Bill of rights myths and truth

OK I have explained what the bill of right is to a few people and I think this needs to be addressed. I am no constitutional scholar but I think I understand a little more then the average person.

Myth #1 The bill of rights are the rights American citizens have.
Truth: The Bill of Rights (the first 10 amendments to the US Constitution) is there to tell the government how far they can go in infringing on your rights. For example the 1st amendment says to the government that they can not pass laws against types of speech.

Myth #2 You can exercise your rights anywhere in the United State.
Truth: You can not exercise your rights on private property unless the owner gives you permission. For example I cannot come in to your home and begin yelling about how Adolf Hitler was correct in killing people.

Myth #3 You can only use the 5th amendment when you are in court.
Truth: You have the right not to incriminate yourself all the time. This right is very important especially if you get pulled over by the police. The first question the officer is going to ask is is "Do you know why I pulled you over?" This is a trick question the officer is attempting to get you to incriminate yourself by saying something like "I didn't use my turning signal."

Myth #4 The right to speech only means that you can speak.
Truth: The right to speech also includes the right not to speak. We will use the example from above where the officer asks you "Do you know why I pulled you over?" You do not have to answer the question you can stay silent or better yet exercise your rights and let the officer know you are aware that you do not have to answer him by saying "I do not feel comfortable answering any questions without my attorney present." If you are going to exercise your rights you need to stay silent (which can be hard if the officer keeps tying to get you to speak.

Myth #5 You should let the police search your car.
Truth: This could be a bad idea!!!! If you let the officer search your car it could be torn apart and you have to put it back together. When you allow the officer to search your car you are telling them that you wave your 4th amendment rights. If the officer has a warrant to search you SHOULD NOT stop them. If they have a warrant you have bigger problems and should get a lawyer and keep your mouth shut. If the warrant is not valid or was obtained without probable cause your lawyer can get it thrown out including anything they find.

This is enough myths and truth for now I will explain more in future posts. I am not a lawyer and am not giving any legal advice just explaining things as I see them.

Home raided because of tomato plants

I found this story at http://www.kndo.com/Global/story.asp?S=6336522&nav=menu484_2 which to me looks to be a fairly reputable news source. This man had his home invaded because the landlord said he saw marijuana being grown. OK lets say that the landlord did not know what marijuana looks like because he may not have seen a marijuana leaf which if you look around the Internet or watch a couple of cheech and chong movies. My question is why didn't the landlord tell his tenants that marijuana cultivation is not permitted in the apartment/house. I bet if the landlord would have said that they would have told him that it was tomato plants and probably would offer him a tomato or two when they were ripe (I have grown tomatoes and I know that even a few plants produce a lot of tomatoes I gave bushels away just to get rid of them). I really feel sorry for the tenants who I bet are looking for a new place with a landlord that would not call the cops on them for growing something in their home.

What really tweaks my nipples is that the police did not even question the landlord because the first question would be what did the plants look like and what kind of leaves did they have maybe the second question would be has he ever seen the tenants use any drugs with those answers I would question the landlords statement.

The police did not need to break in to these peoples sanctuary. It is not described in the article I read but I bet they broke the door also we all know cops like to get the high from breaking in a door a treating the people inside the home as if they were Al Capone.

This is just one more failure of the War on Drugs and not even a failure that is even questioned. No government bureaucrat will be held responsible for the violation of the tenants 4th amendment rights and the tenants property rights. These people have suffered a invasion of their privacy.

Did the media question this? Nope they were too busy talking about a old fart on the radio saying something of color and who was the father of some woman that was in playboy.