Civil Forfeiture Laws

About the new law pending in Oklahoma that will require due process and convictions to keep assets from civil forfeiture.  This has local law enforcement up in arms because they say it will invite Drug Cartels into the state.

 

 

Laws like this would be unnecessary if the authorities would just not abuse the law. They involve innocent people in these forfeitures, and it is a real epidemic all over the country. It is just another case of people getting a little power and they run rampant through the rights of ordinary citizens. If you use due process in all cases, no one has to remind you of it by making a law such as this. There are plenty of stories of law enforcement paying for things like Margarita machines and sports equipment from seized funds from ordinary citizens.  In many cases civil forfeiture is just legal thievery by the very people who are supposed to protect us from these things.

Christmas Lost

On an article about a child whose parents want to cancel Christmas because she has stolen money for candy twice.
Part of a psychologist's answer began with something like: "perhaps she is not getting enough sweetness in her life and you need to look at the deprivation in your home...."

I absolutely agree that taking Christmas away is too far in the future, and perhaps a little inappropriate. However, This is a lifelong thing if it is not dealt with as harshly as possible. The punishment must be so strong as to make her think more than twice about the possible consequences of her actions. I think that Psychologists are a little too quick in thinking that conversation is the best thing. Kids are not all sweetness and light at the core. Kids can be mean, harsh, judgemental, evil little beings. And will often clam up if you try to Talk your way to an answer, plus, they often do not know why they do these things. Enough sweetness in her life? Give me a break...kids and adults get way..WAY too much sugar as it is...perhaps they should have none at all!

I think that an appropriate punishment would be to work for a charity on weekends and holidays... help those who are deprived... perhaps work to get money to buy Christmas food and treats for underprivileged would be good... something meaningful but also very VERY difficult... this is a really big deal, and you hold her future in your hands.

Probably no one will ever read this blog.

Probably no one will ever read this blog.  However, it is Cathartic to write so here goes.

Facebook is dangerous.  Of course this is a broad statement.  If you are extremely careful, it should not be a problem.  I and many others, do not have the time or energy to try to bypass all the pitfalls that one can encounter on Social Media.  Also, there are ever newer ways that unscrupulous people can find to exploit what is written on these sites...so who can keep up.

Let us just say, that it is probably best to just opt out of these sites.

However, it is increasingly difficult to comment on articles on the Internet without signing in to these sites.  Huffington is one of those.  Huffington has a number of interesting things on line, and it just drives me crazy when I write something fairly inoffensive and profound on the subject(We all think out thoughts are incredibly profound, of course.) only to realize that I have to sign into Facebook in order to post a comment.

Huffington is basically excluding people with certain opinions, like those who hate Social Media.

 And why are they excluding me?

It is not for security reasons as they sometimes state, because plenty of sites offer a number of ways to sign in without too many problems.  I suspect that someone is making money off this exclusionary  act. 

It would be interesting to know who is greasing palms to either exclude me(very unlikely, I know) or to recruit more people for Social Media sites like Facebook.

So here is my blog to post all the rants and raves I wanted to post, when I was excluded from the process.

Simon Malls Remove Christmas Trees

In response to the  Huffpost article and video that shows outraged parents refusing to shop in Simon Malls after replacing Christmas displays with Santa's Glaciers.



My response:

We have a disturbing trend in this country. That is to neutralize traditional holidays in the country so as to not offend other religious groups.

 

  Well, lets just say that Simon...just so you know..Simon, a company I know very well, is not the brightest of groups to begin with...was trying to be sensitive to other groups, and in the current climate, they were trying to do a good thing.

 

  The problem is...  This has always been a predominantly Christian country. I look back fondly on my childhood with all the holidays and traditions that I remember and I really do miss that heterogeneous life that was so charming and pleasant. The fact is though, that we are becoming increasingly multicultural, and multi religious.

 

  We make a great mistake in trying to eradicate all our original traditions so as not to offend others. It was the origin of the country after all(after the Native American of course.) and it is not the place of newcomers to displace or eradicate the old culture in their new country.  This is exactly why conserative folk become so defensive.

 

Instead, we should be celebrating the other religions and cultures. Just think of all the happiness, color and beauty of all those other cultures that we could bring to the Malls...but not just there, to the country in general if we all enjoyed the color and traditions of our newly arrived and our under appreciated older groups, like Jewish and Native American.

 

  Putting up Christmas displays is not a call to all non-Christians to convert, and if we put up more blue and white dreydels, it would not be a call to Christians to convert...Islam, Indian religions, Nepali/Buddhist/Japanese religions all have their colorful and wonderful traditions, and none of them have to be offensive to any other religious group if we all just relax and say "isn't that pretty" or "How interesting those people seem to be".

 

  Meanwhile, if a kid wants to be photographed with Santa Claus surrounded by greenery and red glass(or plastic) balls, or if a Jewish kid wants photos of himself surrounded by blue and white Chanukah decorations..so be it.  Who has a right the deny them their rights?