Quotes of the Day:

“If the court grants our request … then if any law enforcement officer sees a Mongol wearing his patch, he will be authorized to stop that gang member and literally take the jacket right off his back.” – U.S. Attorney Thomas O’Brien

“The government can’t ban confederate flags, swastikas, or klan robes, and it sure as hell can’t ban the display of the Mongols’ logo.” – Marc J. Randazza

“What if the government had decided that, because of the Watergate scandal, nobody could use the word Republican again? – Zeichner Ellman

Subject: Federal hordes pillage Mongol property

The Justice Department indicted 79 members of the Mongol Nation Motorcycle club for racketeering on October 21. The indictment included federal seizure of the “Mongols” trademarked name.

The case hasn’t even gone to trial yet , but U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper has authorized the seizure of the defendants’ . . .

* Clothing, motorcycles, and other property bearing the Mongols trademark.
* Any similar property bearing the trademark that belongs to the defendants’ “agents, servants, employees, family members, and those persons in active concert or participation with them.”

In other words, many people who weren’t even indicted will have their property seized.

This ruling has serious problems . . .

* In April, Mongol Nation transferred its trademark to Shotgun Productions, LLC, in April, a company that isn’t even named in the indictment.
* Prohibiting possession of trademarked items sets a dangerous precedent. If the government for some reason seizes the Nike swoosh, could FBI agents strip Tiger Woods of his cap, shirt, and shoes?

Civil asset forfeiture was already wrong. The government has no right to seize property without a trial and conviction. But now Judge Cooper and the Justice Department have taken it to a whole new level . . .

* An organization could lose its trademark because of the alleged crimes of some of its members.
* Normal asset forfeiture only seizes property alleged to have been used for illegal purposes, but now the government can take property simply because it sports the wrong logo!
* People completely unrelated to any indictment are now having their property seized too!

Civil asset forfeiture already violates the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th Amendments to the Constitution. Now it endangers the First Amendment too. Government officials could trump-up charges against any organization they don’t like, seize its name, and put it out of business! It could happen to DownsizeDC.org!

This will chill freedom of expression.

Civil asset forfeiture must die. Use our Educate the Powerful System to tell Congress to repeal civil asset forfeiture.

Use your personal comments to tell Congress . . .

* About the Mongol case
* That’s its wrong for the government to seize property without due process and a conviction
* And even more wrong to seize property simply because it sports a legally-obtained, trademarked logo.

Demand that Congress abolish civil asset .forfeiture.

Thank you for being a part of the growing Downsize DC army.

And a hat tip to The Legal Satyricon blog for providing links to government documents.

James Wilson
Assistant to the President
DownsizeDC.org

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h
is the official email list of DownsizeDC.org, Inc. & Downsize DC Foundation

The world is a dangerous place.
Not because of the people who are evil
But because of the people
who don’t do anything about it.

– Albert Einstein

If you agree, and aren’t silly enough to think that Obama or McCain will bring the needed “change” to turn things around, you might enjoy the following video by Conza88, which contains some new clips of Ron Paul, Michael Badnarik, and Murray Rothbard, among others.

What I failed to anticipate was how government systems truly operate on the local level. I assumed that government this close to the citizenry would be fair and honest. I had a rude awakening. The city spent thousands of dollars trying to convince my committee about the benefits of eminent domain, while simultaneously saying they were taking a neutral stand.

The city worked hard to try to convince them that having eminent domain powers was good for everyone, but the citizenry told a different story.

We first heard from those in the auto repair industry, who felt that they were unwanted in Seaside. They said that if their property was taken, they would be unable to relocate in Seaside. I asked why. They said that there was no land zoned for their type of business. In fact, they had already been zoned out of their current location. If their building were ever to burn down, they could not rebuild.

[...]

Business owners said that they had tried to redevelop their property but city officials blocked their attempts. One businessman wanted to construct four apartments or condos on a second floor, the exact mixed-use formula that Seaside authorities claim to encourage. But at every turn, he was turned down. Finally, they told him they did not have enough water credits for his project.

[...]

This woman owned a property in a hot eminent domain area. She refused to be bought out, although the Seaside Redevelopment Agency had threatened her with eminent domain. When her tenants left, she attempted to rent out the property. Every time she had an interested tenant, the city government refused to grant a use permit. After three years without rental income, the woman was forced to sell the property to the government at a price she considered unfair.

Samuels’ conclusion is disheartening:

I got the feeling that the city only wanted massive redevelopment projects that brought in big tax revenues. Perhaps this was why Seaside’s elected official ignored their own citizen’s committee’s 7 to 1 recommendation not to reinstate this power, as well as the voter-approved Prop. 99. All five city council members voted to reinstate eminent domain powers. They completely ignored the wishes of the citizens. From my position, it looked like the government was more interested in helping itself to future tax revenues than in helping the community.

Read the entire article here.