Criminalizing everyone., page 1

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Topic started on 6-10-2009 @ 08:34 AM by loam

Criminalizing everyone.

"You don't need to know. You can't know." That's what Kathy Norris, a 60-year-old grandmother of eight, was told when she tried to ask court officials why, the day before, federal agents had subjected her home to a furious search.

The agents who spent half a day ransacking Mrs. Norris' longtime home in Spring, Texas, answered no questions while they emptied file cabinets, pulled books off shelves, rifled through drawers and closets, and threw the contents on the floor.

The six agents, wearing SWAT gear and carrying weapons, were with - get this- the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The story continues:

Kathy and George Norris lived under the specter of a covert government investigation for almost six months before the government unsealed a secret indictment and revealed why the Fish and Wildlife Service had treated their family home as if it were a training base for suspected terrorists. Orchids.

That's right. Orchids.

It turns out Mr. Norris was prosecuted and imprisoned for two years on technicalities:

Mr. Norris ended up spending almost two years in prison because he didn't have the proper paperwork for some of the many orchids he imported. The orchids were all legal - but Mr. Norris and the overseas shippers who had packaged the flowers had failed to properly navigate the many, often irrational, paperwork requirements the U.S. imposed when it implemented an arcane international treaty's new restrictions on trade in flowers and other flora.

The judge who sentenced Mr. Norris had some advice for him and his wife: "Life sometimes presents us with lemons." Their job was, yes, to "turn lemons into lemonade."

The article continues with another egregious example.

Read it, if you don't mind being depressed.

It's articles like this one that make you realize how illusory 'freedom' and 'justice' can be.

[edit on 6-10-2009 by loam]

reply posted on 6-10-2009 @ 08:43 AM by Hazelnut

Hope and Joy have been legislated in an intricate labyrinth of impossible rules.

It is depressing. It (the article) illustrates perfectly the futility of trying to make a difference for the better in your own life. Unless you are a psychic able to ask all of the right questions, you should assume you are already breaking a law somehow and that the "authorities" will find and prosecute you.

reply posted on 6-10-2009 @ 08:46 AM by Toromos

Here's a link to testimony that Mrs. Norris gave to Congress:

judiciary.house.gov...

reply posted on 6-10-2009 @ 08:50 AM by SpookHunter

IGNORING TYRANY

When faced with tyrany, the most powerful weapon available to disarm such forces is a well orchestrated plan by the masses to completely ignore the aggressors, sending all video of bullying tactics to the press. A few will be made an example of, but it is a very successful strategy. It worked in India with the British.

Without this, the globalist ultimate goal is to put half of us in their prision's and the other half will work them.

[edit on 6-10-2009 by SpookHunter]

reply posted on 6-10-2009 @ 09:14 AM by elfie

The article doesn't really cite the evidence used to convict other than chalking it up to improper paperwork so it's difficult to tell. In the case that he was receiving plant materials from abroad identified as other materials then it would seem more reasonable. Just can't tell from the article.

The deeper issue of overly broad, ill defined laws that serve as catch-alls do warrant investigation and probably, revision.

Sad that he couldn't have performed some type of community service with all of his expertise on orchids.

reply posted on 6-10-2009 @ 09:17 AM by elfie

reply to post by Toromos

Thanks, that helps put the article into perspective.

reply posted on 6-10-2009 @ 09:43 AM by AgentX09

2yrs for improper orchid importing paperwork.The fiends!He sounds much worse hat the crackhead parolee upstairs from me who got 2 years for shooting 2 people.Justice?

reply posted on 6-10-2009 @ 10:48 AM by Asktheanimals

Total criminalization was first mentioned by Frank Zappa in his 1979 triple album release entitled "Joes Garage".

This case is unreal, it is the future of all of us if we cannot stop this juggernaut of federalization and control.

reply posted on 7-10-2009 @ 08:56 PM by whatukno

While I can agree that the importation of some plant and animal life can be problematic to the environment. (it really does cause problems. Some species of plants and animals are highly aggressive and destroy native plants and animals)

This guy should have gotten a fine at most.

reply posted on 7-10-2009 @ 09:08 PM by stevegmu

Guess this was left out of the story-

Orchid smuggler from Spring gets prison time

MIAMI -- A prominent Peruvian orchid grower was sentenced Tuesday to almost two years in federal prison for scheming to smuggle prized tropical lady slipper orchids into the United States.

The endangered Phragmipedium species of orchid is worth up to $45,500.
Manuel Arias Silva will spend one year and nine months in prison for shipping internationally protected wild orchids intermingled with nursery-raised flowers to a Texas dealer several times to feed the desires of high-end hobbyists from 1999 to last year.

U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz sentenced Arias to the low end of the federal guidelines on his guilty plea to two counts. He admitted shipping 2,050 orchids, including the endangered Phragmipedium species, worth $45,500 from Peru through Miami to suburban Houston.

“Judge Seitz did the best and the fairest she could under the circumstances,” said defense attorney Peter Raben.

The dealer, George W. Norris of Spring, Texas, also has pleaded guilty and faces sentencing Sept. 2. The investigation was based on a tip about Norris offering endangered species for sale on the Internet.

Norris instructed Arias to ship through South Florida because U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors at Miami International Airport were more lax than their counterparts in Houston, according to papers and e-mails seized in the investigation.

Arias, 70, was one of three Peruvian growers with permission to cultivate endangered and newly discovered orchids from recently deforested areas. He apologized in a letter to the judge asking for mercy and noting his “sincere” conservation efforts.

The Peruvian lady slippers, known as “phrags” in collecting circles, are considered seriously endangered in the wild and are protected by international treaty. Nursery-raised varieties can be exported with government permits.