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.

And the young will take the mantle of liberty...

This is a letter to the editor of "The Citizen" a newspaper in Peachtree Georgia. It is written by a 15 year old in response to her high schools practice of infringing on inherent rights of individuals. Her understanding of private property rights and the no victim no crime principle is encouraging to me. 

[Editor’s note: The following email is from a 15-year-old freshman girl at McIntosh High School. Although she provided her name and address, we are not printing that information.]

Many students might have and should have signed the “Student Code of Conduct” in the beginning of the year. This “contract” had to be signed for students to attend classes.

Most students, me included, did not read the Code of Conduct. It was just another silly form students had to sign to please the administrators.

As it turns out we should have read the 30-page “rule book.” When I signed my name at the bottom of the green slip of paper, I did not realize I was signing away my basic human and constitutional rights.

I have been told by multiple teachers and upperclassmen, “You’re a freshman, you’ll learn that in high school you have no rights.” I nodded in agreement and thought it was just another made-up stereotype of high school.

Recently I experienced this absolute lack of rights. Only the other day I was out in the hall before school started, showing my friend a picture on my phone. A staff member I didn’t recognize, later identified as [name omitted], approached me and asked for both our phones.

How was I to know she was a teacher? I had never seen her before and she was not wearing a badge, only a name tag.

While my friend handed hers over, I politely declined, stating that it is my private property, which it was. Not only had school not started yet, but she had no valid reason to ask for the phone.

It’s not as if I was showing something explicit (it was my dog) or that my phone was an explosive device. She then asked for my name which I also refused to give. In defense of this, I did not know who she was. When a random stranger approaches you and asks for both your phone and your name, do you just hand it over?

I later find myself with three days of ISS (in-school suspension) for “Insubordination: failure to comply with the directions of a staff member.”

There was no insubordination, only a student acting on the rights she believed she had as not a citizen of the United States but as a human.

In the agenda on the first page it states, “Positive relationships and mutual respect among students and staff enhance student learning.” While I showed respect, I received none from [name omitted]. She behaved as if I had committed a crime when I refused to hand her my phone, when in actuality it was the other way around.

According to [a school official], students are not permitted to have devices out unless supervised by a teacher.

We all know that at least half of the students are always on their phones, yet not all of them are punished. According to administrators this is because there is not a large enough staff to enforce it on every single student.

If you can’t enforce it on all students equally, you should not be picking out certain students. This is a form of bullying, and as I remember McIntosh has an “anti-bullying” policy.

We are also not allowed to have the devices unsupervised since the moment we step foot on campus. I’ll admit, I didn’t know this, but what troubled me most was that McIntosh is the only high school in the county with that rule.

My argument was that I have basic human rights to my own property, and as I was not violating anybody else’s right, there is no room for any type of punishment. [The official] then informs me that as soon as students step foot on campus theoretically they do not have rights.

Again on the first page of the agenda right under the bolded word “Belief Statements,” it states, “Public education is the foundation of a free society.” How is this true if we are treated with no rights whatsoever?

Students are not only bullied by teachers, but also have their rights taken away. Learn from my mistake; logic and human rights will not defend your case against the administration acting like children.

Name withheld at editor’s discretion
Peachtree City, Ga.

Originally published at http://www.thecitizen.com/articles/03-18-2014/freshman-decries-loss-rights