Category Archives: Law

The International Criminal Court: Good For Thee, But Not For Me

Bush, Crime, Criminal Injustice, Europe, Federalism, Justice, Law, States' Rights

George W. Bush is likely nervous about traveling to Europe lest the International Criminal Court (ICC) put him in the dock to answer for Iraq and other war crimes.

In the spirit of American national sovereignty, Republicans have rejected ICC jurisdiction. As James Orr of the London Telegraph notes, Republicans do not believe the ICC should be supported by America.

Lo and behold, Mr. Romney promised, Monday, to “make sure that Ahmadinejad is indicted under the Genocide Convention. His words amount to genocide incitation. I would indict him for it.”

Is this some new neoconservative trope? And what of the wacky A-Jad’s right of free speech? I was under the impression that so-called conservatives were all for the right to offend, as they should.

Although Bush would likely reject the possibility of the ICC’s jurisdiction over himself, he did not hesitate to call on the World Court to subvert Texas justice.

“W,” who would wrestle a crocodile for a criminal alien, ordered Texas to halt the execution of murderer and rapist José Medellín. Texas said NO, and ended Medellin’s miserable life. (Celebrated in “José Medellín’s Dead; Cue The Mariachi Band.”)

Bush used the ICC to rationalize treason against Texans. Romney hasn’t gone that far. But he seems to be indicating that he’ll join forces with global government when it suits him.

A Good Country For Dead Beats

Business, Economy, Federal Reserve Bank, Law, Private Property, Rights, Socialism

Initially, every parasitical official seeking to renew or secure a grip on the public teat was demanding a halt to what are mostly perfectly legitimate foreclosures on delinquent homeowners. Now cities across the US are considering using eminent domain to seize underwater mortgages. One dreadful cur, Chicago Alderman Joe Moreno, claims that the effort will “boost a recovery of the housing market.”

Fox Business’ Melissa Francis hammered Moreno for his scheming.

“Chicago is threatening to undermine whole system,” blasted Ms. Francis. “If you seize these mortgages from the banks and you just rip them up, why would a bank ever lend money again?” Good for her. But why not use the words “contract” and “property rights”? Why use “system,” so vague and meaningless?

Public discourse never rises above the utilitarian: what works, what doesn’t. Rights be damned. Anything to get away from making a principled distinction between what is mine and what is thine. In a word, property rights.

It is almost always true that a necessary condition for a foreclosure is for the homeowner to have failed to make his mortgage payments. Some even “argue” for all-out sweetness and love for the foreclosed upon. They say that because the banks are embroiled in the fractional reserve system, they should suffer this fate.

That’s like saying that because a legal system is corrupt, murderers should go free; or because an owner who sells a parcel of land partakes in the property tax theft, the buyer should not have to pay him. Or because businesses often act like exuberant idiots during a phase of the business cycle—some as offenders; others as victims—their customers need not pay them. And on and on.

Shit Happens. Live With It, Or Be Prepared

Constitution, Crime, GUNS, Individual Rights, Law, Liberty

Trust RT to present a cool-headed, reasoned antidote to the hysteria that ensues, invariably, in mainstream media, each time the reality of evil asserts itself.

Reason magazine Senior Editor Brian Doherty did a good job on RT America in explaining the errors of the thinking behind the clamor for gun control, and central management of risk, vis-a-vis the Colorado ‘Batman’ screening massacre, earlier today.

These events, and gun murders in general, are rare and getting rarer every year, says Doherty, who is the author of a book about guns. This, despite the fact that all states have liberalized their gun laws, many more Americans are carrying weapons—and four million Americans each year apply for gun-ownership licenses.

Alarmist news headlines notwithstanding, gun violence has plummeted by half, says Doherty.

There will never be a policy prescription that will preempt or stop the lone “lunatic” from carrying out his evil intentions.

Policy prattle is futile. Let us talk, instead, about readiness, in the event the next coward thinks he will meet with no resistance.

The Republic of Rub-a-Dub-Dub Genitalia

Government, Homeland Security, Individual Rights, Law, Natural Law, Regulation, Terrorism, The State, The West

“The Republic of Rub-a-Dub-Dub Genitalia” is the current column, now on RT. Here is an excerpt:

I imagine readers would prefer that I discuss the TSA’s breach of Jonah Falcon’s “formidable” breeches. But there are better ways to keep the terrorists of the TSA in the news, than to spotlight a well-endowed individual who, to go by his boasting, suffers from “small man syndrome.”

… For a while, the natives were restless over being handled like meat at a packing plant. Travelers, however, have begun to relax, and have eased into the role of stunned cattle.

A jury of ‘submissives’ has even gone so far as to enjoin any resistance to TSA tyranny.

You know the drill. During a routine TSA screening, Carol Jean Price, aged 59, had her buttocks, breasts and genitals touched by an agent. Except that Price didn’t think the prodding should be routine. She became upset, as victims of sexual assault often do.

“When TSA supervisor Kristin Arnberg approached the outraged Price after the initial screening,” Price had the temerity to demonstrate the anatomy of “gate-rape” on The Super.

A jury not of her peers convicted the victim (Price) of battery.

In a constitutional republic, The Law should apply to civilian and civil servant alike, with no exceptions. If a country’s legal code outlaws sexual assault—then the act of fondling an innocent and unwilling stranger, without probable cause, between her thighs and around her breasts, must be proscribed to all people, in all places.

Correspondingly, Ms. Price was correct to instinctively infer that if certain forms of touching are legal in her “great” country, governed as it allegedly is by laws and not men—then everyone should be able to practice the treatment these laws prescribe on everyone else. …”

READ the complete column. “The Republic of Rub-a-Dub-Dub Genitalia” is now on RT.

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