04 Jan 2023

Noble Lies Are No Excuse for Ignoble Acts

By Kathleen McCarthy

River Cities Reader January 2023 Ed Newman Cartoon Jan 6 Republic Democracy Police State.png

This week is the second anniversary of the January 6, 2021. For nearly 1,000 American citizens are being harassed, arrested, and prosecuted (many of whom have not had their due process or day in court) for alleged crimes committed while exercising their First Amendment-protected rights to peacefully assemble, free speech, and petition for redress of grievances, there are no resolutions, no closure, and mostly no justice.

09 Jun 2011

THIS IS THE POLICE. DROP THE CAMERA: Illinois' Eavesdropping Law Turns Smart-Phone Owners Into Felons

By Larry McDonald

In Illinois, you could get a lighter sentence for killing a cop than recording one.

Section 14-4 of the Illinois criminal code reads: "The eavesdropping of an oral conversation ... between any law-enforcement officer ... while in the performance of his or her official duties ... is a Class 1 felony." Under Illinois law, a person is "eavesdropping" when he or she "knowingly and intentionally uses an eavesdropping device for the purpose of hearing or recording all or any part of any conversation" without the consent of all parties to the conversation.

A Class 1 felony is punishable by up to 15 years' imprisonment. My irreverent sense of the humor often gets me in trouble, but I just can't contain it here: You could get a lighter sentence for killing a cop than recording one. When Jonathan Posey was convicted of reckless homicide in the 2001 dragging death of Illinois State Police Master Sergeant Stanley Talbot in Rock Island, he only got a five-year sentence for that crime. Good for Mr. Posey, he wasn't videotaping.

15 Apr 2010

Is Your Government Your Servant or Your Master?

By Todd McGreevy

(Editor's note: This package also includes the sidebars "The More You Make, The More They Take" and "The 'Contract' and 'Article 8 of the Articles of Freedom the Works of Continental Congress 2009' on the Income Tax.")

Your Servant Government Were our federal and state constitutions written to limit and control the actions of the people or limit and control the actions of the government? The Iowa Constitution reads: "All political power is inherent in the people. Government is instituted for the protection, security, and benefit of the people, and they have the right, at all times, to alter or reform the same, whenever the public good may require it."

What denotes "public good" is no doubt the seed of discord between those who would see government take or borrow resources to provide for those that cannot provide for themselves and those who would see government ensure the protection of personal property so the people may provide for themselves and each other.

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