Dear Colleagues, Coming up on Wednesday, October 31, the US Supreme Court will address the issue of whether or not certain drug searches by trained police dogs are constitutional.
This article has a decent summary of the issue: http://news.yahoo.com/supreme-court-turn-nose-dog-sniffs-110522793.html ... however, the two elephants in the room are not mentioned: 1) Police dogs are often trained to respond to their handlers. And unfortunately, police training these days emphasizes capturing revenue and raising arrest and conviction rates to justify fatter budgets and higher salaries -- and precious little emphasis on honesty, ethics, justice, or constitutionality. Which means handlers train their dogs to "false" -- respond to cues *from* the handler -- which means innocent people go to jail and lose everything. 2) Drug Prohibition is itself unconstitutional -- and should be repealed as the travesty of justice that it is -- immediately. The Libertarian position is to repeal Prohibition -- all of it -- and return law enforcement to its role as "peace" officers. One other problem with having police dogs around: Police across the country routinely treat their dogs as having more rights (and privileges) than regular, non-tax-feeding (human) citizens. <http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lewrockwell.com%2Fblog%2Flewrw%2Farchives%2F031415.html&h=fAQE6lHSG&s=1>http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/031415.html Is it right -- much less constitutional -- to regard citizens as lower than *dogs*? Further reading: <http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.8newsnow.com%2Fstory%2F18886948%2Fnhp-troopers-sue-department-over-k-9-program&h=MAQEf_dGy&s=1>http://www.8newsnow.com/story/18886948/nhp-troopers-sue-department-over-k-9-program http://www.amazon.com/K9-Fraud-Fraudulent-Handling-Police/dp/1550593935 ********************** Interested in the above topic? Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper! http://lpva.com/Archives/Tips/LTEWriting.php http://lpva.com/HTML/lettersToEditor.php ********************** If you wish to begin helping us roll back the state so that the private sector can solve more government-created problems, please join the Libertarian Party today. Visit our Virginia membership page today to take advantage of our "Unified" state & national membership for just $50 (student rate only $30). Check it out today! <http://Contribute.LPVA.com/>http://Contribute.LPVA.com Or, help spread the word by running as a Libertarian candidate for public office: http://Campaign.LPVA.com Sincerely Yours, Marc Montoni, Secretary Libertarian Party of Virginia http://www.LPVA.com <secret...@lpva.com> <mailto:secret...@lpva.com> ============================================================================ Peaceful Commerce With All Nations * Noninterventionism * Repeal Prohibition * End Government Intrusion In The Bedroom * Repeal All Gun Laws * Taxpayer Bailout: Repeal The Income Tax * Sound, Free-market Money & Abolish The Fed * End Corporate & Individual Welfare * Abolish The IRS * Privatize Transportation Infrastructure * Free-market Emergency Services * Minimally-regulated Migration * Transfer Government Schools To The Private Sector * Eliminate Regulation * VOTE LIBERTARIAN * 800-ELECT-US or http://www.LP.org ============================================================================ If big government works, why do its advocates need to defend it? ############################################################# Have an announcement you'd like to post? SCC members & many committee heads are all authorized to post; or you may send your announcements to the List Master: <modera...@lpva.com> <mailto:modera...@lpva.com?subject=Announcement>. ############################################################# Unsubscribe: Send an email to sts...@lpva.com with no subject and "Unsubscribe Announce" as the text. ############################################################# Libertarian Party of Virginia http://www.LPVA.com Phone: 703-715-6230 ############################################################# Want to see past messages? Check the Archive: http://www.Mail-Archive.com/announce@lpva.com/ #############################################################
