Government Seizures Part 2

The case of the Body Snatchers was to the working title of this piece. This is the second in my series on the ways in which our government uses its power of seizure to harm its own as well as the world's citizenry. Over the years the Government has gotten good at kidnapping. Don’t believe me? Let’s discuss it a bit. The Federal and State Governments have the ability to “legally” kidnap anyone from anywhere for any reason they dictate. From Child Protective Services taking kids from their parents to profit from foster placement to the federal government’s “decreed” ability to detain anyone from anywhere indefinitely with no reason or charges given.

Child Protective Services

CPS has gotten really good at taking children from their parents for multifarious reasons. Parental rights have taken a backseat to the will of bureaucrats and their henchmen in the Child Protective Services.

 {The Adoption and Safe Families Act, set in motion by President Bill Clinton, offered cash “bonuses” to the states for every child they adopted out of foster care. In order to receive the “adoption incentive bonuses,” local child protective services need more children. They must have merchandise (children) that sells and you must have plenty of them so the buyer can choose. Some counties are known to give a $4,000.00 bonus for each child adopted and an additional $2,000.00 for a “special needs” child. Employees work to keep the federal dollars flowing. The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect in 1998, reported that six times as many children died in foster care than in the general public and that once removed to official “safety,” these children are far more likely to suffer abuse, including sexual molestation than in the general population.}- Senator Nancy Schaefer 50th District of Georgia November 16, 2007

This shows that the CPS or DFCS will conduct these seizures in the interest of their own departments. This is a sad state of affairs in this country as well as others around the world. The name of these departments seems to imply that they are enacted on the pretense of being in the interest of the children, innocent and helpless, their name signals these emotions in the general populace but is certainly contradictory to their actions and their records.

NDAA Indefinite detention

The National Defense Appropriations Act has given the Federal Government and its military arm of violence the ability to capture and incarcerate anyone at any time for any reason they dictate. In sections 1021 and 1022 of the 2012 edit the US Congress reinforced this ability by refusing any language to protect American citizens from these seizures. Standing language brought in from previous versions of the bill was unchanged and allows the seizures according to existing US law. Multiple instances of this ability being utilized by the Government have included the cases of Bradley (Chelsea) Manning and Brandon Raub. Both of these cases were covered by national and international media agencies, yet no change in policy or even change in attitude in the populace has taken place.

This doesn't just affect US citizens, the abuse of the US government to snatch whoever they want has gone worldwide. The US base in Cuba, Guantanamo Bay has been a cage for these people picked up for various charges around the world. It is used by the US military and other federal agencies as a torture and rendition place outside of the “law” of the US or any other countries borders. As it is a military installation it enjoys complete immunity from Cuba’s laws and seemingly from any other international laws. 

Local Police

As of 2009, the incarceration rate in the United States was 743 per 100,000 or 0.743% of national population. And while the US has only 5% of the world population it houses 25% of worldwide prisoners, costing taxpayers nearly $24,000 per inmate per year, and $5.1 billion in new prison construction, consumes $60.3 billion in budget expenditures. Doesn’t really sound like the home of the free, does it?

A contributing factor to United States' spike in the number of prisoners is the War on Drugs, formally initiated by Richard Nixon with the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 and avidly pursued by Ronald Reagan according to a Wikipedia search, and I would have to agree. Also noted is the fact that America has longer sentencing than any other nation. This leads to more people incarcerated for longer periods of time. To add to this are the multitude of ludicrous laws and restrictions we have in the States leading to non-violent “offenders” being placed in cages with violent ones.