Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Al Gore vs George Bush: the moderate's perspective -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KLP who wrote (7144)	11/22/2000 2:32:58 AM
From: pat mudge	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10042

"His worst is better than any other person's best". William Hazlitt (1778-1830) the essayist praising the work of Sir Walter Scott Hazlitt also said, "The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves." Pat

To: KLP who wrote (7144)	11/22/2000 2:46:14 AM
From: Solon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10042

How appropriate! He was one of my first literary heroes. Remember reading Ivanhoe when very young--guessing at many of the words--but oh, the imagination was something else! I am surprised at your reference. In the literary field or just a Highlander!?

To: KLP who wrote (7144)	11/22/2000 7:44:01 AM
From: long-gone	Respond to of 10042

The sort of actions supported by Al Gore in the name of the Teachers Union? Family Issues in Policy and Culture A Web site of Focus on the Family Search the Site: CitizenLink State-Level Family Organizations Attorneys Ministry Family News in Focus Listen Online Find a Station Info Center Teachers in Focus Current Issue Archive Citizen Magazine Current Issue Archive Join Research Papers Abortion BioEthics Education Euthanasia Gambling Homosexuality Internet Liberty Marriage Sex Education Press Releases HOME Guestbook Resource Center Online Donations Site Map Beware the home invaders The next Elian-style raid might happen in your neighborhood. Maybe to your family. By Michael Farris It begins with a simple knock on the door, but in truth it is never simple. Many homeschooling families know what it means to hear The Knock. It's not a neighbor wanting to borrow an egg or two. It's not a young playmate wanting to know if your daughter has finished her schoolwork for the day. It's not the home school mom's associate chef-the pizza- delivery guy. The Knock is different. The Knock means that waiting behind the door are a social worker and armed police officers coming to inquire about the welfare of your child. The pre-dawn armed raid to remove Elian Gonzalez from his relatives' Miami home dispensed with the nicety of knocking. It was a bash-the-door-down style of entry that I have never encountered in nearly two decades of defending parents against social worker and police excesses. The Christian community-like America in general-split over the question of Elia'n's return to his father and Cuba. But that is a separate issue from the police-state tactics that were used to seize him. Both sides of this difficult question should agree that the U.S. Justice Department's raid violated a central premise of our constitutional republic. The Fourth Amendment cannot survive if our national government continues to break down doors with a contingent willing to stick machine guns in the face of a terrified little boy. Much less dramatic, yet just as illegal, are the many government-sponsored home invasions that most Americans never hear about. But thanks to some lengthy and hard-fought legal battles, there is renewed hope for those who hear The Knock. Illegal, unnecessary and scary The raid to remove Elia'n and the raids I hear about every day at Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) have many similarities. These raids violate the Constitution. These raids are unnecessary. And these raids terrify children. Every year our office receives more than 100 calls from fearful families with authorities on their doorsteps, demanding entry-or else. Robert and Maria Kennedy heard The Knock on Aug. 19, 1995. The Kennedys were confronted by Los Angeles County social workers and local police officers who demanded to investigate an allegation of child neglect. What was the allegation? The children were allowed to play unsupervised in the family's fenced backyard. The police officers provided the brute force-not by kicking down the door but by standing by with the implied force of their weapons and telling the parents they had no choice but to allow the social workers to enter. Though they presented no search warrant, the social workers spent nearly two hours scouring the Kennedy home. They looked in their refrigerator and cupboards. They looked at pictures hanging on the walls and demanded to know why the children appeared to be thin. And, true to the trademark of many child-abuse investigations, they strip-searched two little boys. Homeschooling mom Shirley Calabretta heard The Knock on Nov. 10, 1994. She discovered a relentless Yolo County, Calif., police officer intent on getting social worker Jill Floyd into her home. Floyd had attempted to enter 10 days earlier, but Calabretta correctly told the social worker that unless she had a warrant, the family did not have to allow her into their home. This time, though Floyd still lacked a warrant, Calabretta was no doubt intimidated by the officer at her door. "It could come to the point where we have to force entry into the house," he said. What was the accusation against the Calabrettas? An anonymous tipster heard a child yell, "No, no, no" from the backyard. The same tipster said another unnamed neighbor had told her that she had heard a child yell, "No, Daddy, no," late one night. The officer told Mrs. Calabretta to remain in one room while Floyd took 3-year-old Natalie into another. The social worker attempted to force Tamara, the 12-year-old sister, to remove Natalie's clothes. Tamara refused. Natalie's screams of protest overrode Mrs. Calabretta's fear of the police officer. She went to her daughter, discovered the social worker's demand and reluctantly removed Natalie's clothing herself. Make no mistake about it, warrantless raids on a home are illegal-even when the purpose is to protect a child. (cont) hslda.org