🚀 go-pugleaf

John M Atkinson wrote:
> 
> Thus Spake russotto@wanda.vf.pond.com (Matthew T. Russotto):
> 
> %Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations act.  A neat little
> %act where if the government asserts that an organization is
> %'racketeering influenced', they can seize it and all assets derived
> %from it BEFORE your trial.  There's also the variant known as civil
> %RICO, where they go and seize your assets but don't bother to try you
> %-- and you have to sue (paying your lawyer is your problem, and
> %there's also high bond requirements) to get them back.
> 
> Oh, yeah.  The law under which they nail Mob dons.  Big deal.

The list of persons abused under assets-forfeitures laws continues to
grow. There's some fascinating ones where cops have simply planted dope
on people, simple to take possession of their assets. I recall one
televised incident in Texas where some cops busted one guy because they
coveted his racing boat. And no, sorry, I don't recall the exact
incident. But the cops got to keep everything and years later the guy is
still waiting for his first state-level appeal. And he's waiting,
flat-broke.

The problem with RICO is that it _does_ provide a powerful tool against
those who have long-established techniques for evidence destruction and
techniques for delying trial while the assets are removed and concealed.
However, the law seems to be increasingly misapplied to enable
pre-conviction punitive actions. It's also arguably used as a technique
to prejudice the courts against a suspect by the simple means of making
sure they cannot possibly afford the quality of lawyer that such a case
would require, rather like ripping out someone's tongue so that they
can't speak in their own defense.

> 
> %The question isn't whether I'm offering to start one, it's whether or
> %not such a massacre is just cause for starting one.
> 
> OK, no.  I don't believe one (or even several) incidents of troops getting out
> of hand justifies armed revolt.  And if you look at the writings of the time
> (Thomas Paine, especially) the Boston Massacre is almost never mentioned-the
> causes for rebellion can be more accurately traced to a long-term British policy
> of denying the colonists the inherent human right to self-determination.

Hmmm, you do catch on.

This goes all of the way back to Civil rights marches, Kent State, etc.
Basically it's authoritarianism versues liberality. Every once in a
while authoritarianism starts to encroach on liberality, and outraged
citizens (the ones who are awake, at any rate) begin to agitate for
reform of the authoritarians. This is all well and good and part of the
democratic process. Should authoritarianism refuse to be reigned in by
simple civil protests, some sort of demonstration is in order. If
standard demonstrations are roundly ignored, escalations will be
required. This is, again, democratic process.

> 
> %One who hasn't even heard of RICO, yet is willing to characterize it
> %as 'conspiracy-nut right wing bullshit' has a lot of nerve calling others
> %"ignorant jackasses".
> 
> My statement was not that RICO is the above-mentioned bullshit, but that I was
> not always familliar with the buzzwords thrown around the conspiracy-theorist
> community.

RICO is not precisely a bussword, it's the standard abbreviation used by
lawyers and journalists.

You know you'd probably be a lot more understanable if you'd just get
your foot out of your mouth.

> 
> %"Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice, and moderation in pursuit
> %of justice is no virtue."
> 
> I can't recall who said that.  Was it Barry "Nuke North Vietnam" Goldwater or
> the cross-dressing FBI chief who though Martin Luther King was communist?

Possibly Thomas Paine? 

> 
> John M. Atkinson
> jatkinso@gmu.edu
> "A nation which despises its soldiers will all too soon
> have a despicable army
>                  --Jerry Pournelle

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Usually I work within the system when it's not trying to get me killed.