by Percy Sat May 01, 2010 12:15 am
Kay, I know you mean well and I do think I know why you sense such a bias in me, its because I do indeed have a healthy amount of disdain for all authority in general, I am deep inside an anarchist, I was a hard core anarchist punk rocker when I was younger and it is really who I am, but I know we live in a world and society where some law and order is needed so I decided that the least I could do was to make sure that those who enforce the law follow it themselves, thats all. Do I like police? Not really, but I do recognize their place in society and the need for them to be able to do their jobs, but you should recognize my and others place in society when we work to make sure they follow the law when they do it.
I have never once taken a case and said to myself "Well here is a great opportunity to get a rapist off and get him back on the streets." I take every case with one purpose in mind and that is to make sure my clients rights are recognized and that the law, due process if you will, is followed during his arrest, charge and conviction. If it is followed and he is convicted then he needs to serve his time for what he did, but if the law is not followed then something needs to be done about that to protect the next person accused which could be you, I or anyone else here.
I used to listen to Rush Limbaugh go on and on every day about defense lawyers and the ACLU and how we are the scum of the earth and how the world would be such a better place without people like us. Then when the state came after him for taking pain medicine prescriptions from ten different doctors at the same time, called doctor shopping what was the first thing he did? He hired the best criminal defense attorney he could find and went immediately to the ACLU and said his rights were being voilated. And they both went to work for him and did everything they could to protect him and make sure his rights were not voilated further.
Now to this day he sings a different tune commonly saying that during that dark time in his life that the only people who stood by him and believed in him were his attorney and the ACLU.
I guess you just cant appreciate people like that until you need them.
The Simpson/LAPD case is a nice example of all of this. Most people look at that case and all they see is that OJ walked, they say he bought his way out of jail and thats the end of the discussion. They dont like what they saw because their view of it is very limited and narrow but when I look at that case I see a police dept that had became desensitized to the process, a police dept that had been dealing with so much gang voilence etc that they started to just do whatever they had to do to get convictions and get people off the streets and the DA went right along with them. They didnt care about the law anymore and in many cases many of the officers and prosecutors had even developed racial hatred that they didnt even hide anymore. In walks the Dream Team, some of the best attornies in the world and what they do they, they immediately put LAPD on trial and showed the world how sloppy this police dept, one of the biggest in the nation, had become. What followed was OJ getting aquitted but more important LAPD forced to take a very close look at themselves and how they handled their business and THAT RESULTED in LAPD becoming a much better and more effective police dept, they still arent perfect but they are MUCH BETTER today than they were before the Simpson case and they were forced to become better because they were forced to look at how bad they had become. If thats what it takes to make the police better and get them to do their jobs better then I will take it, one man walking free and a police dept that is better and more effective, a good trade off IMO. The alternative would have been OJ being convicted and LAPD never called to task for their behavior, sloppy way of doing things and breaking the law as they see fit to get arrests and convictions.
There is nothing wrong with supporting LE but police misconduct happens more than you realize, cops break the law and bend the rules all the time to get arrests. I see cases where cops planted evidence and admit to it at least once a month, unacceptable.
Dont worry though, the immigrtion problem is starting to fix itself.
The main reason many people originally wanted to live in the US was that there was freedom from precisely this type of government. Personal and economic freedom, civil liberty. That there was more work or better living conditions was a direct result of this. That kind of environment produced and attracted people of a certain mindset.
But over the years, freedom and principle were abandoned in favor of pragmatism and short term interest. WWI and WWII were an important part of the adoption of the FRN and the implementation of global financial policies. People supported it because they were hungry or scared into abandoning individual freedom and personal responsiblity and flocking to socialism, entitlements and dependence. That system has produced and attracted people who are less concerned with ideas, reason or principle and more concerned with doing whatever it takes to receive from gov't as many "benefits" and handouts as it takes to maintain the only thing one has left after his freedom is gone - a nice stable. "Hay and barn for human cattle."
As the US loses what first made it attractive, it might finally achieve the apparently impossible and cease to be a beacon for the freedom loving people of the world. But if it does, it will also do away with what made it successful, so it might also lose the hay and barn.
At that point, at long last, no one might any longer be trying to enter the prison the US would have become and privileged supporters of the police state would be happy as they enjoy their cushy cells.
As for probable cause lets see what the law itself says:
Page one section 2:
For any lawful contact made by a law enforcement official of this state where reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States. A reasonable attempt shall be made, when practicable, to determine the immigration status of said person.
The law is obviously very vague like most laws so it leaves a lot of room for judcial interpretation but I thnk its pretty clear that the only reasonable suspicion or probable cause an officer would need to stop and ask someone for papers is " I believed that this person was here illegally."
Well so what, many used to believe the earth was flat, whats your point?
Last edited by Percy on Sat May 01, 2010 3:03 am; edited 2 times in total
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