mirror of
https://github.com/nhammer514/textfiles-politics.git
synced 2025-08-02 11:06:08 -04:00
Updating fulltext page with whole lotta conspiracies
This commit is contained in:
parent
884c7f1d74
commit
a787c49941
333 changed files with 223374 additions and 83 deletions
553
docs/collection/bor-stat.html
Normal file
553
docs/collection/bor-stat.html
Normal file
|
@ -0,0 +1,553 @@
|
|||
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
|
||||
<head>
|
||||
<title>bor-stat</title>
|
||||
<link rel="stylesheet" href="../CSSstyle.css"/>
|
||||
<!--Fill in your link line for CSS and JS in the XSLT here! -->
|
||||
</head>
|
||||
<body>
|
||||
<h1 id="title-index">Politics-Conspiracies-Project</h1>
|
||||
<nav id="menu">
|
||||
<a href="../index.html">
|
||||
<div class="button">Home</div>
|
||||
</a>
|
||||
<a href="../fulltext2.html">
|
||||
<div class="button">Fulltext</div>
|
||||
</a>
|
||||
<a href="../analysis.html">
|
||||
<div class="button">Analysis</div>
|
||||
</a>
|
||||
<a href="../gallery.html">
|
||||
<div class="button">Gallery</div>
|
||||
</a>
|
||||
<a href="../methods.html">
|
||||
<div class="button">Methods</div>
|
||||
</a>
|
||||
<a href="../about.html">
|
||||
<div class="button">About</div>
|
||||
</a>
|
||||
<a href="../GitHub.html">
|
||||
<div class="button">GitHub <img alt="github icon"
|
||||
src="https://logos-download.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/GitHub_logo.png"
|
||||
width="15"/>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
</a>
|
||||
</nav>
|
||||
<h2>bor-stat</h2>
|
||||
<p> Feel free to copy this article far and wide, but please
|
||||
keep my name and this sentence on it.</p>
|
||||
<p> The Bill of Rights, a Status Report
|
||||
by Eric Postpischil</p>
|
||||
<p> 4 September 1990</p>
|
||||
<p> 6 Hamlett Drive, Apt. 17
|
||||
Nashua, NH 03062</p>
|
||||
<p> edp@jareth.enet.dec.com</p>
|
||||
<p> How many rights do you have? You should check, because it
|
||||
might not be as many today as it was a few years ago, or
|
||||
even a few months ago. Some people I talk to are not
|
||||
concerned that police will execute a search warrant without
|
||||
knocking or that they set up roadblocks and stop and
|
||||
interrogate innocent citizens. They do not regard these as
|
||||
great infringements on their rights. But when you put
|
||||
current events together, there is information that may be
|
||||
surprising to people who have not yet been concerned: The
|
||||
amount of the Bill of Rights that is under attack is
|
||||
alarming.</p>
|
||||
<p> Let's take a look at the Bill of Rights and see which
|
||||
aspects are being pushed on or threatened. The point here
|
||||
is not the degree of each attack or its rightness or
|
||||
wrongness, but the sheer number of rights that are under
|
||||
attack.</p>
|
||||
<p> Amendment I</p>
|
||||
<p> 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.</p>
|
||||
<p> ESTABLISHING RELIGION: While campaigning for his first
|
||||
term, George Bush said "I don't know that atheists should
|
||||
be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered
|
||||
patriots." Bush has not retracted, commented on, or
|
||||
clarified this statement, in spite of requests to do so.
|
||||
According to Bush, this is one nation under God. And
|
||||
apparently if you are not within Bush's religious beliefs,
|
||||
you are not a citizen. Federal, state, and local
|
||||
governments also promote a particular religion (or,
|
||||
occasionally, religions) by spending public money on
|
||||
religious displays.</p>
|
||||
<p> FREE EXERCISE OF RELIGION: Robert Newmeyer and Glenn
|
||||
Braunstein were jailed in 1988 for refusing to stand in
|
||||
respect for a judge. Braunstein says the tradition of
|
||||
rising in court started decades ago when judges entered
|
||||
carrying Bibles. Since judges no longer carry Bibles,
|
||||
Braunstein says there is no reason to stand -- and his
|
||||
Bible tells him to honor no other God. For this religious
|
||||
practice, Newmeyer and Braunstein were jailed and are now
|
||||
suing.</p>
|
||||
<p> FREE SPEECH: We find that technology has given the
|
||||
government an excuse to interfere with free speech.
|
||||
Claiming that radio frequencies are a limited resource, the
|
||||
government tells broadcasters what to say (such as news and
|
||||
public and local service programming) and what not to say
|
||||
(obscenity, as defined by the Federal Communications
|
||||
Commission [FCC]). The FCC is investigating Boston PBS
|
||||
station WGBH-TV for broadcasting photographs from the
|
||||
Mapplethorpe exhibit.</p>
|
||||
<p> FREE SPEECH: There are also laws to limit political
|
||||
statements and contributions to political activities. In
|
||||
1985, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce wanted to take out
|
||||
an advertisement supporting a candidate in the state house
|
||||
of representatives. But a 1976 Michigan law prohibits a
|
||||
corporation from using its general treasury funds to make
|
||||
independent expenditures in a political campaign. In
|
||||
March, the Supreme Court upheld that law. According to
|
||||
dissenting Justice Kennedy, it is now a felony in Michigan
|
||||
for the Sierra Club, the American Civil Liberties Union, or
|
||||
the Chamber of Commerce to advise the public how a
|
||||
candidate voted on issues of urgent concern to their
|
||||
members.</p>
|
||||
<p> FREE PRESS: As in speech, technology has provided another
|
||||
excuse for government intrusion in the press. If you
|
||||
distribute a magazine electronically and do not print
|
||||
copies, the government doesn't consider you a press and
|
||||
does not give you the same protections courts have extended
|
||||
to printed news. The equipment used to publish Phrack, a
|
||||
worldwide electronic magazine about phones and hacking, was
|
||||
confiscated after publishing a document copied from a Bell
|
||||
South computer entitled "A Bell South Standard Practice
|
||||
(BSP) 660-225-104SV Control Office Administration of
|
||||
Enhanced 911 Services for Special Services and Major
|
||||
Account Centers, March, 1988." All of the information in
|
||||
this document was publicly available from Bell South in
|
||||
other documents. The government has not alleged that the
|
||||
publisher of Phrack, Craig Neidorf, was involved with or
|
||||
participated in the copying of the document. Also, the
|
||||
person who copied this document from telephone company
|
||||
computers placed a copy on a bulletin board run by Rich
|
||||
Andrews. Andrews forwarded a copy to AT&T officials and
|
||||
cooperated with authorities fully. In return, the Secret
|
||||
Service (SS) confiscated Andrews' computer along with all
|
||||
the mail and data that were on it. Andrews was not charged
|
||||
with any crime.</p>
|
||||
<p> FREE PRESS: In another incident that would be comical if
|
||||
it were not true, on March 1 the SS ransacked the offices
|
||||
of Steve Jackson Games (<span class="ORG">SJG</span>); irreparably damaged property;
|
||||
and confiscated three computers, two laser printers,
|
||||
several hard disks, and many boxes of paper and floppy
|
||||
disks. The target of the SS operation was to seize all
|
||||
copies of a game of fiction called GURPS Cyberpunk. The
|
||||
Cyberpunk game contains fictitious break-ins in a
|
||||
futuristic world, with no technical information of actual
|
||||
use with real computers, nor is it played on computers.
|
||||
The SS never filed any charges against <span class="ORG">SJG</span> but still
|
||||
refused to return confiscated property.</p>
|
||||
<p> PEACEABLE ASSEMBLY: The right to assemble peaceably is no
|
||||
longer free -- you have to get a permit. Even that is not
|
||||
enough; some officials have to be sued before they realize
|
||||
their reasons for denying a permit are not Constitutional.</p>
|
||||
<p> PEACEABLE ASSEMBLY: In Alexandria, Virginia, there is a
|
||||
law that prohibits people from loitering for more than
|
||||
seven minutes and exchanging small objects. Punishment is
|
||||
two years in jail. Consider the scene in jail: "What'd
|
||||
you do?" "I was waiting at a bus stop and gave a guy a
|
||||
cigarette." This is not an impossible occurrence: In
|
||||
Pittsburgh, Eugene Tyler, 15, has been ordered away from
|
||||
bus stops by police officers. Sherman Jones, also 15, was
|
||||
accosted with a police officer's hands around his neck
|
||||
after putting the last bit of pizza crust into his mouth.
|
||||
The police suspected him of hiding drugs.</p>
|
||||
<p> PETITION FOR REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES: Rounding out the
|
||||
attacks on the first amendment, there is a sword hanging
|
||||
over the right to petition for redress of grievances.
|
||||
House Resolution 4079, the National Drug and Crime
|
||||
Emergency Act, tries to "modify" the right to habeas
|
||||
corpus. It sets time limits on the right of people in
|
||||
custody to petition for redress and also limits the courts
|
||||
in which such an appeal may be heard.</p>
|
||||
<p> Amendment II</p>
|
||||
<p> A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the
|
||||
security of a free State, the right of the people
|
||||
to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.</p>
|
||||
<p> RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS: This amendment is so commonly
|
||||
challenged that the movement has its own name: gun
|
||||
control. Legislation banning various types of weapons is
|
||||
supported with the claim that the weapons are not for
|
||||
"legitimate" sporting purposes. This is a perversion of
|
||||
the right to bear arms for two reasons. First, the basis
|
||||
of freedom is not that permission to do legitimate things
|
||||
is granted to the people, but rather that the government is
|
||||
empowered to do a limited number of legitimate things --
|
||||
everything else people are free to do; they do not need to
|
||||
justify their choices. Second, should the need for defense
|
||||
arise, it will not be hordes of deer that the security of a
|
||||
free state needs to be defended from. Defense would be
|
||||
needed against humans, whether external invaders or
|
||||
internal oppressors. It is an unfortunate fact of life
|
||||
that the guns that would be needed to defend the security
|
||||
of a state are guns to attack people, not guns for sporting
|
||||
purposes.</p>
|
||||
<p> Firearms regulations also empower local officials, such as
|
||||
police chiefs, to grant or deny permits. This results in
|
||||
towns where only friends of people in the right places are
|
||||
granted permits, or towns where women are generally denied
|
||||
the right to carry a weapon for self-defense.</p>
|
||||
<p> Amendment III</p>
|
||||
<p> No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered
|
||||
in any house, without the consent of the Owner,
|
||||
nor in time of war, but in a manner to be
|
||||
prescribed by law.</p>
|
||||
<p> QUARTERING SOLDIERS: This amendment is fairly clean so
|
||||
far, but it is not entirely safe. Recently, 200 troops in
|
||||
camouflage dress with M-16s and helicopters swept through
|
||||
Kings Ridge National Forest in Humboldt County, California.
|
||||
In the process of searching for marijuana plants for four
|
||||
days, soldiers assaulted people on private land with M-16s
|
||||
and barred them from their own property. This might not be
|
||||
a direct hit on the third amendment, but the disregard for
|
||||
private property is uncomfortably close.</p>
|
||||
<p> Amendment IV</p>
|
||||
<p> The right of the people to be secure in their
|
||||
persons, houses, papers and effects, against
|
||||
unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be
|
||||
violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon
|
||||
probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation,
|
||||
and particularly describing the place to be
|
||||
searched, and the persons or things to be seized.</p>
|
||||
<p> RIGHT TO BE SECURE IN PERSONS, HOUSES, PAPERS AND EFFECTS
|
||||
AGAINST UNREASONABLE SEARCHES AND SEIZURES: The RICO law
|
||||
is making a mockery of the right to be secure from seizure.
|
||||
Entire stores of books or videotapes have been confiscated
|
||||
based upon the presence of some sexually explicit items.
|
||||
Bars, restaurants, or houses are taken from the owners
|
||||
because employees or tenants sold drugs. In Volusia
|
||||
County, Florida, Sheriff Robert Vogel and his officers stop
|
||||
automobiles for contrived violations. If large amounts of
|
||||
cash are found, the police confiscate it on the PRESUMPTION
|
||||
that it is drug money -- even if there is no other evidence
|
||||
and no charges are filed against the car's occupants. The
|
||||
victims can get their money back only if they prove the
|
||||
money was obtained legally. One couple got their money
|
||||
back by proving it was an insurance settlement. Two other
|
||||
men who tried to get their two thousand dollars back were
|
||||
denied by the Florida courts.
|
||||
|
||||
RIGHT TO BE SECURE IN PERSONS, HOUSES, PAPERS AND EFFECTS
|
||||
AGAINST UNREASONABLE SEARCHES AND SEIZURES: A new law goes
|
||||
into effect in Oklahoma on January 1, 1991. All property,
|
||||
real and personal, is taxable, and citizens are required to
|
||||
list all their personal property for tax assessors,
|
||||
including household furniture, gold and silver plate,
|
||||
musical instruments, watches, jewelry, and personal,
|
||||
private, or professional libraries. If a citizen refuses
|
||||
to list their property or is suspected of not listing
|
||||
something, the law directs the assessor to visit and enter
|
||||
the premises, getting a search warrant if necessary. Being
|
||||
required to tell the state everything you own is not being
|
||||
secure in one's home and effects.
|
||||
|
||||
NO WARRANTS SHALL ISSUE, BUT UPON PROBABLE CAUSE, SUPPORTED
|
||||
BY OATH OR AFFIRMATION: As a supporting oath or
|
||||
affirmation, reports of anonymous informants are accepted.
|
||||
This practice has been condoned by the Supreme Court.</p>
|
||||
<p> PARTICULARLY DESCRIBING THE PLACE TO BE SEARCHED AND
|
||||
PERSONS OR THINGS TO BE SEIZED: Today's warrants do not
|
||||
particularly describe the things to be seized -- they list
|
||||
things that might be present. For example, if police are
|
||||
making a drug raid, they will list weapons as things to be
|
||||
searched for and seized. This is done not because the
|
||||
police know of any weapons and can particularly describe
|
||||
them, but because they allege people with drugs often have
|
||||
weapons.</p>
|
||||
<p> Both of the above apply to the warrant the Hudson, New
|
||||
Hampshire, police used when they broke down Bruce Lavoie's
|
||||
door at 5 a.m. with guns drawn and shot and killed him.
|
||||
The warrant claimed information from an anonymous
|
||||
informant, and it said, among other things, that guns were
|
||||
to be seized. The mention of guns in the warrant was used
|
||||
as reason to enter with guns drawn. Bruce Lavoie had no
|
||||
guns. Bruce Lavoie was not secure from unreasonable search
|
||||
and seizure -- nor is anybody else.</p>
|
||||
<p> Other infringements on the fourth amendment include
|
||||
roadblocks and the Boston Police detention of people based
|
||||
on colors they are wearing (supposedly indicating gang
|
||||
membership). And in Pittsburgh again, Eugene Tyler was
|
||||
once searched because he was wearing sweat pants and a
|
||||
plaid shirt -- police told him they heard many drug dealers
|
||||
at that time were wearing sweat pants and plaid shirts.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
<p> Amendment V</p>
|
||||
<p> No person shall be held to answer for a capital,
|
||||
or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a
|
||||
presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except
|
||||
in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or
|
||||
in the Militia, when in actual service in time of
|
||||
War or public danger; nor shall any person be
|
||||
subject to the same offence to be twice put in
|
||||
jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled
|
||||
in any criminal case to be a witness against
|
||||
himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or
|
||||
property, without due process of law; nor shall
|
||||
private property be taken for public use without
|
||||
just compensation.</p>
|
||||
<p> INDICTMENT OF A GRAND JURY: Kevin Bjornson has been
|
||||
proprietor of Hydro-Tech for nearly a decade and is a
|
||||
leading authority on hydroponic technology and cultivation.
|
||||
On October 26, 1989, both locations of Hydro-Tech were
|
||||
raided by the Drug Enforcement Administration. National
|
||||
Drug Control Policy Director William Bennett has declared
|
||||
that some indoor lighting and hydroponic equipment is
|
||||
purchased by marijuana growers, so retailers and
|
||||
wholesalers of such equipment are drug profiteers and
|
||||
co-conspirators. Bjornson was not charged with any crime,
|
||||
nor subpoenaed, issued a warrant, or arrested. No illegal
|
||||
substances were found on his premises. Federal officials
|
||||
were unable to convince grand juries to indict Bjornson.
|
||||
By February, they had called scores of witnesses and
|
||||
recalled many two or three times, but none of the grand
|
||||
juries they convened decided there was reason to criminally
|
||||
prosecute Bjornson. In spite of that, as of March, his
|
||||
bank accounts were still frozen and none of the inventories
|
||||
or records had been returned. Grand juries refused to
|
||||
indict Bjornson, but the government is still penalizing
|
||||
him.</p>
|
||||
<p> TWICE PUT IN JEOPARDY OF LIFE OR LIMB: Members of the
|
||||
McMartin family in California have been tried two or three
|
||||
times for child abuse. Anthony Barnaby was tried for
|
||||
murder (without evidence linking him to the crime) three
|
||||
times before New Hampshire let him go.</p>
|
||||
<p> COMPELLED TO BE A WITNESS AGAINST HIMSELF: Oliver <span class="PERSON">North</span>
|
||||
was forced to testify against himself. Congress granted
|
||||
him immunity from having anything he said to them being
|
||||
used as evidence against him, and then they required him to
|
||||
talk. After he did so, what he said was used to find other
|
||||
evidence which was used against him. The courts also play
|
||||
games where you can be required to testify against yourself
|
||||
if you testify at all.</p>
|
||||
<p> COMPELLED TO BE A WITNESS AGAINST HIMSELF: In the New York
|
||||
Central Park assault case, three people were found guilty
|
||||
of assault. But there was no physical evidence linking
|
||||
them to the crime; semen did not match any of the
|
||||
defendants. The only evidence the state had was
|
||||
confessions. To obtain these confessions, the police
|
||||
questioned a 15-year old without a parent present -- which
|
||||
is illegal under New York state law. Police also refused
|
||||
to let the subject's Big Brother, an attorney for the
|
||||
Federal government, see him during questioning. Police
|
||||
screamed "You better tell us what we want to hear and
|
||||
cooperate or you are going to jail," at 14-year-old Antron
|
||||
McCray, according to Bobby McCray, his father. Antron
|
||||
McCray "confessed" after his father told him to, so that
|
||||
police would release him. These people were coerced into
|
||||
bearing witness against themselves, and those confessions
|
||||
were used to convict them.</p>
|
||||
<p> COMPELLED TO BE A WITNESS AGAINST HIMSELF: Your answers to
|
||||
Census questions are required by law, with a $100 penalty
|
||||
for each question not answered. But people have been
|
||||
evicted for giving honest Census answers. According to the
|
||||
General Accounting Office, one of the most frequent ways
|
||||
city governments use census information is to detect
|
||||
illegal two-family dwellings. This has happened in
|
||||
Montgomery County, Maryland; Pullman, Washington; and Long
|
||||
Island, New York. The August 8, 1989, Wall Street Journal
|
||||
reports this and other ways Census answers have been used
|
||||
against the answerers.
|
||||
|
||||
COMPELLED TO BE A WITNESS AGAINST HIMSELF: Drug tests are
|
||||
being required from more and more people, even when there
|
||||
is no probable cause, no accident, and no suspicion of drug
|
||||
use. Requiring people to take drug tests compels them to
|
||||
provide evidence against themselves.
|
||||
|
||||
DEPRIVED OF LIFE, LIBERTY, OR PROPERTY WITHOUT DUE PROCESS
|
||||
OF LAW: This clause is violated on each of the items life,
|
||||
liberty, and property. Incidents including such violations
|
||||
are described elsewhere in this article. Here are two
|
||||
more: On March 26, 1987, in Jeffersontown, Kentucky,
|
||||
Jeffrey Miles was killed by police officer John Rucker, who
|
||||
was looking for a suspected drug dealer. Rucker had been
|
||||
sent to the wrong house; Miles was not wanted by police.
|
||||
He received no due process. In Detroit, $4834 was seized
|
||||
from a grocery store after dogs detected traces of cocaine
|
||||
on three one-dollar bills in a cash register.
|
||||
|
||||
PRIVATE PROPERTY TAKEN FOR PUBLIC USE WITHOUT JUST
|
||||
COMPENSATION: RICO is shredding this aspect of the Bill of
|
||||
Rights. The money confiscated by Sheriff Vogel goes
|
||||
directly into Vogel's budget; it is not regulated by the
|
||||
legislature. Federal and local governments seize and
|
||||
auction boats, buildings, and other property. Under RICO,
|
||||
the government is seizing property without due process.
|
||||
The victims are required to prove not only that they are
|
||||
not guilty of a crime, but that they are entitled to their
|
||||
property. Otherwise, the government auctions off the
|
||||
property and keeps the proceeds.</p>
|
||||
<p> Amendment VI</p>
|
||||
<p> In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall
|
||||
enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by
|
||||
an impartial jury of the State and district
|
||||
wherein the crime shall have been committed,
|
||||
which district shall have been previously
|
||||
ascertained by law, and to be informed of the
|
||||
nature and cause of the accusation; to be
|
||||
confronted with the witnesses against him; to
|
||||
have compulsory process for obtaining Witnesses
|
||||
in his favor, and to have the assistance of
|
||||
counsel for his defence.
|
||||
|
||||
THE RIGHT TO A SPEEDY AND PUBLIC TRIAL: Surprisingly, the
|
||||
right to a public trial is under attack. When Marion Barry
|
||||
was being tried, the prosecution attempted to bar Louis
|
||||
Farrakhan and George Stallings from the gallery. This
|
||||
request was based on an allegation that they would send
|
||||
silent and "impermissible messages" to the jurors. The
|
||||
judge initially granted this request. One might argue that
|
||||
the whole point of a public trial is to send a message to
|
||||
all the participants: The message is that the public is
|
||||
watching; the trial had better be fair.
|
||||
|
||||
BY AN IMPARTIAL JURY: The government does not even honor
|
||||
the right to trial by an impartial jury. US District Judge
|
||||
Edward Rafeedie is investigating improper influence on
|
||||
jurors by US marshals in the Enrique Camarena case. US
|
||||
marshals apparently illegally communicated with jurors
|
||||
during deliberations.
|
||||
|
||||
OF THE STATE AND DISTRICT WHEREIN THE CRIME SHALL HAVE BEEN
|
||||
COMMITTED: This is incredible, but Manuel Noriega is being
|
||||
tried so far away from the place where he is alleged to
|
||||
have committed crimes that the United States had to invade
|
||||
another country and overturn a government to get him. Nor
|
||||
is this a unique occurrence; in a matter separate from the
|
||||
Camarena case, Judge Rafeedie was asked to dismiss charges
|
||||
against Mexican gynecologist Dr. Humberto Alvarez Machain
|
||||
on the grounds that the doctor was illegally abducted from
|
||||
his Guadalajara office in April and turned over to US
|
||||
authorities.</p>
|
||||
<p> TO BE INFORMED OF THE NATURE AND CAUSE OF THE ACCUSATION:
|
||||
Steve Jackson Games, nearly put out of business by the raid
|
||||
described previously, has been stonewalled by the SS. "For
|
||||
the past month or so these guys have been insisting the
|
||||
book wasn't the target of the raid, but they don't say what
|
||||
the target was, or why they were critical of the book, or
|
||||
why they won't give it back," Steve Jackson says. "They
|
||||
have repeatedly denied we're targets but don't explain why
|
||||
we've been made victims." Attorneys for <span class="ORG">SJG</span> tried to find
|
||||
out the basis for the search warrant that led to the raid
|
||||
on <span class="ORG">SJG</span>. But the application for that warrant was sealed by
|
||||
order of the court and remained sealed at last report, in
|
||||
July. Not only has the SS taken property and nearly
|
||||
destroyed a publisher, it will not even explain the nature
|
||||
and cause of the accusations that led to the raid.</p>
|
||||
<p> TO BE CONFRONTED WITH THE WITNESSES AGAINST HIM: The courts
|
||||
are beginning to play fast and loose with the right to
|
||||
confront witnesses. Watch out for anonymous witnesses and
|
||||
videotaped testimony.</p>
|
||||
<p> TO HAVE COMPULSORY PROCESS FOR OBTAINING WITNESSES: Ronald
|
||||
Reagan resisted submitting to subpoena and answering
|
||||
questions about Irangate, claiming matters of national
|
||||
security and executive privilege. A judge had to dismiss
|
||||
some charges against Irangate participants because the
|
||||
government refused to provide information subpoenaed by the
|
||||
defendants. And one wonders if the government would go
|
||||
to the same lengths to obtain witnesses for Manuel Noriega
|
||||
as it did to capture him.</p>
|
||||
<p> TO HAVE THE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL: The right to assistance
|
||||
of counsel took a hit recently. Connecticut Judge Joseph
|
||||
Sylvester is refusing to assign public defenders to people
|
||||
ACCUSED of drug-related crimes, including drunk driving.</p>
|
||||
<p> TO HAVE THE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL: RICO is also affecting
|
||||
the right to have the assistance of counsel. The
|
||||
government confiscates the money of an accused person,
|
||||
which leaves them unable to hire attorneys. The IRS has
|
||||
served summonses nationwide to defense attorneys, demanding
|
||||
the names of clients who paid cash for fees exceeding
|
||||
$10000.</p>
|
||||
<p> Amendment VII</p>
|
||||
<p> In Suits at common law, where the value in
|
||||
controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the
|
||||
right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no
|
||||
fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise
|
||||
reexamined in any Court of the United States,
|
||||
than according to the rules of common law.</p>
|
||||
<p> RIGHT OF TRIAL BY JURY IN SUITS AT COMMON LAW: This is a
|
||||
simple right; so far the government has not felt threatened
|
||||
by it and has not made attacks on it that I am aware of.
|
||||
This is our only remaining safe haven in the Bill of Rights.</p>
|
||||
<p> Amendment VIII</p>
|
||||
<p> Excessive bail shall not be required, nor
|
||||
excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual
|
||||
punishments inflicted.</p>
|
||||
<p> EXCESSIVE BAIL AND FINES: Tallahatchie County in
|
||||
Mississippi charges ten dollars a day to each person who
|
||||
spends time in the jail, regardless of the length of stay
|
||||
or the outcome of their trial. This means innocent people
|
||||
are forced to pay. Marvin Willis was stuck in jail for 90
|
||||
days trying to raise $2500 bail on an assault charge. But
|
||||
after he made that bail, he was kept imprisoned because he
|
||||
could not pay the $900 rent Tallahatchie demanded. Nine
|
||||
former inmates are suing the county for this practice.</p>
|
||||
<p> CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENTS: House Resolution 4079
|
||||
sticks its nose in here too: "... a Federal court shall
|
||||
not hold prison or jail crowding unconstitutional under the
|
||||
eighth amendment except to the extent that an individual
|
||||
plaintiff inmate proves that the crowding causes the
|
||||
infliction of cruel and unusual punishment of that
|
||||
inmate."</p>
|
||||
<p> CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENTS: A life sentence for selling
|
||||
a quarter of a gram of cocaine for $20 -- that is what
|
||||
Ricky Isom was sentenced to in February in Cobb County,
|
||||
Georgia. It was Isom's second conviction in two years, and
|
||||
state law imposes a mandatory sentence. Even the judge
|
||||
pronouncing the sentence thinks it is cruel; Judge Tom
|
||||
Cauthorn expressed grave reservations before sentencing
|
||||
Isom and Douglas Rucks (convicted of selling 3.5 grams of
|
||||
cocaine in a separate but similar case). Judge Cauthorn
|
||||
called the sentences "Draconian."</p>
|
||||
<p> Amendment IX</p>
|
||||
<p> The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain
|
||||
rights, shall not be construed to deny or
|
||||
disparage others retained by the people.</p>
|
||||
<p> OTHER RIGHTS RETAINED BY THE PEOPLE: This amendment is so
|
||||
weak today that I will ask not what infringements there are
|
||||
on it but rather what exercise of it exists at all? What
|
||||
law can you appeal to a court to find you not guilty of
|
||||
violating because the law denies a right retained by you?</p>
|
||||
<p> Amendment X</p>
|
||||
<p> The powers not delegated to the United States by
|
||||
the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the
|
||||
States, are reserved to the States respectively,
|
||||
or to the people.</p>
|
||||
<p> POWERS RESERVED TO THE STATES OR THE PEOPLE: This
|
||||
amendment is also weak, although it is not so nonexistent
|
||||
as the ninth amendment. But few states set their own speed
|
||||
limits or drinking age limits. Today, we mostly think of
|
||||
this country as the -- singular -- United States, rather
|
||||
than a collection of states. This concentration of power
|
||||
detaches laws from the desires of people -- and even of
|
||||
states. House Resolution 4079 crops up again here -- it
|
||||
uses financial incentives to get states to set specific
|
||||
penalties for certain crimes. Making their own laws
|
||||
certainly must be considered a right of the states, and
|
||||
this right is being infringed upon.</p>
|
||||
<p> Out of ten amendments, nine are under attack, most of them
|
||||
under multiple attacks of different natures, and some of
|
||||
them under a barrage. If this much of the Bill of Rights
|
||||
is threatened, how can you be sure your rights are safe? A
|
||||
right has to be there when you need it. Like insurance,
|
||||
you cannot afford to wait until you need it and then set
|
||||
about procuring it or ensuring it is available. Assurance
|
||||
must be made in advance.</p>
|
||||
<p> The bottom line here is that your rights are not safe. You
|
||||
do not know when one of your rights will be violated. A
|
||||
number of rights protect accused persons, and you may think
|
||||
it is not important to protect the rights of criminals.
|
||||
But if a right is not there for people accused of crimes,
|
||||
it will not be there when you need it. With the Bill of
|
||||
Rights in the sad condition described above, nobody can be
|
||||
confident they will be able to exercise the rights to which
|
||||
they are justly entitled. To preserve our rights for
|
||||
ourselves in the future, we must defend them for everybody
|
||||
today.
|
||||
</p>
|
||||
</body>
|
||||
</html>
|
Loading…
Add table
Add a link
Reference in a new issue