Government Harassment of Citizens

Racism, Separate and Unequal, and Blanket Retaliation is the result of a Government that has no Oversight. We the People need to keep them honest.

Abuse has been going on since the beginning of any government.

America is no exception.

It gets better or worse based on the public’s perception and willingness to accept the party line.

I wanted Civilian Oversight of Police and Judicial Accountability.

For that I was stalked and investigated by the Connecticut State Police.

I was mugged. I went to prison losing everything. Silence signifies acceptance. If you don’t care, why should anyone care if it happens to you or yours?

If I did “overreact” to being mugged; being beaten from behind, having my life threatened, and then ending the attempted robbery with pepper spray, and if I was guilty of anything, the punishment did not fit the crime. There should be some consistency in the courts and in law enforcement. It is now a “Free for All” for them and “Freedom for No One” for us.

Should I not get any decent employment or be denied most lodging opportunities because of a bogus criminal record that directly resulted for Free Speech, speaking out, about official abuse in newspapers and proposing legislation to elected officials? Isn’t America founded on individual rights, access to government, redress of grievances, and the ability to voice one’s opinions?

Giving citizens a criminal record is a way of making a vast underclass. Jim Crow still lives in America, it is just more covert. Racism is institutionalized in a pretend Drug War with policies to make a larger and larger divide among America’s two remaining classes.

In most Connecticut court rooms a judge can tell a defendant to take a deal, guilty or not, without a lawyer, “Take the Deal of Else!”

It is Black and White, the abuse is real and plain to see.

I have posted a video within (click here, scroll to bottom) this post where citizen testify in front of the Connecticut legislature in December of 1996. Connecticut Police are guilty of rape, murder, and a host of other crimes, reams of accusations not even investigated. If a woman is raped by a Connecticut State Trooper the case might not even be investigated and the whole police force can then go after the woman that was out to tarnish “their image”.

Governor M. Jodi Rell nominates judges with absolutely no criminal or family court experience. The legislature then puts on their rubberstamp of approval. Almost no judges ever get punished for anything, especially in Connecticut. Until officials, prosecutors, police, and judges fear arrest and prison, like the rest of us, the abuse will only continue.

The government, police, judges, and prosecutors should not be able to do surveillance on their slightest whim with no oversight of their activities. Past history and wars should tell us where America is heading without public vigilance and intervention.

Stand up and be heard now or all future generations will blame you for the downfall of America and Global Freedom as a few once knew it for a short time. Having Rights and Freedoms does not come free. Do your part, expect to get honest value for your taxes paid in.

If an American President such as George W. Bush needs to be hauled off in handcuffs by regular cops to face a trial for crimes committed, for all officials to get that the party is over and they all our accountable for their actions, so be it.

If a doctor cuts off a patient's wrong leg, he or she could be held accountable, criminally and civilly.

If a judge, prosecutor, and police do worse to a citizen and then do it again to other citizens there is no punishment. There is no one to complain to, and when you do, too often there is retaliation and you are worse off, just seeking justice.

If an average citizen steals a candy bar from a convenience store, there could be jail time and a permanent criminal record.

Trillions of dollars worth of candy bars are stolen by dishonest officials and their corrupt corporate buddies all the time, maybe as a matter of course everyday. Why shouldn’t they be subject to the same laws and same procedures as the rest of us?

Trial transcripts and any video or audio recordings should be available to any citizen going through court proceedings. Access to the courts is denied to those that can’t get what they need to fight back.

There should be impact statements before any citizens. There should be an individual impact statement, family impact statement, and societal impact statement. I would not have been nailed and there would be some much less abuse if impact statements were made into law, nationally.

Official, Police, Prosecutorial, Attorney, and Judicial Misconduct will be the rule not the exception if something is not done, and done now.

Connecticut is a very good example of how bad a state can get.

America, pay attention and act before it is too late for all future generations, and We the People, now as we speak.

-Steven G. Erickson a.k.a. blogger Vikingas

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NATION/WORLD

Justice Department Eyes Spy Program

6:51 AM EST, November 28, 2006
By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer, The Hartford Courant

WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department has begun an internal investigation into its handling of information gathered in the government's domestic spying program. However, Democrats criticized the review as too narrow to determine whether the program violated federal law.

The inquiry by Glenn A. Fine, the department's inspector general, will focus on the role of Justice prosecutors and agents in carrying out the warrantless surveillance program run by the National Security Agency.

Fine's investigation is not expected to address whether the controversial program is an unconstitutional expansion of presidential power, as its critics and a federal judge in Detroit have charged.

"After conducting initial inquiries into the program, we have decided to open a program review that will examine the department's controls and use of information related to the program," Fine wrote in a letter dated Monday to House Judiciary Committee leaders. The four-paragraph letter was obtained by The Associated Press.

Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said the agency welcomes the review: "We expect that this review will assist Justice Department personnel in ensuring that the department's activities comply with the legal requirements that govern the operation of the program."

In January, Fine's office rejected a request by more than three dozen Democrats to investigate the secret program, which monitors phone calls and e-mails between people in the U.S. and abroad when a link to terrorism is suspected.

Fine's letter outlining his review was welcomed by congressional Democrats. At the same time, they said it falls short of examining issues at the heart of the debate -- how the spying program evolved, and whether its creation violated any laws.

"A full investigation into the program as a whole, not just the DOJ's involvement, will be necessary," said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif.

The review could include whether the spying program complies with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which requires judicial authorization for electronic surveillance and physical searches of people suspected of espionage or international terrorism on behalf of a foreign power. The Justice Department requests surveillance approval from the FISA court.

Democrats also questioned the timing of the review. Fine's letter noted that his office asked the White House on Oct. 20 for additional security clearances that were approved just last week -- following the Nov. 7 elections that gave Democrats control of Congress.

Noting Democrats' renewed power to subpoena Bush administration officials next year, Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., questioned that Fine's investigation "is only coming now after the election as an attempt to appease Democrats" who have been critical of the NSA program.

The letter was sent to House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and the panel's top Democrat and incoming chairman, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich. Sensenbrenner had no comment. Conyers called the review "a long overdue investigation of a highly controversial program."

The Justice Department has called the program a necessary tool in the fight against terrorism, and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is pushing congressional Republicans to authorize it by law before they cede power at the year's end -- a prospect with at best a slim shot of approval.

Former Reagan administration national security official Robert F. Turner, now associate director at the Center for National Security Law at the University of Virginia, said congressional demands for sensitive information about the program puts them at odds with long-standing presidential powers over the collection of foreign intelligence.

"It's good that the executive branch, on its own, is making sure that someone's not abusing this power," Turner said. "But when Congress usurps power vested in the president by the people through the Constitution, then it becomes the lawbreaker."

Countering, Caroline Fredrickson, the director of the ACLU's office in Washington, urged Fine "to seek the hidden truth about this program. ... No one, not even the president, is above the law."

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On the Net:

Justice Department: http://www.usdoj.gov/