aubreyturner.org

In keeping with the idea I had earlier about decreasing the power of the entrenched lifetime politicians, I also had an idea for a Constitutional amendment that would make it easier (hopefully) to remove bad laws from the books.  It allows for a sort of super-jury review of a law that can be requested against any act of Congress.

Upon ratification of this amendment, a Review Panel shall be created.  The Review Panel shall have the power to expunge laws previously passed by the Congress of the United States and signed by the President of the United States.

The Review Panel shall be composed of twenty members from each state, chosen randomly from the electors thereof, for one year; and each member shall have one vote.

The Review Panel shall choose a presiding officer and other officers.

The Review Panel shall meet at least once per year, at the same time as the Congress.  The Review Panel may meet at other times as deemed necessary by the presiding officer.

Congress shall make no law regarding the Review Panel.

When vacancies happen in the representation from any state, the executive authority thereof shall randomly select from the electors of that state to fill such vacancies.

The Review Panel shall have the authority to nullify or revoke any law.  The executive authority of any of the several states, members of the Congress, and the President of the United States may submit Requests for Review directly to the Review Panel with the consent of the presiding officer.  Further, upon receipt of a petition containing the signatures of one percent of the electors of the several states combined (without regard to the apportionment thereof among the several states), the presiding officer will initiate a Review.

Upon receipt of a Request for Review or of a petition, the presiding officer shall bring the matter before the Review Panel for consideration.  Upon a majority vote of those members present, the law under consideration shall be rendered null and void.

The Review Panel shall publish a record of its proceedings at the end of each session, or at such other times as the presiding officer shall decide.

The members of the Review Panel will receive compensation for their services in the amount of their customary wages during the time of their service in addition to any costs associated with travel to and from the meetings of the Review Panel.  This compensation shall be paid out of the treasury of the United States.  They shall in all cases, except treason, felony and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of the Review Panel, and in going to and returing from the same; and for any speech or debate in the Review Panel, they shall not be questioned in any other place.

With the concurrance of the presiding officer, the Review Panel may meet through electronic or other remote means, provided that a secure method is provided for ascertaining the presence and identity of each voting member.

I’ve been researching the issue of police powers and the subject of “lawful orders” and I’m not finding a lot. I did, however, find the statute that gives police (and firemen) authority to tell you to leave a location.


    § 42.03. OBSTRUCTING HIGHWAY OR OTHER PASSAGEWAY. (a) A person commits an offense if, without legal
privilege or authority, he intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly:
        (1) obstructs a highway, street, sidewalk, railway, waterway, elevator, aisle, hallway, entrance, or exit to which the public or a substantial group of the public has access, or any other place used for the passage of persons, vehicles, or conveyances,
regardless of the means of creating the obstruction and whether the obstruction arises from his acts alone or from his acts and the acts of others; or
        (2) disobeys a reasonable request or order to move issued by a person the actor knows to be or is informed is a peace officer, a fireman, or a person with authority to control the use of the premises:
            (A) to prevent obstruction of a highway or any of those areas mentioned in Subdivision (1); or
            (B) to maintain public safety by dispersing those gathered in dangerous proximity to a fire, riot, or other hazard.
    (b) For purposes of this section, "obstruct" means to render impassable or to render passage unreasonably inconvenient or hazardous.
    (c) An offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor.


I’ve highlighted the sections that would imply that they can order you to leave an area. From what I can see, it doesn’t directly address being ordered out of your home (I guess the question comes down to the meaning of “gathered in dangerous proximity”). Frankly, in those circumstances, I don’t have too much problem with being asked to leave, provided that I’m given meaningful information. But free citizens don’t blindly follow orders from anyone.

I was digging around in the Texas statutes looking for anything that might define the power of the police officers or firemen to issue “lawful orders.” While I haven’t found the legal basis for these orders yet (although I did find the statute requiring a citizen to assist a peace officer in apprehending a criminal or serving a warrant if requested), I did come across this interesting tidbit in the Government Code:


     § 557.021. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
         (1) "Communist" means a person who commits an act reasonably calculated to further the overthrow of the government:
            (A) by force or violence; or
            (B) by unlawful or unconstitutional means and replace it with a communist government.
        (2) "Department" means the Department of Public Safety of the State of Texas.
        (3) "Government" means the government of this state or any of its political subdivisions.

Added by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 268, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.

    § 557.022. RESTRICTIONS. (a) The name of a communist may not be printed on the ballot for any primary or general election in this state or a political subdivision of this state.
    (b) A person may not hold a nonelected office or position with the state or any political subdivision of the state if:
        (1) any of the compensation for the office or position comes from public funds of this state or a political subdivision of this state; and
        (2) the employer or superior of the person has reasonable grounds to believe that the person is a communist.

Added by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 268, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.

    § 557.023. ENFORCEMENT. The attorney general, a district or county attorney, the department, and any law enforcement officer of this state shall enforce this subchapter.

Added by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 268, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.


“I’m Bill Clinton, and I’m reporting for booty!”

I knew there was a good reason I used to call him the “Commander In Briefs”.

I think our Founders originally viewed serving in Congress as a duty that people would take up for a time, after which they would return to their former lives.  This would keep the government “in touch” with the real world and real life concerns.  Of course, they also conceived of a much more limited government than we have now.  The idea of someone serving for 20 years or more in Congress would likely have appalled them.  Consider these examples:

• John Kerry: first elected 11/06/1984
• Ted Kennedy: first elected 11/06/1962
• Tom Delay: first elected 11/06/1984
• Charles Shumer: House or Representatives from 1980 to 1998, Senate from 1998-present.

I could go on and on, there are a lot of examples to work with.

What if we were to start treating serving in Congress a bit like jury duty?  The House of Representatives could have members who are randomly selected from their House district.  Those who are selected would serve for a one year term and then go home.  Of course, I recognize that this could be a hardship.  Being uprooted from your home and job and family for a year would be a big disruption.  To make it work, those who are selected would have to be paid enough to live with their family in Washington, DC for the year (as well as make up their current income level) and have some kind of guarantee they’d still have a job when they returned (kind of like when someone is deployed as part of the National Guard or reserves).

To prevent this from being a form of conscription, there would have to be an “opt-out” capability.  Perhaps when you register to vote you could also indicate that you were unwilling to be considered for House duty.

As for the Senate, I’d suggest that the direct election of Senators should be repealed and the job of selecting them returned to the states.

I don’t know that this would work out, but I’m getting sick and tired of life-long politicians running the federal government.  Perhaps if we had some people with real-world experience they wouldn’t be so quick to legislate everything.  Or even if they were, perhaps they’d all have such different viewpoints that nothing would ever get done in the House unless it was clearly needed.

Gridlock isn’t necessarily a bad thing. 

I’d been considering this whole scuffle over who did what during Vietnam as an annoying distraction at best, given that there wasn’t a proverbial snow-ball’s chance that I’d vote for John Kerry.  But the latest statement  (link via Instapundit) from Democrat “strategist” Mary Anne Marsh has opened up a whole new can of worms.

“George Bush betrayed his country by sending us to war on false pretenses, and George Bush betrayed his country by not fighting in Vietnam.”

I’ve never thought that someone has to have served in the military to be qualified for President.  What really matters are character and honor (neither of which I think Kerry has).  I’ve also thought that the whole “chickenhawk” thing was particularly odious.  I think it’s a cynical attempt by the left to quickly squash any dissent, and I immediately discount anything else that someone says after I hear that word.

I graduated high school in 1988.  I had high ASVAB scores and had several recruiters trying to get me to enter the service (I would have surely had to have done a bit of extra PT, but it wasn’t out of realm of possiblity when I was a senior).  I was interested and gave it due consideration, but ultimately decided to go directly to college.  If I had gone into the service, though, I would have likely been in position to have been sent to Desert Storm I in 1991 (one of my classmates was there). 

If we extrapolate this to its logical conclusion, it would seem to mean that anyone who doesn’t go fight in whatever war they’re eligible for has also betrayed their country (and let’s not even consider that some people might have been sent to noncombat areas even if they were in the service).

I guess this means that I have to confess that I have betrayed my country by not going to fight in Desert Storm. 

Actually this means that I have to say a hearty fuck you to the Democrats and especially to that bitch Mary Anne Marsh.  It was bad enough that the Democrat party got hijacked by the hardcore socialists and their destructive agenda.  Given my thoughts and feelings on socialism, I didn’t think it was possible to dislike the Dems any more than I already do.  Well, Mary Anne, you’ve managed to do it.  I’ve gone from an enemy of the Democrat party to a permanent, implacable foe.  I had at one time hoped for sanity to return to the Dems (I used to be one, a long time ago), but at this point I don’t give a damn.  You’re dead to me. 

This may have just decided my vote for me (even if I have to hold my nose to do it).

So, those silly, dissent-loving leftist-anarchists have hacked Protest Warrior.  I find it ironic that they scream so much about their right to speak (dissent!) then turn around and try to destroy the rights of others to do the very same thing.  I guess it’s all a matter of who’s doing the speaking (some animals are more equal than others and all that).

They also posted a list of emails stolen from the site to Indymedia.  I had recently signed up as I was interested in attending some of the counterprotests in the area.  I see that my email is on their list.  Now I get to decide whether to kill that email address or wait to see what kind of crap shows up there.  I think for now I’ll wait to see what shows up.  But I feel sorry for people who don’t have the ability to create and destroy email addresses at will.  I suspect that some of these ever-so-tolerant Indymediots will shortly be sending out spam and virus-laden emails to these addresses.

I ventured down into North Richland Hills over the weekend and noticed a number of signs up in support of a tax freeze for seniors and the disabled.  The tagline at the bottom of the sign said that this would “help control runaway spending.”  If it were only that simple.  I don’t see how the tax sucking beast will be so easily starved.  What will actually happen is that the tax rate will increase to the point where the revenue generated is the same as before the freeze.  Since seniors won’t see an increase in their bills, regardless of the tax rate, this would mean that everyone else will pay more.  It is a very rare occurrance for a political entity to actually decrease spending.  And they won’t sit idly by and let their revenues decrease, at least not without a huge voter outcry, which I just don’t see happening at this time.

Actually, as a single, childless taxpayer, I have great sympathy for the people behind the freeze.  The majority of my taxes go to the local school district, which I get nothing out of (unless you count traffic jams).  Here’s what the taxes were on my house from last year:

Tax District	Tax Amount
City of Keller	499.76
Tarrant County	324.55
Tarrant County Hospital Dist	280.36
Tarrant County College Dist	166.00
Keller ISD	1744.92
Total:	$3015.59

I’d like to see the people who actually use the service fund the majority of it.  People without children in the schools should pay a significantly reduced school tax rate.  Of course, I’m a heartless, selfish libertarian type, so what do I know?

Jeff mentions the situation in England where defending yourself or your family will likely get you a stiffer penalty than the criminal who attacked you.  This naturally could lead to situations where citizens just kill the bastards and hide the bodies.  Why call it in if you know your life is ruined, regardless of justification?

In a similar vein, the same idea when related to certain “protected” wildlife in certain states (*cough* California *cough*) has led to the pithy phrase “shoot, shovel, and shut up.” 

Unfortunately, the British don’t have many guns (or at least the law abiding citizens don’t), so perhaps it will be “stab/bludgeon, shovel,and shut up”, but it’s a logical outgrowth of an intolerable situation in regards to self defense.

A storm rolled in around 6:00 this morning and killed the power in the neighborhood for about 2 hours.  I had a dental appointment at 8:00am this morning and what is usually a five minute trip took 25 minutes (because of the four lights between here and there, three of them were flashing red).

But what was most annoying (aside from all the beeping from my UPSes and alarm system) was that I was trying to get a year out of my Linux system without a reboot.  According to the boot logs, the previous boot was at 15:25 on Thursday, October 16, 2003 (which was when I first moved the system into this house).  Damn.  I barely had two months to go and I would have likely made it if not for the power failure.