http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26079096/

I just saw the interview with this Maryland mayor, whose home was raided in
a "no-knock" attempted drug bust that was initiated because criminals were
using his address for delivery and pickup of pot. This could happen to you
and your beloved pets, all because of the insane and ineffective "war on
drugs". Our civil liberties and personal safety are being threatened more
by those who are supposed to keep us safe, because right-wing extremists
still think they can use strong-arm tactics to eradicate the use of and
trafficing in arbitrarily identified "illegal substances". Yet the demand
for such "drugs" is just a symptom of deeper problems in society, and
fascist attempts at control merely drive up the price and profit motive for
the criminal element.

It is ridiculous to think that addicts will just flock to treatment centers
to be cured of their addiction, especially when such services are nearly
non-existent, and the hope for most of these people to ever become
productive members of society are slim. If drug use were decriminalized,
and users could obtain what they needed at little cost, the huge profits
that fuel the criminal element would disappear, and the money now spent in
this useless and dangerous "war" could be spent for rehabilitation of those
who would accept it, while those who will not can just continue their
useless lives peacefully doped up. Even in prisons, I would propose that
inmates could have whatever they wanted of marijuana and opiates, as they
have relatively little adverse health effects, and their use does not
generally promote aggressive behavior.

This "war on drugs" has just cost the lives of two sweet dogs, and a
terrible disruption in the life of an outstanding innocent citizen. You and
yours could be next.

Paul and Muttley

"Paul E. Schoen" wrote in message
...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26079096/

I just saw the interview with this Maryland mayor, whose home was raided
in a "no-knock" attempted drug bust that was initiated because criminals
were using his address for delivery and pickup of pot. This could happen
to you and your beloved pets, all because of the insane and ineffective
"war on drugs". Our civil liberties and personal safety are being
threatened more by those who are supposed to keep us safe, because
right-wing extremists still think they can use strong-arm tactics to
eradicate the use of and trafficing in arbitrarily identified "illegal
substances". Yet the demand for such "drugs" is just a symptom of deeper
problems in society, and fascist attempts at control merely drive up the
price and profit motive for the criminal element.

It is ridiculous to think that addicts will just flock to treatment
centers to be cured of their addiction, especially when such services are
nearly non-existent, and the hope for most of these people to ever become
productive members of society are slim. If drug use were decriminalized,
and users could obtain what they needed at little cost, the huge profits
that fuel the criminal element would disappear, and the money now spent in
this useless and dangerous "war" could be spent for rehabilitation of
those who would accept it, while those who will not can just continue
their useless lives peacefully doped up. Even in prisons, I would propose
that inmates could have whatever they wanted of marijuana and opiates, as
they have relatively little adverse health effects, and their use does not
generally promote aggressive behavior.

This "war on drugs" has just cost the lives of two sweet dogs, and a
terrible disruption in the life of an outstanding innocent citizen. You
and yours could be next.

Paul and Muttley


Have to agree with you Paul. The deaths of these two lovely labs is
disgusting. Along with the handcuffing of a grandmother for hours after it
should have been completely obvious a horrible mistake was made.


td

Paul said in part...
The "war on drugs" has just cost the lives of two sweet dogs and a
terrible disruption in the life of an outstanding innocent citizen.
_____________________________
Paul,
This is such a horrible story. I feel so badly for this family.
I am the "Mail Order Queen" around here. UPS visits me on a weekly
basis. I am sure my dogs would be shot just for looking menacing if I
was a suspected drug dealer.
Assuming I was innocent there is nothing they could do that would
repay me for the loss of my dogs.
There has got to be more to this story if so would you please post it?
I hope someone's head rolls over this fiasco and that the family is
somehow compensated.


Be Free.....Judy

"Judith Althouse" wrote:

There has got to be more to this story if so would you please post it?
I hope someone's head rolls over this fiasco and that the family is
somehow compensated.

Unfortunately, this sort of thing - both the mistakaen "home invasion", and
the shooting of harmless pet dogs - is quite common in P.G. County, and in
plenty of other jurisdictions as well. The only reason it got press at all
is because of the social position of this particular victim, and I'm betting
that there won't be any real repercussions to the participants.

"sionnach" wrote in message
...

"Judith Althouse" wrote:

There has got to be more to this story if so would you please post it?
I hope someone's head rolls over this fiasco and that the family is
somehow compensated.

Unfortunately, this sort of thing - both the mistakaen "home invasion",
and the shooting of harmless pet dogs - is quite common in P.G. County,
and in plenty of other jurisdictions as well. The only reason it got press
at all is because of the social position of this particular victim, and
I'm betting that there won't be any real repercussions to the
participants.



In this particular case, weren't the cops already aware of the fact that
these 'pot drops' were a scam? And that more likely than not, the occupants
of the home were innocent dupes? I thought LE had infiltrated the scam with
someone undercover?


td

Sionnach said in part
Unfortunately, this sort of thing~both the mistaken " home invasion "
and the shooting of harmless pet dogs-is quite common in P.G. County,
and in plenty of other jurisdictions as well. The only reason it got
press at all is because of the social position of this particular
victim, and I am betting that there won't be any real repercussions to
the participants.
_____________________
Sionnach,
Thanks for the FYI. I don't suppose there is anything they could do
that would satisfy me when it comes to the loss of my dogs for no
particular reason. However I would like to believe that action had been
taken to prevent it from happening to someone else.
I live 40-45 miles from Orlando, there is plenty of internal
corruption there and in the surrounding areas but it seems like someone
is always getting fired or the county (Orange) is paying off.
Maybe for the very reason the item made the news (the victim's social
position) some token gesture will be made to soothe the public.


Be Free.....Judy

"Judith Althouse" wrote:

Thanks for the FYI. I don't suppose there is anything they could do
that would satisfy me when it comes to the loss of my dogs for no
particular reason.

I feel the same way.

However I would like to believe that action had been
taken to prevent it from happening to someone else.

The one thing that *may* help is that the County cops ticked off the local
P.D. by not notifying them of the intended raid.

Otherwise, I won't be holding my breath. I've dealt with other P.G. County
agencies a number of times (via my last and current jobs), and the level of
uncaring incompetence/deliberate bloody-minded unhelpfulness of many County
workers is unbelievable.

I'm currently working for an electrical contractor, and a couple of weeks
ago we needed a P.G. County permit for a job we were sub-contracting on, and
which was supposed to begin work in 2 days. Our usual permit runner was tied
up dealing with a Baltimore City snafu (the City couldn't figure out what
street address to use for a parking garage that sides on 5 streets), so my
boss called P.G. County to see if he could overnight mail a permit app. The
person he spoke to there said yes, he could overnight it to her attention,
and she would fax it when it was processed.
(For the rest of this narrative, I shall refer to her as A.G., which are her
real initials.)

The next day, I waited until 2 p.m. (my boss had overnighted it for morning
delivery), then called to get the permit number. The young lady I got on the
phone said they didn't have the application. When I told her it had been
overnighted, she informed me that it would still be with the mail clerk, and
that it would take awhile to be processed and given to A.G.. I asked -
politely - if she had any idea when I should call back. "I dunno" she
replied, "you'll need to ask A.G., but she's not here right now. I'll have
to have her call you back later today."
Not much to my surprise (due to past dealings with P.G.Co.), I never got a
return phone call.

The next day, I checked online, saw no permit yet for the address, and
called again. No, A.G. was not in, and no, they had no record of getting the
application.

The next day after THAT, I checked online- still no sign of the permit. So I
called again, and this time A.G. answered the phone. I explained who I was,
and asked if she'd gotten the application. "Yeah, I processed that today."
says she. I then asked her for the permit number.
"I mailed it to you."
I very politely told her that I just needed the permit number to give to the
general contractor.
"You can look it up online."
I explained that I had checked online & not seen it, and asked if the URL I
had used was the correct one.
"I don't know nothing about how they do them online things."
"Well" says I, very very politely "isn't there some way you can just give me
the permit number over the phone?" (Mind you, I knew damn well all she had
to do was look it up!)
"I'm busy. I'll have to call you back." Click.