North Carolina Puts the Patriot Act To Bad Use

Does this sound familar?

In North Carolina, a sixteen year old homeschooled boy was taken into custody by armed FBI agents recently, on the mere allegation that he had made a "bomb threat" from his home. No bomb-making materials were found in his home by the 12 law enforcement agents, and his mother's protests were completely ignored.

Ashton now sits in a juvenile facility in South Bend, Ind. His mother has had little access to him since his arrest. She has gone to her state representatives as well as attorneys, seeking assistance, but, she said, there is nothing she can do.

Lundeby said the USA Patriot Act stripped her son of his due process rights.

"We have no rights under the Patriot Act to even defend them, because the Patriot Act basically supersedes the Constitution," she said. "It wasn't intended to drag your barely 16-year-old, 120-pound son out in the middle of the night on a charge that we can't even defend."

Read the full story here.

Once you open your eyes, it is terrible to see how many stories like this there are, and how much damage is being done on the basis of a mere allegation. The age-old precepts of justice -i.e.  "presumed innocent until proven guilty" - are being steadily eroded.

In Venessa Mills case, all her husband and his attorney had to do was mention the term "brainwashed" and Judge Ned Mangum immediately subjected Venessa to a mental health evaluation. 

His repeated comment was, "They allege, you deny. I don't know." So, with no evidence whatsoever and contrary to his own admission of ignorance, Judge Mangum made a highly prejudicial decision that Venessa Mills needed to be mentally evaluated.

But, of course, this is only a divorce case. It's not like the same thing is happening in other situations. How many more of these kind of stories do people need to see before they will take a stand against what is happening?