss and dismisses the
Complaint [Doc. No. 1].

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Plaintiff Jesse Ventura, also known as James Janos, is the former Governor of Minnesota, a former professional wrestler and the current host of a television program
called “Conspiracy Theory.” Because of his television duties, he is required to travel
frequently by commercial airline. (Compl. ¶ 12.) In 2008, Governor Ventura received a
titanium implant in his hip. (Id. ¶ 13.) This implant sets off the alarms on screening
devices at airports. (Id. ¶ 14.) Prior to the events giving rise to the Complaint, when
Governor Ventura’s implant set off the screening device alarms, airport security would
screen him with a hand-held “wand” metal-detection device. (Id. ¶ 15.)

On September 17, 2010, the Transportation Security Administration (“TSA”)
issued new security screening processes for airports nationwide.1 These enhanced
screening processes include the use of body-imaging technology, including automated
imaging technology (“AIT”), which produces “detailed, three-dimensional images of the
subject’s body through and under clothing, including private and sensitive areas of the
body.” (Id. ¶ 18.) TSA has also authorized the use of physical pat-downs of some
passengers. (Id. ¶ 17.) Governor Ventura contends that he has been subject to such patdown
searches, and that he will be subject to whole-body imaging, because of his hip
implant, despite the fact that he poses no threat to airline safety. (Id. ¶¶ 21, 23.)

Governor Ventura claims that TSA’s policies violate the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits the Government from conducting unreasonable searches and seizures. In
Count I, he seeks a declaratory judgment that TSA and the Department of Homeland
Security, the Cabinet-level Department under which TSA operates, have violated his
Fourth Amendment rights. (Id. ¶ 47.) In Count II, he seeks an injunction against the
allegedly unconstitutional searches and seizures. (Id. ¶ 51.)

II. DISCUSSION

A. Standard of Review

The Government asks the Court to dismiss the Complaint for lack of subject matter
jurisdiction under Rule 12(b)(1). Because the Government questions the Court’s
jurisdiction, the Court is “free to weigh the evidence and satisfy itself as to the existence
of its power to hear the case.” Osborn v. United States, 918 F.2d 724, 730 (8th Cir. 1990)
(quoting Mortensen v. First Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass’n, 549 F.2d 884,891 (3d Cir. 1977)).

“In short, no presumptive truthfulness attaches to the plaintiff’s allegations, and the
existence of disputed material facts will not preclude the trial court from evaluating for
itself the merits of jurisdictional claims.” Id.

This is not the first challenge to TSA’s enhanced airport screening procedures to
be brought in federal courts. In every case, the court has determined that it lacks
jurisdiction to hear such challenges. See Roberts v. Napolitano, Civil No. 10-1966, 2011
WL 2678950 (D.D.C. July 7, 2011); Durso v. Napolitano, Civil No. 10-2066, 2011 WL
2634183 (D.D.C. July 5, 2011); Redfern v. Napolitano, Civil No. 10-12048, 2011 WL
1750445 (D. Mass. May 9, 2011); Corbett v. United States, No. 10-Civ-24106, 2011 WL 2003529 (S.D. Fla. Apr. 29, 2011).

B. Analysis

The Government contends that only the Circuit Courts of Appeals may review the
orders TSA promulgates. The relevant statute provides that

a person disclosing a substantial interest in an order issued by the Secretary of Transportation (or the Under Secretary of Transportation for Security with respect to security duties and powers designated to be carried out by the Under Secretary . . .) . . . may apply for review of the order by filing a petition for review in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit or in the court of appeals of the United States for the circuit in which the person resides or has its principal place of business.

49 U.S.C. § 46110(a). Governor Ventura contends that this section does not apply
because the procedure at issue is not an “order” within the meaning of the statute.
Further, he argues that this Court has jurisdiction to hear c

Fluoride use ranks US last in # traffic cameras shot, burned, bombed, demolished

2011-11-03T11:56:00.000-04:00

Speed Cameras Attacked in Belgium, Germany, The Netherlands

Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands see expanding and explosive attacks on speed cameras.

Vigilantes exploded the casing of a speed camera in Koenigsdorf, Germany on Wednesday using expanding builder's foam. Rhine-Erft District Police reported a passing patrol spotted a man intending to use expanding foam to destroy a speed camera in Aachen on Friday. Officials said they do not know who was responsible for the more recent incident. British motoring columnist and BBC Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson has advocated the use of foam as the most effective and safest means of destroying a speed camera.

Last year, vigilantes put 44 speed cameras out of commission in Belgium. That represents a 238 percent increase over the number of incidents in 2009. Over the past five years, 49 speed cameras have been set on fire, 19 have been shot and 47 have been spraypainted, HLN reported.

Last week on Sunday a team of explosives removal experts were injured in an unsuccessful attempt to rescue a speed camera in Voorschoten, The Netherlands. A homemade explosive went off around 7:30am as a bomb disposal team went to investigate a report of an unusual device attached to the automated ticketing machine.

France: Speed Camera Set Ablaze

A speed camera in Limoges, France is destroyed with fire.

A 22-year-old man set fire to a speed camera in Limoges, France last week Saturday at around 3am. The device on RD79 Aixe Road had been opened and set aflame using gasoline-soaked papers, La Montagne reported. One of the papers the vigilante used was an application for employment that contained his name and address. It did not catch fire, allowing police to catch up to him. The man had no previous criminal record.

France, Germany, Italy, UAE, UK: Speed Cameras Burn, Blocked, Broken

Vigilantes destroy and disable speed cameras throughout the world in the past few weeks.

Vigilantes in Bournemouth, England disabled a pair of speed cameras, the Bournemouth Echo reported. At Monday before 4am the automated ticketing machine on the A338 Wessex Way was set on fire with a burning tire. Later in the week, a beer can and a fistful of leaves were used to blind the camera on Wimborne Road. Local officials rushed to clear the debris so that the device could once again issue tickets. Police have no idea who might be responsible.

In the United Arab Emirates on October 9, vigilantes opened fire on three speed cameras in Umm al-Quwain. The northern emirate has a total of 33 fixed cameras and 4 photo radar vans. According to The National, the devices on Al Ittihad Road were damaged by the gunfire.

Between Wednesday, October 5, and Sunday, October 9, a set of four speed cameras were set on fire in Hautes-Alpes, France. The devices were about twelve miles apart from one another along the RN94 in Reotier, Embrun, Saint-Clement sur Durance and La Rochette. All four devices were destroyed by burning tires, Le Dauphine reported.

In Forli, Italy on Thursday, vigilantes smeared material on a speed camera rendering it incapable of issuing citations. The same device in Villa Rovere had been attacked just days earlier, Il Resto del Carlino reported.

Police in Oberhausen, Germany reported that a speed camera failed to prevent an accident that destroyed it on Wednesday at midnight. A 42-year-old drunk driver plowed into the automated ticketing machine at the Konrad-Adenauer-Allee.

Belgium, UK: Speed Cameras Scorched, Swiped

Three speed cameras are set on fire in Belgium and England with another grabbed in Bedfordshire, UK.

Last Sunday at around 3am, vigilantes set fire to a pair of speed cameras in Belgium. In Lommel, the damage done was less serious because the tire hung around the camera to fuel the flames fell off before the device was destroyed. In Hechtel-Eksel, the fire destroyed the camera pole, Nieuwsblad reported. Police have no idea who might be responsible.

In Lincolnshire, England a speed camera was set on fire at around 5am on September 23. A gasoline-filled tire was used to fuel the blaze in Louth. In Bedfordshire on September 22, vigilantes made off with a speed camera that had been installed on Roxton Road in Great Barford, Bedfordshire On Sunday reported.

See also:

Blount County Municipal Corporation sued for intentionally poisoning BC citizens with radioactive fluoride for mind kontrol

Kill Robocops news archive - In Knoxville TN it's the local cops who confess to shooting Redcoat traffic scameras from the British Empire and Commie China...

NC judge rules cops are not govt employees

2011-10-31T23:46:00.000-04:00

North Carolina Police Warned To Put Their Personal Property Into Someone Else’s Name!

This might be the single most important email I’ve ever received.

It’s just an email. It might be a hoax or a mistake. But I think it’s true. If it is, the whole damned governmental system is in jeopardy. It just might be time to break out the Champagne!

It appears that a North Carolina court has ruled that the “police” are actually working for private entities (private companies) and are not associated with The State of North Carolina. This ruling conforms to ideas I’ve advanced on this blog and on my radio show for several years.

Because the purported “police officers” are working for private companies, they are not entitled to official immunity. Thus, police officers are being warned to put all of their personal property into someone else’s name since it might otherwise be lost in the event that a “police officer” is sued for assault or some other kind of lawbreaking.

If the police are working for “private companies,” so are most of the judges, prosecutors, and local regulators and bureaucrats. That means they are all throwing their weight around without any real authority or personal immunity.
If this court ruling stands up, that means the whole damned, “privatized” system of “this state” is on the verge of a collapse.

I haven’t read the documents or other contents at the end of the links on this email. I haven’t confirmed the report. Take it with salt. But this sounds real to me. If it is, it’s cause for real, spectacular celebration.

We may have beat the bastards.

I won’t be surprised if the ruling is overturned or otherwise compromised. But it won’t matter. Enough will be learned from this ruling to cause other courts to ultimately rule against the “privatized” gov-co of “this state”.

There’s not a cop, prosecutor, or judge in the country that shouldn’t be afraid.

The jig is up.

The email follows:

North Carolina Police Warned To Put Their Personal Property Into Someone Else’s Name !

Post Oak Public Relations
postoak.pr@gmail.com
978 – 635 – 9586

For Immediate Release

10.27.11

North Carolina Police Departments all over the state have warned their officers to put their personal property (houses, land, cars and other assets) into someone else’s name because they may now be subject to lawsuits from the People of North Carolina.

The warning was issued in response to the recent ruling that upheld that the local Police Departments in North Carolina are classified as “private entities” and NOT connected to the state of North Carolina.

Judicial Review Judge, Paul C. Ridgeway, Wake County General Court Of Justice, Superior Court Division, upheld a lower court ruling that most Public Officials / Agencies are “private entities.” Judge Ridgeway upheld the earlier (1.17.11) ruling of lower court Judge J. Randall May in Class v. NORTH CAROLINA, Case No. 10 DOT 7047 (now known as 11 CVS 1559).

The police officers will now also have to fund their own Surety Bonds.

Judge Ridgeway’s September 15, 2011 ruling creates a conflict in the public’s perception of basic government legitimacy because Judge Howard E. Manning, Jr (who recused himself in August 2011) declared in Mr. Class’ 4.21.11 hearing that “the Defendants were NOT ‘private entities’ or ‘private contractors’ “, but were “public officials.”

Are the judges confused ? Are these “government” agencies and officials NOT what they’re portraying to their constituents ? Are they immune because they’re “private” ? Do we actually have government “agencies” and elect “Public” Officials OR do we deal with “Private Entities” ? Is the public being frauded ? So many questions ! So many conflicts !

Here’s some background:

Judge May’s original 1.17.11 ruling:
Page 1 http://min.us/mbmc4SfNoQ
Page 2 http://min.us/m9ygLN5Fe
Page 2A (marked for emphasis) http://min.us/myxFZuE3d
Page 3 http://min.us/mbrIPmoLma

Judge Ridgeway’s 9.15.11 ruling upholding Judge May is viewable at:
http://min.us/mbi7bovuy0

Mr. Class’ filing, that caused Judge Manning’s rambling recusal statement, that was the subject ofthe Ridgeway ruling, is viewable at http://min.us/m6M40HRrB

Judge Manning’s rambling recusal: http://min.us/muCmadmgF

Mr. Class’ original suit (Case No. 10 DOT 7047) accused the named North Carolina Statedepartments and individuals with charges of Embezzlement of Federal funds from the local political subdivisions, and violations of the Right To Travel issue.

Mr. Class was acting as a Private Attorney General under provisions of an 1866 Federal Act, and was acting on behalf of all People, and political subdivisions “similarly situated” and affected by the charges in his Judicial Review.

Rod Class will be broadcasting live this Friday night (10.28.11) at 9:00pm Eastern on his Talkshoe channel at:
http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=48361

Mr. Class conducts twice weekly radio shows on Talkshoe and archives of previous shows are available at the above link.

Mr. Class may be contacted at itconstitutional@aol.com or his office 704-742-3123 for details regarding the implications of Judge Ridgeway’s ruling and the court’s behavior in this action.

The website for all things Rod Class, including other actions he has in play, is at http://rodclass.com. For a copy of one of the early filings that may have caused both court’s consternation:http://www.rayservers.com/blog/rod-class-traffic-filing

Mr. Class has posted all of his filings, and responses from the court, and the defendants, on the Internet at various sites for the benefit of those in their efforts and interactions with these purported “private entities” (contractors), and to ensure that these rulings stay in the public domain and do not disappear !

Comments

Hiya. I’m a civil rights attorney up in NYC, and I’m afraid that y’all are misreading this a bit. I sue police officers and their departments all the time, but unless they are state troopers, they are not employees of the state per se- they are employees of the city they work for. Also, police are not agencies of the state in any event- state agencies, within legal jargon, are subdivisions of the executive branch (i.e., run by governor appointees) with authority to prescribe administrative rules that have the same force as law. Police don’t do that- they enforce the laws made by the legislature and interpreted by the judiciary. Sometimes badly, but you get the idea. This individual sued under a statute governing state agency rulemaking, and the court just ruled that neither the Dallas PD or the license plate agency are state agencies under the meaning of the statute. There’s no win here at all- dude just sued under the wrong law.

If you want to sue city cops or county deputies, you can sue the municipal corporation they are employed by, and/or sue them individually in their individual capcacity. If you want to sue state cops or fed cops, you sue the govt they are employed by, and/or sue them individually in their individual capcacity. Either way, you must use Section 1980 et seq of the Ku Klux Klan Act to bypass soverign immunity, must read and comprehend law textbooks on that unique procedure. A police dept is not a "person" and cannot be sued, only individuals and corporations are persons as defined by law. However, no corporate person has ever been given the death penalty, despite millions of confirmed murders. - The Dragonater

Final WERA Superbike race at Nashville Superspeedway

2011-10-31T02:47:00.002-04:00

Intro using Adobe After Effects and Magix:

See also:

WERA Motorcycle Roadracing

First/Last Trackday at Nashville Superspeedway - NSS announces closure in 2012

Cop accuses police of illegal ticket quota

2011-10-30T02:31:00.001-04:00

League City Police Chief accused of illegal traffic ticket quotas

October 28, 2011

League City Police Chief Michael Jez and one of his captains stand accused of creating illegal traffic ticket quotas based on a formal complaint sent to the offices of the State Attorney General, the Galveston County District Attorney’s office and League City officials.

On Oct. 19, League City Patrol Officer Sean Arena sent a letter reporting “a violation of the law by my direct supervisors (Police) Chief Mike Jez and Captain Charles Slade” for establishing a traffic quota.

Arena is a six-year-veteran of the force and president of the League City Police Officers Association.

At a council meeting Tuesday (Oct. 25), Mayor Tim Paulissen and the council met with city attorney Arnold Polanco for more than three hours in closed session to discuss the issue. After about an hour, officials called Chief Jez behind closed doors to answer questions.

Back in open meeting, the council directed Polanco to take action “as directed in closed session”. When later asked what the council instructed him to do, Palanco declined to comment.

In his letter, Arena says Captain Slade met with Patrol Commanders in mid-October to discuss “traffic productivity issues”. Due to a decline in the number of tickets, all officers would now be required to write at least 10 citations a month or face disciplinary action.

Arena said the quota drew complaints from patrol officers the department policy was a “revenue grab” and clearly illegal.

On Wednesday (Oct. 26) the Bay Area Citizen contacted Police Chief Mike Jez to ask if the allegations were true, but he failed to return calls for comment.

Although Arena is President of the police union, his letter stressed he was speaking only for himself and not the LCPOA. He also said he was afraid reporting the illegal quota would cause police administrators to seek revenge.

“I am very concerned over retaliation, intimidation or discipline by members of the Police administration over coming forward with what I believe is a violation of the law,” Arena wrote.

When contacted by the Bay Area Citizen, Arenas deferred to his attorney, who also declined to comment. Arena is represented by attorneys Dan Kreiger and Greg Cagle on behalf of the Texas Municipal Police Association.

See also:

KPD cops accuse KPD of illegal quotas in Knoxville TN

TN Highway Patrol has an illegal quota of 700 tickets per trooper per year

THP increases biker tickets 11,400% on the Dragon

Knox County mayors pass state law banning police quotas

"It is illegal for law enforcement agencies to issue quotas for citations or arrests of individuals.... The Fraternal Order of Police strongly disagrees with this illegal action and respectfully requests you rescind this action of supervisors at the Knoxville Police Department. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it's still a duck. It's a quota."
-Edward Daniel, attorney at law and former KPD police officer

"Cops have a[n illegal] quota system."
-Sgt. James Eagan, New York State Police (Retired), from his book, A Speeder's Guide to Avoiding Tickets

The use of courts as local revenue-producing agencies is an abuse of the judicial process. It has long been recognized as unconstitutional for a judge's income to be dependent on the outcome of cases. But a similar result often occurs when the budget of a court is set in relation to the fines the court imposes or when a county or city comes to rely on whatever surplus is produced.
–To Serve All People: A report from the Commission on the Future of the Tennessee Judicial System 1996

"I was put under pressure. It was like a race. How many more people can we get today?"
-arrested Knoxville, Tennessee, police officer describing the government's illegal quota

Here We Go Again…. “Yes, We Have No Quotas”

by Lawrence Taylor attorney at law

I’ve mentioned in the past that police agencies across the country use DUI arrest quotas — and almost uniformly deny the practice. See, for example, DUI Quotas, "Yes, We Have No DUI Quotas" and "Inside Edition" Documents DUI Quotas Across U.S..

The latest example of this supposedly non-existent practice:

Drunk-Driving Quota Case May Lead to Similar Efforts Elsewhere

Baltimore, MD. Jan. 6 – Even as prosecutors weigh an appeal of a Howard County judge’s decision to throw out drunken-driving charges and rule that they were tied to illegal citation quotas, defense lawyers are considering whether the same defense might apply to past or current cases.

District Court Judge Sue-Ellen Hantman’s ruling in a case against an Ellicott City woman has raised questions on both sides — as well as eyebrows around the legal community…

Hantman said the charges against Katie Majorie Quackenbush, 22, were linked to an illegal quota — a ruling based on a memorandum that police have said was intended to describe the requirements of a federal grant that paid overtime for officers to target drunken and aggressive drivers through "saturation patrols."

"I find any evidence in this case to be inadmissible," she said, according to a recording of her Thursday ruling, and that ended the prosecution. Nevertheless, the judge indicated that "I don’t think saturation patrols are in and of themselves illegal, merely the quotas."…

The police chief said a memo to officers that called for two to four citations per hour contained, “in retrospect, not the best wording,” and conceded that he “could see how it could be misinterpreted.” He said the department does not use quotas and had revised the memo.

The memo also told the officers on the drunken-driving and aggressive-driving saturation patrols that they usually produce “at or above these amounts.”

The federal funds come from the National Traffic Safety Administration to the state, according to Buel Young, a spokesman for the state Motor Vehicle Administration. Jurisdictions can apply for them.

So the police chief insists that "the department does not use quotas"…and that the memo was just "perhaps not the best wording"? Hmmmm…..it’s hard to see how "it could be misinterpreted": the departmental order that cops have to produce "two to four citations per hour" sounds pretty clear to me.

Interesting that the federal grant appears to have required police agencies to use quotas….

Sons of Fox says 'You're getting fucked in the ass if you don't pay us 40% more $$$,' DirectTV tells Fox 'You're Fired!'

2011-10-29T00:13:00.000-04:00

Sons of Fox FTP: Guess what's the Secret Ingredient in the police officers' chili this week?

FALL TV DEAD POOL: Furious 'Sons of Anarchy' Creator Tells DirecTV Viewers 'You're Getting Fucked Over'; Reveals Banned Script

Sutter, whose Sons of Anarchy airs on FX and is in jeopardy of being pulled next week should an agreement not be made, revealed on Monday that he filmed a promo that he says "will air before Tuesday night's episode" of his show. The point, he says, "is to mobilize fans against DirecTV." But Sutter said that he "had to follow an FX legal script that felt like complete bullshit. I'm sure it will serve it's purpose, but I feel compelled to let SOA fans know what I WANTED to say."

Part of the script that Sutter claims he wasn't allowed to use, states, "Starting Nov. 1, DirecTV is pulling FX from your box. That means you'll miss the last five episodes of Sons this season. Perhaps five of the most critical episodes of the series. I know Fox has a horse in this race, but they're trying to negotiate in good faith. DirecTV is shutting down all conversation and using their customers as leverage."

Sutter continues:

"In the process, you're getting fucked over. They're running ads with their corporate shill telling you how much 'they care about your business'; that dude's got one sincere hand on his heart while the other greases your unsuspecting backside. Because they're about to flip you over and fuck you up the ass till you bleed. ... Let 'em know they can't fuck with your Sons of Anarchy."

Fox's carriage agreement with DirecTV expired Sept. 30. Fox Networks includes FX, National Geographic Channel, 19 regional sports channels, Fox Movie Channel, Speed, Fuel TV, Fox Soccer and Fox Deportes. Fox broadcast stations and Fox News Channel are not involved in the negotiations.

Kurt Sutter says, 'I picked the wrong day to quit snorting crack'

Fox and its parent company, News Corp., were involved in a dispute with Cablevision last year and Fox channels were blacked out on Dish Network in October 2010 amid a dispute, during which Sutter called Dish "whores" on Twitter.

Kurt Sutter, whose FX drama is in danger of being pulled due to a Fox-DirecTV dispute, also praises network chief John Landgraf: "If it weren't for that guy, I'd be selling star maps and handjobs in front of the Motherlode."

Kurt Sutter signing off

Sons of Murdoch welcomes DirectTV customer, er, exec

Marco Simoncelli RIP

2011-10-27T02:00:00.000-04:00

"'If you watch the video, there's a moment where I'm in a lot of pain,' Colin Edwards began, 'then I kind of bend down and I'm looking at him for a couple of seconds and right there I'm like Fuck. We lost him. You just know.'"
-Cycle News, Edwards Talks About That Fateful Day

Like Uncini's crash -- no helmet. Neck and head injuries need more tech for all riders....mandated helmet retention straps connected to airbag suit with carbon-fiber neck brace? Would that have made any difference? Dale Earnhart's broken neck resulted in mandatory Hans Device for all NASCAR Cup racers, to prevent basil skull fractures.

Cycle News: The Darkest Day

Marco Simcelli 1987-2011

Cycle World

Marco Simoncelli, 24, tragically lost his life on Sunday when he crashed while racing for fourth place on the second lap of the Malaysian Grand Prix and was hit by Colin Edwards. Valentino Rossi was also involved in the accident. The race was red-flagged and, eventually, cancelled.

Simoncelli, the 2008 250cc world champion and a 14-time Grand Prix winner, lost traction on his factory San Carlo Gresini Honda RC212V, fell and the tangled mess of bike and rider was projected directly into the path of Edwards. Simoncelli’s helmet came off in the crash, leaving him unprotected. Edwards suffered a dislocated shoulder. Rossi ran off the racing surface but managed to remain upright.

Simoncelli had qualified fifth for the penultimate race of the 18-round season. One week earlier at Phillip Island in Australia, the Italian had placed second behind newly crowned series champion Casey Stoner. It was Simoncelli’s second podium of the season and best finish to date in the premier MotoGP class.

Race director Paul Butler held a press conference shortly after the race was called. The press was told by MotoGP medical director Dr. Michele Macchiagodena that Simoncelli suffered trauma to the head, neck and chest. Simoncelli was unconscious when medical staff arrived, explained Macchiagodena, and attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful. “Unfortunately, it was not possible to help him, and at 16:56, we had to declare he was dead.”

Butler said the accident “will be thoroughly investigated. Our sympathies go to his family, and we want to show every respect possible to Marco.”

Simoncelli moved up to the MotoGP class in 2010 and was a charismatic and controversial figure. Yamaha factory rider Ben Spies, who had withdrawn from the Malaysian GP due to injuries suffered in Australia, was in the television commentary booth with broadcast regulars Gavin Emmett and Nick Harris for the race. During the pre-race show, Harris noted that Simoncelli had received a fair amount of criticism earlier in the season for his aggressive riding.

“Yeah, he has,” agreed Spies. “But he’s come back from every time that’s happened and been fast. He hasn’t let it get to him. Honestly, I haven’t had too many problems with him. We had a good race in Mugello–two hard, clean passes. I think he’s learned from his mistakes. He definitely was a little overzealous with his passes early in the season. There are only 16 or 17 [riders] on the grid, and you want to keep everybody happy.”

Simoncelli was expected to remain with Honda in 2012. “Marco was a very nice guy and a very talented rider,” said HRC VP Shuhei Nakamoto. “Sometimes, I was a little harsh with him, but I wanted to motivate him, as I knew he was able to do even more. Now, I just want to say thank you to Marco for what you gave me and pass my sincere condolences to his family at this very sad time.”

Bridgestone’s Taka Horio added, “Simoncelli’s ascent through the field in just two seasons has been fantastic to watch, testament to his raw talent, ability and dedication to the sport he so loved.”

Kenny Roberts, Jr., 2000 500cc world champion, issued the following statement: “The entire Roberts Family is deeply saddened by the news about Marco. We wish to send our condolences to his family, friends, fans and MotoGP. We will never forget him.”

“I met Simoncelli this past summer and gained a sense of his easy energy, purpose and confidence,” said Cycle World Technical Editor Kevin Cameron. “There is no number of gravel traps that can prevent this kind of accident, in which a rider is tangled up with his own bike and kinetic energy carries them unpredictably into the paths of others. It is always perplexing to confront the leap from being into non-being. How can this be? No answer is satisfactory. I am sorry for the life that is lost.”

Simoncelli’s greatest on-track rival, Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso, said, “Marco was a strong rider, and he always pushed hard. We raced together since we were kids. I saw him always pushing to the maximum. He crashed many times but without major injuries. He seemed invincible. What happened today seems impossible.”

MotoGP Race Direction press conference: Marco Simoncelli

MotoGP.com

Paul Butler opened the press conference, saying: “The purpose of this press conference is to apprise you of the circumstances that resulted in the tragic death of Marco Simoncelli. You know who we all are, the Race Direction; Claude Danis who is the FIM representative, Javier Alonso the Dorna representative, Franco Uncini the riders’ representative, and I’m Paul Butler the IRTA representative and Race Director. Michele Macchiagodena is our Medical Director and he will explain to you the circumstances that resulted in this death.”

Michele Macchiagodena said: “I’m very sad to be here to report about the death of Marco Simoncelli, a friend. Because of the crash he had during the race, in which he was hit by other riders, he suffered a very serious trauma to the head, to the neck and the chest. When our medical staff got to him he was unconscious. In the ambulance because there was a cardiac arrest they started CPR (cardiac pulmonary resuscitation). Immediately in the Medical Centre, with the help also of the Doctor of our staff at the Clinica Mobile and local Doctors, he was intubated and it was possible to take off some blood from the thorax. The CPR was continued for 45 minutes because we tried to help him for as long as we thought it was possible. Unfortunately it was not possible to help him and at 16:56 (local time) we had to declare he was dead.”

Paul Butler responded to a question about Marco Simoncelli’s helmet coming off in the crash by saying: “I think if I may reply, that will be for another occasion. Quite clearly the consequences and circumstances surrounding the accident will be thoroughly investigated.”

Answering a question about the condition of Colin Edwards, who was involved in the incident, Michele Macchiagodena said: “He had a dislocation of the shoulder and with anaesthesia the shoulder now is in the correct position. He is fine.”

Paul Butler concluded the press conference by adding: “Our sympathies go to his family and we want to show every respect possible to Marco.”

Over 50,000 fans expected to attend Marco Simoncelli’s funeral

MotorcycleNews.com

Marco Simoncelli’s funeral will take place in Italy tomorrow (Thursday) with more than 50,000 fans expected to attend.

Italy has been a nation united in grief since the popular 24-year-old died from multiple injuries sustained in a second lap incident during Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang.

Simoncelli lost control of his Honda RC212V machine at Turn 11 and was struck by American Colin Edwards and nine-times world champion Valentino Rossi.

The San Carlo Gresini Honda rider’s body arrived from Kuala Lumpur in Rome on Tuesday morning and the funeral service will take place in the church of Santa Maria Assunta in Coriano at 3pm (Thursday). The former 250GP world champion will be buried in the cemetery of his home town close to Riccione on Italy’s Adriatic coast.

Close friend Rossi, Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta and former world champion Jorge Lorenzo will attend the funeral service.

TN Court of Appeals: Cars can be searched for invisible guns w/o PC or search warrant, cops can destroy all evidence, incompetent defendants can now be prosecuted despite zero caselaw, prosecutors are now defense lawyers

2011-10-25T08:46:00.020-04:00

Mr Clark had a massive stroke 3 weeks after this video discussing dismissal of charges in the alleged redlight camera shooting case

Alternate title: State of Tennessee Attorney General Defrauds Court of Appeals in Violation of Court Order to Dismiss Case Against Cliff Clark, AG Hires Clark's Lawyer to Block Appeal to TN Supreme Court and Ensure His Silence That a Knox Deputy Confessed to Shooting a Redlight Camera

"Mr Clark is innocent of the charge of allegedly shooting a red-light camera."
-Ron Newcomb, former attorney for Clifford Clark and current deputy attorney general prosecutor in Sevier County who knows the difference between Innocent and Not Guilty

One judge in this case -- Richard Baumgardner -- has already been arrested, convicted and disbarred for being stoned on dope and having sex with his drug dealer in judges chambers during this trial, and the judge buying his illegal narcotics FROM POLICE OFFICERS with FULL KNOWLEDGE OF KNOX COUNTY D.A. RANDY NICHOLS in a conspiracy of silence, according to 1,200-page TBI report now made public. 1000s of convictions will now be overturned, including 5 mass-murder convictions last week, except for one...Cliff Clark's case. Read the 1200-page police report, probably a result of the Dragonater's investigative report of this judge's bizarre courtroom ruling that videotaping clothed adults at a public swimming pool is now "kiddie porn". The AG condoned the judge's intoxication in order to extort bogus convictions, according to eyewitnesses in the news. This ex-judge also refused to allow exhumation of the corpse of the former AG to protect co-conspirators, during his widow's murder trial (both murder convictions also to be overturned?), as seen on Court TV.

KPD dashcam video shows the camera had zero bullet holes 30 minutes AFTER Cliff Clark's arrest...2 holes should be visible from this angle

KPD patrolcar video proves the Redflex camera was without bullet holes AFTER Mr Clark was arrested and driven to jail. Mr Clark's 30-06 with 150-grain factory-load bullets was "extremely high-powered" according to KPD and would have left 4 very large exit holes visible in this image. KPD photos proved only 1 small exit hole on the right side with 4 small entry holes including 1 entry hole on the back (left side in this video) -- these KPD photos were suppresseed by the TN Court of Criminal Appeals because they prove Mr Clark was innocent. KPD, Redflex and Knox DA destroyed all ballistic evidence in this case, which would have proven Mr Clark's lawful rifle did not fire the low-powered bullets that allegedly hit this (or another?) camera. Redflex was fired by City of Knoxville for suspected bribery and contract fraud during Mr Clark's case, and Redflex refused to testify against Mr Clark, and Knox DA testified that Redflex fled the jurisdiction to its home base in Australia. Mr Clark never got a redlight camera ticket, and was never sued in court for a redlight camera ticket. Lawyers, judges and lawmakers agree, there is no legal requirement to ever pay a redlight camera ticket, so there was no motive for Mr Clark to shoot a redlight camera. Charges were dismissed 1 week after Mr Clark subpoenaed Knox County Deputy Mark Mcconnell to testify a Knox deputy confessed to shooting a redlight camera.

RE: Charges reinstated against accused red-light camera shooter -- Not true, but does anybody care?

"On or about September 24, 2009, Defendant's counsel was notified that Mr Clark is currently in the intensive care unit out of state due to suffering a massive stroke. Mr Clark underwent surgery as a result of the stroke [costing $400,000]."
-Ron Newcomb, Motion to Continue Trial, filed 30 Sept 2009 -- page 1 -- page 2

"The State's response asserts that its research has provided no definitive answer to either question posed by this court. The State asserts that there can be no dispute that the defendant cannot be tried on the remaining pending charges if he is determined not to be competent to stand trial. Therefore, the State concludes that 'it is in the interest of all parties' for this matter to be remanded to the trial court for a forensic competency evaluation of the defendant. The State indicates that it would have no objection to this court holding this appeal in abeyance pending the reoslution of the motions challenging the defendant's competence to stand trial on the remaining pending charges 'since such resolution might impact the State's decision to proceed further with its appeal in the present case.' We see no purpose to be served by a remand to the trial court to determine the defendant's competence to assist his counsel in pursuing this appeal. The motion for a forensic competency evaluation is therefore not well-taken. Accordingly the motion is DENIED.”
-COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT KNOXVILLE, State vs Clark, ORDER, 13 August 2010

"Based upon the finding of the Defendant being medically incompetent to stand trial regarding these criminal charges pursuant to T.C.A. 33-7-301 et seq., and that said incompetency being medically permanent in nature, and upon fulfillment of conditions stated herein, these matters shall be dismissed with prejudice providing that the weapons and other items currently seized pursuant to the Defendant’s arrest by the Knox County Sheriff Department and or any other law enforcement agency will be released to Attorney Ron C. Newcomb of Burroughs Collins & Newcomb, PLC for full satisfaction of the Defendant’s financial obligation to Attorney Ron C. Newcomb. The courts costs of this matter are taxed to the State."
-Judge Mary Beth Leibowitz, Knox County Criminal Court Division 3, Docket No. 91484 and 90618, AGREED ORDER OF DISMISSAL WITH PREJUDICE, April 1, 2011

The TN Court of Appeals, in that same opinion, alleged that mentally incompetent defendants (incapcitated by a "massive stroke" in this case) can be prosecuted and convicted even though they cannot participate in their own trial defense, cannot afford a lawyer, and cannot speak to hire a lawyer because their own defense lawyer was hired as a prosecutor in the middle of his appeal. The court of appeals never bothered to mail a copy to Mr Clark of this first order re competency, only mailed the second order for remand:

"On April 29, 2010, Clark filed a “Motion for Forensic Competency Evaluation and Hearing Regarding Indigency for Costs of Forensic Competency Evaluation” in this court. On May 12, 2010, this court filed an order deferring its ruling on this motion and requiring the State to file a response addressing whether there is a 'constitutional or statutory requirement that a criminal defendant be competent to proceed on appeal when represented by counsel and, if so, what the proper standard is for determining whether a criminal defendant is competent to proceed with an appeal when represented by counsel.' The State filed a response on June 14, 2010. On August 13, 2010, this court entered an order denying the motion for a forensic competency evaluation at the appellate level and concluding that a 'non-capital defendant’s mental incompetence to assist his attorney in pursuing an appeal should not prohibit the appeal from continuing.'”
-COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT KNOXVILLE, State vs Clark, Footnote 4, Direct Appeal from the Criminal Court for Knox County, No. E2009-01795-CCA-R3-CD, 24 October, 2010

The TN Court of Criminal Appeals opinion of State vs Clark, dated 28 Sept 2011, alleged that cops don't need to see a firearm in order to search a car for firearms without a search warrant (contradicting the US Supreme Court in Arizona vs Gant).

Today, plagerising a newspaper report, radio propagandist Hallerin Hilton Hill was laughing how wonderful it is that the TN Court of Criminal Appeals opined that police never need a warrant nor probable cause to search your car, and how wonderful it is to pay your traffic tickets directly to Communist China. (This is the same week that THP/TSA VPIR squads began raping all drivers, er, "terrorists" on TN highways, literally, without probable cause nor search warrant.)

What's missing from this story?

State of Tennessee vs Clifford Clark court archive

1. Mr Clark has no attorney to fight this appeal. His attorney Ron Newcomb is now employed as a prosecutor in the Sevier AND Blount County attorney general's office. How CONVENIENT for the state attorney general to offer Mr Clark's attorney a job (2 jobs), eliminating Mr Clark's best opportunity to file a petition for certiorari to the TN supreme court against the state attorney general. Mr Newcomb was previously employed as a prosecutor by the Sevier County DA's office. Newcomb's newborn son required a kidney transplant, his insurance was maxed out, hence the move to Blount County's bankrupt government which has the best medical insurance in Tennessee at taxslave expense.

"Why would Ron Newcomb defend anyone as a defense attorney especially now? I thought he now was working as an assistant District attorney with the Sevier County 4th judicial district under James B Dunn. Ron Newcomb is obviously playing both sides of the fence. Defending criminals and prosecuting criminals at the same time? Is that not a conflict of interest?"
-Knoxville News Sentinel, 'Snake' bitten with 22-year prison term, August 18, 2011

"A man will not face charges in the shotgun death of another man in Sevier County. A county grand jury returned a no-true bill this week after reviewing evidence in the death of Michael Sutton, who died in July 2010. The prosecutor's office presented evidence against James Gregory Brown II. Sheriff Ron Seals said at the time of the shooting that witnesses said it was accidental -- that Brown dropped a loaded 12-gauge shotgun and it discharged, striking Sutton, who died before an ambulance arrived. Assistant District Attorney Ron Newcomb told The Mountain Press his office respects the grand jury decision."
-VolunteerTV.com, No charges in Sevier County shotgun death, 23 September 2011

2. Mr Clark did not need to be found incompetent by stroke in order to win all his cases. This is the real reason the State voluntarily dismissed its prosecutions for alleged trespass on campus by a UT student, and alleged aggravated assault of a deputy sheriff wearing a Metallica t-shirt who illegally broke into Mr Clark's home without a warrant, then ran screaming out of the house "having flashbacks to Afghanistan" when Mr Clark confronted him with a shotgun inside his own home.

3. Judge Leibowitz dismissed the vandalism charge against Mr. Clark 1 week after Mr. Clark subpoenaed a former Knox County deputy sheriff to testify that a current Knox deputy sheriff confessed to shooting a redlight camera in Knoxville. She had several years to dismiss it, why then, 4 weeks before trial for pulling a shotgun on a cop? Normally such dismissals don't happen until the day of trial, in order to coerce defendants to plead guilty under maximum psychological pressure, especially when accused of attempted murder of a cop ("dressed as a criminal" as his attorney the prosecutor wrote in his motion to dismiss).

4. Mr. Clark had a "massive stroke" 3 weeks after winning dismissal of the vandalism charge. Did you know that Medicare refuses to pay any medical bills for any person until 2.5 years after becoming sick under Social Security Disability? If a private insurance company pulled a scam like the fed govt -- taking money from customers the nrefusing to pay claims for 2.5 years, the executives would be immediately arrested -- convicted and sent to prison. Mr Clark's private insurance refused to pay for the $400,000 stroke, calling it a "pre-existing condition".

5. KPD, Knox prosecutors and Australian Redflex destroyed all ballistic evidence and audio evidence in this case. KPD officers testified they were standing within inches of the redlight camera as Mr. Clark allegedly shot it, yet those same cops testified they had no reason to make a traffic stop of Mr. Clark. The alleged police audio of those gunshots was destroyed by KPD. KPD testified Mr Clark's rifle was not in plain sight. There is no law against driving with an unloaded rifle, and no handgun carry permit is required, so Mr Clark violated no laws. There is no law requiring a permit to carry a long gun. How many people could be framed for a crime by police, using the sole "evidence" of carrying a lawful firearm in their vehicle?

6. Mr. Clark's rifle was a 30-06 caliber with factory 150 grain bullets, capable of penetrating 5/8-inch steel plate at 100 years, yet the thin sheet metal of the redlight camera housing only had 1 exit hole out of 4 bullets at less than 20 yards. KPD, Redflex and Knox DA destroyed the 3 bullets inside the camera housing, which would have proven Mr. Clark's rifle was not the weapon that shot the redligth camera.

7. Redflex is an Australian company that got 80% of ticket revenue. Redflex was fired by City of Knoxville for suspected bribery and contract fraud. Redflex refused to testify against Mr. Clark, and its employees fled USA.

8. The current redlight camera contractor in Knoxville is Lasercraft, based in Communist China.

9. The TN Court of Appeals cannot overturn the US Supreme Court's Arizona vs Gant.

10. Knox prosecutors already signed an agreed court order to voluntarily dismiss all prosecutions of Mr Clark, "with prejudice", officially due to his incapacitation by massive stroke. The State failed to appeal that agreed order within the statute of limitations, thus it is "impossible" (within the law) for the State to prosecute or convict Mr Clark. Mr Clark can get expungement of all dismissed cases, removing them from the public record. This includes removing this bad appellate opinion from the public record, denying its use by attorneys general as legal precedent. It's amazing the court dared classify this as a "published opinion" rather than an "unpublished opinion" (banned by order of the court from legal precedent due to being invalid caselaw).

11. It is part of the public record that Mr Clark's attorney, Ron Newcomb, filed a motion with the court for an indefinite continuance due to "massive stroke". Yet all news reports after Mr Clark's stroke refused to mention the stroke, instead implying that Mr Clark was insane, especially with inane comments by law enforcement lackeys. In fact, during this trial, Mr Clark obtained a signed letter from a psychologist on UT campus that nobody is more sane than Mr Clark, and Mr Clark is not a danger to himself or others. In fact, the State did return all of Mr Clark's fireams after the agreed order of dismissal, after Knox County deputies broke into Mr Clark's home and gunsafe, stealing $10,000 in firearms, including the shotgun used to lawfully defend himself inside his home from undercover cops "dressed as criminals", as well as the 30-06 rifle allegedly used for vandalizing a redlight camera.

12. Attorneys for Knoxville News Sentinel, WBIR TV, City of Knoxville and Knox County attorney general office threatened to arrest The Dragonater during the trial of Mr Clark, for daring to file a 50-page First Amendment appeal of an opinion from Judge Leibowitz banning TV coverage of this world-famous trial. Four previous judges had ordered The Dragonater to broadcast full coverage from inside the courtroom in this case. When Mr Clark started winning is when The Dragonater was banned. KNS and WBIR hold illegal secret contracts with City of Knoxville for propaganda placement, and The Dragonater had subpoened those public records. During that same hearing, Judge Leibowitz threatened to sanction Mr Clark's attorney Ron Newcomb for subpoena of a Knox County sheriff incident report where Mr Clark was severely beaten in the head by suspected undercover police or police informants with immunity from prosecution (causing his massive stroke), and threatened arrest Mr Clark for complaining that the judge's court order had been illegally written by the prosecution using false testimony that never appeared in the court record.

13. Why did it take 2 years for the Court of Appeals to write its opinion? Is it because it knows Mr Clark is incapacitated and unable to call their bluff and file an appeal to the TN Supreme Court? Will Mr Clark pay his attorney $1,000s more to appeal to the Tennessee Supreme Court, to fight for the Constitutional rights of everyone else? Mr Clark has already won his case and cannot be prosecuted under double jeopardy. How many prosecution appeals are decided AFTER the prosecution has dismissed its case?

14. Mr Clark never got a redlight camera ticket, and was never sued for a redlight camera ticket in any court. No redlight camera ticket was ever entered into evidence in any court. No person is ever required to pay a redlight camera ticket due to lack of personal service of process as required in all civil lawsuits. If Mr Clark had gotten a redlight camera ticket, he probably would have paid the $50 rather than fight it in court, since he's a retired "millionaire" at age 50. So Mr Clark had no motive to shoot a redlight camera. Mr Clark always maintained his innocence, that this was a frame job by KPD.

15. Mr Clark was illegally expelled from UT as a result of Mr Clark's website, CliffSpeaks.com, discussing his redlight-camera vandalism defense (a violation of the First Amendment to the US Constitution). UT denied Mr Clark a mandatory due process hearing, by filing a false charge of alleged criminal trespass, based on forged and perjured testimony by UT employees. Based on this false arrest warrant for alleged trespass, undercover Knox County sheriff deputies in Metallica t-shirts broke into Mr Clark's home without identifying themselves, and without a search warrant. Inside his bedroom, Mr Clark pulled a loaded shotgun on the burgler, er, undercover deputy in a Metallica t-shirt. The deputy later testified that he "ran screaming from the house having flashbacks to [raiding homes and killing innocent women and children in] Afghanistan." In fact, Mr Clark had been given a written invitation from a professor to attend an event on UT campus, where Mr Clark already has 2 degrees.

16. During Mr Clark's trials and tribulations, the Tennessee legislature passed a law banning 95% of all redlight camera tickets, effective immediately in 2011.

17. Mr Clark is a business owner and software engineer with numerous patents and copyrights, with 2 degrees from UT Knoxville. He is a former teacher with Knox County Schools. He is a veteran of the US Air Force and US Navy. He is a licensed pilot and aircraft owner certified for aerobatics. He is currently divorced. He owns his own home (no mortgage) and currently resides in Knoxville. He swears under oath he never shot a redlight camera, and his attorney described him as "innocent" rather than "not guilty". He has invested over $40,000 on his legal defense, without ever having a trial. Mr Clark's incapacitating stroke may have saved KPD, KCSO, UTPD, UT, City of Knoxville and State of Tennessee and their individual employees millions of dollars for a verdict of false arrest and malicious prosecution. Mr Clark never got a redlight camera ticket.

Charges reinstated against accused red-light camera shooter

By Jamie Satterfield
Knoxville News Sentinel
October 24, 2011

A state appellate court on Monday reinstated charges against a Knoxville man accused in the shooting of a red-light camera.

In an opinion drafted by Appellate Judge Camille R. McMullen, the state Court of Criminal Appeals concluded Knox County Criminal Court Judge Mary Beth Leibowitz was wrong to toss out an indictment for felony vandalism and reckless endangerment filed against Clifford Clark in the November 2007 incident.

It's not clear, though, whether prosecutors will be able to try Clark. Earlier this year, Leibowitz deemed Clark mentally incompetent to stand trial in an unrelated assault charge after his attorney, Ron Newcomb, argued Clark had suffered a "debilitating medical event" that caused significant memory loss and an inability to communicate. Newcomb did not offer details, and Leibowitz sealed related medical records.

Clark was accused of shooting out a red-light camera that captured him running a red light at the intersection of Interstate 640 and Broadway. Knoxville Police Department officers who were near the intersection when they heard four shots being fired and then saw Clark speeding away stopped him within seconds.

According to the appellate court opinion, the officers handcuffed Clark and then found a high-powered rifle from which four shots had been fired in Clark's vehicle. The officers did not have a warrant to search the vehicle, and the U.S. Supreme Court has, in recent times, placed significant limitations on law enforcement's ability to search a vehicle without a warrant.

Leibowitz opined the officers had exceeded those limits. However, the appellate court concluded the rifle was readily visible to the officers and, as such, met the "plain view" exception to the requirement for a search warrant.

The court agreed with Leibowitz that KPD was wrong to give the damaged red-light camera back to its owner — private contractor Redflex Traffic Systems — rather than maintain it as evidence but opined her dismissal of charges was too draconian a punishment for the error.

"Accordingly, we reverse the trial court's judgment dismissing the indictment," McMullen wrote.The court instead is barring prosecutors from using photographs of the damaged camera as evidence.

Comments

Power to the people!! Kudos to you Cliff! I think all thieves should be shot like dogs, whether human or robotic....

The Dragonater is banned forever from KNS Comments, and KNS attorneys threatened the Dragonater with sanctions and arrest for daring to broadcast Truth news in the case of State vs Clifford Clark.

The Dragonater's Reality Check on WBCR Truth Radio on 1470 AM, discussion about Redlight Camera Sniper Case with Jim Balloch of the Knoxville News Sentinel:

"For the following reasons the court reverses its decision with respect to the motion to suppress the evidence and dismiss. The officers removed the defendant, Mr. Clark, from the vehicle almost immediately and on the videotape which has no audio available, patted down and handcuffed the defendant within a few seconds. It is admitted by the state that the lens covers were not made a part of the body of evidence in this case. It is also admitted that the officers took action to search the vehicle without the benefit of any search warrant, nor was there any written consent to search. The defendant denies giving any oral consent to search. The court requested that the state search for the camera cover and enclosure which the defendant is alleged to have shot in order that there be an opportunity for testing. The state was unable to produce the evidence and the Attorney General has determined that some of the evidence is gone, and some of the evidence has been recycled for use. Thus the defense contends it cannot examine the items which were damaged, nor do ballistic testing. It is the court's opinion that the search of the vehicle in absense of any search warrant and after the defendant had been safely removed from access to the vehicle in the rear of the car in the dark with a flashlight violates the United States Supreme Court case of Arizona v. Gant, 556 U.S. (2009). Additionally, State v. Ferguson, 2 S.W. 3d 912 (Tenn.Crim.App 1999) holds that the Constitution is violated when missing evidence has not been produced and is crucial to the opportunity of the defense to discover and examine such missing evidence. Thus it is this court's opinion that the evidence taken from the motor vehicle would be suppresed and the case should therefore be dismissed."
-Judge Mary Beth Leibowitz, State v. Clifford Clark, Order Regarding Motion to Reconsider Suppression and Dismissal, 30 July 2009

"A Knoxville man accused of shooting a red-light camera has a new theory about the crime. Charges against Clifford Clark III were dismissed on July 30. Clark was accused of firing several shots which destroyed the camera at the intersection of Broadway and I-640 in Nov. 2007. He was arrested a short time later after police stopped his car near the scene. But Judge Mary Beth Leibowitz dismissed the charges of vandalism and reckless endangerment. Her order states that the arresting officers 'immediately took action to search the vehicle without the benefit of any search warrant, nor was there any written consent to search.' The judge also said evidence, particularly the damaged camera, was no longer available. 'The state was unable to produce the evidence after inquiring has determined that some of the evidence is gone and some has apparently been recycled for use.' The defense was then unable to examine the camera parts or do further testing on the items. In an interview with freelance journalist John Lee, Clark said it's a 'tremendous relief' to have the case dismissed. The interview is posted on YouTube. Clark denies firing any shots at the camera and offers this suggestion in the interview: 'I think it was the police. If that camera was shot, I can only believe it was the police who shot the camera.' Clark alluded to a conspiracy in which the camera operators get paid by the City of Knoxville for every damaged camera. But Clark did say he subpoenaed at least one former Knox County Sheriff's deputy who would have testified that officers have in fact damaged cameras in the past. Knox County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Martha Dooley said the Sheriff can't make any comments because Clark has other criminal charges pending. 'As long as this is still in the court system, we really can't say anything,' Dooley said."

-Scott Brooks, Knoxville Journal, Accused camera shooter says cops did it, 12 August 2009

"It is extremely easy to beat this type of ticket in court. Your easiest defense is to simply throw the ticket away. If it does not come with a return receipt that requires a signature, there is no proof that you actually got the ticket and they cannot prosecute you on that."
-Norman G. Fernandez, attorney at law, free ebook How to Beat a Speeding Ticket - Photo RADAR

75% of AZ Drivers Refuse to Pay Photo Traffic Tickets

85% of TX Drivers Refuse to Pay Photo Traffic Tickets

"Lasercraft is a member of the Public Safety Equipment PSE group of companies. Public Safety Equipment (Intl) Ltd, Registered Office, Yeadon, Leeds, England. Beijing Mag Science & Technology Development Corp, Beijing, China."
-Lasercraft.com

"Redflex Group is based in South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Redflex Holdings Limited was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in January 1997. Redflex Traffic Systems Inc has contracts with more then 130 USA cities, and is the largest provider of digital red light and speed enforcement services in North America."
-Redflex.com

$500,000 City of Knoxville invoice paid to Redflex account in National Australia Bank in Australia, obtained by Clifford Clark during discovery in his case

"Any prosecutor can convict a guilty man; it takes a great prosecutor to convict an innocent man."
-Dallas DA Henry Wade, in charge of prosecuting and protecting Lee Harvey Oswald

"I'm just a patsy! I didn't shoot nobody no Sir!"
-Lee Harvey Oswald, US Marine Corps Naval Intelligence, before he was gunned down by jewish mobster Jacob Rubenstein inside the Dallas Police Station, the same police station President JFK Sr was gunned down in front of, and the same police station Jack Ruby died of "sudden cancer" 1 week after winning a new trial

Dallas DA’s death 19 convictions undone - "As district attorney of Dallas for an unprecedented 36 years, Henry Wade was the embodiment of Texas justice. Nineteen convictions — three for murder and the rest involving rape or burglary — won by Wade and two successors who trained under him have been overturned after DNA evidence exonerated the defendants. About 250 more cases are under review. No other county in America — and almost no state, for that matter — has freed more innocent people from prison in recent years than Dallas County, where Wade was DA from 1951 through 1986. John Stickels, a University of Texas at Arlington criminology professor and a director of the Innocence Project of Texas, blames a culture of 'win at all costs.' 'When someone was arrested, it was assumed they were guilty,' he said. 'I think prosecutors and investigators basically ignored all evidence to the contrary and decided they were going to convict these guys.' In his last 20 years as district attorney, his office won 165,000 convictions, the Dallas Morning News reported when he retired. In the 1960s, Wade secured a murder conviction against Ruby, the Dallas nightclub owner who shot Lee Harvey Oswald after Oswald's arrest in the assassination of President Kennedy. Ruby's conviction was overturned on appeal, and he died before Wade could retry him."
-MSNBC, 7/29/2008

Knox deputies and Knox DA refused to arrest or prosecute the "car-jacking muggers" who beat Mr Clark causing his stroke

"If I'm found floating face down in the river or murdered ('apparent suicide') in a jail cell on some bogus charge, you'll know it was the sheriff's department working in concert with the University of Tennessee."
-Clifford Clark, CliffSpeaks.com

"Do you think this is an Operation Northwoods situation?" [flase-flag govt snipers framing a patsy]
-Cliff Clark

Conclusion

The fact that there is no evidence against Mr Clark, no law violated by Mr Clark, and many laws violated by KPD, had nothing to do with this appellate opinion. However, gangsters in government have lots of guns and bullets, with plenty of serial-killing mass-murdering psychopathic "trigger pullers" who will obey any unlawful order for their $100,000 paycheck as Police State Death Squads. Heck, just this week, serial-killing mass-murdering psychopathic "trigger pullers" obeyed the unlawful order from illegal alien Dictator Hussein Obama Soetoro to bomb the president of Libya (a nation that never attacked USA) as he waved a white flag of surrender, then homosexually gang-raped him (as seen on TV) then put 2 bullets in his head in summary execution without trial nor appeal and dumped in an unmarked mass grave, then installed convicted Al Qaeda terrorists as dictators of Libya under Islamic martial law. What makes you think YOU are exempt for government "rendition" (a government term for slaughtering people, from the term "render" for slaughtering livestock)?

See also:

UPDATE 15 Nov 2011: Hookers And Pimps Rally Behind Cliff Clark

The Police Officer as Psychopath

My first body cavity search

Tortured by Copsters in Tennessee

“I’ll burn your house down, set your dog on fire and there won’t be a member of your family left, do you understand me? I won’t hire it done, I will do it myself! Do you understand me?”
-Blount County sheriff James Berrong, United Stated Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit, Nuchols v. Berrong, No. 04-5645, July 11, 2005

Tennessee Auditors Arrive - 48 Blount Sheriff cars missing - "The state auditor arrived in the County a few weeks ago. The auditor was able to find only 239 vehicles. What happened to the other 48 vehicles? But the Sheriff wants the taxpayers to support a tax increase, so that he can have even more money to spend next year. Does this make sense to you?"

Blount County cops buy college degrees at massaage parlor

COP.
2. to steal; filch.
3. to buy (narcotics).
4. cop out, a. to avoid one's responsibility, the fulfillment of a promise, etc.; renege; back out.
5. cop a plea,
a. to plead guilty or confess in return for receiving a lighter sentence.
b. to plead guilty to a lesser charge as a means of bargaining one's way out of standing trial for a more serious charge; plea-bargain.
-Dictionary.com, Random House Unabridged Dictionary 2006

injustice, innocence project, DNA evidence, exonerated, civil rights violation, corruption, police state, ron paul, insanity defense, james earl ray, mlk, jfk, grassy knoll, e howard hunt, frank sturgis, rush to judgement, lee harvey oswald, frame job, operation northwoods, richard nixon, tricky dick, oliver stone,

Why you must always carry a gun on UT campus

2011-10-23T00:57:00.000-04:00

American sucker grovels then pays $50 "set-down fee" on UT campus

KNOXVILLE, TENN. -- This is more proof that UTPD and KPD are mafia criminal organizations that give immunity to cop-killin mobsters willing to bribe police protection rackets. Fired sheriff Tim Hutchison bragged on the front page of the News Sentinel that he stole cars at West Town Mall with convicted copkiller Roy Lee Clark, towtrucker and chopshop owner. Teflon Tim was re-elected 2 weeks later. Tim's reportedly dodging process servers after robbing his bankrupt car dealership of $17-million.

When a towtrucker was caught demanding a set-down fee with 15 minutes left on the meter in downtown NOxVile, one owner calmly got his handgun out of the glovebox and laid it on the top of the dash. Presto...no set-down fee, no cops, no arrest for "brandishing a firearm" (because he wasn't holding it).

"Set-down fees" are illegal under TN Code. That is felony extortion.

So is towing any car not blocking a public highway. That is felony cartheft.

Been there, done that. Then my lawyer got 2 guns put to his head and told, "If you don't do what you're told we'll blow your brains out." Which is exactly what the owner of Sutherland Avenue Wrecker did to the owners of Cedar Bluff Towing, who were "left for dead", allegedly, according to employees of SAWS.

The proper way to handle an extortionist's demand for an illegal set-down fee is to turn on your audio recorder and/or video/audio recorder, have him repeat his demands, place a hand on your gun in its holster, ready for quick-draw, and say, "You are now under citizen's arrest for extortion. Put your hands behind your head and lay face-down on the pavement."

If he jumps in his towtruck, stand in front of it. If he puts it in gear and drives towards you, open fire, shoot for the head in "self defense" -- if you don't you're maybe dead. "I feared for my life, officer!" is all you need to say, then STFU and hire a criminal lawyer.

Tie him up, gag him if required, remove the keys from his truck (preserve the evidence). Then load him in the truck of your car or bed of your truck and drive down a lonely country road...to the judicial commissioner's office in the City County Building for a probable cause hearing. Or call 911 and demand KPD pick up your prisoner, then immediately drive to the judicial commissioner's office to file an affidavit of probable cause for criminal complaint.

This of course is exactly why guns are illegally banned in Victim Disarmament Zones. Police only exist to protect the criminals from the public, and to rob the sheeple of their hard-earned fleece.

Back in the olden days, USA had no police and no jails, just a hangman's noose for horse russlers...

Hanging of a horse thief in Oregon 1900

TSA VPIR squads rape all drivers on TN highways

2011-10-22T08:37:00.001-04:00

Tennessee is so special...it's the only state that burns radioactive trash. Because, you know, burning neutralizes radiation. Now Tennessee is the first and only state that allows traffic cop to rape every motorist. Isn't that special?

Porn star Barbi Cummings started a new trend with her blowjob of THP during a traffic stop, actually quite common in Tennessee

Vegas casino kingpin, billionaire Bill Haslam, was convicted by the TN attorney general of felony price-gouging at his Pilot Oil stations (highest gas price in the nation), so of course he was promoted to governor of TN. Only the best criminals are worthy of such positions, ask Bill Frist. Convicted felon TN governor Ray Blanton would be proud. This week, Haslam was paid a bribe by illegal alien resident Barack Hussein Obama Soetoro to illegally order THP to rape every motorist as a "terrorist".

Lesbian Fatherland Security director Mr. Napolitano reported to a castrated Congress this week that 50-million illegal aliens are of course exempt from prosecution. In fact, instead of deporting illegal aliens, TSA will find them jobs in USA. TSA already employs 1,000s of illegal aliens as airport security rapists, who the federal courts ordered as immune from termination.

As I stated to a little old lady on my radio show, if she wants a Police State on the Dragon, she's gonna love having her pussy raped by TSA at McGhee Tyson International Cocaine Airport. Now she can have her pussy raped on the Dragon, too.

But if you dare to save your Constitutional rights and save America from terrorists, print this PDF and this ABC News report and hand it to your TSA agent, either before or after your public body cavity stripsearch in their microwave oven.

Lest we forget Fast and Furious, Mr. Napolitano and black US attorney general Eric Holder gave 20,000 military-grade firearms to Mexican drug gangs, to genocide 40,000 Mexicans police/politicians/gangstas and US tourists/cops, because decapitating them and hanging their corpses from highway overpasses wasn't fast and furious enough for Dictator Hussein Obama Soetoro.

So who's the terrorist now? Could it be...SATAN?!

TSA Decides Terrorists Must Be Driving; Partners With Tenn. Law Enforcement To Randomly Search Vehicles

from the the-United-States:-now-with-more-acronyms-than-rights! dept

Pitabred sends in the distressing but completely unsurprising news that the TSA, with the cooperation of the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security, is now trolling for terrorists on the open highway.

The Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security on Tuesday partnered with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and several other federal and state agencies for a safety enforcement and awareness operation on Tennessee's interstates and two metropolitan-area bus stations.

But this was no ordinary random search of vehicles. This one had its own acronym:

The agencies conducted a Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR) operation at scale complexes where trucks and large vehicles are weighed. The VIPR operation was also conducted at two regional bus terminals in Nashville and Knoxville.

As awesomely G.I. Joe-ish as VIPR sounds, one would think that random searches of vehicles might run afoul of the Fourth Amendment. The word from above is: Don't worry about it. You're probably just thinking too much. Highway patrol Colonel Tracy Trott offers some much needed perspective:

The random inspections really aren't any more thorough [than?] normal, according to Tennessee Highway Patrol Colonel Tracy Trott who says paying attention to details can make a difference. Trott pointed out it was an Oklahoma state trooper who stopped patsy Special Forces Sgt Timothy McVeighfor removing his license plate after the Oklahoma City bombing by trillionaire jewish president Bill Clinton Blythe Rockefeller in the early 1990s.

Question, the first: If these inspections aren't any more thorough than "normal," why the extra personnel and additional super-cool acronym?

Question, the second: An anecdote about catching someone after they've already performed an act of terrorism is hardly comforting.

Still not convinced that there's a whole lot of "nothing to see here" contained within this new operation? More empty statements are available to wave away your concerns:

Larry Godwin, deputy commissioner of TDSHS, said the checks at the weigh stations were about showing the people of Tennessee the government is serious about transportation safety, and to make sure the state is ready in case something were to happen.

I'm not going to speak for anybody else, but I find that the increased presence of law enforcement and various geared-up ancillaries rarely makes me feel "safer." Usually a swarm of drug/bomb sniffing dogs and SWAT-team members leads me to believe that either a.) something bad has happened or b.) something bad is going to happen. While I would agree that this sight would make me believe that the government is indeed "serious" about something, it does very little to convince me that it is "ready" for anything.

If you (like me) are still feeling a bit less than safe (and perhaps, more likely to be randomly searched), take heart! Your fellow citizens are being recruited to turn you in, should you happen to do something perceived as "suspicious," most likely at a high rate of speed.

Agents are recruiting truck drivers, like Rudy Gonzales, into the First Observer Highway Security Program (which plants bombs on school buses then blows them up) to say something if they see something.

"Not only truck drivers, but cars, everybody should be aware of what's going on, on the road," said Gonzales.

It's all meant to urge every driver to call authorities if they see something suspicious.

"Somebody sees something somewhere and we want them to be responsible citizens, report that and let us work it through our processes to abet the concern that they had when they saw something suspicious," said Paul Armes, TSA Federal Security Director for Nashville International Airport.

While I'm fairly sure that's either a misquote or just a miswording by Armes, the idea that the TSA might "abet" (aid, encourage, incite, foster, promote) concerns seems very plausible. After all, without the vague threat of terrorist activity, where would they be? (Look under your vehicle.)

Let's briefly review the Fourth Amendment and see how this new effort checks down:

The Fourth Amendment... guards against unreasonable searches and seizures, along with requiring any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause.

Reasonable search? Probable cause?

Tuesday's statewide "VIPR" operation isn't in response to any particular threat, according to officials.

Ah. Well, with the TSA moving onto the highway (having already made its presence known in bus stations and subways), it's presumably only a matter of time before it decides that terrorists have been chased out of the skies and off the road by its efforts, and at that point, there's really only one place left to look for potential troublemakers.

119 Comments...

"Well, if you don't like it, don't fly!"
"Well, if you don't like it, don't take the train!"
"Well, if you don't like it, don't ride the bus!"
"Well, if you don't like it, don't drive your car!"
Next up:
"Well, if you don't like it, don't walk in public!"

It would be easier if they just outlawed clothes.

TSA Turns to Nation's Highways

National Motorists Assn
Motorists.org

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was formed in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. It has grown into a bloated, ineffective federal agency that will command a budget of $8.1 billion for 2012.

On second thought, forget "grown into." It has been ineffective since Day 1.

We have the TSA to thank for knee-jerk, reactionary policies that resulted in airport security measures such as shoe removals, confiscation of liquids/gels/aerosols in containers larger than 3.4 ounces, and full body scans.

Security expert Bruce Schneier goes so far as to say, "Exactly two things have made airplane travel safer since 9/11: reinforcing the cockpit door, and convincing passengers they need to fight back. Everything else has been a waste of money. Add screening of checked bags and airport workers and we’re done."

Now the TSA is bringing its wasteful and intrusive ways to our nation’s highways.

The TSA joined with the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security last month to conduct an operation that randomly searched truck cargoes and subjected bus passengers to detailed individual security checks under the premise that terrorism is more likely to be found on interstates than on airplanes.

The joint operation was given the indecipherable name "Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response", presumably because it results in the awesome-sounding acronym, VIPR.

The VIPR security operations were staged simultaneously at five Tennessee roadside weigh stations and at two bus depots in Knoxville and Nashville.

Tennessee officials have been quick to point out that VIPR is not in response to any particular terrorist threat. The drug- and bomb-sniffing dogs deployed at the weigh stations, they say, are terrorism countermeasures and not violations of the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure.

NMA Tennessee State Activist Tona Monroe begged to differ. She sent messages to state politicians and to the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security demanding an immediate stoppage of VIPR activities.

In response, a representative from the Department of Safety noted that "the purpose of the VIPR operation was to detect and deter criminal activity on Tennessee’s roadways and educate professional truck drivers to look for and report suspicious activity . . . While Tennessee is the first state to conduct a VIPR operation on this large of a scale (simultaneously at seven locations), Tennessee is not the first state to ever conduct a joint federal-state VIPR operation."

Nor will it be the last. The United States has 55.6 million miles of paved roads and the TSA has bank vaults full of taxpayer cash to spend.

One can only imagine the schemes that will be dreamed up to cast a wide and warrantless net over our nation’s drivers and travelers

Napolitano: DHS Authorizing Illegal Aliens to Work in U.S.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that under the administration’s policy of exercising “prosecutorial discretion” in the enforcement of the immigration laws, her department is currently authorizing some illegal aliens to work in the United States.

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, asked Napolitano: “According to the information from your department, some individuals who are given relief will obtain work authorizations. So people with no right to be in the country will be allowed to work here. Is that correct?”

Napolitano said: “Well, senator, since around 1986 there has been a process where those who are technically unlawfully in the country may apply for work authorization. This goes to CIS [Citizenship and Immigration Services]. It's not an ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] or CBP [Customs and Border Protection] function. And those cases are reviewed by CIS in a case-by-case basis. So there’s no change in that process. Like I said, that goes back to the mid-80s that is contemplated now.”

Sen. Grassley then asked, “But yes, some of them could have an opportunity to work here even though they are here illegally?”

“Well, that happens now, senator,” said Napolitano.

The three agencies she mentioned are all components of DHS.

Although Napolitano did not specify what 1986 policy she was referring to in her response to Sen. Grassley, President Ronald Reagan signed the Simpson-Mazzoli Act into law in November of that year. The act applied to illegal aliens who requested a change of status within 18 months of the law's passage and who had come into the United States prior to Jan. 1, 1982, and had resided in America since that time.

According to the latest figures from the Department of Labor, the national unemployment rate is 9.1 percent and the number of unemployed persons has reached at least 14 million.

In a June 17 memo, ICE Director John Morton ordered federal immigration officials to use "prosecutorial discretion" in deciding which illegal aliens to remove from the country.

The purpose of the “prosecutorial discretion” policy is to remove the worst offenders while releasing others, particularly victims of domestic violence and other crimes; witnesses to crimes; or people who are charged with minor traffic violations.

“Exercising favorable discretion, such as release from detention and deferral or a stay of removal generally will be appropriate,” Morton said, unless the unauthorized alien poses national security concerns, has a “serious criminal history,” poses a threat to public safety, is a human rights violator or is involved in “significant” immigration fraud.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Napolitano mentioned that as a result of the “prosecutorial discretion” policy, the Obama administration will review “roughly 300,000” cases that are on the “master docket of what’s pending in immigration courts.”

“The goal” of that process is “to administratively close some of the low priority cases so that we can facilitate handling the higher priority cases,” said Napolitano. That indicates that some illegal immigrants will be allowed to stay in the country because their cases will be closed.

Although she did not rule out the possibility, Napolitano said that “absent unusual circumstances,” individuals with a final order of removal will not be eligible for relief once their case is reviewed.

The review process is intended “for cases that are pending that are clogging up the docket and preventing us from getting to the higher priority cases,” said Napolitano.

In defending the “prosecutorial discretion” policy, she told the Senate committee, “We can just remove anybody without any priorities and that would be one way to do it. Or the other way and the better way … is to say we want to focus on expediting the removal of those who are criminals; of those who are fugitives; of those who are repeat violators; of those who are recent entrants meaning within five years into the United States,” all of whom she referred to as “high priority” cases.

“At some point in the process there needs to be decisions made about who is to be removed,” she said. “It cost in the neighborhood of $23,000 to $30,000 to actually remove somebody. That’s our cost, [it] doesn’t include Justice Department cost. The Congress gives us the ability to finance removals of 400,000 people a year.”

Napolitano pointed out that an “interagency group” is currently working on how to go about reviewing the estimated 300,000 cases. A “pilot” approach to reviewing the cases will start in “two to three weeks,” she said.

“The pilot is not going to be one of these 6-to-12 months typical pilots,” she added. “It will be very short, and it’s designed to find logistical issues that happen when you’re trying to do (a) massive review of lots of cases all at the same time.”

On Tuesday, the Obama administration announced that it removed a record 396,906 individuals in fiscal year 2011, which ended on Sept. 30. That number is about 3,000 below the 400,000 immigrants that congressionally allocated resources allows DHS to remove.

The nearly 397,00O illegal aliens removed in fiscal 2011 includes 216,698 (55 percent) individuals who were convicted of felonies or misdemeanors.

In the course of today’s hearing, Sen. Grassley and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) accused Napolitano of inflating the numbers.

Napolitano subsequently acknowledged that the fiscal 2011 removal numbers include immigrants deported in fiscal 2010. The reason for that, according to the secretary, is that DHS waits until the individual is verified to have left the country before counting them as a removal.

Secretary Napolitano did not specify how many of the FY 2011 removals were from FY 2010.

However, Sen. Sessions said, “I’m told that ICE carried over from last year 19,000 removals and they’re counting them this year, and it’s sort of a gimmick to making the removals look higher than they are.”

"Shit's gettin way too complicated for me. There are white folks, and then there are ignorant mutherfuckers like you! You can put lipstick on a pig. Sorry ass mutherfucker's got nuttin on me. I inhaled frequently - that was the point. Pot helped, and booze. A little blow when you could afford it. Junkie, pothead. That's where I'd been headed. You ain't my bitch nigger, git your own damn fries!"
-Barack Hussein Obama Soetoro, Dreams From My Father MP3

“I’m training my grandchildren to use long-range rifles. For what purpose? Well, I’m not going to say the words ‘Barack Obama,’ but … we are heading for a major conflict between the haves and the have nots. I came here many years ago with a biker movie and we stopped a war. Now, it’s about starting the world. I sent an email to President Obama saying, ‘You are a fucking traitor,’ using those words… ‘You’re a traitor, you allowed foreign boots on our soil telling our military — in this case the coastguard – what they can and could not do, and telling us, the citizens of the United States, what we could or could not do’.”
-Peter Fonda, producer of “The Big Fix” about the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Cannes Film Festival 2011

Power understeer

2011-10-21T22:02:00.000-04:00

This is why motorcycles must be banned from the Dragon, to prevent distraction of caged wankers.

How to be a badass Slayerhater

2011-10-19T02:22:00.000-04:00

Big Brother videocams inside every car...

2011-10-18T08:56:00.000-04:00

Land of the coward and home of the slave

Gov't cameras in your car? E-toll patent hints at Big Brotherish future

By Bob Sullivan
MSNBC

Patent application number: 20110161140

Imagine that you couldn't drive on major highways without agreeing to put a camera in your car -- one that could film either the occupants or the vehicle’s surroundings and transmit the images back to a central office for inspection.

You don't have to read George Orwell to conjure up such an ominous surveillance state. You just have to skim through filings at the U.S. Patent Office.

It's hard to imagine Americans would tolerate such a direct, Big-Brotherish intrusion. But they might not notice if the all-seeing cameras were tucked inside another kind of government tracking technology that millions of Americans have already invited into their cars.

Kapsch TrafficCom AG, an Austrian company that just signed a 10-year contract to provide in-car transponders such as the E-Z Pass to 22 electronic highway toll collection systems around the U.S., recently filed a patent on technology to add multi-function mini-cameras to their toll gadgets. Today, transponders are in about 22 million cars around the U.S. Adding inward and outward facing cameras to the gadgets would create surveillance capabilities far beyond anything government agencies have tried until now.

The stated reason for an inward-pointing camera is to verify the number of occupants in the car for enforcement of HOV and HOT lanes. The outward-pointing camera could be used for the same purpose, helping authorities enforce minimum occupant rules against drivers who aren't carrying transponders.

But it's easy to imagine other uses. The patent says the transponders would have the ability to store and transmit pictures, either at random intervals or on command from a central office. It would be tempting to use them as part of a search for a lost child, for example, and law enforcement officials might find the data treasure trove irresistible. The gadget could also be instructed to take pictures when the acceleration of a car "exceeds a threshold," or when accidents occur, so it could be used like an airplane cockpit flight recorder.

It's important to note that a patent filing is a far cry from the invention and manufacturing of a new product. Many patent filings are nothing more than a defensive measure taken to protect the farthest reaches of intellectual property. Officials at Kapsch declined to be interviewed for this story, but in a statement said that citizens shouldn't read too much into the filing.

“This patent filing is part of the standard intellectual property protection process followed by every company that invests in research and development," said Erwin Toplak, chief operating officer of Kapsch, in an e-mail. "Kapsch, for example, files approximately 20 patent applications a year. This process protects our unique ideas; it does not signify that a commercial product is in development or even contemplated .”

And P.J. Wilkins, executive director of the E-Z Pass Group consortium that manages the massive toll collection cooperative, said he hadn't even heard of camera technology when told about the patent by msnbc.com.

"It's not an upgrade we are working on here," said. "We just signed a long-term contract with them and this wasn't a requirement."

Enforcement of HOV and HOT lanes is a labor-intensive and expensive issue for many state agencies, he said, and he understood why a company like Kapsch would try to invent a technology to deal with the problem, But he said he couldn't imagine it being used in the E-Z Pass system.
"Before anyone goes down that road there's a whole host of questions that would have to be answered,” he said. “What's the impact on privacy? What's the impact on the data stream? I just don't think it's something that would gain a lot of traction."

Kapsch sells its technology in 41 countries around the globe, and 64 million cars worldwide have been outfitted with its transponders, according to the firm's website. Occupant cameras could be attractive, and more acceptable, outside the U.S.

And while it's possible cameras-in-cars technology would be a non-starter in America, that doesn't mean Americans shouldn't be worried, said Lee Tien, a privacy expert with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

"I think (drivers) should be pretty concerned," he said. "You want to make sure any use of that technology is very carefully regulated. People should let the E-Z Pass folks know now what they think about any possible plans to introduce cameras in their cars, now, while it's being developed, rather than before it's already a fait accompli, and some agency says it's already spent millions on it and can't turn back now."

Tien said there's nothing inherently bad about using new technology to enforce tolls, but he cautioned against what is sometimes called "surveillance spillover." Technology designed for one function is inevitably used by law enforcement officials and other government agencies in unintended ways.

"You could imagine that they could limit the capacity of devices -- say the images would be destroyed after a very short period of time -- so it would not be as powerful a surveillance device. But that's not the general dynamic," he said. "Once you have the device out there, someone says, 'Why not use it for this, or that.' That's usually where the battle between privacy and other social goals is lost."

The dynamic is playing out right now in a European scandal surrounding use of a secret government program used by German law enforcement officials to monitor citizens' Internet behavior through the use of Trojan horse software called R2D2. German courts had permitted use of the software only when officials were fulfilling a legal wiretap order, and only to listen in on Skype conversations. But the R2D2 Trojan has allegedly been used by German authorities to send thousands of screen shots detailing suspects' Internet explorations, to keylog their typing, and in a host of other potentially illegal evidence-gathering methods.

The solution, says Tien, is to design privacy right into the gadget in the first place, to minimize the inevitable temptations for law enforcement and security officials.
"It doesn't bother me that (Kapsch) filed this patent. Surveillance technology is constantly being developed. There is money in surveillance," he said. "The question is less about lamenting the invention of these things and more about questioning our demand for surveillance, and thinking about the kind of society we are building and encouraging when we legitimize the continual, gradual architecting of the social world into a surveillance society."

News of the camera patents comes as electronic toll collection continues to expand around the U.S. -- and while options for using the systems anonymously have finally become commonplace. After years of complaints from skeptics that E-Z Pass toll paying created an undesirable public record that could be used to track individuals, systems in Texas and Washington state now allow users to register for the devices without disclosing their identities. And a new "E-Z Pass On the Go" gadget is being sold in the Eastern U.S. that functions much like a disposable prepaid phone card, allowing anonymous use of the E-Z Pass tolls.

E-Z Pass has had to beat back a lot of conspiracy theories through the years, Wilkins noted -- such as the idea that the gadgets would be used to catch speeders and issue tickets. E-Z Pass users now register very few complaints, he said, and are overwhelmingly happy with a system that helps them avoid delays at long toll booth lines.

"The whole tracking thing is a bogus argument," said Wilkins. "If you have a cell phone you are being tracked anyway. Law enforcement can get to cell phone records just as easily (as E-Z Pass records). And the phone company keeps that data a very long time."

Boy racers beware: your parents are watching

By Anna Gizowska in Sydney and David Harrison
Daily Telegraph
14 Aug 2005

It's bad news for boy racers: Big Brother is watching you - and so are your parents on a new in-car video camera that records how motorists drive.

The palm-sized device, to be launched in Britain this month, is fixed to the windscreen beneath the rear-view mirror and captures any dangerous or erratic driving. Parents can then download the colour footage onto a computer to see - and hear - how their children behave behind the wheel.

The £1,000 camera, which is being compared to the "black box" used on airliners to record flight details, was invented by an Australian, developed in the United States and has been approved for sale in Britain.

So far the device, called DriveCam, has been used mainly by fleet car companies who use it to monitor their drivers and to provide evidence for insurance claims, but the makers are also planning to market the camera as a "car nanny".

Gary Rayner, who invented the camera after reading about the car crash that killed Diana, Princess of Wales, and the lack of information about the moments leading up to her death, said: "It's an ideal way to keep an eye on the kids' driving. Parents, like fleet managers, can see bad driving behaviour before it turns into accidents and give their children advice."

More than 3,000 people die on British roads every year and a quarter of the victims are drivers aged between 17 and 25. Mr Rayner says that the device will save lives. It has reduced road deaths in America, where it has been fitted in 30,000 fleet vehicles, he said.

The camera, which also has a red "panic button" to capture incidents such as muggings or road rage attacks, records sights and sounds inside and outside the car continuously but "saves" footage only when there is a "trigger incident". These include excessive speed, sharp cornering, hard braking or accelerating, and going over bumps. The camera saves footage 15 seconds either side of each incident.

A spokesman for the Institute of Advanced Motoring said: "It's early days yet but we have endorsed this product because we believe it can make a contribution to road safety."

Parents welcomed it too. Jeff Joyce, who runs an insurance business in East Sheen, south-west London, and has an 18-year-old son who has been driving for a year, said: "It can only be a good thing if it helps young drivers to be a bit more aware of how important it is to drive safely.
"It also gives the parents more sway over the children because if they have evidence of bad driving they can stop the kids using the car and make them pay for any damage."

The prospect of being filmed, however, horrified his son James who has had two crashes since he passed his test. "It would be terrible," he said. "If my mum and dad were to see a film of me driving I don't think they would let me drive again.

"I suppose it could help you with an insurance claim, but I don't think any teenager or other young driver would want their driving to be captured on film."

In Australia, where 350 people aged 17 to 25 die on the roads and 5,500 are seriously injured each year, the device is being used to improve teenagers' driving.

Gene Corbett, the director of Total Driver, a driving school in Queensland, recently carried out a three-month study of 40 young drivers with DriveCam fitted in their cars and found many dangerous flaws in their driving because of their lack of experience.

"We give them a few lessons then put them in charge of a car at legal speeds of up to 110 kilometres an hour, with little or no education or coaching and expect them to learn the rest by experience, which is ludicrous," he said.

Mr Corbett's assessment and coaching reduced "trigger incidents" by up to 80 per cent and most of the drivers said the study had made then drive more cautiously.

Smile For The Camera: Big Brother Is Watching You Speed Via Satellite

TheCarConnection.com
April 27, 2010

Satellites do many awesome things: they allow us to communicate with friends and family, they help us find our way home when we're lost, and of course, they bring us television -- delicious television. But there are a few downsides to those hunks of metal and circuitry floating above the surface of the earth, and for drivers in Britain, one of those downsides is now speed traps.

In London and Cornwall, a pilot program has just been launched that combines all the fun of terrestrial speed cameras with the creepy omniscience of GPS. In a nutshell, the program -- called "SpeedSpike" -- uses positioning satellites to track motorists as they travel between traffic cameras. By calculating the time it takes a driver to move from one point to the other, SpeedSpike can determine whether or not the motorist has been speeding. When the car reaches the second camera, calculations are made, and if they're out of line -- blammo! -- a photo is taken of the license plate, and a ticket is mailed to the owner.

Obviously, this is terrible news for leadfooters. Garden-variety traffic cameras are confined to a particular area: if you're not driving by one, it can't give you a ticket. But SpeedSpike allows the camera system to expand exponentially, with far less on-the-ground hardware. As long as you drive past two cameras, your speed can be measured and you can potentially receive a citation. Taken to its logical extreme, the British government could roll out enough camera checkpoints to cover the entire nation.

And just because this is happening in Britain doesn't mean that those of us in North America can relax: the company behind SpeedSpike, PIPS Technology, is based in Knoxville, Tennessee. Not to get all survivalist or anything, but: yikes.

Of course, the real problem with SpeedSpike goes beyond overbearing traffic enforcement: SpeedSpike opens the door to serious breaches of individual privacy. It's hard to argue that anything as illegal and dangerous as speeding is a-okay, so SpeedSpike itself is, in theory, justifiable. But the jump from traffic enforcement to more insidious applications is a short and easy one.

Unfortunately, just like cell phones, in-car internet, and Lunchables, the genie is out of the bottle on this brand of technology. PIPS's pilot program might fail for any number of reasons -- political, logistical, or otherwise -- but the idea is there, and the technology is there, so our guess is that the service itself will eventually be there in some form or other. As drivers (and voters), we need to make sure it rolls out in a way that ensures safety while also respecting the privacy of individuals.