Legalize Tomatos!

Sheriff's Department SWAT Team Raids Indoor Tomato Grow

"A Leawood (Kansas) couple says heavily armed Johnson County deputies barged into their home last year, turning it upside down and detaining them and their children for more than two hours in a fruitless search for marijuana."

"...And all because the couple, Robert and Adlynn Harte, brought indoor gardening equipment to grow a small number of tomato and squash plants in their basement, according to a lawsuit filed this week. The equipment was never used for marijuana, the couple says, and no one in the family has ever used illegal drugs.

Nearly a year after the SWAT-style raid, the Hartes still don't know what evidence deputies used to persuade a judge to grant a warrant to search their home...Their requests for records that could provide such information have been denied by the sheriff's office."

*Not the grow in question...just a cool image

There are not many details in the article, because as it says, the family has not received notice of the probable cause that supported the search warrant.  It does indicate that the Sheriff's Department staked out a local store that sells hydroponic equipment, and possibly matched it with utility records that indicated...the family was using water and electricity in the house!

While this is troubling for the family (until the apology check comes) its probably good in the long run, as the judge, and the Sheriff's Department will go through (hopefully) a little review of the United States Constitution.  I have come across many police officers, sheriff's deputies, etc., who are shocked to hear that the supreme law of the land...is not the local prosecutor's office.

Further - read the article - if there was a pounding on my door early in the morning, I'd likely be coming out of my room heavily (and legally) armed. Things would have went bad for that entry team, as I'm a light sleeper (and there are people out there who may not like me).  It would not be good for anybody involved.  But I live in a 'small town,' and people know who I am...but not smaller than Leawood, Kansas.

This begs several questions - what were the tomatoes and alleged squash used for?  Did the residents have a license to grow non-government food in their basement?  Where is the FDA when we need them?  Did they sell them at market prices?  Are these fruit, or vegetables? One thing's for sure...we're not in Kansas anymore!

What We Have Here...

...is a failure to understand anything.  The woman in the video below is a member of the United States Congress, and she is proud to sponsor legislation that makes her feel good, even if she doesn't understand it.

A member of the audience asked what good a ban on high-capacity magazines would be when there are already millions of such magazines in circulation, and they would not be made illegal by the law.




I'll bet you could have asked her what to do for existing magazine subscriptions...and she would say that they'll just expire, and not be renewed.

Later (I can't find the video) a homeowner from Denver asked a question regarding what to do if he was being attacked in his home, and he had to defend himself, why there would be a law that would require him to have a magazine with limited capacity.  Her answer was that Denver PD would respond...but that he would "probably be dead anyway."

A spokeswoman for the Representative stated that she mis-spoke, that she was referring to "clips."

...so apparently the spokeswoman doesn't understand it either.

HAPPY EASTER!

Perception...

Headline from the "Right Wing" FOXNews:

CPAC Highlights Divisions in GOP

Why would it not read...

CPAC Highlights Diversity and Inclusion in GOP

Over and over again, they quote Reagan and his big tent theory... but they just don't get it.



There is a GOOD ARTICLE about Rand Paul and how he is working 'within' the GOP to change it.  He got that from his father, who learned his lesson...sort of.  I can't think of a candidate I like better than Rand Paul.  His comments on Paul Ryan highlight the differences between somebody I would vote for, and somebody I would campaign for, and he makes John McCain and Lindsay Graham look like the childish buffoons they are (you know how many spell checks it took me to spell buffoon correctly?  What a maroon!).  Don't get me wrong, Paul Ryan is great - working to better the party and the government.  But Rand Paul is the only one up there that would make the MASSIVE cuts that are required to save this ship.

Hope...

For those in law enforcement, or involved in our system of justice, or interested in politics, you are aware of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.  

If you aren't...the United States is divided into 11 "circuits."  These courts hear appeals from both Federal and State courts.  So, these courts have the final say on many important legal matters.  After the Court of Appeals, there is only the Supreme Court, and since there is only one of those, and they only take the big cases, for many issues, the Courts of Appeal have a huge impact on how things are done...in their region. 

This is the court that's ruling resulted in a "ban" of the Pledge of Allegiance in schools. 

The Ninth Circuit sits in San Francisco.  Enough said.

Well, I'll say some more.  Approximately 1/5 the population of the United States is under their jurisdiction.  They are sometimes called the Ninth Circus, and they have the highest percentage of decisions that are overturned by the Supreme Court.  While some argue that this is due to the number of cases they hear, it is largely believed that it is because they try to legislate through their decisions, rather than interpret existing law.  If the Supreme Court were to turn to the Left...we might see more Ninth Circuit decisions affirmed. 

However, sometimes I have been extremely surprised by their rulings.

I just learned why.

Chief Judge Alex Kozinski has been presiding over the court since 2007, and has been on the court since 1985 (appointed by Reagan).  

Kozinski was born in Romania in 1950, and was a communist.  Until he came to the United States.

Kosinski is not a conservative.  He is a libertarian.

I'm reading more of his rulings (and dissents), but all things considered, it is a good thing to have a man in his position, who fears the power of Government.

America the Beautiful...

Sequestration...

The FBI is cutting $550,000,000 from its budget between now and October.  As per the plan for the entire Federal Government, each employee will be furloughed 14 days.  That means 14 days between now and October that they will not be paid.  (Mind you, some responsibilities are 24/7/365, and while they are manned by more than one person...when you start subtracting 14 days from everybody's availability - the work remains...you just get paid less).

I believe cuts in Federal spending are necessary, and I believe we need to cut well above the 3-5% brought by Sequestration.  But just as the bureaucracy was grown without any real planning - so will go this reduction in the spending.

From the Federal Budget:

Department of Housing and Urban Development

2013 Homeless Assistance Grants - $2,231,000,000 (that alone right there pays for the FBI cuts four times over, and was an increase of 330,000,000 over 2012 - while the Federal Government has been operating on a continuing resolution, meaning "the same budget.")  Not to mention, how do we have "homeless" people when only one form of assistance towards them is over 2 billion?

Department of Labor

Training and Employment Services - $3,232,000,000
Unemployment Insurance Administration - $3,001,000,000
Employment Service Centers - $868,000,000
Office of the Job Corps - $1,650,000,000
Bureau of Labor Statistics - $618,000,000
Wage and Hour Division - $238,000,000

That's $9.6 billion for agencies that don't generate a single job in the private sector.  Its six-hundred-million for a Bureau to count the types of work people do, and two-hundred-and-thirty-eight million for a Division that examines what the FREE MARKET pays different jobs.

This minority doesn't count

Department of Education

With a total budget of $69,900,000,000, it has a category of "Other" which is $4,690,000,000, and "Minority Serving Institutions" of $819,000,000 (how's that minority education working in America?)




Department of Agriculture

Food and Nutrition Service - $102,000,000,000 (I'm not saying we are a fat unhealthy country (we are!), I'm just wondering where one-hundred-and-two billion dollars is spent, and if .5% of that (POINT FIVE PERCENT) can be spared for the FBI?  What if they promise to eat healthy for the rest of the year?

Rural Housing Service - $24,149,000,000 (I'm not sure what housing the Department of Agriculture is paying for, but twenty-four billion EVERY STINKING YEAR?  Are the houses built yet?  Because the FBI could use a couple hundred million.







I'm willing (its gone even if I'm not) to contribute my $5,896 between now and October, I'll still go to work every day.  But in my little opinion, there is no saving this ship.  I'm just sayin'....