Just in case you live in D.C. and ignored a summons for jury duty:

Hoping to send a message about the importance of jury service, the chief judge at D.C. Superior Court recently issued warrants calling for the arrests of 92 District residents who failed to show up. Twelve people have been arrested or turned themselves in this month for contempt of court, and marshals are canvassing the area for more. Those taken into custody had to pay $25 bonds and were given dates to report back to court for a final chance to explain themselves and get back on the calendar for jury service. The penalty for contempt of court could be as high as seven days in jail and a $300 fine.

Canvassing the area? In the past three weeks through my network of friends and acquaintances alone, I know of two people sent to the hospital as a result of crime: one journalist shot and a hill staffer mugged. (These, of course, are but two incidents in a city well-known for violent crime.) Yet, jury duty is now a priority of city officials?

Forget, for a moment, that prosecutors rig the charges to coerce dissuade would-be defendants from exercising their right to jury trial. At least several people who now have arrest warrants in their name have legitimate excuses for not showing up–they don’t live here:

Bryan D. Bender, 36, moved from the District to Alexandria about 13 months ago. The Washington correspondent for the Boston Globe said that he had his mail forwarded but that he had never received any letters from the court.

Glenda Fauntleroy, 40, hasn’t lived in the District in almost a year. Soon after her summer 2007 wedding, Fauntleroy and her husband moved to Indiana. Fauntleroy said that she, too, has mail forwarded to her new home, but that she received no notices.

How could this be?

[D.C. Superior Court Chief Judge Rufus G.] King acknowledged that the computer system that pulls names and addresses from various D.C. government databases, including voter, motor vehicle and tax records, was “not current” and was being updated to provide the court with more real-time information on District residents.

So…what you’re saying, Rufus, is that you’re arresting people on potentially bad information? Swell. How do you suppose we fix this?

King said the warrants would only be enforced against District residents. But if people moved out of town and did not alert the court, they still could be arrested if they are stopped in the District on a traffic violation and police discover the warrant, he said.

He suggested that District residents alert the court when they move, inside or outside the city, to avoid such problems. “We don’t have any way of reading your minds. If you move, let us know.”

Dear Mayor Fenty,

I hate your god-forsaken excuse for a city and I booked.

Love,

Sue

Anyone arrested on this charge should demand a jury trial.

No Comments »
Filed under: Behind Every Law..., Profiles in Governance

I’ve got nuthin‘:

Here’s one I just never imagined the federal government might take responsibility for: bedbugs.

That’s right. No issue is too small for your Congress to handle. But seriously, judging from the comments so far on H.R. 6068, the Don’t Let the Bed Bugs Bite Act of 2008, people think bedbugs are a problem that Congress should address and that the federal government can help solve.

The bill would create a grant program in the Department of Commerce and authorize $50,000,000 in each of fiscal years 2009 through 2012 for giving these grants to states. It may be that taxpayers should worry more about the bite put on their wallets, but if people want Congress to do something about bedbugs, they want Congress to do something about bedbugs.

Hat tip: Jim Harper

Comments Off
Filed under: Behind Every Law..., Profiles in Governance

Man meets hooker. Man pays hooker with gas card. Both go to jail.:

JULY 2–A Kentucky woman is facing prostitution charges for allegedly trading sex for gasoline. Angela Eversole, 34, was nabbed last weekend during a police stakeout at a Days Inn, where she allegedly trysted with customer Kenneth Nowak. According to investigators, Nowak admitted paying for Eversole’s services, in part, with a $100 gas card.

Oh, it gets better:

Eversole was hit with a prostitution rap and also charged with doing business without an occupational license.

Translation: “Operating pussy without a license.”

1 Comment »
Filed under: Behind Every Law..., Consumerism Rulez, Sexxx

Another example of the government overreacting to a non-problem:

Authorities raided the offices of an Annapolis painting company this morning and detained 45 suspected illegal immigrants, who officials say were hired and housed by the company.

The raids, executed simultaneously at the offices of Annapolis Painting Services and 15 private homes owned by the company, were conducted by a force of 125 officials, including 75 federal immigration agents and 50 Anne Arundel County police officers.

The immigrants detained are being held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials at an unspecified location while their status is reviewed, said County Police Chief James Teare Sr. The owner of the painting company, Robert Bontempo Jr., could face federal felony charges, Teare said.

Wow. Giving hard-working people jobs and a place to live is now a felony in this country.

The painting company is a well-known and long-running business in Annapolis that had more than 100 employees, county police said. The homes raided this morning housed large groups of mostly men living in private, single-family houses owned by the company, police said.

At a news conference this morning across the street from the painting company’s offices, County Executive John R. Leopold (R) touted the raid as the most significant operation against illegal immigration during his administration.

“It’s unfair to those companies operating legally to be undercut by those who hire illegal immigrants,” said Leopold. “This sends a clear message that it’s not going to be tolerated in Anne Arundel County.”

Yes, because consumers who get their houses painted (presumably) more cheaply by immigrants is somehow unfair. Indeed, they should pay more because…because…well BECAUSE!!

But while we’re on the topic of unfair:

“[Leopold] has also cut county grants to nonprofit agencies that offered social services to Spanish-speaking county residents, both legal and illegal.”

Granted, I’m not for government subsidizing anything, but it doesn’t reek of anything but bigotry to cut funding to organizations because they utilize a foreign language in their services. God forbid that we would actually have bilingual people in this country that can deal with people from other cultures.

While I would grant you that being “undersold” by those circumventing the law is somewhat unfair, closing the market off to cheaper labor is less fair to more people (read home-owning consumers). Arbitrary and capricious standards for immigration are to blame–not the 45 people who were just incarcerated for working hard and contributing to the economy.

4 Comments »
Filed under: Behind Every Law..., The Homeland

Oh yeah…

One pro-marijuana group is calling on the government to allow marijuana in smoking lounges at airports across the country.

Yes, they are asking the federal government–OUR federal government–to allow pot smoking in airports. Uh huh.

The group says in a press release that the idea will address the growing number of in-flight problems involving drunk and disorderly passengers. Members claim marijuana is a better alternative to alcohol to help more fliers relax and deal with the anxiety of air travel.

Yes, in spite of the US government’s unconstitutional raids on legal, state-sanctioned medical marijuana dispensaries in California and other places, these dimwitted cheeba monkeys are asking the federal government to suddenly allow drug trafficking via Southwest Airlines.

Look, it isn’t that I don’t agree with them in principle, but this stunt doesn’t pass the laugh test. (Although I’m sure that in the clouded haze of their office, they thought it was the most brilliant idea ever duuude…well, until someone thought about ordering pizza.)

Stick to the basics, Beavis: lobby for local and/or state legislation–when the feds come in, challenge them in court. Or just do like everybody else does…smoke on the way to the airport.

Comments Off
Filed under: Behind Every Law..., The Homeland, Daily Rant

Isn’t the fact that she’ll probably end up living at home until she’s 40 punishment enough?

Man Jailed After Daughter Fails To Graduate High School

Brittany Gegner had a history of truancy and eventually it caught the attention of the legal system. When she was 17 - and legally a minor - the case came before a judge and her father was ordered to ensure that she earn her high school equivalency diploma or face the consequences….The imprisoned man’s current wife fears her husband will lose his job because of his incarceration and claims they did everything they could to keep the girl in class. “You’d take her to school and she’d go out the other door,” Stephanie Gegner complains.

A hearing on a motion to reconsider the sentence will be held Friday. Until then, Brian Gegner remains in jail, all because his daughter didn’t graduate high school.

Comments Off
Filed under: Behind Every Law..., Politics is Personal

Brooke needs your help! Please give what you can to the Free the Jefferson 1 Defense Fund!

(Sorry the button doesn’t work. I snatched the graphic. The information is in the link!!!)

Comments Off
Filed under: Behind Every Law..., Politics is Personal, Profiles in Governance

For updates and links about what the hell is going on, go to this website.

1 Comment »
Filed under: Behind Every Law..., Politics is Personal, Profiles in Governance

So, our friend is out of jail and has been assigned a court date. Needless to say, everyone involved is of varying degrees of pissed off.

Megan, Radley, Julian, and Jason all have good takes on what went down — I suggest checking out their posts for some insight–and a little laughter too.

Photographs, video and eyewitnesses aplenty, this should be a slam dunk against the government — but that does not mean that this is all ok. An arrest is still an arrest and our friend faces consequences for doing absolutely nothing wrong. She was polite, cooperative and stone-cold sober. Her crime, in addition to “bopping” (as overheard spoken by one of the arresting officers), was apparently inquiring as to what exactly she was doing wrong. For that, she was thrown up against a pillar in front of about 20 friends and summarily arrested — for quietly celebrating TJ’s birthday.

It should be noted that if she was “MMM-bopping,” the officers may have had a stronger case. But that is neither here nor there.

N.B.:

After calming down a bit, I realized that the original version of this post may have, albeit unintentionally, painted the entire police force with a single stroke. The simple fact of the matter is that this was a wrongful arrest by a single police officer or group of officers. This should not even reflect the entire Park Police or even all those on duty last evening/this morning.

That said, I have no love for that particular officer and his over-the-top actions.

1 Comment »
Filed under: Behind Every Law..., Freedom on Film, Profiles in Governance, Daily Rant

I don’t have time to get into it too deeply right now, but a very good friend of F&S (whom shall remain nameless for the moment) was arrested at the Jefferson Memorial tonight for dancing in celebration of his birthday.

We have bloggers working on this (and real journos too!) that you can find here and, as more information becomes available, here and here.

1 Comment »
Filed under: Behind Every Law..., Afternoon Dance Party