Re: DEA trying to subpoena book dealers

[Tim May <tcmay@got.net>]

At 1:53 PM -0700 10/27/97, Jim Burnes wrote:
>On Mon, 27 Oct 1997, Tim May wrote:

>> As for plant cultivation, I'm sure we all recall the cases where DEA SWAT
>> teams have raided homes because some electric company report gave the DEA
>> some suspicion that grow lamps were being used. (In a lot of these raids,
>> there are "side effects" of the residents being sprayed with small arms
>> fire. "Whoops." Even more embarassing when no grow lamps are found.
>> "Whoops." So much for the Fourth Amendment, which was gutted more than 70
>> years ago during the First War on Drugs.)
>
>That wouldn't be the Donald Scott case, would it?  I'm so suprised at
>you, Tim.  The local prosecutor said they "lost their moral compass".
>The poor men! Now go back home, fill out your 1040 and shuddup.  ;-)
>

Donald Scott, of Malibu, was one of these examples.

For those who don't know the story, he was a retired medical doctor, living
with his wife on a farm or ranchette of some sort on the Malibu coast,
adjacent to some L.A. County public or park lands. Environmentalist groups
had been trying to get him to sell his land cheaply, or donate it, to the
parklands system.

The LA County Sheriff's Office apparently took a close look at his land, to
see if there was any way they could force him to sell.  As I recall the
story (a Web search will reveal more), they found a snitch who said Donald
Scott was growing pot on his property. Aerial surveys were inconclusive.

They raided his home, hoping to find drugs and thus seize the property
under the civil forfeiture laws, then sell the property to the parklands
system and realized a nice profit. (The civil forfeiture laws work like the
"letters of marque and reprisal" system the freebooters had: those doing
the raiding get to keep the profits from their raids. This has become a
major revenue generator. See old episodes of "Miami Vice" for details on
how this works.)

Anyway, in the predawn hours the raider ninjas burst into Scott's home. No
polite knocks on the door. (As if he could have flushed his alleged
marijuana plants down the toilet.)

Scott saw the intruders burst into his bedroom, reached for a gun from his
night stand, and was sprayed with 9mms. His wife survived.

No marijuana plants were found. No drugs were found. Probably not even any
Paladin Press books.

If there were justice in America, those who did the raiding would be tried,
found guilty of capital murder, and sent to the gas chamber at San Quentin.

But they won't be. "We lost our moral compass" is the most that will come
out of this. Oh, and more laws making it illegal for sheep-units to have
guns to defend themselves.

And so it goes. This is why I have 3000 rounds of .223 stashed away, and
several loaded weapons readily available. And an early warning system in
case the night ninjas decide my house needs to be raided before dawn.


--Tim May



The Feds have shown their hand: they want a ban on domestic cryptography
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Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
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