12.31.06
The US is not a police state
But some are practicing for it. The beginning grafs from this one:
One of the interesting implications of the Manassas Park pool hall case I’ve been following is that the initial police raid on the bar was conducting under the auspices of a state alcohol inspection. The raid was clearly part of a criminal investigation, but bringing the police in under the formality of an ABC inspection obviated the need for a search warrant.
This to me is the most troubling part of the recent federal circuit court ruling dismissing the civil rights suit filed by David Ruttenberg, the owner of the bar. The judge found that bringing 70+ police officers , some in ski-masks and pumping shot guns as they entered the bar, turning a business upside down, and handcuffing many of its customers — all for the alleged purpose of checking to make sure the bar was complying with Virginia’s alcohol regulations — was not so unreasonable as to violate the Fourth Amendment.
