White House Assembling Database of Political Opponents and Dissidents; Marion Alabama Police Enforce Curfew; SWAT Team Confronts Obamacare Protesters; Mom Who Posed No Threat Tasered in Front of Her Children

Marion, Alabama, Police Department Forces City into Curfew

August 25, 2009

WSFA (Marion, AL) - Just one day after a riot in the small Perry County town of Marion, a curfew for everyone.

The Marion Police Department says everyone is to be off the streets between the hours of 10pm and 7am until further notice.

Eight people have been arrested in Monday's brawl and several were injured, though none seriously.

Witnesses say more than 100 people rioted in front of city hall after a family feud grew out of control.

More than 11 different state agencies responded to the fight, which lasted more than 30 minutes and completely shut the city down.

Serious Injury Feared from New Police Shotgun Tasers

August 24, 2009

UKPA - Police could be equipped with a new wireless Taser “shotgun” with a range of more than three times that of current models.

The eXtended Range Electronic Projectile (XREP) fires a series of barbed electrodes delivering a 20-second, 500-volt shock up to 98ft away, The Guardian reported.

Traditional Taser weapons fire two darts attached to wires and have a range of around 25ft.

Taser International, which makes both weapons, said the new model is a “revolutionary” step that will help police immobilise suspects from much further away. But critics said the weapon could cause “serious injury” to the target’s head and face.

The weapon, which is already on sale in the US, is being considered by the Home Office for use by law enforcement agencies in England and Wales.

But Amnesty International UK’s arms programme director Oliver Sprague said: “We’re seriously concerned about this latest weapon by Taser. This is effectively a shotgun that fires electric-shock bullets. Because this bullet can be fired wire-free from a standard shotgun there is a heightened risk of causing serious injury to the face and head.”

Peter Boatman, operational director for Pro-Tect Systems, which distributes Tasers in the UK, defended the weapons. He said: “From that extended range, the only other option police have is to shoot the suspect with a live round. What we are giving them is a less lethal option.”

A Home Office spokesman said: “The Home Office Scientific Development Branch are considering it as part of their ongoing remit to evaluate new less lethal technologies against the Acpo Operational Requirement.”

Mom Tasered in Front of Kids ‘Posed No Threat’

August 14, 2009

TODAYShow.com - Audra Harmon, a 38-year-old mother of three who has been driving school buses for 11 years, said that she didn’t even know exactly what a Taser was until one was used on her after a routine traffic stop last Jan. 31 in the upstate New York county outside of Syracuse.

Harmon had been driving home with her 15-year-old son, whom she had just picked up from wrestling practice, and 5-year-old daughter. She said she was resting her right hand on her cheek as she pulled behind a sheriff’s deputy to make a right turn onto the road where she lived. After she made the turn, the deputy pulled off the road to let her pass, then pulled out behind her with his lights flashing and siren blaring.

The deputy, Sean Andrews, who has been taken off patrol duty while his department conducts an internal investigation, told her he was ticketing her for talking on her cell phone.

"I was driving with my hand on my cheek, and I think that’s what he saw," Harmon told Vieira. "After I had given him the chance to look in my purse, check for a cell phone, then he manufactured the ticket with speeding. Again, I told him that he was wrong; I wasn’t speeding, either. Then we went back and forth."

The speeding charge Andrews cited was doing 50 in a 45 mph zone. The officer said he didn’t use radar, but had paced her car at that speed for several seconds...

SWAT Team Confronts 'Young Americans for Liberty'

August 3, 2009

Young American for Liberty - Yesterday, YAL Events Director, Trevor Leach, and our top youth activists demonstrated on the Washington, DC, National Mall to collect petitions in opposition of Obama’s government takeover of health-care.

It wasn’t long until a SWAT team in an armored truck threatened Trevor and our youth activists declaring, “There are two options. Disassemble and leave. Or y’all are going to jail.”

“You don’t have free speech,” the sergeant told Trevor.

Fortunately, our youth activists videotaped the entire confrontation and stayed up all night to produce this video footage. Be prepared to be shocked, appalled, and a little angry at the actions of our public servants who swore to uphold the U.S. Constitution.

Obama’s Dissident Database Could Be Secret — and Permanent

August 6, 2009

Washington Examiner - The White House request that members of the public report anyone who is spreading “disinformation” about the proposed national health care makeover could lead to a White House database of political opponents that will be both secret and permanent, according to Republican lawyers on the Senate Judiciary Committee who are examining the plan’s possible implementation.

On Monday, White House director of new media Macon Phillips posted a note on the White House web site complaining of “disinformation about health insurance reform.” “These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation,” Phillips wrote. “Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.”

In a letter to Obama Tuesday, Republican Sen. John Cornyn wrote that, given Phillips’ request, “it is inevitable that the names, email address, IP addresses, and private speech of U.S. citizens will be reported to the White House.” Cornyn warned the president that “these actions taken by your White House staff raise the specter of a data collection program.”

“I can only imagine the level of justifiable outrage had your predecessor asked Americans to forward emails critical of his policies to the White House,” Cornyn continued. “I urge you to cease this program immediately.”

Senate Judiciary Committee lawyers studying the proposal say that although there is no absolutely settled law on the matter, the White House plan is likely not covered by the Privacy Act, which prohibits government agencies from keeping any records “describing how any individual exercises rights guaranteed by the First Amendment unless expressly authorized by statute or by the individual about whom the record is maintained.” Therefore, it appears the White House can legally keep records of the emails and other communications it receives in response to Phillips’ request...