Commie China sues Knoxville for ban on redlight camera tickets

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)

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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.

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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
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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."

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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

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

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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

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...

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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.”

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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

with Megan Fox goddess of Knoxville (sort of):

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

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

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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.

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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

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."

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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

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

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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

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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

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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.' "

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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

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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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:

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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

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

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

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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.

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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!'

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