Government Property Seizures out of Control !

[Stealth1024]

WOW! This article touched off a nerve. Observing the government siezing land and property first hand, I can say this sort of stuff does happen!

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/6/27/191414.shtml

"Once your property is charged with a crime, it can be seized and kept by police, even if you are never convicted of anything."

"Once your home, car, and bank accounts are seized under civil asset forfeiture laws, you can pretty much forget about ever getting them back."

"The DEA seized $640,000 from Jennifer Leigh Ames while she was traveling on Amtrak on April 5, 2001. Agents say she looked nervous and had refused permission to search her luggage."

 

[almostmakingit]

People better wake up.... This is not a good thing.....

 

[LordMaul]

Sheesh!

Like, SUCK!!!

 

[XMan]

Yup.

 

[TerreApart]

HECK, That's nothing!

Read the book: "feeling your pain"-James Bovard

Snippet#1:


<< &quot;Bruce Strauss, a private tax preparer who worked for IRS collections for over 30 years, observed that &quot;the IRS now has the authority to assign additional income to a taxpayer at it's discretion, without any basis in fact&quot;&quot; >>



Which basically means if during an audit you claim $35,000 and all your numbers fit. They can say, this looks fishy, i think you really made $45,000 last year, and your not claiming the extra $10,000 properly.
BAMMO-off you go to penalty phase...

Snippet#2:


<< &quot;One confidential IRS document uncovered in 1997 revealed that IRS auditors in the San Francisco region were expected to assess at least $1,012 in additional taxes for each hour they spent auditing a taxpayer's return&quot; >>



So nice ole IRS agent looks at your books for (2) days, then you get smacked with $10,000 in additional taxes, on-top of anything they find for real. If these agents failed/didn't follow this guideline they could lose bonuses and promotions...

If people only knew how bad things have gotten. I'm not suggesting anyone pull a McVeigh, but darn it's your right and duty to stay informed about your own gov't...

 

[Pretender]

LOL, so I'm supposed to believe someone carrying $640 grand on an Amtrak train was just going to a family reunion? What the hell is she buying, 500,000,000 plastic forks and spoons?

 

[BoberFett]

Pretender

Ever heard of &quot;innocent until proven guilty&quot;? Or perhaps you want to live in a police state where you have to ask permission to sneeze.

 

[Squisher]

This kinda stuff makes me scared to walk out of the house.

Power corupts, ..........

Isn't it funny that anytime someone wants to take drastic measures all they have to do is declare that there is a crisis.

 

[Stealth1024]

I'm just surprised there isn't a more profound public outcry over civil rights violations.

The irony of it all is that the American Civil Liberties Union ends up trampling on the rights of Christians and everyone else who stands for something. Talk about tolerating everything but intolerance...

 

[Red Dawn]

<< The irony of it all is that the American Civil Liberties Union ends up trampling on the rights of Christians and everyone else who stands for something. ... >>

Jeebus Christ, WTF does that have to do with this topic?

 

[Pretender]

I'm not saying that at all Bober, but tell me, if you were a drug dealer/buyer/smuggler carrying nearly 3/4 of a mil in cash, would you be willing to let cops search your stuff?

It's not proof, but no one's been convicted yet. It's called EVIDENCE.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Welcome to the new world of tax supported jack-booted thugs in the U.S., hold onto your skivies, it's going to get a lot worse

 

[burnedout]

20/20 ran a special on the topic a couple of years ago.

Airport setting. A reporter purchased an airline ticket with cash. 20/20 had hidden cameras. DEA went up to the reporter asking all kinds of questions. Finally backed off when he said all was being filmed and pointed out the hidden camera.

In some cases, it is indeed a government out of control. Particularly the case of this woman:

At Houston?s Hobby Airport, police stopped 49-year-old Ethel Hylton and seized her luggage because a drug dog had scratched it. Agents searched her bags and strip-searched her but found no drugs. They did find $39,110 in cash from an insurance settlement and her life savings, accumulated through over 20 years of work as a hotel housekeeper and hospital janitor.
Ms. Hylton completely documented where she had gotten the money and was never charged with a crime. But the police kept her money anyway. Destitute, she had no way to fight them.

So how do you fight the bureaucrats in cases such as the above?

 

[Russ]

<< Ever heard of &quot;innocent until proven guilty&quot;? >>



That pretty much got tossed with the creation of the IRS. They've been trampling our rights for 50 years. Like the DEA's strong-arm tactics, the judicial system just doesn't seem to give a damn.

I've been through three audits and, in every case, I had to prove the trail of every nickel that came in and out of my accounts. They didn't have to prove the money was illegitimately earned - I had to prove it wasn't.

It's all pretty frightening when you stop to think about it.

That said, should the DEA have reasonable cause to suspect illegal activity when somebody is carrying $640,000 in cash? Yes, they should. But, in the absence of PROOF of this activity, the funds should be released back to their owner immediately.

Russ, NCNE

 

[Wedesdo]

wow... scary

 

[Warblad13]

:|

 

[ucdnam]

Time for us to band together, form a militia, and take these suckers down

 

[Pennstate]

This is actually an issue that has bipartisan support. The dems complain about police brutality, the reps complain about personal liberty.

 

[pulpp]

scary.

 

[Lalakai]

trust me folks, no matter how paranoid you are, you are not paranoid enough.

 

[AndrewR]

And, geez, drug dealers wouldn't have a reason to want to spread innuendo and misperception to curtail government law enforcement, now would they?

Did you know that gullible isn't in the dictionary??? Look it up!