Piracy And Other Charges

This is from NC.

"U.S. attorneys from Raleigh charged Patterson on Friday with conspiring to pirate satellite TV signals. They also charged former patrol deputies Lester Floyd and Herman Madden, bringing the arrest total to 14."

Didn't I just mention that piracy was a well known topic in NC? :) Course the context was a bit different.

I'm glad they're catching these criminals but I'm a bit ashamed that my people didn't nip this thing in the bud. It gets worse though:

"Operation Tarnished Badge began more than four years ago, and agents made it public last June. More serious charges against deputies included kidnapping and money laundering.

Many of the deputies charged were involved with drug enforcement, and District Attorney Johnson Britt said in February that he has dismissed between 200 and 300 drug cases because they were tainted."

Of course I'd argue that all charges against folks for possessing or selling drugs are tainted - it's the whole property rights & self determination thing coupled with a proper reading of the Interstate Commerce Clause. But kidnapping? Well again I'd argue that any arrest for violating an unconstitutional law was kidnapping, but since these are the feds they must be talking about a very gross violation of that prohibition.

There's more info though for those interested:

"Some Not Surprised By Robeson Lawmen's Arrests"

"The rumors persisted for years: Some Robeson County deputies were beating up drug dealers and stealing their money. Carlton Mansfield and other criminal defense lawyers say they repeatedly tried to tell former Sheriff Glenn Maynor and the District Attorney's Office about the corrupt lawmen."

But to no avail were the rats ratted out. Now this next part I found surprising:

"The indictment accuses them of stealing tens of thousands of dollars seized during traffic stops for drugs. It says that the men firebombed homes and that Taylor repeatedly paid off confidential informants with marijuana and cocaine... Two deputies are accused of kidnapping drug dealers and holding them for ransom."

Course it isn't the first time that criminals have terrorized folks, not the first time terrorists have tried such in NC & not even the first time it's been attempted in Robeson county.

But firebombing?

"Britt said the deputies had arrested Locklear many times before, only to see him released from jail and back home dealing drugs. Britt surmises that the deputies wanted to intimidate Locklear enough to put him out of business for good. They went to his home, beat him up, placed him under arrest and forced everyone else to leave, Britt said. Then they firebombed his home, burning it to the ground, he said.

Britt said the Robeson County Sheriff's Office never investigated the firebombing."

K, I admit this doesn't happen every day but it is a good real world example of why the people need to be armed as well as the common soldier.

In the 1770's the military & police functions were performed by the military (for the most part). In the mid 1800's the functions got split between the military & the modern police force. The original idea behind the 2nd amendment wasn't just to be able to call out already armed & trained militia against a regiment trying to flank a town, but to prevent the military from setting up shop under peaceful pretense then enforcing tyrannical decrees from the government against the people.

Since there have been 2 separate entities to carry out both tasks (law enforcement & martial operations) we all tend to get focused on the military as being a big threat to our freedom. but the founders lived in a world where the military was performing the function that cops perform now. That features heavily into their fear of a 'standing army" because it was usually in place in an area to enforce the King's law against the people.

So while it may be unlikely that the 101rst airborne will drop into your town & force you to obey some dreadful edicts it's not that unlikely that the local cops will do that right damn now. In fact it could be argued that that's what is & has been going on to some extent.

I therefore humbly submit to you that it's not good enough to be armed in case of attack by a soldier, but it's just as in keeping with the founder's & framer's ideas to be ready to repel attacks by modern cops.

& these jokers in NC should have been repelled. Drug dealers may have been their targets primarily, but why the hell does anyone think they wouldn't do the same to a non-drug dealer if they thought it to their advantage?

Many bloggers have talked about the militarization (or ninjafication) of the police force. That'd be fine if the people weren't constantly being de-militarized & the laws were set up to hinder legitimate self defense against those with a badge.

Anyway read the articles to find out what's going on in Robeson county, NC. & since I doubt that even these cops would be dumb enough to think they could get any ransom for me, someone let me know where I can find some asbestos drapes - just in case.

Posted by Publicola at March 29, 2007 05:41 AM | TrackBack