Archive for April, 2008
April 19, 2008 at 12:12 pm · Filed under Government, Law, Opinion, Politics
If you have read Part I, and hopefully you aren’t reading Part II without having read Part I, you might be scratching your head right now. What the hell is he talking about? If you’re having trouble figuring out what I was referring to at the close of Part I, let me end the suspense for you right now. Where, in this vast and great nation, can be found an environment where written laws exist, and are even enforced, which blatantly run in contrast to the laws set forth by the authors of the First Amendment to the Unites States Constitution? Where in America is one not able to speak freely, practice their religion, or assemble peacefully unless ordered or invited to do so?
In the American Courtroom, that’s where.
We’ve all seen the television law shows that the U.S. networks just love to make. You know the ones I am talking about — a well-intentioned lawyer speaks out against a decision made by a sadly indifferent judge and then winds up in jail over night because the judge rules to hold them in contempt of court? True, this is just television, but contempt is a real status that can be, and often is, conveyed upon those present at legal proceedings.
Okay, okay, right now you’re probably saying to yourself that I’m some kind of idealist, right? I mean, a court has to have the ability to maintain order and ensure that the legal process can be executed without being held hostage to a lunatic. What’s wrong with giving judges enough athority to ensure order in the court system?
Chiefly: It is expressly forbidden by Amendment 1 to the United States Constitution!
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
— United States Constitution: Amendment I
Also:
“…No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of Citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
— United States Constitution: Amendment XIV, Section 1
And so you see, whatever State, County, or Municipal Laws that may exist with respect to the Court’s authority to hold a person in contempt for certain things that, in another setting, would not be criminal at all are in fact illegitimate from conception to enforcement. Now, are people being locked up in droves for speaking their minds in a courtroom? No. Should people be allowed to wantonly lie or embellish their recounts of events vital to an ongoing trial? Of course not. But I have seen first hand a judge using this alleged authority to keep people in line, according to their own way of thinking. It’s almost as if some judges feel as though they are tending to their children rather than hearing the cases of free people.
I’ve been in court once or twice in my life, I don’t claim to be perfect. But I saw a judge do something during one of my court visits that sent chills down my spine. While taking the plea of a defendant the judge executed what I considered to be a fowl perversion of his given authorities. The defendant was a young man, probably not yet even twenty. He had a tendency to cuss a lot, something that certainly didn’t bother me at the time because I was a Sailor. (We cuss a lot too!) But it was clear that the judge did not share my sentiment. He threatened to fine the young man for being in contempt of his court, and all because he didn’t like the way in which that young man was speaking to him. Well, you know what? Tough shit, your honor!
That young man’s right to speak in any way he chooses is guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and what’s more, that very same document expressly forbids any State (and if you understand the hierarchical nature of American Government you know that State Government has final authority over County and Municipal Government, and in turn Federal Government has final authority over State Government, except in cases of law suits between two States) from abridging the rights of the people to speak freely or to do any other thing guaranteed them by the Constitution of the United States.
If you ever take a Constitutional Law class, and it would behoove every American to do so, you will undoubtedly learn about the U.S. Supreme Court cases of McCulloch v Maryland and Osborn v Bank of The United States. You will also likely learn about a previous attempt by the American Government to stifle free speech known as the Alien and Sedition Acts. Suffice it here to say that it was made very clear through the precedence set by these three cases that States would not have the authority to supersede the Federal Government, thereby securing the Federalist nature of the U.S. Government(s). Neither then would the Federal Government be able to pass or enforce a law that would hinder free speech. If the Feds couldn’t do it, neither can the States or any other lower form of Government that may exist anywhere in the States.
Anyways, I suppose I could go on and on, pretty much already have in fact. But the best thing that could happen from the writing of this two part article would be that some of my readers go out and buy their own, personal copy of the U.S. Constitution and then read about all of this for themselves. I would love a discussion on this topic as well if you have differing points of view than mine.
Thanks for your time!
JMK
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April 18, 2008 at 11:53 am · Filed under Government, Law, Opinion, Politics
So there I was watching the debate, night before last, between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, which was broadcast from Philadelphia, PA. Honestly, I felt that both candidates did pretty well considering the “shoddy, despicable performances” of moderators Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos.
Hillary was constantly reciting the words, “…like we had in the 90’s,” throwing back to hubby Bill’s administration. She was clearly hoping to cash in on the success of his tenure in the Oval Office. She did so enough times in the first hour or so of the show that I began to feel for her, was that really all she had to say?
Barack was not allowing George Stephanopoulos to deep six him, despite the tiny man seemingly putting forth a lot of effort to do so. In fact, George focused so much on Obama that Charles Gibson had to continually remind everyone that the time was getting out of balance, with Hillary falling behind her equal share.
The “debate” was hosted by the National Constitution Center, a locale well suited for such an event. In fact, between questions Gibson would quote bits of the U.S. Constitution, occasionally even putting the Democratic candidates on the spot by asking their opinions on the interpretation of specific quotes. One that stood out to me had to do with the process for selecting a Vice President during Presidential Elections.
The following quote comes directly from the U.S. Constitution:
“In every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President.”
— United States Constitution, Article II: The Executive Branch
Immediately after reading this passage from that great American document, Charles Gibson posed a question to Hillary that was something to the effect of, “If this was good enough for the Founding Fathers, why is it not good enough for America today?” Hillary completely avoided answering the question, as would be expected. It would be bad mojo for any candidate to get into a debate about Constitutional Law during an election year. Were a candidate suspected of not fully understanding the very source of all of our national liberties they would certainly not be electable in the eyes of the American People.
I am not excusing the sidestepping of such an important question. I think it’s shameful regardless of who avoids the question, but I can at least understand why Mrs. Clinton didn’t want to answer on national television. But this got me thinking.
Not too many years ago I took, and passed mind you, a Constitutional Law class as part of my Political Science program. I knew from that experience that there are many such examples of older passages being usurped by newer amendments. This is one of the reasons why the accurate interpretation of the document is so arduous a task. Simply keeping the new separate from the old can be a daunting task. But I couldn’t remember this particular matter off the top of my head, so I grabbed my copy of the U.S. Constitution and looked the article up.
What Mr. Gibson had been referring to was the fact that this original method for the selection of a Vice president during an election year had since been superseded by the Twelfth amendment. So I flipped to the page where the text of Amendment XII began. What I discovered was, sadly, of little surprise to me. The process was indeed different from the quote given by Mr. Gibson, but the current process described by the U.S. Constitution is also not the one actually used in our Presidential Elections, near as I can tell.
Another quote from the U.S. Constitution:
“The Electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President… ; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President , and of all persons voted for as Vice-President…”
— United States Constitution: Amendment XXII
Indeed, it’s almost as if somewhere along the way the “powers that be” managed to completely disregard the Constitution’s directions and created their own process for selecting the second most powerful man in the World. What’s even more sad is the fact that it doesn’t end with our elections. In fact, there are so many things guaranteed and directed by the Constitution — and the document in question is law mind you — which are overlooked, sidestepped, or altogether disregarded by the practices of our modern government that it’s a wonder any Americans feel safe or secure here at all.
Let’s talk now about the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. This is probably the one written law that every single American alive today can relate to and exercise regardless of race, creed, or color. Much effort and even more money has been spent over the two-hundred-plus years of our nation’s existence to ensure access to the freedoms granted in this one amendment. Probably more so than for any other, though I do not have any hard figures to offer you and could be mistaken in this assumption.
My point on the subject is pretty simple, we can easily consider our access to the rights granted in Amendment I of our Constitution to be the greatest litmus test for the state of our union. Should the day ever arrive where Americans no longer have access to those rights, it is likely that the sun has also set on the “empire.”
And yet, it has already happened. Even today there are places in this nation where a person is not guaranteed their freedoms of speech, press, religion, and assembly. What’s more, this sad state of affairs is mandated by laws, laws which blatantly run contrary to the one set of laws that are supposed to be pinnacle to all — those held within our beloved United States Constitution.
JMK
Be sure to read Part II of Let’s Talk Constitutional Law!
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April 15, 2008 at 5:55 am · Filed under Excitement, Music, Radio
Over the weekend I threw back to one of my oldest talents, music! True I got very little writing done, next to zero in fact, but then such has been the way of things before. I tend to sway back and forth between my writing and my music. At times, weeks will go by and I will do nothing but write. In fact, this is what finally allowed me to finish my book, which was five years in the making from start to finish. Then, at other times, I’ll have absolutely no motivation to write and wind up recording several new tracks.
Lately the pendulum has been hanging vicariously over the music side of things. Last Weekend I recorded a new song called It’s Revolution, this weekend I recorded two radio shows. It was a blast from the past. I’d been on the radio before back in Hawaii with my band Never Again, but I haven’t been near a stage or a radio station in years. I had a lot of fun though.
First I appeared as Mad Squid (I own the trademark to Mad Squid Productions, a name I’ve used for promoting my music projects) on an Underground Hip-Hop show hosted by the U.I.K. and courtesy of DJ Sketch and H33T R4DIO (www.h33t.com). Then I recorded a 1 hour punk rock show. It was a ton of fun and I hope to repeat the experience next week. Of course, that decision is out my hands.
More to come…
JMK
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April 12, 2008 at 6:44 am · Filed under Excitement, Government, Opinion, Politics
The Vice President of the United States of America arrived in my hometown of Grand Junction yesterday, and received the only welcome that the man could hope to expect after 8 years of war mongering and failed policy: throngs of protesters. Tricky Dick was in town to attend a fund raiser for Republican Senate candidate Bob Shaffer, but even the weather here in the Grand Valley knew better than to give the VP a warm welcome. After days and days of warmth and sunshine, it actually snowed and hailed all day — a fitting reception for such a cold-hearted “leader.”
I wanted very much to be among the protesters but it wouldn’t have been fair to my 10-month old son to stand out in the cold just so daddy could fight the good fight and exercise his Constitutional rights. My 2-year old daughter would have loved it, mostly because the Republican propagandists saw fit to line the streets with school children. I can’t even begin to tell you how wrong this, but i will try. These kids don’t understand politics. They were escorted to the site of Dick’s motorcade because they were the only demographic that his people could count on to give Tricky Dick an enthusiastic welcome. Never mind the fact that school children have no place at political rallies.
Unless I’m mistaken, school is for learning facts about the world in which we live, not for the forcible indoctrination of our children into our political lives. Of course, this whole issue comes into perfect focus when you consider which school these children were from: Holy Family Catholic School. It’s a good thing too, because if our public schools had sent children to receive the VP I’d be writing letters to government officials right now rather than crafting this analysis of Cheney’s blatant waste of tax dollars.
And that makes perfect segue into my next point: this entire affair was conducted at the tax-payer’s expense. Never mind the fact that this was a private function held specifically for political ends, Dick Cheney doesn’t care. He flew in on Air Force 2 and enjoyed police protection from our local police forces. Never mind the fact that the dollars to pay for all of that came from federal, state and local tax coffers.
Where does the Republican Party get off spending our tax dollars, in the middle of the worst deficit our nation has ever faced, for private politicking? What’s more, a quick visit to the Mesa County Republicans website will show you a short video where they claim to practice “Fiscal Responsibility.” The name of the video is “Principles Matter.” What about the principal of not wasting my taxes on this crap!
As would be expected the Mesa County Republican Party Chairman was there with the VP yesterday. Gary Roahrig, a man who I once looked up to as my Webelo Cub Scout leader, is no fool. He’s a smart man who cut his teeth on the bag manufacturing industry here in the valley. It’s not an industry that sports obvious motivations for participation, but the man made a pretty penny doing it. He was a great Cub Scout leader, but a poor parent. His son attended public schools with me and was known, as were most of his friends, for promulgating the ugly “jock mentality” around campus.
They were thugs and bullies, and the only people who liked them were folks of their own ilk. But it begs the question of what Gary is doing at the helm of the local chapter of a national political party. Of course, the Right Wingers love that thuggish, brute-mentality. I suppose his boy is probably in line for a Republican Party chapter of his very own. In this way he can follow in his father’s footsteps and waste our tax dollars by funding private political functions out of our ever shrinking General Fund.
A word to Dick Cheney: please note, sir (man it was hard to add that), that the protesters you encountered yesterday were but a small slice of a growing pie. That’s right, even here in the legendarily conservative Western Slope of Colorado your wrong-doings do not go unnoticed. Your failed policies, and those of your impish, schoolyard bully of a boss will not earn you respite here. Should you return, or should G.W. himself see fit to stop here, the numbers of protesters will only grow.
I will make a point of being there next time. You’ll know me when you see me because my sign will be the largest, it will be held the highest, and it will carry the most poignant message of them all. But then, your tenure is almost past now, and with any luck at all our nation can finally begin to heal. You’ll have to spread your poison in a ritzy retirement home at Bethesda, only nobody will be listening anymore. The twilight years for tyrants are almost always lonely and painful. I hope with all of my soul that this is true for you and George.
JMK
(P.S. Shame on you as well Mr. Bob Shaffer. You were, after all, the reason behind this hoggish waste of my tax dollars. I sometimes wonder why I bother paying taxes at all if people like you and Tricky Dick are just going to waste my dollars.)
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April 11, 2008 at 5:14 pm · Filed under General
The Daily Show’s John Oliver put together a stunning smackdown of Fox News on last night’s show, punctuated by some damning clips showing egregious comments from some anchors (John Gibson, natch) and some — gasp! — flip-flopping on certain positions (like, say, executive privilege).
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