Saturday, June 17, 2006

Knock Knock. Who's There?

It's the 19th Century.

The 19th Century who?

On the floor, motherfucker! Let me see your hands! Let me see your hands!

The Supremes, with their new lead singer John Roberts, just crushed another bit of our right to privacy like a crack vial under the DEA's boot.

Before this new ruling, police officers had to "knock and announce" themselves before entering your house. But announcing that you're the police as you bust down a door is such an inconvenience.

The right wing majority (Thanks, President Bush! What a swell idea!) decided that if cops don't tell you they're cops as they break into your home, the evidence they find is still admissable in court, ignoring precedence that dates back to 1914 when the Supreme Court said that evidence seized in violation of the Constitution was inadmissable.

This is called the exclusionary rule, and in that 1914 ruling the Supreme Court said that without it the Fourth Amendment "might as well be stricken."

But last week the Supreme Court said, "Fourth Amendment, Fifth Amendment, who gives a fuck?" Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority, dismissed the 1914 precedent, saying it gave Americans "the right not to be intruded upon in one's nightclothes," and anyone who was worried should sleep fully dressed, like he does, he said. "On the bench it's a different story," he added. "Under this robe, I'm as naked as a newborn kitty."

Justice Stephen Breyer, noted left wing moonbat, dissented, saying that even a century ago we understood that when the police barge into our crib unannounced, it is an assault on "the sanctity of a man's home and the privacies of life."

Scalia, Kennedy, Alito, Thomas and Roberts, according to court records, nearly fell out. "LOL" giggled Sam Alito, the newest member of the court. Clarence Thomas pretended to sneeze, saying "Asshole!" which sent Roberts, Scalia, and Kennedy into renewed fits of laughter.

The New York Times editorial I stole a lot of this from said, "it is sobering how easily the majority tossed aside a principle that traces back to 13th-century Britain, and a legal doctrine that dates to 1914, to let the government invade people's homes."

Today, in response, came the right's answer to every erosion of our privacy rights. A letter writer wrote, "If you've done nothing wrong then you have nothing to fear."

So, I Googled wrong house raids and in five seconds came up with these:


A police antidrug squad overturned furniture, destroyed appliances and smashed a toilet into bits during a raid this week. Then the officers discovered that they had raided the wrong house. The errant raid occurred Wednesday at the home of Lloyd Miner, a 33-year-old construction worker, who says officers hit him with blunt objects, possibly flashlights, to make him lie down. He was held in jail for about five hours.

An unidentified elderly Horn Lake couple were hospitalized Thursday after police burst into their home thinking it housed a methamphetamine laboratory. The incident occurred Wednesday about 4 a.m., said police Capt. Shannon Beshears. Beshears said a heavily armed tactical force stormed the house. "It was the wrong house," Beshears said. A man and a woman — both in their 80s — were injured as TACT team members secured the house although no drugs were found. The woman received a dislocated shoulder and the man received bruised ribs.

Working on a tip, Chicago police raided the wrong house during a search for a gun trafficker. Jeanette Marsh says she came home from work to find police waiting. "I go inside, you know, because everything was a mess. So I was like wow, how can they do this?" Police say an informant gave them the wrong information.

LaDana Ford said she was awakened early Friday morning when more than a dozen police officers kicked in the front and back doors of her Robbins home, stormed inside and "stuck flashlights and guns in my face." Then Harvey police and Illinois state troopers ignited a "flash-bang" device in the family's hallway for diversion, searched closets for drugs, handcuffed her 13-year-old son and peppered her 7-year-old daughter with questions, Ford said. Then they realized they were at the wrong address. Ford said the experience was terrifying, and that officers refused to show her the warrant. "It was hard seeing my son sitting in his room on the bed in handcuffs," she said. "He's 13, and they wouldn't let me talk to him."

and finally..

A 61-year-old man was shot to death by police while his wife was handcuffed in another room during a drug raid on the wrong house.

Why was that 61-year old man killed? Because he thought it was a bunch of criminals breaking into his house and he shot at the cops who did not identify themselves.

Expect more of this. Considering how well-armed Americans are, expect a lot more of this.

If you haven't done anything wrong, you have nothing to fear, they say. Let me guess if that smug asshole, so quick to give up your 4th Amendment protections, has ever had his front door kicked in by a gang of armed, violent men. No, probably not.

Welcome to the 19th century, ladies and gentlemen, where if you ain't rich, you ain't right.

1 comment:

Patrick Shawn Bagley said...

Jesus Fucking Christ, I feel sick.