Pubdate: Sun, 24 Aug 2003 Source: St. Petersburg Times (FL) Copyright: 2003 St. Petersburg Times Contact: http://www.sptimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/419 Author: John Chase, Palm Harbor FORFEITURE IS A TOOL OF MEDIEVAL TIMES Re: Police too addicted to lure of easy money, by Robyn Blumner. - -- Thanks to Blumner for writing so persuasively about property forfeiture, one of the linchpins of the drug war, that "other" endless war. Both wars are perpetuated by public fear and official conflicts of interest, and both are costing us cherished legal traditions. Our elected officials alarm us about "drugs," about "terror," about whatever, and begin building their careers countering that threat. While most of them do have good motives, the effect of their taking of the property of powerless people without bringing charges, much less a conviction, sets us back to medieval times when the "king's men" had free rein to control the king's subjects. When Congress wrote the legislation to allow these abuses, they effectively ended the "rule of law" we once took such pride in, and established the "rule of men." It is happening so gradually and so rationally it is barely noticed. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart