First City In the US To Pass an Anti-Drone Resolution 198
An anonymous reader writes "According to an Al-Jazeera report, 'Charlottesville, Virginia is the first city in the United States to pass an anti-drone resolution. The writing of the resolution coincides with a leaked memo outlining the legal case for drone strikes on U.S. citizens and a Federal Aviation Administration plan to allow the deployment of some 30,000 domestic drones.' The finalized resolution is fairly weak, but it's a start. There is also some anti-drone legislation in the Oregon state Senate, and it has much bigger teeth. It defines public airspace as anything above your shoelaces, and the wording for 'drone' is broad enough to include RC helicopters and the like."
Yeah, and what'll it do? (Score:5, Informative)
The Government can ignore this just like they ignore a sovereign States authority (See DIA raids in CA on marijuana shops and farms). In fairness, the town must abide by State law which may invalidate the City law.
Until more people wake up and shake off the cobwebs, the police state will continue to grow. I hope like hell we catch it in time, but looking at media and education I have strong doubts.
Posse Comitatus Act (Score:3, Informative)
The Posse Comitatus Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act [wikipedia.org] prohibits military being used against US citizens unless such action is allowed by the US Constitution, or an Act of Congress.
Re:Jefferson would be proud (Score:5, Informative)
Al Jazeera Arabic, or Al Jazeera English? They're very different sources, and one of them is highly respected throughout the world for in-depth coverage and serious journalism (except, perhaps, in America).
No authority (Score:5, Informative)
Montana Considering... (Score:2, Informative)
Montana is considering legislation that would make any evidence gathered by drones inadmissible in court. Source: Montana Public Radio this morning...
Re:What about RC planes with cameras? (Score:5, Informative)
I play around with RC planes and my kids want to attach a camera to our next project. Does that make me a criminal? I thought it made me a cool Dad!
Take it outside city limits, you should be fine with the law.
Can't speak for the rural folks around those parts, but I know that if I were out in my field and saw something suspicious and obviously unmanned flying over my property, I'd be hard pressed to not at least scope the thing, if not blow it clear out of the sky just out of principle.
Scope? You mean you would shoot at my RC airplane with a scoped rifle? I doubt that you could hit it. Regardless, shooting a rifle at a high angle into the air is a remarkably reckless thing to do. That bullet will come down with lethal velocity at a random location, perhaps several miles away. Perhaps you should give your idea more thought.
Re:Kool Aid (Score:5, Informative)
Your post is a little confusing to me, but I hope you haven't fallen for the lie that Obama wanted to end the practices of Gitmo. Obama did try to close Gitmo and Congress stood in the way, but it was a type of "closing" where those practices were merely imported to a Federal Supermax in Illinois, not a "closing" in the sense of ending the practice of indefinite due process free detention. It was a very clever bit of politics on Obama's part -- something an uncritical Democrat could latch on to in the tribal GOP v. DNC clownfight.
see: "Welcom to Gitmo North"
http://www.salon.com/2009/12/15/gitmo_3/ [salon.com]