hempity
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Registered on Feb-21-2000
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Message #113607 posted by hempity (Info) March 31, 2008 02:59:29 ET
In Reply to: Re: How Did I Get Iraq Wrong? posted by Torog (Info) March 30, 2008 07:13:33 ET
Torog, Instead of admitting when you are wrong you make up other bullshit to prove you are right, saddam was never a threat to the u.s. The u.s. wanted the oil and killed hundreds of thousands to get it.
The whole reason the u.s. used for taking out saddam were lies, there were no wmd there was no nuclear program and he had nothing to do with the trade towers, you were lied to. Now you make up your own lies, or use the ones the media gives you. There is some discrepancy as to why saddam went into kuwait, some say it was because kuwait blocked his way to the persian gulf, if you look at a map you can see how easy it would have been. You were probley the kind of kid that when caught doing something bad said "well billy did it" and Mama said " I don't care what billy did", remember?
I keep telling you who the real enemy is and you just won't admit it, you plastic patriots and your "u.s. right or wrong" is what is fucking up the country. Why don't you help fix it, instead of making excuses for it. Check this out, hitler would be proud.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...031202717.html
D.C. Seeks Consent To Search for Guns Amnesty Offered for Access to Homes
By Allison Klein Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, March 13, 2008; Page B01
D.C. police are so eager to get guns out of the city that they're offering amnesty to people who allow officers to come into their homes and get the weapons.
Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier announced yesterday the Safe Homes Initiative, aimed at parents and guardians who know or suspect that their children or other relatives have guns. Under the deal, police target areas hit by violence and seek adults who let them search their homes for guns, with no risk of arrest. The offer also applies to drugs that turn up during the searches, police said.
The program is scheduled to start March 24 in the Washington Highlands area of Southeast Washington. Officers will go door-to-door seeking permission to search homes for weapons. Police later plan to visit other areas, including sections of Columbia Heights in Northwest and Eckington in Northeast.
"If we come across illegal contraband, we will confiscate it," Lanier said. "But amnesty means amnesty. We're trying to get guns and drugs off the street."
Fenty (D) and Lanier announced the plan as part of a new strategy to deal with the prevalence of firearms in a city that has one of the strictest gun control laws in the nation. The Supreme Court will hear arguments next week in a case challenging the constitutionality of the D.C. law.
Residents who agree to the searches will be asked to sign consent forms. If guns are found, they will be tested to determine whether they were used in crimes. If the results are positive, police will launch investigations, which could lead to charges.
Boston police are embarking on a similar program this month. Police in that city have been meeting with residents before the door-to-door effort begins. Philadelphia police are considering such an initiative.
Ronald Hampton, executive director of the National Black Police Association, questioned the Washington effort. As a lifelong D.C. resident and a former police officer, he said, he would not consent to his house being searched.
"They haven't earned that level of access or respect from the community," Hampton said. "I just can't believe they're trying to do that. I've never heard of anything like that in my life."
Arthur B. Spitzer, legal director of the Washington office of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the program is "a very bad idea." He said officers might act so aggressively that residents feel coerced into letting them in.
"It sends the message to the public that the police ought to be able to search your house anytime for any reason," Spitzer said. "People will be intimidated. That cheapens civil liberties and privacy for everyone."
At a news conference, Fenty and Lanier also said police will host monthly meetings with other law enforcement agencies to identify trends in gun-related crimes and to facilitate information sharing. The goal is to identify repeat offenders and find new ways to stop them, Lanier said.
"It should give us a much clearer picture of how to coordinate our efforts," she said.
Police also announced the creation of an anonymous hotline for people to call with information about crimes. The line, 888-919-CRIME, is staffed by detectives. In the coming weeks, the department is planning to set up a system through which the public can send tips as text messages.
"We want to make sure the community has every means necessary to get in touch with us," Lanier said.
To the Police: No Consent to Search Our Home March 27, 2008 - 1:40am Mark Segraves, WTOP Radio
http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=695&sid=1372986
Members of the National Capital ACLU were in the Washington Highlands neighborhood of Southeast D.C. recently to hand out signs and flyers alerting residents to a new police program called "SafeHomes." They weren't promoting it, they were warning residents about it.
The ACLU is also handing out signs for people to place in their windows which read "To the Police..NO CONSENT TO SEARCH OUR HOME."
"We're not comfortable with police banging on doors like the British troops did before we had a Bill of Rights." Johnny Barnes, executive director, said. "We're going to mirror the activity of the police. The neighborhoods into which they go, we will go to tell people what their rights are."
Barnes is upset about "SafeHomes," a new program being spearheaded by D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier and Mayor Adrian Fenty. Part of the program has police going door-to-door in targeted high crime neighborhoods and asking parents and grandparents for permission to search their kids' bedroom for guns.
But SafeHomes is NOT a new idea. St. Louis tried it in 1994. As Lanier correctly pointed out at the press conference announcing the program, St. Louis police recovered hundreds of guns through their "Consent-To-Search" program. In fact, in the first year they recovered 510 guns. What Lanier failed to mention was that the next year, St. Louis police only recovered about 30 guns and the program was canceled. Three years later, St. Louis received a federal grant to revive the program, but in nine months only 29 guns were found. The program was finally canceled for good.
Parents and grandparents who allow police inside will have to sign a consent form which allows police to search all or part of the home. If any guns or drugs are found, everybody in the house is given amnesty from prosecution. Of course, if the gun is later linked to a crime, then police can revoke the amnesty. Lanier and Fenty, who likes to borrow "best practices" from other cities, also point to Boston as a role model for "SafeHomes." In Boston, it's called "Safe Homes" and it hasn't been implemented yet. In Boston, "Safe Homes" is under fire from elected officials and community leaders. City Council members held public hearings on the program, and that's what D.C. Council Chair Vince Gray wants to do.
"There's a potential for abuse here," Gray said. "It's bothersome in terms of the public's understanding. What about the language barriers?"
SafeHomes is a program that could have lots of unintended consequences. For instance, what happens if you tell police they can't search your house? Is your name and your house put on a list? YES, according to Traci Hughes, a spokesperson for Lanier. What that list will be used for is unclear. Hughes says one reason to keep a list is to keep from knocking on the same doors over and over again.
Will police report their findings to other government agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, D.C. Public Schools, or the Public Housing Authority? YES and NO, says Hughes.
"Amnesty means amnesty, and that's just across the board," Hughes said.
Police will not notify immigration or the PHA, but Hughes says they might notify the school system or social services of what they find.
"Part of the reason for the Focus Improvement Areas is to identify those homes that may need other government assistance. If we see that residents may require other services, then we will notify those other agencies that could be of assistance. The purpose of reporting the information is not to penalize anyone in the home, only to provide assistance."
Another issue that concerns the ACLU, and at least a few news organizations, is transparency. The police department has denied requests from several news outlets to go along with officers as they conduct the searches for at least the first month of the program.
That's something Barnes and the ACLU question.
"What do they have to hide? If what they're doing conforms to the constitution what do they have to hide? Our police department prefers to do things in the dark." Barnes says.
(Copyright 2008 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)
Do you understand yet Torog?, the REAL enemy is in your own back yard.
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