We, The People, Need To Pay Attention

[Michael Komorn]

WE, THE PEOPLE, NEED TO PAY ATTENTION

Some comments from our friends from NORML

WE, THE PEOPLE, NEED TO PAY ATTENTION

 

 

We, the people, don't always follow court rulings.

 

We, the people, don't always keep up with what federal agencies are doing.

 

So while we, the people, aren't looking, we are losing our rights.

 

While we were sleeping, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals --

which covers California and eight other states -- decided it was OK

for agents from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration to sneak

into a guy's driveway and put a GPS tracking device under the bottom

of his car. The wise judges said that the agents did not need a

warrant because the guy's driveway wasn't private.

 

That kind of thinking -- that you should have no expectation of

privacy in your driveway -- is now law in nine states.

 

The DEA agents in the case acted in 2007 in Oregon against Juan

Pineda-Moreno. They believed he was growing marijuana, so they went

to his trailer and stuck a tracker on the Jeep parked a few feet away.

 

And a three-judge appeals court panel said it was legal.

 

But worse, a second larger panel of judges upheld that ruling

Wednesday. The driveway wasn't private, they said, because strangers

such as "delivery people and neighborhood children" had access to it,

according to news reports.

 

Cultural Elitism

 

Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, a Reagan conservative, was outraged by the

decision and explained in a practical dissent that the ruling was

discriminatory because only poor people had no expectation of

privacy. Rich people, he said, have gates and fences.

 

His common-sense dissent explains part of what is wrong with America

in so many ways.

 

"There's been much talk about diversity on the bench, but there's one

kind of diversity that doesn't exist," he wrote. "No truly poor

people are appointed as federal judges, or as state judges for that matter."

 

The kind of cultural elitism Kozinski describes defines our

government and political and socio-economic systems. Only rich people

can afford to run for office, and once they are elected, they have no

idea how to help poor people. They have no idea how poor people live.

 

That is how the mortgage crisis happened.

 

That is how the banking crisis happened.

 

Were Congress even partly populated by people who make $9 an hour,

how many would have allowed what was allowed by a bunch of rich guys,

a few well-to-do gals and a bunch of reps who didn't take economics

in college?

 

An American Complaint

 

The California case was not about a suspected drug dealer and his

trailer. It is about whether any American can keep government agents

from swarming the driveway because it is private property, as it has

long been considered to be.

 

Kashmir Hill wrote on abovethelaw.com that "a user's manual that's

200-plus years old can be difficult to apply to modern technologies."

 

That was a brilliant way to explain the difficulty in applying early

amendments to the U.S. Constitution to the way we live now. It is why

the Second Amendment is so abused and why most people don't know what

the Fourth Amendment is. The Fourth says that "the right of the

people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects,

against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated,

and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause."

 

It says you cannot just walk up to a poor man's driveway and slap a

tracking device on his car, unless you can convince a judge that you

have enough evidence to do so.

 

We are not paying attention, but we are losing our rights. It is not

a liberal complaint. It is not a Tea Party complaint. It is an

American complaint, an American crisis.

 

And while we, the people, sleep, the crisis deepens.

 

Michael A. Komorn

Attorney and Counselor

Law Office of Michael A. Komorn

3000 Town Center, Suite, 1800

Southfield, MI 48075

800-656-3557 (Toll Free)

248-351-2200 (Office)

248-357-2550 (Phone)

248-351-2211 (Fax)

Email: michael@komornlaw.com

Website: www.komornlaw.com

Check out our Radio show:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/planetgreentrees

NEW CALL IN NUMBER: (347) 326-9626

Live Every Wednesday 8-9:30 p.m.

PLANET GREENTREES

w/ Attorney Michael Komorn

 

The most relevant radio talk show for the Michigan Medical Marijuana Community. PERIOD.

 

If you have a medical marihuana question or comment, please email them to me, or leave them on the forum for the MMMA, and I will try to answer them live on the air.

 

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/planetgreentrees

PLANET GREENTREES Call-in Number: (347) 326-9626

Call-in Number: (347) 326-9626

[Greg Starks]

Our friends at NORML apparently failed to attribute this as well. From our own Rochelle Riley, at the Detroit Free Press: http://www.freep.com/article/20100827/COL10/8270369/1164/Col10/We-the-people-need-to-pay-attention

 

Strange thing about these boards not giving credit often where due, and often providing it when unwarranted....

 

Thanks for putting it up, Michael.

[Romen]

It's an Orwellian technological slave and control grid they are after.

[+EdwardGlen]

Nice article. But isn't there a caveat that isn't noted here. That they can't do this in a gated community.

 

It seems that last week or so CNN did a story about this very subject and the "gated community" aspect came up and if you're not allowed (pass through a guard station) in a gated community so this couldn't happen. Which adds salt to the wound in that if your rich enough the law doesn't apply.

 

I guess my closed gate on my driveway with "NO TRESPASSING" sign doesn't mean what I thought it did.

[+wolfgang]

This was great we have to be the watch dogs because nobody else is doing it for us,time the sleeping bear awoke,the time is NOW!! I will not surrender :jipo:

[Greg Starks]

Edward: The gated community - the breach between US 9th Circuit Appeals Justices and average Americans - caveat was the core of her (and Chief Judge Alex Kozinski's) argument.

 

Here is Kozinski's dissent:

 

http://www.leagle.com/unsecure/page.htm?shortname=infco20100812145

[dutch&Dutchess]

Sir

Why are you so surprised that the rich, landed gentry that wrote the Constitution designed it to favor their socio-economic class?

[+Dickinson County CC]

One counterpoint to having your car tracked.

If you aren't doing anything wrong you don't have anything to worry about.

Minus points for public property additions.

[Marijuana Ranch]

One counterpoint to having your car tracked.

If you aren't doing anything wrong you don't have anything to worry about.

Minus points for public property additions.

 

 

420Peace Todd,

 

Nice Avatar

Nice to see ya posting

[+RevThad]

So which piece of privacy will be attacked next? Can it now be argued that because phone hardlines run on public property that they can be tapped, because

wasn't private, they said, because strangers

such as "delivery people and neighborhood children" had access to it,

?

 

Hey the kids in my neighborhood have access to the trees in the front yard, does this mean that LEO can now put a camera and mic in that tree to observe what is going on in my home?

 

When and where do we get to line up for our active tranmitting rfid gps chips? I wouldn't want LEO to accidently injure themselves in my driveway, and have my insurance premiums go up, so let me save them the trouble of tracking my movements....

 

And the torch of Lady Liberty gets a bit dimmer...

[+wolfgang]

this deserves a bump,while some of you may not agree with tea partys this is exactly what they are talking about with us losing our freedoms,and this is why the tea party wants smaller gov't.

Wake up for folks it's time to take our country back from those that think they are in power. dont be color blinded by red or blue,this is really for me and YOU. Wow made a little diddy right there:)

The Repubs and Dems are great for putting us at war with each other on political party division,heck it's their pay check,doesnt matter who is drawing this bunny muffin up,what matters is are we going to fight for our rights if it's whats going on in Ferndale or tracking our cars,it has to stop.

[1337Gr33n]

i would absolutely LOVE to think that those of us that don't have money are somehow more saintly, and that in no way would any of us become corrupted by the kinds of money thrown around Washington. but i know better. i do believe that many, if not most of all politicians are controlled by corporate and special interests. but i don't believe that the poor are immune to the temptation of wealth.

[+420Atheist]

Wolfgang, the tea party is no different than any other party. Just look at who funds them. The tea party is not "grass roots" it is Astroturf (fake grass roots.) Being funded by the same republican billionaires through a lobbyist organization call Freedom Works. You have to ask why so many low income people who are paying less taxes under Obama are so mad that the rich people making over $250K per year are paying more. Believe me Freedom Works only cares about their contributors bottom line and not about your or my freedoms.

 

I admit I see the dems as the lessor of two evils. Give me a viable alternative and I would vote for them in a second.

[+wolfgang]

sorry I have no strength today to debate why I dislike BO policies right now,Hillary should have won,but what do ya do?that is the past,I can only look forward to 2012.

As I was in the car today though this song came on and it is my theme song for the week.I will not get fooled again,peace

 

[+ladyherb]

This is outrageous!

[dlovas]

WE, THE PEOPLE, NEED TO PAY ATTENTION

Some comments from our friends from NORML

WE, THE PEOPLE, NEED TO PAY ATTENTION

 

 

We, the people, don't always follow court rulings.

 

We, the people, don't always keep up with what federal agencies are doing.

 

So while we, the people, aren't looking, we are losing our rights.

 

While we were sleeping, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals --

which covers California and eight other states -- decided it was OK

for agents from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration to sneak

into a guy's driveway and put a GPS tracking device under the bottom

of his car. The wise judges said that the agents did not need a

warrant because the guy's driveway wasn't private.

 

That kind of thinking -- that you should have no expectation of

privacy in your driveway -- is now law in nine states.

 

The DEA agents in the case acted in 2007 in Oregon against Juan

Pineda-Moreno. They believed he was growing marijuana, so they went

to his trailer and stuck a tracker on the Jeep parked a few feet away.

 

And a three-judge appeals court panel said it was legal.

 

But worse, a second larger panel of judges upheld that ruling

Wednesday. The driveway wasn't private, they said, because strangers

such as "delivery people and neighborhood children" had access to it,

according to news reports.

 

Cultural Elitism

 

Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, a Reagan conservative, was outraged by the

decision and explained in a practical dissent that the ruling was

discriminatory because only poor people had no expectation of

privacy. Rich people, he said, have gates and fences.

 

His common-sense dissent explains part of what is wrong with America

in so many ways.

 

"There's been much talk about diversity on the bench, but there's one

kind of diversity that doesn't exist," he wrote. "No truly poor

people are appointed as federal judges, or as state judges for that matter."

 

The kind of cultural elitism Kozinski describes defines our

government and political and socio-economic systems. Only rich people

can afford to run for office, and once they are elected, they have no

idea how to help poor people. They have no idea how poor people live.

 

That is how the mortgage crisis happened.

 

That is how the banking crisis happened.

 

Were Congress even partly populated by people who make $9 an hour,

how many would have allowed what was allowed by a bunch of rich guys,

a few well-to-do gals and a bunch of reps who didn't take economics

in college?

 

An American Complaint

 

The California case was not about a suspected drug dealer and his

trailer. It is about whether any American can keep government agents

from swarming the driveway because it is private property, as it has

long been considered to be.

 

Kashmir Hill wrote on abovethelaw.com that "a user's manual that's

200-plus years old can be difficult to apply to modern technologies."

 

That was a brilliant way to explain the difficulty in applying early

amendments to the U.S. Constitution to the way we live now. It is why

the Second Amendment is so abused and why most people don't know what

the Fourth Amendment is. The Fourth says that "the right of the

people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects,

against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated,

and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause."

 

It says you cannot just walk up to a poor man's driveway and slap a

tracking device on his car, unless you can convince a judge that you

have enough evidence to do so.

 

We are not paying attention, but we are losing our rights. It is not

a liberal complaint. It is not a Tea Party complaint. It is an

American complaint, an American crisis.

 

And while we, the people, sleep, the crisis deepens.

 

Michael A. Komorn

Attorney and Counselor

Law Office of Michael A. Komorn

3000 Town Center, Suite, 1800

Southfield, MI 48075

800-656-3557 (Toll Free)

248-351-2200 (Office)

248-357-2550 (Phone)

248-351-2211 (Fax)

Email: michael@komornlaw.com

Website: www.komornlaw.com

Check out our Radio show:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/planetgreentrees

NEW CALL IN NUMBER: (347) 326-9626

Live Every Wednesday 8-9:30 p.m.

PLANET GREENTREES

w/ Attorney Michael Komorn

 

The most relevant radio talk show for the Michigan Medical Marijuana Community. PERIOD.

 

If you have a medical marihuana question or comment, please email them to me, or leave them on the forum for the MMMA, and I will try to answer them live on the air.

 

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/planetgreentrees

PLANET GREENTREES Call-in Number: (347) 326-9626

Call-in Number: (347) 326-9626

land of the free...that is if your rich enough to live in a gated community.

[Michael Komorn]

One counterpoint to having your car tracked.

If you aren't doing anything wrong you don't have anything to worry about.

Minus points for public property additions.

 

The point of the article, i believe, was that when you are not looking the government is taking away your rights. There was a lot of commentary in michigan this last week that took place with the new formation of the Michigan Supreme Court, and that during this last majority, they overturned i think 50 cases that resulted in favor rulings for Insurance companies, and LEO. It is called the slippery slope, once you cave to one right, even for the people you hate most, watch out, because you or anyone could be next. It would seem that the premise of your post requires tremendous confidence in LEO and our government. I am not prepared to go their yet. Spend 18 years of reading police reports and you will understand.

[floweralliance]

this deserves a bump,while some of you may not agree with tea partys this is exactly what they are talking about with us losing our freedoms,and this is why the tea party wants smaller gov't.

Wake up for folks it's time to take our country back from those that think they are in power. dont be color blinded by red or blue,this is really for me and YOU. Wow made a little diddy right there:)

The Repubs and Dems are great for putting us at war with each other on political party division,heck it's their pay check,doesnt matter who is drawing this bunny muffin up,what matters is are we going to fight for our rights if it's whats going on in Ferndale or tracking our cars,it has to stop.

 

Seems to me no US leader was trying to take a huge chunk out of the insurance cos' collective asses until 2008. As far as backing off Fed prosecution of mm patients, at least we are moving forward not backward as would have been happening if the last election had turned out the other way - I believe in giving credit where credit is due - just sayin . .

 

. . and as far as smaller govt goes I think most govt. workers compared to workers in similar private sector jobs always make a shitload less money. Yea privatize everthing and watch the Shakedown really accelerate. IMO proper govt. regulation (no matter how many and how detailed) is the ONLY WAY to keep people in power honest (think of Bernie Madoff, Kenneth Lay, BCCI, Nugan Hand, etc) and to balance the vagaries of our huge social experient, created in our own image - including flaws - aka America.

 

Thanks for another excellent post Mr. Komorn. Just as the old saw "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" often says a lot about our human nature, I think these insidious LEO/DEA legal precedents proves the road to hell can also be built very quickly.

[+wolfgang]

Seems to me no US leader was trying to take a huge chunk out of the insurance cos' collective asses until 2008. As far as backing off Fed prosecution of mm patients, at least we are moving forward not backward as would have been happening if the last election had turned out the other way - I believe in giving credit where credit is due - just sayin . .

 

. . and as far as smaller govt goes I think most govt. workers compared to workers in similar private sector jobs always make a shitload less money. Yea privatize everthing and watch the Shakedown really accelerate. IMO proper govt. regulation (no matter how many and how detailed) is the ONLY WAY to keep people in power honest (think of Bernie Madoff, Kenneth Lay, BCCI, Nugan Hand, etc) and to balance the vagaries of our huge social experient, created in our own image - including flaws - aka America.

 

Thanks for another excellent post Mr. Komorn. Just as the old saw "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" often says a lot about our human nature, I think these insidious LEO/DEA legal precedents proves the road to hell can also be built very quickly.

USA Today is back on the issue of how federal employees' pay compares to what workers in the private sector earn, with a piece today based on 2009 data. That data shows, the paper says, the federal-private compensation gap has doubled in the last nine years. Now, on average federal pay and benefits ($123,049) are double what private workers get ($61,051).

 

Those are provocative figures, but the article strikes me as something of a step backward in terms of analysis. When USA Today last weighed in on the pay gap, back in March, it attempted a job-by-job analysis, to try to counter the argument that comparing federal jobs -- many of which require advanced skill and experience -- to the private sector as a whole, distorted the pay picture. That previous story, which focused on just salaries, not benefits, still found a gap, just a smaller one. Now we're back to what may be an apples-to-oranges comparison.

 

OPM Director John Berry has asked statisticians from his agency, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and other organizations, such as the Administrative Conference of the United States and National Academy of Public Administration to come up with a new formula for making compensation comparisons.

http://blogs.govexec.com/fedblog/2010/08/do_feds_earn_twice_what_privat.php

[+EdwardGlen]

Edward: The gated community - the breach between US 9th Circuit Appeals Justices and average Americans - caveat was the core of her (and Chief Judge Alex Kozinski's) argument.

 

Here is Kozinski's dissent:

 

http://www.leagle.com/unsecure/page.htm?shortname=infco20100812145

Thanks for the link...it scared me. Makes me think we need another revolution. One to protect our constitution before its gets gutted anymore.

[Guest Marywanna]

Quoting LENIN? yeah he should know how lies will become "truth". And where do you think he would stand on the MMJ issue? "Astroturf." You sound like the Speaker of the House now. Talk about freedom and rights,then quote a person whose goal was and still is to destroy our country. Don't redicule those who have different ideas than you do.Go ahead and continue to bash the Teabaggers,it just makes it more obvious how SCARED our two party system is right now. And they should be.I don't step on your rights,so stay out of mine.

[+Dickinson County CC]

The point of the article, i believe, was that when you are not looking the government is taking away your rights. There was a lot of commentary in michigan this last week that took place with the new formation of the Michigan Supreme Court, and that during this last majority, they overturned i think 50 cases that resulted in favor rulings for Insurance companies, and LEO. It is called the slippery slope, once you cave to one right, even for the people you hate most, watch out, because you or anyone could be next. It would seem that the premise of your post requires tremendous confidence in LEO and our government. I am not prepared to go their yet. Spend 18 years of reading police reports and you will understand.

 

The other issue is the colossal waste of money and time spent following someone around that isn't doing anything wrong. Far as I am concerned, the 'slippery slope' happened 73 years ago, with a major downhill section added in the 70s.

We SHOULD be able to have confidence in enforcement, even though we really don't. The problem comes from having no clarifications from on high because of some silly political reason.

Oh sure, watchdog and keep them straight but since we both have different goals both sides are trying to 'win'.

What is winning?

 

 

There are so many 'rights' that have been trampled in favor of unattainable status quo while we aren't looking and even if we are.

The obstacle is the path.

[Ms Chocolate]

If I understand the Courts correctly, my trash is private as long as it’s in my yard, but my car in my yard is public? I guess I should park my car in my trashcan.

[TajMahal]

If I understand the Courts correctly, my trash is private as long as it’s in my yard, but my car in my yard is public? I guess I should park my car in my trashcan.

 

 

Ohhhhhh...but we are still alive, and should be good boys n girls shouldn't we now...Eayyy?

[+420Atheist]

Quoting LENIN? yeah he should know how lies will become "truth". And where do you think he would stand on the MMJ issue? "Astroturf." You sound like the Speaker of the House now. Talk about freedom and rights,then quote a person whose goal was and still is to destroy our country. Don't redicule those who have different ideas than you do.Go ahead and continue to bash the Teabaggers,it just makes it more obvious how SCARED our two party system is right now. And they should be.I don't step on your rights,so stay out of mine.

 

Yes the point of the Lenin quote is that he knew how to make a lie the truth. He was a propaganda expert. You fail to see that same quality in your tea party leaders. I admit to seeing that in the Dem party. You see I don't support Lenin or communism but used his words to make a point. Since you seemed to miss the point I guess I had better find a new tag line because I don't want the point to be missed so completely by others.

 

As for the rest of your post how about a real counterpoint to my premise instead of accusing me of things I did not say or even imply? Or maybe at least explain how expressing my right to free speech has somehow "stepped on your rights."