A collections of my popular ramblings concerning the law, Natural Law, and political issues. Enjoy!

Just Who Are The Animals Here?

24 Sunday Jan 2016

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns, News and Notes, Uncategorized

Tags

Animals, Augusta, due process, Georgia, God, government, law, Masters, stupidity, The People, voting

Congress, the Georgia General Assembly, and the United Nations have some competition in the running for world’s dumbest governing body. Meet the city commission of Augusta-Richmond County, Georgia: ten utter morons and one near-useless mayor. It is alleged that one member has a triple digit IQ but no one is certain which it is. The rumor could be a hoax.

The commission itself could be considered a hoax, and a very funny one, but for its propensity for unending dastardly deeds. Ages ago Georgia’s second city was governed by an all white good old boys club. Following integration and the introduction of some good old black boys, the body degenerated into a constant racial brouhaha. Now, fully diversified, the group serves no known noble purpose; their actions, mostly petty, serve their own pathetic needs. The public, largely uninterested, is largely ignored. Again, but for brooding evil, this would be an appropriate relationship.

While normally content to lavish themselves with ultra-expensive “working” vacations in foreign resorts (no where better to discuss civic beautification than Hawaii) and looting the city Treasury for free gas (got the card, gotta use it!), they occasionally stumble into darker territory.

They give public roads to private clubs free of charge. They tailor local laws to the desires of private clubs. They subsidize brutality and incompetence negatively impacting the public. They run the taxpayers through the ringer: property taxes maxed out they’ve turned to charging exorbitant charges for rain water, air and sunlight.

Now the fools are coming for the animals. Take your furry friends and run.

The city’s animal control ordinance is due for its first revision since about 1970. Last year you probably noticed all the stray dogs, pigs, and deer running amuck at the Masters Tournament. The problem (real problem, really, for real) shall soon be solved! Sure, they’ll solve it in the most expensive manner possible and with tactics to make the SS giddy, but solve it they will. Only a vote away.

Henceforth all local animals will be registered with the government. All for the low, low price of $50 per animal, per year – forever. All funds will go directly to the Ritz Carlton Maui and BP.

There use to be high regard for things like privacy, private property, freedom from prohibition against unlawful taking and similar atrocities. Today the Supreme Court would likely declare this a perfectly normal tax and nothing more.

Worse, there shall be mandatory microchipping of all critters in the county. While the benefits (name one) of the mark of the beast are debatable, the cost is not. Just another tax though – and you did vote these bastards into office. Time to pay the crack pippers.

Many municipalities nationwide are enacting and enforcing the chip laws. As the Chronicle astutely notes: “Down at Animal Control, it seems to be less about the animal than the control.” They’re coming for your kids next, by the way. Then, you. 666! 666!

Worst of all the new law would give law enforcement new and Draconian powers. Any animal found outside without a collar and tag is subject to being detained and hauled into animal court. There, Dr. Euthanasia will dispense with rapid and final “justice.” One would think, with the advent of the microchip, tags would be irrelevant. The dog catcher could carry a scanner. “Beep, boop! Fido belongs to Mrs. Smith just down the street.” This isn’t about thinking or else it would not be debated by the retards at the commission.

Pets on your private property or in your home are not safe either. The new law would allow authorities to enter private property without cause, without notice, and without a warrant or any pretense of Due Process. Take that, Fourth Amendment!

I call “Bullshit!” on this whole scheme. I like animals and I live in the Augusta area. There is no problem with two, four, six or eight legged varmits that can’t be addressed by current law or, better yet, by common sense. A dangerous dog or bull, loose and menacing, may be dealt with as needed. And, these instances are exceedingly rare. They do not require a $50 license fee to solve – a ten cent bullet will work every time.

You know where I stand against government and its hellish affairs. I’ll dispense with my usual rhetoric. I speak for the voiceless animals – not one of whom is guilty of voting for mindless savages.

Over the years I’ve observed a vast host of animals in urban settings, to include: dogs, cats, mice, frogs, snakes, birds, lizards, spiders, bees, ants, squirrels, beavers, turtles, aligators, possums, raccoons, rabbits, foxes, coyotes, deer, horses, fish, and cows. Not one I ever saw caused any trouble.

These are God’s creatures! Many and most roamed freely long before people ever visited Georgia. Leave them the hell alone!

If anyone must be euthanized, then I gladly offer up the members of the Augusta commission. Bastards!

a9cf6473ca327409108ab02d15cc06b0

Not a criminal! Google.

12593950 Criminals. Augusta Chronicle.

Recession

17 Sunday Jan 2016

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns, News and Notes

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Back in the late summer I posted on my Facebook page my simple premonition of doom for the coming October. October came and went without any major occurrence other than crime and political party foolishness. My forecast was still correct methinks. We are in the early stages of a recession right now.

Recessions are not recognized until they are well underway. I figure once this one is fully realized its beginnings will be traced back to last October; I shall be vindicated.

This one looks to be bad, very bad. Though the last recession after the 2008 financial crisis was declared over, there has been no substantial recovery. Now we are overdue for another downturn. Down is a most appropriate word.

The U.S. and major global markets are off to their worst start since the Great Depression. The super rich have lost one third of a Trillion Dollars in the past two weeks! If they’re losing like that, the rest of us are in for hard times.

A recession is generally a correction of excess and waste, a lesson. In that sense this lesson, painful as it will be, will do us a collective good.

Hang on in 2016.

Somebody Went to a Convention and All I Got Was This Lousy Constitution

09 Saturday Jan 2016

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns, News and Notes

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Tags

10th Amendment, 16th Amendment, 17th Amendment, America, Cicero, Congress, Constitution, Constitutional Convention, Courts, evil, freedom, government, Greg Abbott, Jonathan the Tortiose, law, States, The People, Washington

About twenty years ago Newt Gingrich and the Republican party foisted upon the people something called “the contact with America.” It was a typical hollow pledge to do great things – cut the budget, reduce debt, make life freer and happier, etc. It was a gimmick and for that purpose only it was a success. I think every single provision failed. In fact, we got the exact opposite – less freedom but more of everything else government.

The masses love a good gimmick. They also have short memories. This makes for good political sport. As carnival goers flock to one rigged, losing game after another so do the people cheerfully fall for a never-ending assortment of grandiose election schemes.

All this leads me to Jonathan the Tortoise. At age 183 this remarkable reptile is the world’s oldest living animal. Over the long-span of his blissful, apple eating life Jonathan has outlasted dozens or scores of Presidents, Prime Ministers, Congresses, Kings, Queens and various other con artists and criminals. Maybe by the time the spry, jolly turtle turns 283 the world will have outgrown the foolishness of the state.

All this leads me, back around from Jonathan, to the current governor of Texas, Greg Abbott. Greg has proposed the nuclear option of the political gimmick world – a Constitutional Convention.

Actually he has called for a convention of the states which is really the same thing but substitutes idiots in Congress with idiots in state capitals. It’s in Article Five of the old parchment.

“If we are going to fight for, protect and hand on to the next generation, the freedom that [President] Reagan spoke of … then we have to take the lead to restore the rule of law in America,” Greg said to a gathering of policy hacks in the Lone Star State. He proposed to restore that rule of law by adding yet more laws. (What’s a little more sand on the beach?)

His proposal itself ran on for 70 pages and outlined a host of new Constitutional Amendments (more laws). Tully once reminded us that more laws mean less justice. Truly, it only ever results in more government. Fuel on the fire and such.

I would happily support, even participate in, a convention if its sole purpose was to abolish the United States. Of course, even that would only buy a few generations of liberty. People like government and heaps of it. Anyway, here’s a look at Greg’s potential amendments and what they would and wouldn’t do. (All following proposals taken from Dallasnews.com; my remarks italicized).

Prohibit congress from regulating activity that occurs wholly within one state. We already have this protection; it just doesn’t work. Congress can only regulate activities affecting interstate commerce which, over the past century, has been defined as anything. Stating something twice does not deter tyranny.

Require Congress to balance its budget. I almost like this one but I imagine there would be no controls on the amount of the budget nor on how the balancing might be achieved. The thieves could always print money or pile on more taxes as necessary and without end. If the current state system must be maintained, then a better limit would be to ban debt, establish a private gold currency, and abolish taxation completely. In other words, and as it once was, Washington would be left to beg the states or the people for funding without guaranteed results.

Prohibit administrative agencies from creating federal law.
Prohibit administrative agencies from preempting state law. These agencies are not allowed under the Constitution in the first place. Better to put an end to them and their Byzantine rules altogether.

Allow a two-thirds majority of the states to override a U.S. Supreme Court decision. Congress has the power to override the Court or even preempt it as is. It just doesn’t use the power. The States gave up their claim on Congress via the 17th Amendment. States would be free to ignore Court decisions but that might endanger their federal funding. They gave up their money with the 16th Amendment. Almost like a plan or something.

Require a seven-justice super-majority vote for U.S. Supreme Court decisions that invalidate a democratically enacted law. See my answer immediately above. Also, every once in a while the Supreme Court needs to rule on important Constitutional issues, democratic or not. Democracy, mob-rule with a fancy name, should be shunned in civilized places.

Restore the balance of power between the federal and state governments by limiting the former to the powers expressly delegated to it in the Constitution. This might mean repealing 16 and 17 Amendments. It might also mean the exact same as the 10th. The Empire is already so limited on paper, by law. Again, there is no magic in redundancy.

Give state officials the power to sue in federal court when federal officials overstep their bounds. Proper redress under the existing law is carried out in Congress. On paper, that is. In reality, there is no redress. Given the self-imposed legal interference I noted previously, I do not see the value in shifting venue between the branches. Also, as Greg seems to have an aversion to federal courts, this one seems self-defeating.

Allow a two-thirds majority of the states to override a federal law or regulation. I think I’ve covered this already. Those states have essentially given up their authority for cheap federal fiat money. It’s called getting what you pay for. Any state is free to override or ignore any act of Congress it finds offensive. However, the cost is generally prohibitive, monetarily speaking. A really offended state is free to leave the union. But, then, there was the long, painful lesson of 1861-1865.

Another thing to consider is the woeful quality of the people who might attend and vote in the convention. The men who debated the Constitution of old may just as well done so eons ago on a planet long destroyed in some celestial cataclysm. People today obtain their worldview from babbling, paid for nitwits on television. Their “representatives” are the most loathsome, self-absorbed, and corrupt rodents to emerge from the political sewer since Roman times. Knowing who these people are there is no knowing what evil they might do given the chance.

As I have repeated here, repeatedly, repeating laws and policies does not make them stick. It just gives the vampire class more to feed on. One hundred years hence some other governor would likely call, again, for the same failed limitations already set forth in the failed Constitution. Einstein and insanity or something similar.

It would be refreshing if this turned out to be an honest effort, misguided as it seems. I judge this a gimmick and unlikely to survive November’s slave suggestion box election. But for my reminder who would remember the GOP’s Contract? At any rate, these conventions move at a snail’s pace. It’s more likely than not the next big change in American law will be the implementation of Sharia.

Long live Jonathan!

Jonathan and friend. Dailymail. I would trust this dinosaur with my government more than any current politician.

Look at the Clouds

07 Thursday Jan 2016

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns, News and Notes

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I love watching the approach of a good storm and I always have. The sky darkens, the wind blows, and a host of somber, threatening textures and colors ravage the moving airs. It’s fascinating stuff. If I can I watch until the rain and lightning start. There’s an element of danger. Lightening and winds pose the very real possibility of damage. It’s the lightening that will run me inside at the last.

Human affairs often mimic nature. I have observed the coming and going of many storms, political, economic, and societal. There’s a big one brewing at present. I have been watching it for a few years now. This one behaves funny. It ebbs and flows on the horizon without yet striking in force. It gathers strength. I discern a counterclockwise rotation of tremendous magnitude.

Little (and not so small) signs of the storm are everywhere. Here are two I saw just this week.

The official lie is that our economy is as strong as ever. Odd, then, we are meeting most indicators of a recession. The official liars never call a recession until it’s about six months old. Considering the fact the was no recovery – only a postponing – from the last financial crisis one wonders what happen once this one breaks.

2016 hasn’t been the best year for Wall Street so far. Actually it looks rather poor for all markets around the world. Even the establishment hacks begin to murmur of bubbles – everywhere.

If the financial gurus notice the clouds, the self-absorbed idiot politicians do not. Their psychotic fantasies turn into more storm clouds for the rest of us.

Two days ago Hussein Obama, who swore an oath to uphold the law, vowed to break the law in his quest to rid America of phantom gun violence. That’s the cycle of government business: find a non issue and declare it a problem; solve the non-problem in a way that creates new problems; offer to solve those; repeat repeatedly.

Master politicians like Hussein like to roll multiple problem-solutions together for maximum effect and damage. In the same week he proposed breaking the law in order to encroach on gun rights the President has announced he wants to house illegal immigrants at various military bases around the country.

Hussein el Obama is charged legally to deport illegal invaders. By ignoring the law he becomes the law. Like a weepy king or something.

Obama has made it clear he wants more foreigners in America, legal or not – especially those sharing his Muslim heritage.

His plans make sense in a perverted way. Housing illegal invaders at military bases will theoretically make it logistically easier for the likes of MS 13 and ISIS to obtain weapons for their respective campaigns against America. At the same time Americans will be disarmed making them much softer targets. If the idea is to wreck the country, then this is a brilliant strategy.

Add to that the economy and overall societal decay and you have a magnificent supercell. Enjoy the spectacle if you can but do mind the lightning and the winds.

Google.

Cry Me To The Moon: Obama’s Weak, Insidious Gun Grab

06 Wednesday Jan 2016

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

abortion, Amercia, communism, Congress, Constitution, Courts, crime, due process, executive order, firearms, freedom, government, gun control, guns, idiocy, John Boehner, law, Obama, politicians, Putin, Second Amendment, terrorism, The People, tyranny, Washington, weak

As predicted here President Obama yesterday rolled out his “common sense” gun control edict. Edict it was, without any representative pretense. I saw a teary-eyed man surrounded by myrmidons issue a royal proclamation. Since the earliest days of the Old Republic chief executives have crafted executive orders needed to carry out the laws enacted by Congress. But, then, there was a distinction. Laws were debated and passed by the legislature nominally accountable to the people. Presidents issued orders concerning either compliance with those laws or with the very few duties existing in Article Two of the Constitution.

Today Congress rams through secret spending boondoggles that no one has read and no one outside of Washington and New York needs or wants. Members of the House and Senate live in their own little world far removed from reality. The current crop of pitiful presidents, of whom Barry is merely the latest, fill in the governing gaps with a series of orders which are in effect law. As with the actual legislation from Congress the executive orders are occasionally reviewed by the corrupt, incompetent courts. More often than not the black-robed sorcerers give deference to the political branches by allowing these fascist decrees to stand.

The Constitution slowly rots under glass. The people slowly rot amid their televisions, sports, fast food, and disability applications. Nothing remains of the old America except for old John Wayne movies and the proliferation of private firearms. At any other time in history this latter relic would be of utmost concern to the hellish legions of political scum.

The Second Amendment has been firmly if inexplicably cemented into the legal and political fabric of the nation. And everyone is armed – heavily. Not that it really matters. The most heavily armed people in the world have proven themselves unwilling or incapable of using their vast potential to fight tyranny. Disarmament is the final plank of the Communist manifesto needed to complete the conquest of the United States. However, by dumbing themselves down and by being fervently preoccupied with perpetual nonsense the people have rendered obsolete this otherwise crucial step. It’s as bizarre as any plot from The Twilight Zone.

Bizarre too was Hussein Obama’s Tuesday performance. I’m confident Barry and his clan of leeches and roaches would love to confiscate all private arms. But, again, he doesn’t have to. The people obviously are madly in love with the government and are willing, nay demanding, of any manner of deprivation.

So it was that the Whitehouse debuted some of the weakest gun control every seen. It was introduced in as weak a fashion possible too.

Obama channeled his inner John Boo-Hoo Boenher while a host of unemployable sycophants looked on in vacuous approval. CNN.

All of this was scripted and predictable. A corrupt politician seizes on a non-issue (gun violence). Grown men and women who should otherwise be at work gather in solemn support. The political rodent cries about the deaths of a few children (tragic, yes) but his tears are hypocritical. The same man uses his military to murder other children while signing legislation funding an industry that murders a million more babies each year. The loyal opposition is neither. The comatose people remain unconcerned and uneducated.

And he cried. Tears. A man cried on television while breaking the law. Cried. George Washington never cried that we know of. Putin does not resort to tears. ISIS must have laughed at this pathetic spectacle. The delivery is one reason I say this program is weak. Another is the minimalist, chipping-away nature of the plan.

Some of Obama’s garbage may be dismissed by the courts or over-ridden by Congress. It all should be. It’s all unconstitutional and illegal. However, I imagine some will remain intact and what survives will serve as precedent and a building block for further incremental infringement. This is the insidious side of the fiat decree. What the rats cannot accomplish by a serious ban of guns they will attempt through a series of small reforms.

The Whitehouse claims: “President Obama has a responsibility to do everything in his power to reduce gun violence.” The Constitution gives the President no such power. No mind. This claim is a lie; none of Obama’s proposals will hinder violence – only freedom.

As part of the lie the President uses some numerical smoke and mirrors:

Gun Violence in America: By the Numbers

MORE THAN 4 MILLION
Number of American victims of assaults, robberies, and other crimes involving a gun in the last decade

MORE THAN 30,000
Number of gun deaths in America each year

MORE THAN 20,000
Number of children under 18 killed by firearms over the last decade

MORE THAN 20,000
Number of Americans who commit suicide with a firearm each year

466
Number of law enforcement officers shot and killed by felons over the last decade

3
Number of days after which a gun dealer can sell a gun to an individual if a background check is not yet complete

Whitehouse lies.

So, based on these one-sided figures, Emperor Obama is taking action! Notice the use of numbers over a decade rather than by the year? Notice the lack of data on lives saved by guns? It’s over a million a year or 10 million each decade. These numbers are equivalent to the number of children killed in abortion clinics or the number of violent jihadis Obama would like to import. Of course presenting all sides of the equation wouldn’t help the agenda. All lies, remember, in order to curtail freedom. Gun control does nothing to stop gun crimes. The government wants more crime so as to justify its continued existence.

If they wanted less crime and less violence they would concentrate on enforcing laws against real crimes (murder, rape, etc.) and not on plants, tax form irregularities and speed limits. They would stop stirring up terrorists only to ship as many as possible to America. They would stop murdering babies. That’s not the plan. The plan is to further burden innocent people.

Here’s how it may work out for us. Currently all gun sales by federally licensed dealers are subject to regulation and background checks. All of this violates the Second Amendment but more on that another day. Private gun sales are subject to nothing. That’s about to change. Obama is intent on unilaterally redefining what or who constitutes a dealer requiring a license and copious red tape. Want to sell or give a gun to your son, friend, or the dude on Craigslist? Just one gun? Congratulations! You are now a gun dealer! Ready your checkbook. The licensing process ain’t cheap.

Obama will also dramatically expand the ranks of those prohibited from owning guns via two steps. First, Obama and his cronies will order doctors to violate federal law (HIPPA) by reporting “mentally ill” patients to the FBI. The definition of mental illness will be left to unelected and unaccountable beaurocrats. Abuse will be rank. The FBI and the ATF will swoop in to seize weapons from those deemed mentally defective.

Certain Social Security recipients will also be stripped of their rights and their guns. The theory is that those deemed incapable of making certain financial decisions should also be deemed too dangerous to own guns. Who does the deeming and under what circumstances remains to be seen. This will address the epidemic of nursing home shootings you’ve heard nothing about.

Current illegal law restricts those convicted of felonies or adjudicated by a court to be psychotic. These restrictions are based on laws passed by the legislature not by one sick, crying man’s order. I say they are illegal because they are. They came about in the 20th Century in violation of the Second Amendment. If someone is so dangerous due to illness, defect, or criminal predilection, then they should be locked away somewhere. If released into free society, they should be free.

As problematic as the current law is at least it was passed through the legal process. It also requires Due Process. A felon must be convicted. The deranged must be legally declared so. It requires a trial or a hearing. It depends on legal representation, confrontation of witnesses, evidence, and an appeals process. Law and order stuff. The coming program will be based on whim.

Some pencil pusher will decide who is unfit to bear arms based on whatever factors the pusher sees as appropriate. Stormtroopers will be dispatched to forcibly disarm the victims or kill them if they “resist.” Should a victim survive it will be incumbent upon him to appeal the beaurocrat’s decision. He will bear all the costs and burdens of proof in this uphill battle. He, presumed innocent until proven guilty, will have to prove his innocence to a degenerate system.

This will all start small and slow. Tyranny usually does so begin. Some provisions may fall in court. However, if these reforms are tolerated, more and more will follow. Beaurocratic expansion is a constant.

Will this be tolerated? The NRA and the State of Texas have already murmured against the plan. Yet, I suspect the majority of our citizens will do nothing because they know nothing. Legal reality interferes with the fun of reality television and other trappings of modern stupidity.

The government and political establishment are counting on you to be complacent. The control freaks on the left will expect your appreciation for being shielded from nothing. The charlatans on the right will expect your votes so they can “fix” things. If placated, both will get what they want and collectively do nothing except more of the same.

A brave few will resist. A few more will cheer what they wrongly perceive as protection from the violent. Most will remain blissfully ignorant. Where do you fall?

New Year, Same Government

01 Friday Jan 2016

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

budget, Courts, D.C., freedom, government, guns, jobs, Obama, Republicans, Second Amendment, standing army, terrorism, The People, trade, tyranny

Alabama and Clemson are on a collision course for the College Football Championship. That’s good. The administration is on a collision course with the Second Amendment. That’s bad. Sorry, no Archie Campbell funnies to follow.

Hussein Obama has a list of new years resolutions at the top of which is banning guns. He can’t do it outright: the law and 100 million armed Americans are against him. But he will try to sneak in a few executive orders in an attempt to abridge your rights.

His efforts, coming next week, are aimed at closing loopholes (aka the law) by placing more innocent people under the government’s microscope. The government is nothing more than a giant series of lies.

Hussein Obama claims he wants to combat gun violence, that he will preserve the right to bear arms while keeping arms out of the hands of an “irresponsible, dangerous few.” Lies. Smoke and mirrors. He wants more state control over guns, your life and everything else.

If he wanted to stop the irresponsible and dangerous he would disband the standing army and disarm federal agents. Better yet he would start to dismantle the government entirely. It serves no honest, legitimate purpose. If he wanted to combat gun violence he would try to get more people to carry guns in more places. An armed society is more polite and far safer than the alternative.

The people are justifiably concerned about terrorists. If Obama cared he would round up and deport, imprison or execute the terrorists. He dies not care. At all. He wants more jihadi savages in America so he will import more, many more.

He wants more foreigners period. He wants more visas for them and less jobs for you – no jobs, really.

If the foreigners can’t come here, then he will ship the jobs and money to them, i.e. ObamaTrade.

And, what will the beloved Republicans do about all this? Not nothing. No. They will go right along with the plan. Paul “Blackbeard” Ryan and company have consistently supported Obama’s health care tax, his budgets, his wars, his spying, his job-destroying trade programs, his immigrant, terrorism invasion, and anything else he wants. It is what they want. More power, less freedom.

The gun rules and the visa swarm may end up in court. The black-robed Sayers will be thrilled to have something to do. The problem is that, as with any bi-polar person or group, there’s just no telling what they will do once the mess hits the bench.

No money, no jobs, no guns, no liberty: Happy new year from your psychotic friends in D.C.

Yep.

Rache the Vote!

19 Saturday Dec 2015

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns

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America, anarchy, election, government, insanity, Obama, Paul Ryan, political parties, The People, voting, Washington

How can a place essentially named “Washing Town” contain so much filth? The only thing awash is the corruption.

The past two weeks have seen inordinate stupidity flow from D.C., even by D.C. standards. In response to terrorism against the people Hussein Obama and his administration announced they will crack down on the people (little more than racist gun nuts, you know). Obama is a Democrat. Democrat, got it. The opposite of a Republican. To demonstrate their oppositeness the Republicans, led by Paul “Blackbeard” Ryan, passed a budget funding everything Obama holds dear.

Funding for Obamacare? In there. Funding for Planned Parenthood? In there. Funding for more terrorists? In there. Bigger government? Got it. More debt? Check. More war? Bombs away.

There will soon be more terrorist “refugees” admitted to the Empire than there are Republican voters in Iowa. Soon there will be more laws than there are people in this nation. Two parties, one result.

The people love it! They don’t just tolerate the insanity, they demand it with religious zeal. In between drunken binges of fantasy football and the Kartrashians they root for their own servitude. David Shellenberger explains the process:

They claim that we consent to be governed, government is our servant, and “we are the government.” This would mean that we consent to domination by criminals, the criminals serve us, and we are part of the criminal enterprise.

They give money to politicians, financing criminal contenders. They enjoy politics, seeing competition among criminals as entertainment. They vote, encouraging the criminal enterprise. They make demands of government, begging the criminals for favors.

Shellenberger, The Absurdity of Tolerating the State, May 18, 2014.

Of course, all this will change for the best immediately after next year’s election. Just like last time.

Arrrrr. Avast thar, me tax slaves!

What You Get

17 Thursday Dec 2015

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns

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bankrupt, Congress, government, Paul Ryan, politics

Merry Christmas from Speaker Blackbeard and his jolly band o pirates! This is what you get for supporting the GOP – more spending than Bernie Sanders could dream up.

Keep on voting!

Powers Vs. Rights

16 Wednesday Dec 2015

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns

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America, anarchy, Articles of Confederation, Bill of Rights, Congress, Constitution, Courts, fantasy, freedom, God, government, law, law school, Liberty, Lysander Spooner, monarchy, Natural Law, politics, republic, rights, States, The People

This post concerns the force and effect of the United States Constitution and similar documents. I’ll stick with the U.S. version for simplicity and because most state and many foreign constitutions are based on the federal version.

The old parchment is divided into several articles and subsequent amendments. Each of these deals with different legal concepts. Article One grants certain powers to Congress. Article Two does the same for the executive. Amendment Three prohibits the government from sheltering soldiers in your house during peacetime. There are seven primary articles and twenty-seven amendments.

Aside from formal division the Constitution may be properly divided into two parts. Good Constitutional Law professors cover this in first year law school. The notice is generally lost amid a mad scramble to interpret Byzantine case-law and make a living as an attorney. The lesson is almost completely unknown outside of law and political theory education.

The first effective feature of the Constitution is that is allows powers for the government. In fact the Constitution created the federal government. In 1789 those seeking strong central political control replaced the Articles of Confederation which had loosely united the several (and wholly independent) states for a very few mutually beneficial purposes. The first ten amendments, the Bill of Rights, came along two years later as almost an afterthought.

The anti-federalists were concerned that certain fundamental rights needed official recognition and legal protection. Their theory was that a strong government, even of republican nature, could run roughshod over the freedoms of the people – like a dictatorial monarch. The amendments were added without much fuss as it was then concerned the new government, its keepers, and their successors would never seek to abridge such rights as freedom of speech, bearing arms, or freedom from illegal arrest and punishment. No one saw any harm in the additions.

The inclusion of those additional protections proved both prophetic and pointless. Those ten amendments and a few others comprise the other practical function of the Constitution – protection of individual rights.

In an ideal world government would only exist to protect people from those things they would be otherwise vulnerable to. The proper function of law and politics would be a careful balancing of the power of the government and the rights of the people. Powers versus rights. Some legal scholars still wax elegantly about the concept. Their conceptualization is largely just conceptual.

The new federal government lost little time in enacting various laws which curtailed individual liberty. The trend continues to this day in addition to the habit of constantly expanding the realm of federal authority light years beyond what the Constitution allows. The courts, allegedly the arbiters of the balancing test, have largely consented to this gross shift. They too wasted no time in inventing new authority for themselves – “judicial review” for example.

Any review usually ends up empowering the state. They are on the same team after all. The people, now bereft of representation and appellate avenues, are on the outside looking in. Lawyers gleefully await court decisions to tell them what laws really mean. The public, largely fat and ignorant, continues to support this corrupt system with astounding zealous patriotism.

As a result of all this what we are left with is a central government of unlimited power ruling over a nation of peasants who are happy to receive whatever liberty the rulers confer upon them. Every once in a while one or another branch kindly reaffirms some right. These are usually in trivial matters. However, the march to greater control never ceases. It works well as most do not favor freedom. Under the faux two-party system, most go along so long as their side wins on a somewhat regular basis.

In truth, they lose. We all lose. All except for the corrupt politicians and beaurocrats and their corporate crony enablers. The system is wrecked and bears nearly resemblance to even that central authoritarian regimes of the late seventeen Century let along an ideal state.

In modern reality ignorance abounds. Some speak of the right of the government to do some thing or the other. Governments have no rights as they are artificial constructs. Only human individuals have rights. These rights are natural, God-given. Governments can only protect or (more often) abridge those freedoms.

Others decry freedom outright. They declare the people have too many rights. For them, in their simple lives, they may be right. Argument for order and justice is lost on them and a waste of time.

There are those who indulge in the fantasy that a return to the original text and intent of the Constitution would usher in utopia. If this myth was anything but, I could agree with them. The federal government of 1791 would be infinitely better than what we suffer today. That of the Articles would be better yet.

The myth lovers assert the Constitution established a national government of limited scope. Maybe they are correct in theory. In real life no government worth its salt stays limited for long. Geometric growth of government is an iron law of political science.

So it is with freedom and central authority. Mencken.

Lysander Spooner said it best of the lost war of Rights versus Powers: “But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain – that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist.” He elaborated: “A man’s natural rights are his own, against the whole world; and any infringement of them is equally a crime, whether committed by one man, or by millions; whether committed by one man, calling himself a robber, (or by any other name indicating his true character,) or by millions, calling themselves a government.”

I find my view of anarchy criticized at times as belief in fantasy. It is said that men, by their very nature, cannot be trusted for long to maintain free, peaceful association and mutual respect. This, sadly, may be true. It, then, is also true that an honest man, desiring to remain free, cannot trust a government, any government. Belief in central authority is thus misguided. Tell you what, you have your fantasy and I’ll have mine. The rest of you have a choice to make: support powers or support rights.

Concealed Carry on Private Property (and Related Issues)

16 Wednesday Dec 2015

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Amercia, attorneys, concealed carry, Constitution, crime, firearms, freedom, government, gun law, guns, law, militia, Natural Law, NRA, Private property, rights, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Second Amendment, States, terrorism, The People

Americans love guns and with good reason. Every year over a million lives are saved in this country because we are an armed people. We have guns. No one is going to take them from us. Period. The fascist left knows this. The nitwit politicians know this. More common criminals know it. ISIS is going to learn it sooner or later.

In the wake of the ISIS attack in San Bernardino and the brewing Sharia in the Whitehouse the people are buying more guns than ever. This year black Friday was flat except for firearms sales. Broken record after broken record.

People are carrying their guns – everywhere, everyday. If you are a criminal or a terrorist in America, know that hunting season has opened. You will be safer elsewhere.

Daily, it seems to me, I hear more and more of my friends talking about securing a concealed carry permit from their state governments. In Georgia, twenty years ago, one out a hundred citizens had a permit. Now they are more common than driver’s licenses. My mom has one.

I am philosophically opposed to the concept of these permits. What other natural and Constitutional right requires a permission slip? Imagine if they offered or required permits for speech, worship, or freedom from warrantless searches. As a practical matter I have conceded this is one of the state’s games it’s okay to play. Just don’t take it so seriously.

Don’t get too attached either. State after state is beginning to follow Vermont’s lead. They are concerning to me these slips are unnecessary and illegal. It’s called Constitutional carry. Small matters really.

As part of the growing concealed carry discussion I have seen several mentions of certain private establishments that do not welcome armed patrons. Friends on Facebook vow not to support such places. I tend to agree with them.

Buffalo Wild Wings.

A question sometimes posed to me is how much legal weight these business notices carry. The answer is “it depends.” One must consult the law of one’s local jurisdiction.

In Georgia a “no guns allowed” sign is just a sign. It has no legal authority. Every outside door at my local mall has a little picture of a crossed out pistol. Maybe this means long guns only? It doesn’t matter. The worst they can do is ban you from their property. That’s their right as the owner. I can respect it. However, for most men, being banned from a shopping mall is more of a reward than a punishment. The mall I reference is the kind of place I will only enter if I am armed.

There’s a much better, more upscale mall a few hours away in Charlotte. It hosts a fine Cigar shop and fewer thugs. The sign there reminds shoppers not to leave their guns behind in their cars. It is an indirect encouragement to bring them inside.

The law in North Carolina is different too. There signs prohibiting guns on private property do carry legal consequences. A violation of such notice constitutes misdemeanor criminal trespass.

If you carry, you need to know the law. Or, at least, some of it. We have over 23,000 gun laws in the U.S. (all of these serve as no deterrent to criminals and terrorists). Compliance or even comprehension is virtually impossible. Luckily it matters very little.

If you carry concealed and your weapon is well concealed, then no one will know about it. Many public places require passage through metal detectors. Avoid the hassle. Don’t go to these places. The visit usually features payment of a tax or some other unpleasantry anyway.

As for all other locations, just keep the weapon hidden from view and don’t mention it. Everyone will be happy. Mind that if you walk in the grocery store sporting an AR-15 on a tactical sling you may rouse suspicion even if you break no laws. Use a little judgment.

This all reminds me of a conversation I had years ago at an NRA national firearms law seminar (in Charlotte or Pittsburgh I think). These courses feature expect analysis of popular legal issues. There are as exciting as any other law program. Those of us from gun friendly state sir and listen to the horror stories told by colleagues from communist jurisdictions.

That particular time a friend from Massachusetts went on and on about how restrictive are the Bay State’s gun laws. During a recession I approached him laughing. I told him I visit New England regularly and I regularly carry a gun. I informed him I had found a way around all of the restrictive laws. “How?!,” he asked. I smiled and said, “I break them.”

He sputtered and said I could be charged with something. I slapped him on the shoulder and said I knew a good attorney.

Take my car for example. I have been stopped by the police maybe five times in life and not at all in the past ten years. I have never been searched. Any search would have found me heavily armed. But, it never happened. Odds are it never will. Compliance with unjust laws out of fear is a mere phantom. It may be safely ignored as Aquinas suggested.

Note that encourage not the breaking of the valid law. Rather, I adhere strictly to and encourage strict adherence the law of the law. By keeping and bearing armed, the people, the militia, maintain the security of the free state.