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Greetings, Quotaholics:
One of the protections under our Constitution is the protection from
illegal search and seizure. What this means to us, very simply put,
is that the police can’t stop you at random in an attempt to find
some reason to arrest you.
In reality I suspect that the police do this all the time.
A few months ago, I got pulled over on my way to work. I have an old,
rusted, 1987 Dodge Lancer. The car is not old enough to be an antique,
just old enough to be junk! I keep it licensed and insured so I can
still drive it mainly because I like it. I’m holding on to it
until, (A) It becomes old enough to be considered antique and (B) I
have enough money to restore it.
One morning I decided to drive the Lancer to work and passed a state
trooper who was going the opposite direction. About a ½ mile
later I changed lanes and looked in my rearview mirror to see the blue
lights come on.
The officer told me he had pulled me over because I didn’t signal
when I changed lanes. Now I know I did. I always do. I believe the reason
he pulled me over was because he figured a rusty old Dodge like mine
couldn’t possibly be legally licensed and insured.
If the officer had seen anything in my car that he could charge me with,
it would have been my word against his that he really had no reason
to pull me over. If I could prove he had no cause, any evidence he had
of a bigger crime would have been thrown out because it was illegally
obtained.
At least that’s the way the law has always been interpreted. An
article I saw on the CBS13
website however seems to indicate that this interpretation has changed,
at least in California.
A 2001 traffic stop by a Sutter County, California sheriff’s deputy
is at the heart of a recent California Supreme Court decision upholding
the conviction of a man on drug charges.
The deputy claimed he made the stop because he suspected something was
wrong with the car’s registration. Bruce Brendlin, who was riding
in the car was arrested when the officer found equipment used to make
methamphetamine in his possession.
According to the article, “Brendlin challenged his conviction
and four-year prison sentence, arguing that the drug evidence should
have been suppressed at trial because it was found as the result of
an illegal stop. The state had since conceded there was no basis to
stop the car.”
As it turned out, Brendlin had an outstanding warrant. The state argued
that he was searched only after the officer recognized him and discovered
the warrant.
“‘Despite the unlawfulness of the initial traffic stop,
the facts of this encounter demonstrate that the drug paraphernalia
found … was not the fruit of the unlawful seizure,’ Justice
Marvin Baxter wrote for the court. ‘The police searched defendant’s
person and the vehicle only after they discovered a valid outstanding
warrant for his arrest.’”
“And even though the deputy would not have learned of the warrant
if it hadn’t been for the illegal stop, the deputy had acted ‘in
the absence of purposeful or flagrant police misconduct’ in pulling
over the car.”
It really sounds, to me, like the officer got lucky in that Brendlin
had a warrant. After that he could claim to have recognized Brendlin
and had reason for the search.
Does this ruling in any way erode our protection from illegal search
and seizure? Since the state admits that the initial stop was illegal,
should Brendlin have been convicted? Do you think it’s common
for the police to stop people and see what they can find to charge them
with? Do you think this decision will make illegal stops more common?
Legally stopping,
P.S. Since Bruce is turning the Limericks and comments over to Patti
and I, I’d like to ask your help. Bruce knew how most of you wanted
your submissions signed. Unfortunately, Patti and I don’t. Please
make sure to sign your submissions the way you want them to be published.
We usually use a first name and location. If you could include this
it would be a big help. Thanks!
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it worth $1 a month to you to keep RGQ going? Please click the
link and direct your contribution to reallygoodquotes@gmail.com.
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"Lead,
follow, or get the hell out of the way – Anonymous
"A truth that’s told
with bad intent
Beats all the lies you can invent.” - William Blake
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A Wise Jurist
[Thanks to Bonnie in Louisiana]
Several women appeared
in court, each accusing the others of causing the trouble they were
having in the apartment building where they lived.
The women were arguing
noisily even in the court.
The judge, banging
his gavel to quiet them, said, "We are going to do this in an
orderly manner. I can’t listen to all of you at once. I’ll hear the
oldest first."
The case was dismissed
for lack of testimony.
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"Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always
come from the subjects of the government. The history of government
is a history of resistance. The history of liberty is the history of
the limitation of government, not the increase of it.” - Woodrow Wilson
"Humble people don’t
think less of themselves, they think of themselves less. – Anonymous
"Ideals are like stars: you will not succeed in touching them,
but like the seafaring man, they are your guides, and following them
you will reach your destiny.” - Carl Shurz
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E-Mail
the Imp
For this article, let us assume that there is no danger of either global
warming or a new Ice Age creeping up on us. We can assume that local
changes being caused by the changing weather patterns will continue
slowly. Desert areas will get bigger, drought areas will slowly become
desert areas, and new areas will begin to experience heavy rains and
monsoons.
We can also assume that the world population will increase, thereby
making land available for living and raising both agricultural crops
and livestock increasingly scarce. That makes the majority of the Earth’s
surface, water, the next area for building cities and manufacturing
facilities.
Over the years there have been many proposals for building habitats
on the sea floor and afloat. There have been many drawbacks. Cost. Technology.
Public interest. The latest brainchildren all are problematical due
to the same stumbling blocks of the past, but the incentive to succeed
is getting stronger. I have no doubt but that one day we’ll see some
sort of a “Water World” society.
There are plans for floating power stations that will probably be built
long before we have floating cities and that makes sense to me. Even
a modestly sized floating “city” will need a lot of power to operate
24/7, and it wouldn’t be practical to rely on conventional fossil fuel
electrical generation stations. Combining wind, solar, wave, and tidal
generation techniques together makes sense. Get that perfected to provide
power to coastal cities and you can start to build cities around them
at sea.
One of the drawbacks of a floating city would be supplying it and getting
people on and off to work. The Dutch have plans for floating houses
that are connected to the shore allowing easy access to everything ashore
but taking up no land mass. Build a floating power plant attached to
the shore connected with a causeway and build floating houses around
it and you’ll eventually have a floating village.
Eventually there could be massive floating cities that are powered and
can sail around the world. That’s where my “What if” kicks in. If you
have a floating city connected to the shore by a causeway, part of the
country it’s connected to. Makes sense, since it’s within that country’s
territorial waters. But what about a 3000’ (915 meter) long, 1000’ (305
meter) wide, ship with 100 deck levels. Sailing around 200 miles (322)
from shore would put it in international waters. Could the owners declare
it a sovereign nation? If there were ten similar ships, could they all
be separate countries? What about their territorial waters, would the
same distances be recognized for them as for regular solid ground countries?
Two ships passing in the night, violating each other’s territorial waters,
would that be an act of war?
If a floating city claimed a 200 mile (322 KM) territorial limit, and
stayed stationary in a prime oceanic fishing area, could they charge
fees for fishing in what used to be international waters?
If a floating city can claim to be a sovereign nation, what could a
land based country do? Could they tether floating cities every 50 miles
(80 KM) from shore to extend their territorial limits? Could landlocked
countries, like Switzerland, create their own oceanic territories by
tethering floating cities in the ocean?
Would there be international laws on what size a floating ship or platform
has to be before it could be considered as a sovereign nation? After
all, it wouldn’t be too good an idea for any tramp steamer or cobbled
up sea-going barge to become a country.
The
Bad Sied 
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Speak
right up!
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On
this day in history, November
28, 1942: An overcrowded nightclub in Boston burns. The Cocoanut Grove
had recently been remodeled and now had a new lounge opening off the main
floor. The club had the capacity to entertain 460 patrons. There were
about 1,000 people there on this cold November night. The restaurants,
bars, and lounges in both the basement and on the main floor were decorated
in the style of Casablanca, a Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman film
released only two days earlier in New York City.
Waiters tried to extinguish the blaze that started at 10:15 PM. It quickly
spread as the flames roared up the stairway and a fireball burst across
the central dance floor. The fire continued to rapidly spread to an adjacent
bar and into the new lounge. Within five minutes, the main clubroom was
an inferno as well. Panicked patrons tried to escape. The main exit was
a single revolving door which was soon jammed by bodies on both sides.
Other doors opened inwards and as the crush of bodies surged toward them,
they were unable to be opened. The fire left 492 people dead.
"Everybody panicked. I knew there was a door across the dining room,
but about 150 people were headed for it, and everybody was pressed together,
arms jammed to our sides." - John Rizzo, fire survivor
"At the Cocoanut
Grove, people did not respond intelligently. Some watched flames cross
the ceiling, and it was not until one person started upstairs that others
did. Even then, a hat-check girl wanted people to pay for coats. The way
to overcome this is to teach people how to react to fear." - Dr.
Anne Phillips
"I wish I’d died with the others in the fire." - Barney Welansky,
club owner
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Email
Kirsten
Christof:
I know you better than you know yourself.
Truman: You never had a camera in my head!
~ The Truman Show ~
Being on a reality TV show must be very disconcerting. I mean, there
you are on Survivor, running like hell as you try to catch a
chicken with your bare hands, and you have a cameraman jogging right
along next to you, trying to position his boom microphone two inches
from your face. Or you’re on The Apprentice or Hell’s Kitchen,
knowing that there are cameras in your room as you get ready for bed.
I know I would never last for long on one of these shows, because I
am quite protective of my privacy. I don’t want TV crews to see me before
I’ve brushed my hair in the morning. I don’t want to worry about whether
I’m being spied on in the bathroom, and I don’t want the whole world
to be privy to my personal conversations. Add to that my aversion to
eating bugs or standing on one leg in the blazing sun for seven hours,
and you have a very bad “reality” candidate.
At least I get to choose, though. No-one is forcing me to be on reality
TV against my will, unlike that poor soul, Truman Burbank. True, Mr.
Burbank is a fictional character, but The Truman Show is a movie
that many people found very thought-provoking. It is about a guy who,
unbeknownst to him, is having his whole life broadcast on live television.
Every single aspect of his life has been artificially engineered, from
his job and hometown to his marriage and friends.
This movie seems to have been such a phenomenon that it has had a mental
condition named after it. An increasing number of people are reporting
to their therapists that they believe themselves to be the unwitting
participants in a reality TV show. The Truman Syndrome is having a variety
of consequences for the people experiencing it. Some report being proud
of their TV star status, but more are creeped out by it. In extreme
cases, people have planed to commit sucide if the cameras didn’t stop
filming them. To most of us, this all sounds kind of fantastical, but
to the people living through it, it is probably extremely frightening.
The Truman
Syndrome may be new, but it is a manifestation of something that
has been around since the beginning of time: psychotic delusions. People
suffering from such conditions as schizophrenia frequently report feelings
of grandiosity or paranoia. Depending on the age, psychiatric patients
have believed themselves to be God, Napoleon Bonaparte, the Queen, Einstein.
Now they believe that the entire world is watching them through the
medium of TV. If the reality craze ever abates, the delusions could
well mutate to another new form.
Uh oh. Is that a camera? Is it watching me? Shhhh. Don’t tell anyone
where I am or what I’m saying…
Kaleidoscopically yours,
Kirsten
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I’m nice. I know I’m nice because I haven’t killed that many stupid
people yet. But at times, I’ve wanted to. That’s when I have to rely
on my “I’m smarter than you are” defense mechanism.
Please allow me to explain. I got an e-mail from a student, and I’m
going to post it here for clarity:
I have now been trying for an entire week to register for one class.
The first problem a week ago was that after working a 9 hour day, then
sitting thru a 3 hour class, I had to watch an hour long tutorial on
how to register for a class. That is an unreasonable amount of time
to ask a working adult student to spend just to register for a class.
Please, just list the steps! Now I can’t log in at 6:46 pm on Tuesday
night. I’ve used the correct password and ID user name. What is the
problem with this system?
Edmond wasn’t particularly happy with me. I felt his pain, and responded
with:
Hi Edmond.
I apologize for any inconveniences. We are all working hard to
find and fix all the bugs in the new system.
The problem is, from what you have told me, you don’t exist
in our system.
Please e-mail me from your college e-mail account, and I’ll
get back to you as soon as I have a solution.
Thank you for your patience.
That was nice of me, wasn’t it? I thought it was friendly, but I’m
really friendly, so I went one step further, and contacted Edmond’s
wife, who happens to be registered for classes and forgot her password
before she sent off that bitch session using her husband’s e-mail
address.
Apparently someone has tried to access your account. As a security
precaution, I have reset your password to the last 6 digits of your
SSN. You will be required to change your password the first time you
log in. Your new password has to be 6-9 characters long and a mix
of letters and numbers.
I’m sorry for this inconvenience, but feel that your security
is of utmost importance.
Linda [her advisor, not Linda’s real name], can you check her
records for me? There was no breach, just an attempted breach. I do
not want this to affect her academic career.
I think lying to me is a felony (yes, really). The training video
is only half an hour long.
Tim a’Musing
Having a Ball with Yarns
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Thaw
frozen meat and poultry in the refrigerator and not on the kitchen counter
where bacteria can grow. - Peggy in Tonawanda, New York
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Kind of light with that line. Maybe everyone was too busy with
Thanksgiving. Lucky for us we have some day after Thanksgiving
limericks from Anne Onimous.
Next opening line…
On black Friday the one thing I’ll buy…
Hints:
Here’s a great new rhyming/composition tool. http://www.writerhymes.com/
There’s also a great rhyming dictionary at http://www.rhymezone.com/
Limerick rules. http://freespace.virgin.net/merrick.sheldon/limerickrules.htm
Submit
Opening Line
Submit
Limerick
I
was dreamed that I was a queen
Of the dubiously wonderful Silver Screen.
But instead of an award
For being so adored,
I found that my movies had never been seen. - Bonnie in LA |
I
once dreamed that I was a queen.. .
And the best that ever was seen
I did it one fine day
Walked a long fashion runway
Too bad it was just Halloween. - Lola |
The day
after Thanksgiving I found
The size of my bank account going down
With all the sales galore
Saving dough is a chore
Even if shopping stopped, the account won’t rebound. –
Anne Onimous |
The day
after Thanksgiving I found
A sweet, loving mutt at the pound!
My face she did lick
And me she did pick –
The most loyal love you will find around! – Anne Onimous |
The day
after Thanksgiving I found
I came up with a thought quiet sound!
I could save lots of money
If I and my lovely honey
Leisurely stay in bed and mess around! – Anne Onimous |
The day
after Thanksgiving I found
The only Play Station® around.
Imagine my great glee
When I won it for free
So homeward bound I did abound– Anne Onimous |
The day
after Thanksgiving I found
That sadly my in-laws were inbound.
Foolishly I opened my lips
Something nasty I let slip
My wife to my head she did crown. – Anne Onimous |
The day
after Thanksgiving I found
The lines at the store did surround
Everybody was in a rush
And all I wanted to crush
For as tight as a drum I was wound. – Anne Onimous |
The day
after Thanksgiving I found
A stereo with great sound
With a loud woofer and tweeter
And a very powerful receiver
It made a great sound in the surround! – Anne Onimous |
The day
after Thanksgiving I found
To the stores I quickly did bound.
Even though money I did bring
I still couldn’t buy anything
The crowds at the store, they did surround. – Anne Onimous |
The day
after Thanksgiving I found
Had no money, not even a Pound
None to pay the rent
Not even one cent
At home my sorrows I did drown. – Anne Onimous |
The day
after Thanksgiving I found
An old book that was very profound.
Intelligence it had great proclivity
For it was about the Theory of Relativity
With thoughts of great creativity.
It was by Einstein, a scientist most renowned. – Anne Onimous
(I know not a true limerick, but still I thought creative) |
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Re:
Teenaged Sex Offenders
I won’t
bore you with my well known views on the * ! @ gov’ment. However, I
can think of 3 of my clients who are victims of the stupid sex offender
registry. Why would I say "stupid"? Someone out there, not
a regular "rgq" reader already has their mouth in that constipated
look judges get when they are about to get self righteous or intolerant.
Think of this, the purpose of the law is to protect kids. Now, there
is no way of knowing whether you are living next to a true violent pervert
or a randy former teen-ager. I can think of 3 of my cases, one of which
went to jail, who were 18 and whose dates were almost 15. The sex was
consentual in all cases. Its just that the little girl whined to mommy
and daddy when boyfriend made her mad. I have another guy who was charged
with rape because he had oral sex with his retarded 35 year old step-daughter.
He wasn’t much smarter then her. The police in their usual slime ball
way tricked a confession out of him. His ex-wife even admitted that
she never would have reported him if he hadn’t been divorcing her sorry
butt. ! * @ gov’ment! - Lucille
Re: Bye
Bye Bruce
We’ll really
miss you Bruce–it’s been a great zine! I’m glad you’ll at least be
around to contribute some. Having the two different "voices"
to open each issue has made for a great deal of thought in my case–even
though I read and don’t always comment. - Ruth in WA
So sorry
to see you go on a regular basis. You started a truly wonderful forum
for us all. I enjoy it greatly. I wish you good luck on your patent(s)
and whatever else your mind comes up with. I will keep enjoying RGQ
and its unique citizenry as usual. Thanks, Bonnie
Gosh Bruce, I’m saddened that
you won’t be at the helm of RGQ anymore but I wish you all the success
in the world on all your endeavors! I’ve got a huge folder of quotes
that I’ve collected from this site over the years. I certainly appreciate
you sharing them with us. And I especially appreciate the time you’ve
taken to respond to me personally on issues of politics and civil rights.
Please keep us posted on the progress of your invention. - Joe from
California
[Thanks,
Joe. I’ll keep you all apprised of my progress. Please stay in touch.]
Reader
Submissions
If you go to this web site, www.LetsSayThanks.com
you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will
be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq . You can’t pick
out who gets it, but it will go to a member of the armed services. How
AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!!
It is FREE and it only takes a second.
Wouldn’t
it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these? Whether you
are for or against the war, our soldiers over there need to know we
are behind them. This takes just 10 seconds and it’s a wonderful way
to say thank you. Please take the time and please take the time to pass
it on for others to do. We can never say enough thank you’s.
Thanks for taking to time to support our military!
"May No Soldier Go Unloved"
Remember Today’s SOLDIER is Tomorrow’s VETERAN. - Peg in Pennsylvania
Cellular regeneration. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxhi4Q8EDTU
Amazing! - Tammy in Alabama
This lady has changed her
habit of how she lists her names on her mobile phone after her handbag
was stolen. Her handbag, which contained her cell phone, credit card,
wallet… etc…was stolen.. 20 minutes later when she called her hubby,
from a pay phone telling him what had happened, hubby says ‘I received
your text asking about our Pin number and I replied a little while ago.’
When
they rushed down to the bank, the bank staff told them all the money
was already withdrawn. The thief had actually used the stolen cell phone
to text ‘hubby’ in the contact list and got hold of the pin number.
Within 20 minutes he had withdrawn all the money from their bank account.
Moral of the lesson: Do not disclose the relationship between you and
the people in your contact list. Avoid using names like Home, Honey,
Hubby, Sweetheart, Dad , Mom, etc….. And very importantly, when sensitive
info is being asked through texts, CONFIRM by calling back!!
Also, when you’re being text by friends or family to meet them somewhere,
be sure to call back to confirm that the message came from them. If
you don’t reach them, be very careful about going places to meet ‘family
and friends’ who text you.
Along with that if you have an entry called ‘Home’ with your actual
home phone number it’s not too hard to do a reverse lookup on the number
to find the address. now the robber has your home number, keys, AND
address.
PLEASE PASS THIS ON! I never thought about THAT! - Brae
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Disclaimer- All quotes printed in this publication are believed to be
accurately attributed, but no guarantees are made that some incorrectly
attributed, or even outright false quotes won’t get in here from time
to time. I assure readers that I will do my best to weed out incorrect
quotes, and will print a retraction as soon as I become aware of any errors.
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Click here to see the archives of past issues, or go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/reallygoodquotes/messages.
If you run across something really outstanding when perusing the archives,
I’d appreciate it if you’d mail me at TheBestOfRGQ@yahoo.com
and point it out to me. I’m in the process of compiling an e-book
called, not surprisingly, The Best of RGQ, and I’d like to hear from you
which pieces impacted you the most. |
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