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.

Man spends over 2 Decades in prison wrongly

Unless you live in the Buffalo area you may not know about Anthony Capozzi. I personally do not know him either but I feel sorry for the torture he has endured. To make a long story short Anthony was convicted of 2 rapes over 20 years ago. Just today the State of New York proved using DNA evidence that they convicted the wrong person of these rapes.

So any normal person would think they would let him out today. If you think that you are totally wrong, he may have to spend 30 more days in prison for a crime he did not commit 22 years ago. According to a media source in the area that spoke with a Judge they are trying to expedite the process but the earliest he believes Anthony will be released is Monday which is 6 days away.

You may think that I have gone overboard by using the word torture to describe the treatment Anthony went through but I can not think of a better word. This man is innocent you know it I know it the State knows it but they are still going to keep him locked up in a cell. If I kept you locked in a room for 6 days I would be charged with kidnapping and probably a bunch of other crimes, the State of New York does it and they call it wrapping up paperwork not to mention the 22 years this man had to spend locked behind steel bars and concrete.

I don't know about you but I think that someone should be punished for this crime against Anthony. As you and I know nothing will come from this except some press, I would make a bet that no one will even lose their job.

Real money!

You may not know this but the dollars you have in your wallet or purse are worthless.

OK worthless is not totally correct but every day and every minute that dollar becomes worth less and less and eventually they will be worthless. If you read the dollar it the dollar is a "Federal Reserve Note" the Federal Reserve is not part of the United States Government it is a private company. The note is a representation of debt that the United States Government owes to the corporation called the Federal Reserve just like your mortgage papers are a representation of the debt you have for your property. This subject can be talked about for days but I am just going to give you a taste I would urge you to go and do your own research.

There are ways to hedge against your money becoming pieces of paper that are not worth the price of paper. One option is investing your money in some type of business but that business could go bankrupt and you would loose all your money. Other ways is to buy a commodity for example Gold, Silver, copper, wood, corn, hogs, beets. The prices of commodities sometimes go up with inflation (which makes your money worth less and less) and sometimes the price of the commodities go down for example the price of a beet is less then it was years ago due to more production better ways to grow the product. Now metals are a limited resource there is only so much Gold in the earth and once it is all mined that is all we have until we look on other places like other planets and asteroids. With that in mind I believe a metal is a better hedge on inflation then a food product.

If you would like to keep the value of some of your money you might want to look in to the Liberty dollar you can find more information on this at http://www.norfed.org . The Liberty dollar comes in different forms some are actual silver and other are notes that look like a dollar. If you do want to check out the liberty dollar I would suggest you get the actual silver pieces just to hold in your hand and feel what actual money feels like.

This is not investing advice just information for you. I am not affiliated with NORFED either just to let you know.

NY Govoner wants to tax Indians

You may not know about this unless you live in the Western New York area. This is a issue that has come up back in the mid 1990's and it is rearing its ugly head again. The names have changed but it is still the same old issue. The Seneca Indian reservation which is a sovereign nation has businesses that sell gasoline and tobacco products without a heavy tax like New York, there is a small tax which I believe the Indian nation uses.

The dictator aka governor of New York State wants to impose the same tax on any tobacco product that is sold on the reservation that is imposed on businesses that reside in New York. You may be thinking "so what they should pay their fair share" The problem is that the reservation is sovereign territory which means it is a nation just like Canada, Mexico, Brazil, or China. This is like telling China you must impose the same taxes that NY imposes on businesses in the state.

This is insane and if the politicians in NY would open up a history book and pull their heads out of another body cavity they would realize that this is going to end badly. In the 90's the Indian's put tires on the roads entering the nation and burned them. Two interstate roads travel through the reservation I-90 and I-86. If the governor proceeds I fear that something like this will happen again which does not affect the politicians directly but it does hurt the people that will have to travel around the reservation not to mention that back in the 90's many state troopers were called to the area to stand off with the Indians.

Why can't New York just leave the Indians alone. They have not tried to take land without compensation, they have not attacked the surrounding towns. All they have done is let business open and provide a product to the people that pass through their nation. They have not opened up tolls for everyone entering their nation they do not search everyone traveling through their nation.

Spitzer leave the peaceful Indians alone!!!