Crime Expert BURL BARER. Edgar Award Winner and NYT Bestselling Author

how to just say no to police searches

This info is from Erowid on-line. Excellent stuff.

One of the main powers that law enforcement officers carry is the power to intimidate citizens into voluntarily giving up their rights. Police are trained to believe in their authority and trained to perform their interactions with private citizens with confidence. It is their job to deal with problems and they learn to manage uncomfortable situations through strength. Most people, when confronted by police get a mild panic reaction, become anxious, and try to do whatever they can to minimize the time spent with the officer. Because of the imbalance of power between citizen and officer, when a law enforcement officer makes a strongly worded request, most people consent without realizing that they are giving up constitutional protections against improper meddling by the State in the private affairs of citizens.

A common situation is that of the traffic stop. A person is pulled over for a real or perceived vehicle violation and, after checking the driver's license and registration, the officer asks the driver if they have any weapons or illegal drugs in their car. When the citizen answers "no", the police officer asks (in the strongest language he can without demanding) to check that for himself. "Then you wouldn't mind if I took a look in your trunk." or "Why don't you step out of your car." Most people acquiesce to the 'requests' because they don't realize they have the right to say no.



WHY YOU HAVE TO SAY "NO" CLEARLY

The Federal Supreme Court has ruled that as long as the police do not force an individual to do something, the individual is acting voluntarily, even if a normal person would feel very intimidated and would not reasonably feel they could say no. (see Florida v. Bostick, 1991) If you do what a policeman tells you to do before you are arrested, you are 'voluntarily' complying with their 'requests'.

Unfortunately police will often try to push citizens to accept a search, to the point of ignoring when you say "no". Its important to say very clearly "I do not consent to a warrantless search."  Or "This is a private event/home/place, you may not enter without a warrant."  Don't simply answer questions about searches with a simple "yes" or "no". See this case where drug police asked a confusing question and claimed they misunderstand the answer "yes" to mean they could search (October 24, 2000. Gregg County CODE officers, defendant Dockens, judge Steger, federal court, east district Texas).

Until you say "No, I don't think I'd like to do that." you are cooperating as a peer with the law enforcement officer who is trying to make the world safer. When you say "no" to a request by a police officer, you are asserting your lawful rights as a private citizen. If the officer demands you comply, then in most cases you have little choice. Usually, however, the officer is likely to try to convince you to comply voluntarily. Until and unless you say "no" and stick to it, the police don't even need any real authority to tell you what to do.



WHAT A POLICEMAN CAN MAKE YOU DO

What a Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) can demand of a citizen depends heavily on the context of the order. Most generally, police are allowed by the courts to act as any reasonable private citizen would. They may ask questions, look through windows that they happen to be near, walk or drive in public areas, etc. Without a warrant or any suspicion of illegal activity, they are allowed to interact with other citizens, but they have a limited amount of authority to demand compliance, search, or detain people or things.

In highly volatile or dangerous situations, a LEO's authority to require compliance is much higher than in non-threatening contexts. The Supreme Court has ruled (with Terry v. Ohio being one of the primary cases) that the police are allowed to protect themselves from potentially dangerous people or situations. Under the umbrella of "concern for safety" or "search for weapons" the police have wide lattitude to do what they want and to order citizens to comply with their demands.

The Terry v. Ohio case created the "weapons search", "terry search", or "terry pat" exception to the 4th Amendment 'probable cause requirement' for searches. The court ruled that if a police officer "[has] reasonable cause to believe that [someone] might be armed" they can require they submit to a quick patdown. What this has meant is that it is now standard practice to pat down anyone that a LEO wants to, without the need for arrest, probable cause, or even suspicion of a crime.

Many police use weapons pats as a way to intimidate and harass citizens, since it is a power the courts have allowed them to use with little justification. Often a LEO will find something during their patdown which is clearly not a weapon which they would like to see, but this is beyond their Court-approved authority ( see below ).

Also under the 'concern for safety' umbrella, police are given wide latitude by courts to ask individuals to comply with simple non-intrusive commands such as "stand over there" or "wait here for a moment", but the line between order and request becomes very fuzzy when an officer starts telling people where to go unless the situation is volatile / dangerous. There are many stories of two (or more) individuals confronted by police ( one example ) whom the police intentionally separate to try to intimidate or to compare stories. This is generally a 'fishing' maneuver which would not fall under the 'concern for safety' umbrella. ( see below )

During a stop for a traffic violation, police have the power to demand a proper driver's license and other state-required documentation (registration, insurance). In most [ed-all?] states they also have the power to demand sobriety tests [ed - do they need reasonable suspicion of intoxication ?]. The courts have also given police the power to frisk a driver based on the Terry v. Ohio decision (the police should have some reason to think there is danger) and some decisions have even allowed an officer (with no suspicion or cause) to search the area around the driver's seat. [ed-citation for this?]

When a private, law abiding citizen encounters police, the amount of intrusion a Law Enforcement Officer is allowed to demand is limited. Some areas have laws against "disobeying a police officer" or "obstructing an officer from their duties", but the bounds of what officers can reasonably require someone not suspected of any other criminal activity in a peaceful situation have not been clearly drawn by the courts. If someone interferes with a police officer engaged in an arrest or investigation, police tend to have very little patience and will quickly threaten or affect detainment or arrest. Generally, courts give police wide latitude in executing their duties and disobeying a "reasonable" direct order from an officer could be prosecuted in most jurisdictions.

As an encounter proceeds, the police gather data that they can use to formulate 'reasonable, articulable suspicion' or (stronger) 'probable cause' that the individual has contraband or is involved in a crime. As the level of suspicion rises, so does the LEO's authority to intrude into a person's affairs. Once the level rises to 'probable cause' to believe that there is contraband in a vehicle, the Supreme Court has made some very disturbing decisions allowing the police broad power to search in certain cases, including the power to search closed containers without a warrant. (see United States v. Ross, 456 U.S. 798 (1982) )

In a recent decision (Wyoming v. Houghton, April 1999), the Supreme Court ruled that even passengers' belongings, if left in the car, may be searched thoroughly if the driver is suspected of a crime.

In most states, you are not required to identify yourself or show the police your ID (unless you are in a vehicle). We have been unable to confirm that in Nevada that police try to charge people with obstruction of justice for people who refuse to identify themselves to police. However, if you choose to identify yourself, you are required to tell the truth. It is a crime to lie to federal police agents and it is a crime to give false identification to police in many areas [ed- find a cite for this?].

The Supreme Court has said: "A brief stop of a suspicious individual, in order to determine his identity or to maintain the status quo momentarily while obtaining more information, may be most reasonable in light of the facts known to the officer at the time." Adams v. Williams, 407 U.S. 143, 146 (1972).

If you want to avoid long and unpleasant interactions with police, do not give them any reasons to suspect you of criminal activity. Courteously decline to participate in 'fishing expiditions' or any other actions you do not wish to perform.

Police may search you 'incident to arrest': after or while arresting someone, police are allowed to search the body of the person being arrested. Recent decisions by the Supreme Court have also allowed the police to do exhaustive searches of any vehicle the arrestee was in and any containers therein. The Supreme Court held "that the police may examine the contents of any open or closed container found within the passenger compartment, 'for if the passenger compartment is within the reach of the arrestee, so will containers in it be within his reach.'" 453 U.S., at 460 (footnote omitted). See also Michigan v. Summers, 452 U.S. 692, 702 (1981).

In Pennsylvania v. Mimms, 434 U.S. 106 (1977), the Supreme Court "held that police Officers may order persons out of [463 U.S. 1032, 1048] an automobile during a stop for a traffic violation, and may frisk those persons for weapons if there is a reasonable belief that they are armed and dangerous."



WHAT A POLICEMAN CAN NOT MAKE YOU DO

• Police are not allowed to frisk for anything except weapons. If, during a weapons pat, an officer discovers something 'suspicious' you don't have to show it to them.
  
  Although the police have been given  a lot of leeway to 'check for weapons', the Supreme Court has ruled (in the key decision Minnesota v Dickerson, 1993) that a weapons search may not be used as a pretext for a more general search. In Minnesota v Dickerson, a man was stopped coming out of a 'notorious crack house' and was patted down in a 'Terry Stop'. The officer noticed something in the man's pocket which he said 'felt to be a lump of crack cocaine in cellophane'. He reached in the defendant's pocket and found some crack-cocaine. The Supreme Court ruled that in order to determine whether the item was crack or not required a further, unwarranted search was necessary which was not acceptable by 4th Amendment standards.
  
  
• Police are not allowed to search everyone (see Ybarra v. Illinois, 444 U.S. 85 (1979). In Ybarra v. Illinois, a man was patted down in a bar where the police were arresting a bar owner for selling heroin. An officer identified "a cigarette pack with objects in it" in the man's pocket during the pat down and decided to search Ybarra. The High Court ruled that the officer overstepped his authority by searching everyone in the bar, even though they had a warrant to arrest the bartender and search the bar for evidence of drug sales.
  
  A common situation where police attempt to search many individuals without probable cause is a raided party. Sometimes police tell people to 'empty your pockets' or they pat everyone down as they are leaving or they target a few people based on appearance for a full blown search. Most raids on parties are done without a judge-issued warrant and are based on noise complaints, city ordainances about event sizes, etc. In these cases, most searches will be citizens 'voluntarily' complying with requests except in the case of violence, extreme intoxication, or obvious criminal activity. Be polite and considerate of the difficult job the LEO's have, but do not consent to any warrantless search and do not offer information to the police regarding any criminal activity they suspect you of.
  
  

HOW TO SAY NO

So, when a policeman says "Empty your pockets for me?" or "Why don't you step over here for a moment?" What does a reasonable, law abiding citizen say if s/he doesn't want to? Unfortunately there may be no simple answer to this. Because of the nature of most police-citizen interactions, tensions can be high and LEO's may interpret any dissent as hostility or 'suspicious behaviour'.

1. Stay Calm. Speak calmly and slowly and don't be surprised if the officer becomes irritated, angry, or beligerent.  Move slowly.
2. Ask Questions. One way to Say No is to ask questions in return: "Is that a request or an order?" "Am I under arrest?" "Am I free to go?" "Why do you want me to *whatever*?" "Am I a suspect in a crime?"
3. Say No. Another way to Say No is to very clearly say no: "No, I would like to leave." "No, I do not consent to any warrantless searches." "You do not have my permission to search me / my car / my belongings."
4. Defuse Tensions. Do everything you can to defuse the tensions and seem peaceful. If an LEO thinks you might be dangerous, the courts have ruled that they have a greater authority to force you to comply.
5. Do not Resist.  Do not Argue with a Cop.  Do not Touch a cop.  Don't Run.  Don't complain or threaten an officer legally.  
6. Comply when Required.  Knowing when you are required to comply can be difficult (see What You Must Do and What You Don't Have to Do ) The moment an LEO pulls a gun, do what they say. If they make you do something through force, your Constitutional Rights are not as important as staying healthy and alive. You can challenge the arrest in court if your rights are violated.
7. Give the Cop a Break. Remember that police have a very difficult job to do and most cops are doing their best to try to keep their communities safe. When it comes to dealing with unusual or strange individuals or confronting drug issues, officers (and many people in the world) make some bad snap judgements. But most cops think of themselves as the Good Guys, so try to let em know you're on their side.
8. Ask for a Lawyer. As soon as its clear you will be arrested, ask for a lawyer and then keep quiet. Police will try to get you to talk. Don't.

CAN SAYING NO GET ME IN MORE TROUBLE?

The short answer to this is, of course, yes and no. A lot is dependent on your rapport with the individual officer(s). Saying No to a police officer should be done gently to avoid enraging them so you don't get beaten up. Saying No to a warrantless search may cause a police officer to harass you further to try to get you to comply. Saying No, however, is always the best idea when it gets to the point of arrest and prosecution.  It is never in your interest to cooperate with the police in helping them collect evidence against you. If you do say No and a policeman searches anyway, evidence can sometimes be suppressed (thrown out). If you agree to a search, you have no grounds to dispute the evidence.

It is common to have an officer 'ask' forcefully first and if the suspect gives any indication of saying No, they threaten to arrest them and take them to the station. They say things like "if you don't open your trunk/pocket/whatever for me, I can arrest you and we can open it up down at the station". Often officers will imply that if the suspect cooperates, the cop will go easier on them. While it is true that a police officer controls whether you are arrested or not, very few police officers will overlook anything illegal the y find in a search

GOD'S JUDGEMENT

I recently "Stumbled"   -- I have the Stumble tool bar feature and found this delightful photograph on the 'net.  Someone should put this in a time capsule for future sociologists to study and ponder.  Look at the list of sinners whom God is gonna get, including Sports Nuts and Mormons! At least He's not comin' to punish authors.
(click on photo to enlarge it for full shocking effect)

ALL IS VANITY? Not all, but a hell of a lot....

From "Writers Beware," with alterations and additions by me :-)

I often hear from writers who are confused because they've been offered a contract by a publisher that describes itself as "traditional" or "small press," but wants its authors to make some sort of financial commitment in order to be published. If a publisher wants money from you, STOP!!! Hit your mental remote control. PAUSE AND REFLECT. Remember: Publishers pay writers. Writers do NOT pay publishers. Publishers make their money on book sales. They are investing their money in your talent because they see a place in the market for your book, and a clear profit in its publication and distribution. If they are asking for money, they are not a publisher. They are a printer. If asked, such publishers vehemently deny that they are vanity operations. After all, they don't accept everyone who submits, and they aren't asking their authors to pay for printing--just to finance their own editing, or to commit to pre-selling a certain number of books. But the bottom line is the same: you are paying to see your book in print. A publisher that turns its authors into customers has little incentive to get books into the hands of readers, and is not likely to invest much money in marketing and distribution. Here are some of the "alternative" charges you may encounter:     * A setup fee or deposit. Publishers that require a setup fee will tell you that you're not paying to publish, just contributing to the cost of preparing your book for printing, or making a "good faith investment" in your own success. Some publishers promise to refund the fee under certain circumstances (usually carefully crafted so they'll almost never be fulfilled). The setup fee often isn't large by vanity standards--a few hundred dollars--but since such publishers typically use print-on-demand technology to produce their books, it more than covers their expenses.     * A fee for some aspect of the publication process other than printing/binding. Some publishers ask you to pay for editing, or for your book cover art, or for a publicity campaign (commercial publishers provide these services as a routine part of the publication process, at their own expense). Services may cost thousands of dollars, and are often minimal and not of professional quality.     * A pre-purchase requirement. Some publishers include a clause in their contracts requiring you to buy a set quantity of finished books--as much as a thousand copies, often at a minimal discount. This can be more expensive than straightforward vanity publishing.     * A pre-sale requirement. A similar contract clause may require you to pre-sell a certain number of books prior to publication, or to "guarantee" a minimum number of sales (usually, exactly as much as is needed to enable the publisher to recoup its investment and make a profit). You don't have to buy them yourself--but if you don't deliver the sales, the publishing deal is off. This is an especially tricky variation on the pay-to-publish scheme, because it allows the publisher to claim that it's not asking you for cash. But it's not an author's job to be a salesman for his own books--that's what the publisher is supposed to do.     * Pressure to buy your book yourself. The publisher may not contractually require you to purchase your own book--indeed, it may make a big deal of telling you that you don't have to buy anything. Even so, it will put you under heavy buying pressure--for instance, providing an Author Guide that extols the financial benefit of buying your own book for resale, or offering special incentives designed to spur author purchases, such as extra discounts or contests for the month's top seller. These are all signs of a publisher that relies on its authors as its main customer base. Unfortunately, if the publisher employs such tactics, you usually don't find out about them until you've already signed the contract.     * A variety of other sneaky tactics. Some examples from Writer Beware's complaint files: requiring authors to pay for publisher-sponsored conferences or lectures or "publicity opportunities". Requiring authors to sell ads that are bound into the company's books. Selling stock in the company, despite the lack of an appropriate license. Requiring authors to find "investors" willing to cover the cost of publication. The permutations are endless.

CRUSH HOUR -- sneak peak at the new novel

Because you asked for it -- an excerpt from CRUSH HOUR...the novel I co-wrote with J.R. Geisike.  (Copyright 2007 by JR Geisike and Burl Barer, all rights reserved.)

Leticia “Letti” Brown, born and ill-reared in Ishtaria, Pennsylvania, entered Hollywood via the back door and claimed that entrance as her portal to genre-specific stardom.  Known professionally first as Letty Tin, then later as Tara Firma,  she starred in such  Adult epics as “Under the Anal Moon,” “An Officer and a Genitalia,” and  “Wetness for the Prosecution IV: Jury Tampering”

Despite a natural affinity for her personal proclivities, her business savvy and judge of adult market trends were initially underdeveloped.  Rather than investing her flat-back wealth in proven product, she envisioned herself as an emissary of the arts in an industry known for schlock.

$75,000 of her own money went into “Passion of the Crotch” -- a period piece porn flick in which she distastefully inserted various iconic objects into her reproductive canal. She spent another $3,000 learning conversational Aramaic for added realism. Her dialog – consisting primarily of  “O God,” “Yes,” and “Oooooo” required subtitles which, due to their placement, obscured any potentially stimulating visual details.

Her more pedestrian videos were walk away hits, and Tara appeared on mainstream media defending her Adult XXX career. “Wherever there's magic and make-believe and an audience - there's show business – Angelina Joli,  Donald Duck, Harry Reams, Bette Davis, -- they are all show business. You may not like them all, “ she told Larry King, “but why should you?  There is something for everybody under the tent of entertainment, and preferring `Orgasm at the Opera' to “Phantom' doesn't make you less a person, or your price of admission less bankable.”

The financial disaster of “Passion of the Crotch” couldn't keep her down. “I learned my lesson,” she told her live in lover, Mistress Distress, dominatrix and fetish model. “No more subtitles, no further iconoclastic use of icons – this time I going to treat the adult audience to real show biz.”

Distress’ real name was Doris. She billed herself as the “Word's Nicest Dominatrix,” greeted clients with flowers, candy, a happy smile, a warm embrace, non-stop compliments, and then whipped them while asking “it doesn't hurt, does it honey?”  Her repeat business was non-existent, but her up-beat attitude provided Tara much needed positive emotional support.

Tara invested tremendous effort and substantial monies finding the perfect vehicle for her most daring, yet commercial venture.  First she considered adapting Uncle Tom's Cabin into an interracial sex romp, Topsy-Turvey.

Deeming the title and source material too obscure, but wanting to keep the black on white sex action, she attempted several abandoned drafts of a musical porn spectacular, Seven Bitches for Seven Bros. before toying with directing, but not appearing in, a gay western operetta, OklaHomo.   She was halfway through composing lyrics for “Poor Jud is Well Hung in the Smoke House” when, in a moment of blinding inspiration, she transferred all her energies into a gender bending bi-sexual adaptation Mary Orr's play The Wisdom of Eve.

“All About Irv will have something for every adult taste,” touted Tara to her films' distributor, “even action and adventure. Hell, it will even have bloodhounds snapping at my rear end!”  She then showed the rear end to which she referred.

Indeed, “All About Irv” was both a critical and financial success.  With directing credits attributed to L. Brown, Tara Firma starred as aging veteran porn queen Margie Cummings, and newcomer Jade Opal  (birth name Howard Le Fowle) portrayed up and coming trans gendered opportunistic ingénue, Irv Harrington.  Known world-wide as the film that knocked Hollywood on its ass, All About Irv was the highest grossing adult film in history, and made Tara Firma incredibly wealthy.  Showered with gold, anointed with praise, Tara never forgot her roots nor did she forsake her inner core of spiritual gratitude.

Tara received the coveted Stiffee for best oral performance by a genetic female, plus the “Joanna Storm Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Academy of Adult Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.  It was only a matter of time, she believed, before her knee imprints would join those of Vanessa Del Rio on the Adult Walk of Fame.

OMFG! And none dare call it INSANITY!!!!

 

Quotes from the The American Taliban

                                        

Ann Coulter

"We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren't punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That's war. And this is war."         "Not all Muslims may be terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims."         "Being nice to people is, in fact, one of the incidental tenets of Christianity, as opposed to other religions whose tenets are more along the lines of 'kill everyone who doesn't smell bad and doesn't answer to the name Mohammed'"

 
                                        

Bailey Smith
"With all due respect to those dear people, my friend, God Almighty does not hear the prayer of a Jew."

 
                                        

Beverly LaHaye (Concerned Women for America)
	"Yes, religion and politics do mix. America is a nation based on biblical principles. Christian values dominate our government. The test of those values is the Bible. Politicians who do not use the bible to guide their public and private lives do not belong in office."

 
                                        

Bob Dornan (Rep. R-CA)
"Don't use the word 'gay' unless it's an acronym for 'Got Aids Yet'"

 
                                        

David Barton (Wallbuilders)
	"There should be absolutely no 'Separation of Church and State' in America."

 
                                        

David Trosch
"Sodomy is a graver sin than murder. – Unless there is life there can be no murder."

 
                                        

Fob James (Governor of Alabama)
	"Behind this judicial wall of separation there is a tyranny of lies that will fall... I say to you, my friends, let it fall!"           "A good butt-whipping and then a prayer is a wonderful remedy."

 
                                        

Fred Phelps (Westboro Baptist Church)

"If you got to castrate your miserable self with a piece of rusty barb wire, do it."              "Hear the word of the LORD, America, fag-enablers are worse than the fags themselves, and will be punished in the everlasting lake of fire!"              "You telling these miserable, Hell-bound, bath house-wallowing, anal-copulating fags that God loves them!? You have bats in the belfry!"              "American Veterans are to blame for the fag takeover of this nation. They have the power in their political lobby to influence the zeitgeist, get the fags out of the military, and back in the closet where they belong!"              "Not only is homosexuality a sin, but anyone who supports fags is just as guilty as they are. You are both worthy of death."

 
                                        

Gary Bauer (American Values)
	"We are engaged in a social, political, and cultural war. There's a lot of talk in America about pluralism. But the bottom line is somebody's values will prevail. And the winner gets the right to teach our children what to believe."

 
                                        

Gary North (Institute for Christian Economics)
"The long-term goal of Christians in politics should be to gain exclusive control over the franchise. Those who refuse to submit publicly to the eternal sanctions of God by submitting to His Church's public marks of the covenant–baptism and holy communion–must be denied citizenship."              "This is God's world, not Satan's. Christians are the lawful heirs, not non-Christians."

 
                                        

Gary Potter (Catholics for Christian Political Action)
	"When the Christian majority takes over this country, there will be no satanic churches, no more free distribution of pornography, no more talk of rights for homosexuals. After the Christian majority takes control, pluralism will be seen as immoral and evil and the state will not permit anybody the right to practice evil."

 
                                        

George Bush Sr. (President of the United States)
"I don't know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God."

 
                                                       

George W. Bush (President of the United States)
	"I don't think that witchcraft is a religion. I wish the military would rethink this decision."*           "God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you help me I will act, and if not, the elections will come and I will have to focus on them."           "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists."           "This crusade, this war on terrorism is going to take a while."
	*Comment about Wiccans in the military

 
                                        

Henry Morris (Institute for Creation Research)
"When science and the Bible differ, science has obviously misinterpreted its data."

 
                                        

J. B. Stoner (White Supremacist)

"We had lost the fight for the preservation of the white race until God himself intervened in earthly affairs with AIDS to rescue and preserve the white race that he had created.... I praise God all the time for AIDS."           "AIDS is a racial disease of Jews and Niggers, and fortunately it is wiping out the queers. I guess God hates queers for several reasons. There is one big reason to be against queers and that is because every time some white boy is seduced by a queer into becoming a queer, means his white bloodline has run out."

 
                                        

James Dobson (Focus on the Family)

"Those who control the access to the minds of children will set the agenda for the future of the nation and the future of the western world."              "State Universities are breeding grounds, quite literally, for sexually transmitted diseases (including HIV), homosexual behavior, unwanted pregnancies, abortions, alcoholism, and drug abuse."              "Today's children... They're damned. They're gone."

 
                                        

James Kennedy (Center for Reclaiming America)
	"The Christian community has a golden opportunity to train an army of dedicated teachers who can invade the public school classrooms and use them to influence the nation for Christ."

 
                                                       

James Watt (Secretary of the Interior)
"We don't have to protect the environment, the Second Coming is at hand."*
*Secretary of the Interior in the Reagan Admin. Responsible for National Policy regarding the Environment

 
                                        

Jay Grimstead (Coalition on Revival)
	"We are to make Bible-obeying disciples of anybody that gets in our way."

 
                                        

Jerry Falwell

"We're fighting against humanism, we're fighting against liberalism...we are fighting against all the systems of Satan that are destroying our nation today...our battle is with Satan himself."              "AIDS is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals. To oppose it would be like an Israelite jumping in the Red Sea to save one of Pharoah's chariotters."              "The Bible is the inerrant ... word of the living God. It is absolutely infallible, without error in all matters pertaining to faith and practice, as well as in areas such as geography, science, history, etc."              "AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals."              "If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being."

 
                                        

Jesse Helms (Sen. R-NC)

"The New York Times and Washington Post are both infested with homosexuals themselves. Just about every person down there is a homosexual or lesbian."           "All Latins are volatile people. Hence, I was not surprised at the volatile reaction."           "Your tax dollars are being used to pay for grade-school classes that teach our children that cannibalism, wife-swapping and murder of infants and the elderly are acceptable behavior."           "Homosexuals are weak, morally sick wretches."

 
                                        

Jimmy Swaggart (Jimmy Swaggart Ministries)

"The Media is ruled by Satan. But yet I wonder if many Christians fully understand that. Also, will they believe what the Media says, considering that its aim is to steal, kill, and destroy?"              "Sex education classes in our public schools are promoting incest."              "Evolution is a bankrupt speculative philosophy, not a scientific fact. Only a spiritually bankrupt society could ever believe it...Only atheists could accept this Satanic theory."

 
                                        

John Ashcroft (Attorney General)
	"Civilized people – Muslims, Christians, and Jews – all understand that the source of freedom and human dignity is the Creator."

 
                                        

John Whitehead (Rutherford Institute)
"The [Supreme] Court, by seeking to equate Christianity with other religions, merely assaults the one faith. The Court in essence is assailing the true God by democratizing the Christian religion."

 
                                        

Joseph McCarthy (Sen. R-WI)
	"Today we are engaged in a final, all-out battle between Communistic Atheism and Christianity."

 
                                        

Joseph Morecraft (Chalcedon Presbyterian Church)
"Nobody has the right to worship on this planet any other God than Jehovah. And therefore the state does not have the responsibility to defend anybody's pseudo-right to worship an idol."

 
                                                       

Joseph Scheidler (Pro-Life Action League)
	"I would like to outlaw contraception...contraception is disgusting – people using each other for pleasure."*
	*I get the distinct impression that Mr. Scheidler's poor wife isn't guilty of feeling any pleasure…

 
                                        

Kay O'Connor (Kansas Senate Republican)
"I'm an old-fashioned woman. Men should take care of women, and if men were taking care of women today, we wouldn't have to vote."

 
                                        

Keith A. Fournier (Catholic Way)
	"We need a legal strategy which protects the rights of those of us who hold Christian convictions which will afford us the opportunity to contend once again for the mind of this culture."

 
                                        

Laura Schlessinger
"I want to coin a phrase here, and I don't mind help. What would be the communication version of "ethnic cleansing?" Because that's what in particular the homosexual activists try to do."

 
                                                       

Lester Roloff (Texas Homes for Wayward Youth)
	"Better a pink bottom than a black soul."*
	*Roloff opened a chain of homes for "wayward" youth in the state of Texas; he was later jailed in 1973 and again in 1975 for child abuse due to the punitive punishment techniques used in his homes. He would have been finished had he not of been specifically given permision to re-open his homes by, you guested it, Governor George W Bush.

 
                                        

Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin
“George Bush was not elected by a majority of the voters in the United States, he was appointed by God.”

 
                                        

Pat Buchanan (Presidential Candidate)

"Our culture is superior. Our culture is superior because our religion is Christianity and that is the truth that makes men free."           "There were no politics to polarize us then, to magnify every slight. The "negroes" of Washington had their public schools, restaurants, bars, movie houses, playgrounds and churches; and we had ours."           "Rail as they will about 'discrimination,' women are simply not endowed by nature with the same measures of single-minded ambition and the will to succeed in the fiercely competitive world of Western capitalism."

 
                                        

Pat Robertson (Christian Coalition)

"The Islamic people, the Arabs, were the ones who captured Africans, put them in slavery, and sent them to America as slaves. Why would the people in America want to embrace the religion of slavers."              "Just like what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to the evangelical Christians. It's no different...More terrible than anything suffered by any minority in history."              "When lawlessness is abroad in the land, the same thing will happen here that happened in Nazi Germany. Many of those people involved with Adolph Hitler were Satanists, many of them were homosexuals – the two things seem to go together."              "The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians."              "You say you're supposed to be nice to the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians and the Methodists and this, that, and the other thing. Nonsense, I don't have to be nice to the spirit of the Antichrist."              "I know this is painful for the ladies to hear, but if you get married, you have accepted the headship of a man, your husband. Christ is the head of the household and the husband is the head of the wife, and that's the way it is, period."              "[Homosexuals] want to come into churches and disrupt church services and throw blood all around and try to give people AIDS and spit in the face of ministers."              "[Planned Parenthood] is teaching kids to fornicate, teaching people to have adultery, every kind of bestiality, homosexuality, lesbianism – everything that the Bible condemns."

 
                                                       

Patrick Mahoney (Christian Defense Coalition)
	"It is deeply troubling to have an appointed, unelected commission remove an elected official from office [Roy Moore]. The Court of Judiciary has overturned an election and crushed the democratic process through their actions."*
	*Interesting perspective coming from someone who's President was appointed by a group of "unelected judges", thus overturning a democratic election.

 
                                                       

Paul Cameron
"I think that actually AIDS is a guardian. That is I think it was sent, if you would, about forty years ago, to destroy Western civilization unless we change our sexual ways. So it's really a Godsend."              "Homosexuality is a crime against humanity."              "Causes of homosexuality include: 'sex with animals'"*              "Unless we get medically lucky, in three or four years, one of the options discussed will be the extermination of homosexuals."
*Paul Cameron was discharged from the American Psychological Association, the Nebraska Psychological Association, and the American Sociological Association due to his unethical practices and biased research regarding Homosexuals. His "research" has since been discredited by the scientific community; however his work is still referenced by many fundamentalist organizations as credible.

 
                                                       

Randall Terry (Operation Rescue)
	"I want you to just let a wave of intolerance wash over. I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good...Our goal is a Christian nation. We have a biblical duty, we are called by God to conquer this country. We don't want equal time. We don't want pluralism."           "Our goal must be simple. We must have a Christian nation built on God's law, on the ten Commandments. No apologies."           "I don't think Christians should use birth control. You consummate your marriage as often as you like – and if you have babies, you have babies."           "When I, or people like me, are running the country, you'd better flee, because we will find you, we will try you, and we'll execute you. I mean every word of it. I will make it part of my mission to see to it that they are tried and executed."*           "There is going to be war, [and Christians may be called to] take up the sword to overthrow the tyrannical regime that oppresses them."
	*It is interesting to note that Randell Terry's son is Gay

 
                                        

Jerry Vines (Southern Baptist Convention)
"They would have us believe that Islam is just as good as Christianity. Christianity was founded by the virgin-born son of God, Jesus Christ. Islam was founded by Muhammad, a demon-possessed pedophile who had 12 wives, the last one of which was a nine-year-old girl."

 
                                                       

Rick Santorum* (Sen. R-PA)
	"If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual [Gay] sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything!"
	*Now known as Rick "Santorum" Santorum

 
                                        

Robert Simonds (Citizens for Excellence in Education)

"As the church watches from the sidelines, the ungodly elect atheists and homosexuals to school boards and legislatures to enact policies and laws that destroy our Christian children and discriminate against Christian families."              "Atheistic secular humanists should be removed from office and Christians should be elected...Government and true Christianity are inseparable."              "We'll take away their power and their money. Money comes from students. We'll break their backs by taking 24 million kids out of the public schools."

 
                                        

Robert T. Lee (Society for the Practical Establishment of the Ten Commandments)

"Raising your children under Americanism or any other principles other than true Christianity is child abuse."           "You do not have the right to be wrong, regardless of what any man-made or demonic charter says."           "Democracy originated in the mind of a rational being who has the deepest hatred for God."           "Do you realize that the only thing that gives democracy existence is sin? The absence of democracy is perfect obedience to god."           "The best way to insure the earth is never over populated is for sensible and righteous governments to clear all forms of atheism and heresy."

 
                                        

Ronald Reagan (President of the United States)
"For the first time ever, everything is in place for the Battle of Armageddon and the Second Coming of Christ."

 
                                                       

Roy Moore (Former Alabama Judge)
	"If they want to get the Commandments, they're going to have to get me first."*           "Worship With Your Vote"
	*Interesting observation of the Radical Right, Judge Roy Moore commits peaceful civil disobedience by refusing to remove the Ten Commandments Monument from the Court. He is considered a Hero. Mayor Gavin Newsom commits peaceful civil disobedience by issuing same-sex marriage licenses. He is considered an Anarchist.

 
                                                       

Rush Limbaugh
"Feminism was established to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society."              "If you commit a crime, you're guilty."*              "There is only one way to get rid of nuclear weapons... use them"
*Seems logical enough, doesn't it Rush?

 
                                        

Star Parker (Coalition on Urban Renewal & Education)
	"Anybody that believes in separation of church and state needs to leave right now."

 
                                        

Tony Evans (Promise Keepers)
"The demise of our community and culture is the fault of sissified men who have been overly influenced by women."

 
                                        

William Rehnquist (Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court)
	"The 'wall of separation between church and state' is a metaphor based on bad history, a metaphor which has proved useless as a guide to judging. It should be frankly and explicitly abandoned."

 
                                                       

Michael Savage (Savage Nation)
"Oh, you're one of the sodomites. You should only get AIDS and die, you pig. How's that? Why don't you see if you can sue me, you pig. You got nothing better than to put me down, you piece of garbage. You have got nothing to do today, go eat a sausage and choke on it."*
*Statement made on live national television

 

 

LOVE IS MURDER

LOVE IS MURDER sent me this info, and I'm sharing it with you.

Love is Murder (LIMCON) is the Midwest's premier and Chicagoland's only conference and convention for readers and writers of mystery, suspense, romantic suspense, horror, thrillers, paranormal, and all other dark fiction. Always the first weekend in February, you can find out more and register at the Love is Murder website.
Love is Murder NPO, is also an independent, not-for-profit organization that organizes an annual convention open to writers, readers, educational groups and for-profit vendors. In addition, Love is Murder NPO, provides an educational forum to writers and readers to further their knowledge of writing, publishing, and the business of book production. In addition to the annual convention, Love is Murder NPO endeavors to sponsor other educational and/or writer focused programs throughout the year.

We are committed to the following:

- Providing a showcase for first time authors to discuss their work
- Providing an environment where first time authors can mingle with, learn from, and work alongside more experienced writers to better their writing and their understanding of publishing.
- Providing an environment where experienced and published authors can meet and discuss their work with other experienced and published authors, with budding authors, and with readers of their work.
- Providing financial support for students wishing to learn about writing and publishing through contributions to other organization who support writing for youth.
- Providing financial support for students through competitive writing based scholarships.
- Providing a showcase for Midwest writers
- Providing a environment where non-writers interested in writing can meet with authors and learn about their craft.
- Promoting writing and authors
- Actively engaging in educat ion activities related to writing and publishing.