Free Republic

RALEIGH -- For three years now, I've been hearing a lot of complaints from civil libertarians in North Carolina about the Patriot Act, lengthy imprisonments of enemy noncombatants, and other abuses of government power in the war on terrorism. On occasion, I've agreed with them. Now, it's time for all people of good faith who've worried about such abuses to come out against a bundle of similarly questionable proposals to fight the war against drunk driving. Earlier in the year, media reports showed that a surprisingly large number of North Carolinians charged with driving while impaired (DWI) were acquitted at...

Property rights empower every other freedom Americans enjoy. When the state takes away your property, it almost totally deprives you of your power. Fortunately, The Bill of Rights contains language to prevent such perfidy. Unfortunately, local and state governments throughout the US have become particularly devious in skirting this constitutional protection. The 5th Amendment commonly comes into play during jury trials as a means to prevent a defendantor a witness from being forced to reveal information that may incriminate them. People normally do not associate this particular part of The Bill of Rights with property. However, the 5th Amendment does...

The Supreme Court is hoping to stop police from trying to get around the Miranda warning -- the protection giving suspects "the right to remain silent." The high court has warned police to stop using a strategy intended to extract confessions from criminal suspects before reading them their rights. On a five-to-four vote, the court says deliberately questioning a suspect twice -- the first time without the Miranda warning -- is usually improper.

<p>WAKE COUNTY, N.C. -- The state's "Booze It & Lose It"checkpoints are supposed to be a filter for drunken drivers, but the campaign is also becoming a dragnet for all types of crimes.</p> <p>Since Nov. 20, nearly 2,800 drivers have been arrested for drunken driving. The checkpoints are also driving home a point to wanted criminals -- more people are being arrested for other types of crimes than for drunk driving.</p>

"If convoys of agrarian private property owners appear rebellious today at a regional rally in Tracy, don't fear. They have the rights of the common man and woman at heart," the Sunday Tracy Press reported. "The rebel cry is based on the Fifth Amendment, that all Americans should not be deprived of property without due process, and if property is taken by the government, there must be just compensation. Nowhere is this more highlighted than in the attempts by the Bureau of Reclamation in the Klamath Basin in Oregon and the Army Corps of Engineers in Florida's Dade County to...

A national zoning board? Federal regulators try to tell farmers when they can or can’t bust sod. Harold Johnson, a member of California Political Review’s editorial board, is an attorney with Pacific Legal Foundation (www.pacificlegal.org). To many of us, the image of the farmer at his plow is right up there with motherhood and ice cream as a symbol of all-American wholesomeness. But not to bureaucrats at the Army Corps of Engineers, one of the agencies that enforce the federal Clean Water Act. Startling as it might seem, the Corps seems officially to have branded the plow as a polluter....

I am a volunteer firefighter here in Iowa. The other night we we having regional training with representives from state HAZMAT, EPA, Sheriffs, and National Guard on dealing with clandestine meth labs. We do have a problem, especially with a new method of meth manufacture that leaves hazardous chemicals in public places where children can get at them. Anyhow, the Guard representitive got up and told us about how they are now directed in time of national emergency to get a list of suspected illegal drug lab technicians and other subversives from the local sheriffs office. It was quite obvious...