Property and Animal rights attacked in new Florida animal law

On Friday, a new animal control law was passed in Hernando County, Fla., that allows officers to enter private property without a warrant. It also has provisions that allow dogs and other animals to be shot to death on site by Animal Services officers.

According to the new ordinance, "If an Animal Control Authority agent personally witness an animal at large, the agent shall have the authority to enter upon private property in pursuit of the animal," without the owner's permission or a warrant.

During earlier revisions of the new animal ordinance, the legality of the animal control ordinance was questioned and Hernando County attorney Jon Jouben told The Tampa Tribune, that the clause that violated federally protected property rights "was never in the ordinance and couldn't be because the U.S. Constitution would forbid it."

But Joubin's statement is not supported. The clause that directly contradicts the 4th Amendment of the US Constitution remained in the final version of the ordinance that was approved by Hernando County Commissioners on Friday, in Brooksville.

Another troubling clause in the new animal ordinance involves methods of euthanasia. It allows animal control officers "immediate euthanasia" powers to "destroy" animals "by shooting the animal or injecting it with a barbiturate drug," pursuant to Fla. Stat. § 828.05.

This has the potential to be tragically abused by an agency whose reputation for animal cruelty and inappropriate animal killing has been well documented.

While the stated goal of the new law might have been to improve animal survival rates at the county's high-kill shelter, the details suggest that is it more likely to achieve the opposite.

Pet owners will no longer be allowed to surrender animals to the shelter as they did in the past, and the chances for adoption remain slim, since there is nothing in the ordinance that expands access to impounded animals through extended or weekend adoption hours.

There are some provisions in the law that provide new requirements for shelter from weather, as well as stricter rules for spaying and neutering. However, they will do nothing to save the lives of the unfortunate animals that are taken by Hernando County Animal Services.

Hernando County's disregard for 4th Amendment rights leaves it open to  lawsuits when residents refuse to tolerate animal control officers chasing stray animals through their yards. It should also be noted that Florida's Stand Your Ground Law may  also puts human lives at risk. Property owners might feel threatened by unannounced and unwelcome animal control officers  on their land.

It is unclear how or why Hernando County officials approved this provision, after admitting publically and in emails that it was illegal. 

Click here to read the entire Hernando County, Florida animal control ordinance. 

Related:

Harsh new law gives county license to kill more animals

New animal law lets officers kill strays by gunshot on private property

Cruel Animal ordinance causing uproar in Hernando County

Outraged residents start petition to stop new animal killing law

UF report exposes Brooksville animal shelter 'animal cruelty and suffering'

A letter to President Obama

Dear Mr. President,

On November 6, 2012 you made history and I helped you, as I did in 2008. But this time I expect more. 

I don't want to see a grand bargain that includes you selling out the people who elected you. The election really was a clear choice and voters said, we want a government that helps us up, rather than shuts us out.

I voted for you because you are supposed to support and defend the things Democrats believe in, like Pell Grants, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. You are supposed to keep our environment clean and safe from people who want to pollute it for profit.

Now is your time to prove that you will not bend to the will of the losing party. America does indeed want to move forward.

So, Mr. President, stick to your guns and break the gridlock because the best way to tame a spoiled child is to simply say no.

• ·       No to cuts in Social Security and the chained CPI index.

• ·       No to education cuts.

• ·       No to Medicare and Medicaid cuts

• ·       No to more tax cuts for the rich

And most importantly, say no to John Boehner and his Tea Party caucus. Just because they refuse to listen to the voice of voters doesn't mean you should go along for the ride.

Image: Wiki file

Romney family buys voting machines through Bain Capital investment

Tagg Romney, the son of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, has purchased electronic voting machines that will be used in the 2012 elections in Ohio, Texas, Oklahoma, Washington and Colorado.

"Late last month, Gerry Bello and Bob Fitrakis at FreePress.org broke the story of the Mitt Romney/Bain Capital investment team involved in H.I.G. Capital which, in July of 2011, completed a "strategic investment" to take over a fair share of the Austin-based e-voting machine company Hart Intercivic," according to independent journalist Brad Friedman.

But Friedman is not the only one to discover the connection between the Romney family, Bain Capital, and ownership of voting machines.

Read the full story....

Romney tax plan vs. Bush tax cuts: Why the details matter

At the second presidential debate, Mitt Romney was asked how his economic plan differed from the last Republican president, George W. Bush. The woman who asked the question was worried that Romney would repeat the Bush policies that lead to the meltdown of US banking system, and the worst recession since the Great Depression hit in 1929.

It is a legitimate question, since the focal point of the 2012 presidential campaign has been the economy and who will create the most jobs and, more importantly, how they will create them.

How Romney plans to carry out his plan must go beyond campaign trail rhetoric, because the success or failure of any plan is in the details. That's why the truth about the details matter. Words don't create jobs.

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Missing details in Romney tax plan hidden in Ryan budget disaster

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have been widely criticized for not revealing the details of their economic plan. But if you pick up the trail of clues they have left all over the campaign trail, it leads to the Ryan budget, which has failed to be signed into law despite several attempts.

When pressed by reporters for details on their economic plan, both Romney and Ryan have said that the specifics would be worked out by congress in the future.

However, the details may have been worked out long ago in Paul Ryan's budget plan, which was called "terrifying" by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon).

"Ryan says his budget cuts more than $5 trillion in the next decade," according to Ezra Klein's Washington Post Wonkblog.

Perhaps not by coincidence, Romney's tax cut plan, before offsets, costs about $5 trillion.

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What Romney didn't say at the first presidential debate

Moments after the first debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney, left-wing pundits declared Romney the winner. Not necessarily for what he said, but because of how he said it.

Romney was aggressive. So much so, that on several occasions, he appeared to bully veteran moderator Jim Lehrer.

But while Romney has been declared the winner on style, there are still questions remaining on substance.

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If you think you're not a liberal, think again

During the health care reform debate in 2009, opponents of what is now commonly called Obamacare, called the new law socialism. Political pundits will never forget images of anti-Obama, Tea Party supporters carrying signs that said, keep your government hands off my Medicare.

But many of the people protesting against government control of Medicare didn't know that it was and always had been a government-controlled program.

Even today, many of the people receiving Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security benefits insist that they are not getting any government assistance, according to polling data.

How can so many people be convinced of something that is so completely false?

Read the full story here....

Romney-Ryan tax plan leads to the next Great Recession

Just about everyone who has ever paid a bill knows that the size of the bill doesn't matter, as long as you have enough income to cover it. So is America's debit really a crisis, or is the problem actually lack of income?

The US economy is consumer driven. When people don't spend enough money to keep cash flowing into businesses, we have a recession.

However, consumer spending does not discriminate over the sources of income. Private sector jobs put money into the hands of consumers the same way government jobs do.

Since President Reagan began the tax burden shift from the rich to everyone else, America has seen 4 major recessions in less than 30 years. That's more than all US economic downturns for the past 100 years.

Read the full story here....