Link to WorldNetdaily article:

Is Carrying Cash a Crime?

ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), September 14, 1999

Answers

Something people have to get through their thick heads but probably never will:

Legal or Illegal have NOTHING to do with right or wrong.

PERIOD.

Yes, it is 'legal' for government agents to steal your property. Including the pieces of paper known as 'cash'.

In the past it has also been 'legal' in this country to own a slave, deny negro's both firearms and a vote, and deny women a vote as well. The Government has 'legally' conducted deadly medical experiments on large groups of people without their knowlege or consent. The government has 'legally' stolen land from entire segments of the population and confiscated all their worldly wealth too. OUR government has 'legally' imprisoned thousands of people in concentration camps based solely on their ethnic background.

Despite all this we survive as a nation.

We have the finast form of government invented so far... but that's an open ended statement that can mean anything.

Were the people driving that car in kansas drug dealers or bad guys? Probably. But the officers don't know that for sure. They are going on instinct or greed, neither good enough to allow stealing property from citizens.

Today it's: "He just LOOKS like a drug dealer, why else would he hide cash in his car?" said the officer as he confiscated the cash and the car.

Tomorrow it's: "We locked him up for ten years because he LOOKED like the type that would commit a crime" said the police chief as he lined up the chain gang and marched them off to the prison factory.

-- Art Welling (artw@lancnews.infi.net), September 14, 1999.

This was actually debated here a couple of weeks ago when the news first broke; its good to have WORLDNETDAILY's up to date account. Regardless of anything else, I would still like to know if either or both of the guys in the car ever claimed that they money was actually theirs, or if they just played dumb. Not that that in any way justifies the state of Kansas stealing it. ("Possession is 9/10 of the law." LOL, more like, "Finders keepers, losers weepers", especially on the wrong side of a gun barrel.)

For what it is worth, I have heard that is ILLEGAL to CARRY cash in excess of $10,000 onto an airplane. Does anyone know if this is really true?

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.com), September 14, 1999.

(Ezek 45:9 KJV) "Thus saith the Lord GOD; Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute judgment and justice, take away your exactions from my people, saith the Lord GOD."

-- Mark Hillyard (foster@inreach.com), September 14, 1999.

KOS,

No it's not illegal to carry cash over 10 grand onto a plane unless you are leaving the country. Then all you have to do is declare it.

There was a case last year that went to the Supreme Court where a guy was caught with $500,000 cash. He claimed it was to pay back a loan made to him by a family member prior to coming to America so he could start a business here.

Even though he had no criminal record and could PROVE that it he earned the money honestly the Justice dept claimed that the entire amount was subject to forfeiture. The Supremes said otherwise. They held that since it is legal to export cash as long as the form is filed, the only 'damage' sustained by the Govt. was not having a piece of paper. They felt a $500,000 fine was excessive and reduced the fine to $20,000.

-TECH32-

-- TECH32 (TECH32@NOMAIL.COM), September 14, 1999.

A few years ago in OR, the police found $10,000 in a car driven by a family from Mexico. Police said it was too much money for them to have gotten legally. It was confiscated. They claimed that it was their life savings. They lost the appeal because they could not prove that it was legally obtained.

-- spider (spider0@usa.net), September 14, 1999.

Your government -- to protect and serve. Whom?

-- A (A@AisA.com), September 14, 1999.

Has it occurred to anyone else that the forfeiture procedures and the seizures of large sums of cash may in fact be a "safe" payment of bribes? The police collect the money, the persons in the car are not charged, and the drugs continue to flow freely.

Am I the only one who has become this cynical of the system?

cynic

-- cynic (skeptic@septic.tank), September 14, 1999.

When are you guys gonna learn your money isn't really yours? It belongs to the economy. You can have enough to pay the bill at Dennys, fill up your tank, or buy a yo-yo for your kid. Take enough cash out of the bank to live, and we're gonna tell on you...nya nya. Now use your Visa!

-- Gia (laureltree7@hotmail.com), September 14, 1999.

cynic, you might be interested to know that in an article on the abuse of forfeiture laws in Arkansas that appeared in the Northwest Arkansas Times a few weeks ago (I actually posted a link on this forum, but it went dead, unfortunately), one of the examples cited was a case where both cash and drugs were found in a vehicle. However, as part of the so-called "plea bargain", the vehicle occupant agreed not to contest the seizure of the cash, and, as part of the deal, was not charged with any crime!

-- Jack (jsprat@eld.net), September 14, 1999.