------ Forwarded Message > From: Sardar <sar...@spiritone.com> > Date: Mon, 5 Oct 2009 18:39:47 -0700 > To: Sardar <recon1968br...@yahoo.com> > Subject: Federal SWAT Raid Over . Orchids > > Federal SWAT Raid Over . Orchids > a.. Text size > b.. > c.. > > Radley Balko > Reason > October 5, 2009 > > So as it turns out, even the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has its own SWAT > team. > > You don't need to know. You can't know." That's what Kathy Norris, a > 60-year-old grandmother of eight, was told when she tried to ask court > officials why, the day before, federal agents had subjected her home to a > furious search. > > The agents who spent half a day ransacking Mrs. Norris' longtime home in > Spring, Texas, answered no questions while they emptied file cabinets, > pulled books off shelves, rifled through drawers and closets, and threw the > contents on the floor. > > The six agents, wearing SWAT gear and carrying weapons, were with - get > this- the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. > > Kathy and George Norris lived under the specter of a covert government > investigation for almost six months before the government unsealed a secret > indictment and revealed why the Fish and Wildlife Service had treated their > family home as if it were a training base for suspected terrorists. Orchids. > > That's right. Orchids. > > By March 2004, federal prosecutors were well on their way to turning > 66-year-old retiree George Norris into an inmate in a federal penitentiary - > based on his home-based business of cultivating, importing and selling > orchids.. > > Mr. Norris ended up spending almost two years in prison because he didn't > have the proper paperwork for some of the many orchids he imported. The > orchids were all legal - but Mr. Norris and the overseas shippers who had > packaged the flowers had failed to properly navigate the many, often > irrational, paperwork requirements the U.S. imposed when it implemented an > arcane international treaty's new restrictions on trade in flowers and other > flora. > > The judge who sentenced Mr. Norris had some advice for him and his wife: > "Life sometimes presents us with lemons." Their job was, yes, to "turn > lemons into lemonade." > > Or just wait for the inevitable SWAT team to come and smash them for you. > > http://www.infowars.com/federal-swat-raid-over-orchids/
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