WASHINGTON - April 14, 2008 - The Bush regime said yesterday that it plans to start using the nation's most advanced spy technology for domestic purposes soon, rebuffing challenges by House Democrats over the idea's legal authority.

OAKLAND, California - April 9, 2008 - A six-month pilot program where Oakland police officers would knock on doors and ask permission to search homes for guns got the green light from the City Council's public safety committee Tuesday night.

BERKELEY, California - April 8, 2008 - An East Bay lawmaker's bill to clear the way for local handgun bans has a committee hearing today, delving into issues now pending before the state and nation's highest courts.

Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, authored Assembly Bill 2566 in reaction to a state Court of Appeal ruling in January which upheld the voiding of San Francisco's Measure H of 2005, approved by voters to bar city residents from owning handguns or from making or selling firearms or ammunition in the city.

The California Supreme Court is mulling whether to review this ruling, which found state law leaves no room for cities and counties to ban handgun ownership; Hancock's bill, to be heard today by the Assembly Public Safety Committee, seeks to create that room by removing the state pre-emption entirely.

Washington, D.C.'s handgun ban is now the subject of the biggest gun-rights case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in almost 70 years. The high court will rule by late June on whether the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to gun ownership, rather than just a collective right to guns for the common defense as part of a state militia.

Richmond activist Andres Soto said the Legal Community Against Violence - a San Francisco nonprofit that helped draft the bill - believes that case won't directly affect this bill because of Washington's status as a federal district, distinct from the states. Soto said he sees this as "a domestic disarmament" crucial to the East Bay's gun-plagued communities.

Hancock said the bill is inspired by victims such as an Oakland boy hit by a stray bullet and paralyzed while at his piano lesson and a Richmond woman shot and killed in her doorway by a gang member.

Handguns are "weapons of mass destruction in some of our inner cities," she said, and local governments need this tool at their disposal to quell the violence.

"Many times when enough individual local governments take an action, state action follows and federal action follows," Hancock said. "It's the people on the ground experiencing the problem every day that tend to be innovative and want to push the envelope, and I've seen the communities I represent staggering under the burden of gun violence for too long."

Gun-rights activists disagree.

"Aside from the fact that, obviously, disarming civilians and depriving them of the most effective tool there is for self-defense or defending their families, its not a good policy decision," said California Rifle and Pistol Association attorney Chuck Michel of Long Beach.

"The law is confusing enough as it is right now," he said, with the California Law Revision Commission already studying the need to simplify and reorganize Penal Code sections dealing with deadly weapons; that panel's report is due by July 2009.

"The reason they passed pre-emption in the first place was so people wouldn't have to worry about violating a different set of laws every time they drove across a city line," Michel said. "Uniformity is very important."

Soto said that's "a red herring," as this bill wouldn't affect existing state laws on handgun transportation but rather would let cities bar residents from owning handguns.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office said Monday he has not yet taken a position on this bill.

Ed. Note: Do a site search at www.freedomradio.us for "Assemblyman Schwartz".  Read the fictional story, "The Strange Disappearance of Assemblyman Schwartz".

April 8, 2008 - Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura was able to make some very forceful points amidst the satirical atmosphere of his appearance on The Colbert Report last night, including a reminder that the Second Amendment was put in the Bill of Rights to give Americans the ability to rise up against a tyrannical government.

Ventura's new book is called Don't Start the Revolution without Me. Asked by Stephen Colbert if he was talking about a revolution against the United States government, Ventura said, "Remember, the Second Amendment with the right to bear arms - that's not done for hunting or fishing, our forefathers put that right in there so we have the ability to rise up if our country becomes oppressive."

Taunted by Colbert that Ventura had moved to Mexico and "given up on the United States," Ventura responded, "No I have not - that's where you go to learn about revolution so you can bring it back home."

Colbert then asked Ventura to list examples of the government lying, to which he responded, "the Gulf of Tonkin, weapons of mass destruction, ties to Al-Qaeda."

When Colbert brought up the topic of Dick Cheney, Ventura said he liked to refer to him as "chicken hawk," because, "when it was his time to go to war during Vietnam he was chicken."

"George Bush said the only problem with Vietnam was we left to soon - well why didn't those two come and help out?" added Ventura.

Ventura joked that during Vietnam, Bush was, "Guarding Dallas from the North Vietnamese air force."

VERMONT - April 7, 2008 – The Department of Homeland Security wants to build a permanent immigration checkpoint in central Vermont.

An exact location has not been revealed, but officials say it would be similar to one that used to be on Interstate 91 in Hartford, Connecticut. Agents use the checkpoints to search for illegal immigrants, drugs smugglers and terrorists.

Senator Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, is blasting the idea, saying the checkpoints are useless and an inconvenience to Vermonters.

LANCASHIRE, England - April 7, 2008 - Police were accused of being "heavy handed" today after four officers stormed a young couple's house at 3am - because a caller claimed their baby was crying.

Chef Leander Pomfret, 24, and his girlfriend Kimberley Walker, 18, woke up in the middle of the night to find the officers in their bedroom demanding to see their two month old daughter Bianca.

They then reduced Kimberley to tears by threatening to call social services.

They left after confirming Bianca was safe and well but Mr. Pomfret discovered their front door had been damaged when it was broken down during the dead of night raid. The bedroom door was also damaged.

Today, Mr. Pomfret vowed to make a formal complaint abut the incident and demanded Lancashire Police pay for the damage.

"The officers totally overreacted," he said. "Bianca may well have been crying but that is what babies do.

"It is no excuse for officers to bash down a door at 3am and storm our home. They claimed Bianca had been crying for up to six hours but that is impossible.

"Kimberley was in tears. We were made to feel as though we were unfit parents when the fact is we adore Bianca and tend to her every need."

SARASOTA, Florida – March 14, 2008 - John Coffin won't spend any more time in jail for beating up two sheriff's deputies inside his house, striking one in the head with a Taser gun he took from the other.

Circuit Judge Rick De Furia said at Coffin's trial Tuesday that he doesn't condone the violence against the deputies.

But Coffin, 56, had a right to defend his family and property because the deputies had no right to be in Coffin's house in the first place, De Furia said.

“Law enforcement was responsible for the chain of events here,” De Furia said. “I think in situations like this, officers become so frustrated they go beyond what the law allows them to do.”

The fight started when Coffin heard his wife screaming in pain, went into the garage and saw two deputies arresting her on the floor.

The deputies were trying to serve Coffin with civil papers that had been given five days earlier. They had entered the garage even though they did not have a search warrant or arrest warrant.

And they arrested Coffin's wife, Cynthia, 50, on obstruction charges even though she had no obligation to follow their orders to bring her husband outside.

“The most critical is the fact the officers broke the law by stopping the garage door from going down,” and then entering the garage, De Furia said.

A jury was picked for the trial Monday. But the judge granted a motion by Coffin's attorneys, Derek Byrd and Brett McIntosh, and acquitted John Coffin on five of six felony charges Tuesday morning.

Coffin pleaded no contest to the remaining charge of taking a Taser gun from one of the deputies during the fight.

Before handing down the sentence, De Furia asked how long Coffin spent in jail after his initial arrest.

”You spent eight days in the Sarasota County jail," De Furia said. "That's your sentence. No probation.”

Relatives applauded, and Coffin walked out of the courthouse with only a $358 bill for court costs. The sentence surprised even defense attorneys, who had suggested De Furia sentence Coffin to probation.

Prosecutors had asked for more than a year of prison time because of "the totality of the case" and the injuries to deputies James Lutz and Stacy Ferris, whose name is now Stacy Brandau.

The two deputies testified about their injuries Tuesday - three blows to the head with the butt of the Taser gun knocked Lutz unconscious.

”I just ask that he doesn't get away with this,” Brandau told the judge.

Assistant State Attorney Jeff Young told the judge the case "could have been over in five seconds" if the Coffins "had simply come out and cooperated."

“That is a man who took it upon himself to beat up two police officers,” Young said.

De Furia said that while he believed the deputies' mistakes were not intentional, the Coffins had every right to lock doors, try to close their garage door and not cooperate.

“What took place in the house was unfortunate,” De Furia said, “but Mr. Coffin ... had a right to resist.”