Posted on 04/08/2002 2:04:42 PM PDT by ATOMIC_PUNK
I've posted elsewhere that the liberal idealists are seeking to recreate Eden, a place where nobody has to worry about anything because nobody can do anything of consequence. What they fail to realize is that--far from being paradise--Eden 1.0 was fundamentally incompatible with human nature. Human beings have an inherent need to do something that "matters". If they cannot do anything positive, they will do something negative. Liberalism is based upon the lie that it's better to have nothing matter than to have to live with life's choices; what they fail to realize is that they are prescribing not Heaven, but Hell.
Why are bookstores even keeping a tab on who bought what??? The easiest way to prevent such investigation is to not keep such records. In store purchases need no such paperwork and mail order accounts can be cleared after the shipment has been received.
But we live in a world where video stores, grocery stores, online stores (e.g. Amazon) see great value in having a history of your buying/rental habits.
The culprit ended up being a 13 year old classmate (I never heard of any link between the video stores and the guilty party).
The book was the "how to". The receipts to the purchase of the chemicals are more significant.
The life and lies of Jesse the Slob!
Christian school kept Rolling Stone, Cosmo from student mailboxes
I'm just telling you what the judge said. The fact of the matter is, the cop in charge of this investigation is grasping at straws. He claims he wants to establish whose bedroom it was, yet he gathered no relevant information regarding that matter. His claim is that whoever bought the book must have been the bedroom's occupant, and for some reason he didn't find it necessary to check the room for prints, search credit card records to see who bought any of the other stuff in the room, ask friends and neighbors, or whatever a normal detective would do to ascertain such info. Heck, I'm no detective, but it seems obvious to me that if you want to know whose room it is, you should be checking stuff like prints and maybe hair samples found in the bed or something like that.
The books were never even looked at, so any meth manufactured in that home was manufactured with no help from those books. If there was actually lab equipment that was used to manufacture drugs, the equipment could be tested for chemical residue. There were precursor chemicals purchased by the suspect. Weren't those found at the scene? Fingerprints on the equipment--did those match the suspect's prints?
Essentially, the judge's main point is that, since fundamental rights are implicated in this case, the government needs to show that its "need for this evidence is sufficiently compelling to outweigh the harmful effects of the search warrant." But the City already has strong enough evidence to make its case without the invoice information, so the government's need is not compelling enough.
I am aware of this (I recall a measure in Texas for police to be able to see medical records without a warrant).
What I would like to know is, besides evidence of a shooting victim, what would the police be after? Blood type? Other samples that a defendent would be able to challenge (to avoid self incrimentation)?
Coming soon to a legislator near you, a proposal to have a 5 day waiting period on all book purchases and a 4 book a month buying policy. There's a lot a dangerous information in the encyclopedia and buying it on the installment plan may cause some criminals to ponder their actions... < /sarcasm >
It reminds me of John Waters' Pink Flamingos when the mailman comes to Divine's trailer with a package (from her enemies). "She" says that it is a trailer and that it doesn't have an address.
The label is written "A Trailer".
Perhaps "intent" was an unclear choice of words on my part. What the court actually said was,
[T]he City states that [knowing whether Suspect A purchased the two “how to” books found at the scene of the crime] will help them to prove the mens rea of the crime, that Suspect A “intentionally or knowingly” operated the methamphetamine lab...[W]e note that the City’s search of the bedroom revealed a fully operational and functional methamphetamine lab as well as a small quantity of the manufactured drug. The two “how to” books were found in the immediate vicinity of the lab. The physical presence of the lab itself, and of these books, goes a long way towards proving that the operator of the lab did not accidentally manufacture methamphetamines. These facts leave no doubt that the person or persons who operated this lab did so intentionally.
The mailing envelope (which btw was found in the outside trash the day before the raid) was addressed to the suspect and also included a phone number on the label. There's no evidence, however, that the books inside the home are the same books that actually came in the package.
It seems odd that the local post office would not have a name for that address.
Seriously, a book IS just another object(like a hammer), BUT it does seem the cops are attempting to obscure their incompetence by 'inking' the waters.
There should be a Constitutional Amendment protecting secondhand book stores. ;^)
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