Read this article and weep for our country. The money paragraphs:
"In a decade-long battle, Yacubian was thwarted at every turn. When he was ready to show that the NOAA's equipment was so unreliable it couldn't prove he had been in a forbidden area, his expert witness -- a respected Massachusetts Environmental Police officer -- came under pressure and asked to be excused from testifying. Yacubian lost his case, his permits, his boat and his income.
When Yacubian asked for a discretionary appeal -- inside the agency -- he was refused, and had to make to make a costly appeal to a federal court. He won the appeal, and the federal judge ordered his vessel permit and operator permit restored, and sent the case back to the NOAA for reworking according to his instructions. The NOAA ignored the federal judge, withheld Yacubian's permits and went through the same motions and same decision as before.
Yacubian's attorney's fees mounted to more than $250,000, and he tried to sell his boat and permits, worth nearly a million dollars. The NOAA blocked the sale three times by refusing to release the permits -- without which the boat was unsalable. Without an income and out of resources, in July 2005 Yacubian gave up and settled with the NOAA. The agency got everything, and he got less than half the boat's sale price."
I am so sick of the abuse the "public servents" heap on the people in pursuit of a political agenda. After a while, behavior like this has only one effective deterent. Tar/feathers/jail time.
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