Criminalizing Life in the United States

A new study came out today that said 49% of the drivers on the road text while they drive.  Another study said 4 out of 5 college students text while driving.  Of course, politicians will now want to draft new legislation to increase the penalties on top of the already existing penalties for texting while driving.  Police departments will get additional grant money to purchase more vehicles so they can peer down into your vehicle to see if you are texting in your lap.  Senators will get to appear on TV news spots so they can inform the public of the wonderful job they are doing to protect you.

Texting laws don't actually make our roads more safe, they make them less safe.  If 50% of drivers are texting, which is against the law, making another law isn't going to stop them.   They obviously don't care about the law or they think they can get away with it (those criminals).  When cell phones first came out, I used to see people texting all the time by holding their phone up in front of their steering wheel so they could see both the road and their phone.  Now that it is against the law and they don't want to get caught, they text in their laps where they have to take their eyes off the road.  This is more dangerous than playing with your GPS, radio or cruise control.  The roads were more safe when they held their phones up to the road.  These laws have probably caused more accidents than they prevented.  People who text are not going to stop texting.  Period.  It's against the law to drive drunk, too.  What about marijuana, burglary, and prostitution?  Laws only stop honest people because either they are afraid of getting caught or the are educated by the law.

If our politicians rescinded the texting law and promoted education about the dangers of texting while driving, our roads would be more safe because the people who don't care about their own life or your life will at least be texting back up in the open where they can  maintain partial eye contact with the road.  This way, also, the taxpayer won't have to foot the bill for police departments to purchase new undercover SUV and vans used to catch people texting.  There will also be less arrests, court costs, incarceration, fines, increased insurance rates and the ancillary burden to the pocketbooks of the people who don't break the law.

Our politicians are excellent at creating laws that don't work and cost us more than they save.  Skylar Capo was 11 years old when she rescued a woodpecker who was about to be eaten by a cat.  Since the bird was injured, she wanted to nurse it back to health and she carried it to a local hardware store to get a cage for it.  While there, a USFWS agent issued a $600 ticket to Skylar and informed her that she faced up to one year in prison for violating a federal law against transporting migratory birds. 

Carey Mills procured all the state and local permits to build a camp on his waterfront property.  The day he began clearing for what was to be the foundation, the EPA arrested him for violating the Clean Water Act and he did 21 months in prison despite getting permits from the state. 

Steven Kinder ran a caviar business on the Ohio River which forms the Ohio-Kentucky border.  Mr. Kinder was arrested because he reported that his business was in Kentucky but was seen harvesting from "Ohio waters."  He faced $250,000 in fines and five years in prison.  He took a plea deal for three years probation and a $5,000 fine.

Lisa Snyder was a say-at-home mom and as a favor to her Michigan neighbors, would watch the local children for 15 minutes every morning until they caught the bus - because the bus stop was in front of her house.  When the police caught wind of this, she was threatened with 90 days in jail for operating a daycare and offering "babysitting services" without a license. 

Jeff Counceller and his wife found an injured baby deer and nursed it back to health.  Jeff was charged with possession of a deer and the animal was to be euthanized per state law.  Fortunately it "escaped."  The greater lesson is not to post pictures to Facebook.

Eddie Anderson of Idaho took his son camping where they found an "Indian" arrowhead.  He found himself facing two years in prison for theft of archaeological resources and  a $1,500 fine but took a plea deal for one year of probation.  The greater lesson is not to post these finds to Facebook.

Nancy Black operates a whale watching business and had videotape of a crew member whistling at whales to get them to stay near the boat.  After viewing the footage, NOAA burst into her home demanding the unedited tapes of the day in question.  She is facing 20 years in prison for withholding evidence.  The greater lesson is not to post your life to Facebook.

Ashley Warden was fined $2,500 after her three year old son Dillan pulled down his pants to urinate in his front yard.  A police officer spotted him committing this crime of exposure and he was facing charges and being put on the sex offender registry. 

Ann videotaped her husband changing their grandson's diaper.  Grandpa tickled the boy's "new-no" as he wriggled with glee and laughter. After posting pictures on their Facebook page, Ann was charged with distribution of child pornography and her husband did five years for molestation.  They are now registered sex offenders and were forced to move from their home of 40 years due to residency restrictions.  

Gary Harrington dug three ponds on his property to control rain water and snow runoff.  Gary was sentenced to 30 days in jail for collecting rainwater without a permit, which is against the law in Oregon.  He is now forced to continually drain his ponds.

Abner Schoenwetter of Florida shipped some marginally small lobsters in plastic bags to prevent leakage.  By law, lobster can only be transported in cardboard.  Abner was sentenced to eight years in prison because he didn't know of this regulation. 

Wallerstein and Wylie conducted a study of 3,000 New Yorkers who have never been arrested and found that 91% of them have "innocently" committed felonies but were not caught.  100% of them committed a misdemeanor of some type.  The next time you go out in public, know this, you are most likely walking among criminals. 

What can you do to reverse the orvercriminalization caused by politicians who feel they have to do SOMEthing in order to justify their high salaries?  Sign up for email updates from Heritage.org, NACDL.org, RightOnCrime.com, ACLJ.org, JusticeFellowship.org, ACLU.org, ALEC.org, FAMM.org.  Share your concerns with your elected representatives.  Demand that they focus on rescinding laws rather than pyramiding more laws on top of more laws.

From the Conspiracy Department: "Well, it's their fault for bringing kids into a battle."

I'm sure everyone has an opinion regarding those people who leak government secrets.  Edward Snowden, Julian Assange and Bradley Manning are the latest. We held Manning for three years without charge while he was kept in a small cell, most of the time he was naked, the lights were on 24/7 and he was provided no blankets.  This "torture" was for his own safety. 

Manning leaked a video to Assange who then posted it on Wikileaks.  The government said that the video put American lives at risk.  I provided a link to the video so you may see our national security being compromised.  The two murdered men which the video highlights are Reuters News Services photographers each carrying cameras.  After the massacre, a van pulls up to help the wounded.  In the van was a father who was bringing his two children to school or to visit a relative.  While driving by, he saw one of the wounded men and stopped to help him.  No good deed goes unpunished.  The video is located here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw442y2fTeU

You can read about the video here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_12,_2007_Baghdad_airstrike

Manning is just now, three years later, being formally charged for treason because he leaked that video.  There are legal avenues to blow the whistle on the government but, there is no way the government would release this video on its own merit had Manning even pursued those avenues. 

The soldiers' demeanor in the video raises other issues.  There are many people who harshly judged them although no charges or punishment was lodged against them.  I admit I wouldn't want any of them as neighbors but this sort of activity and behavior is what they are trained to do.  They are trained, rewarded and some would even go so far as to say "brainwashed," into taking joy in what they do:  Killing.  The alternative is PTSD or not being able to do their job when it most counts.  They are like police dogs who are trained to attack.  Police dogs are not being vicious, they are having fun when they attack, it is mostly play for them.  That's how they are trained.  That is why they are effective at fighting crime.  If a dog didn't like what he was doing, he probably wouldn't do it, at least not effectively. 

Military training is one reason why there are so many unemployed veterans.  Employers know the type of training military soldiers go through and don't want to take a chance on one of them going "postal."  An interesting movie on the topic is "Jack Reacher."  It is about a military homicide investigator who digs deeper into a case involving a trained military sniper who shot five random victims because he was trained to kill and was never afforded the opportunity to do it.

The other bane veterans have lurking in their corner is that many of them entered the military fresh out of high school and despite having some of the best training in the world, they don't have college degrees.  So a nurse, trained in battlefield triage, who has amputated limbs, stitched gaping wounds, stabilized traumatized bodies, set broken bones and even performed her job while under enemy fire, is not qualified to take your child's temperature in your local school.  Given the rise in school shooting incidents, I think I'd rather have her at my school than someone with text book training in boo-boo management. 

So, Manning, Assange, Snowden - are they patriots like so many of our national heroes who came before them by doing much the same and made this country what it is today or are they enemies of the state?   Sure, Snowden just informed every terrorist in the world that we are reading their emails and listening in on their phone calls (like we didn't know this ten years ago when Bush signed the Patriot Act) but don't you think that that too is a deterrent?  How many armchair terrorists have second thoughts because they now realize that trying to pull something off is too risky or difficult with the government listening in on their calls? 

We were warned after the Tsarnaev brothers pulled off the Boston bombings that there would be copycat bombings.  Well, after learning that there is a camera on every corner, in many cars, in every shirt pocket, in most stores, how many would-be-bombers decided not to do anything because they now know they can't pull it off?  I don't think Snowden put as many American lives at risk as we think.  He may have actually saved some. 

Isn't that the reason our country criminalizes honesty?  If someone admits to completing a crime we send them to prison.  Not because they are necessarily a threat to society, but the punishment is designed to serve as a warning to others not to commit the same crime.  In reality, if someone has designs to commit a crime, they're going to do it anyway because they are not thinking of the consequences, they are thinking about the immediate payoff.  They all think they can get away with it, that's why they do it and that is why deterrence sentencing doesn't work. 

Reading peoples' emails, Facebook accounts and cell phone records is a good way to stop crime as it is happening.  Knowing that the government is reading emails, Facebook accounts and cell phone records can also deter crime so it doesn't happen.  Knowing there are cameras in stores prevents shoplifting although, everyone knows that most store theft occurs by the employees in the back rooms.  You know - the people who passed the background and drug checks. 

I'm not sure how I feel about entrapment.  Should we turn the lights out and leave our doors unlocked so we can entrap criminals and burglars or should we warn them that there is a pit bull inside and and out of fear, they don't do the crime in the first place?  Currently the government is the biggest distributor of child pornography.  They distribute it so they can catch people downloading it.  If the government didn't distribute it, would the criminals exist?  Is it a wise investment to spend $30,000 per year to incarcerate someone who would otherwise be a taxpayer had we not entrapped him?  We then put them on the sex offender registry where they will be unemployable and a drain on the largess of the social service department.  Although, the new Farm Bill denies people convicted of violent crimes, such as downloading child pornography, of food stamps and other benefits afforded to people who can't find jobs or housing.

Contrary to what everyone opines, Manning, Assange and Snowden were not thinking about an immediate payoff, fame or fortune, they were thinking about the consequences and the actions by our government.  They knew they were sacrificing everything for what they thought to be the greater good:  Knowledge and transparency.

One thing these patriots/whistleblowers/traitors/snitches do reveal to us is why so many other countries in the world view America as the terrorists.