[Cloud9]

The Constitution is a measure. It is about what we ought to be rather than what we are. Those that see it as a scrap of paper can point to many instances in American History where it failed to protect particular parties. That failure was not a failure of the idea. It was a failure in the implementation of the ideal.

Our duty as individual citizens is to bring those individuals in power to task when they violate the principles contained in the Constitution. When a politician hounds a citizen because of his race or religion, that politician needs to be brought to task. When a policeman uses the color of authority to advance his personal agenda he needs to be sued.

Ruby Ridge and Waco were personal tragedies for the people involved. Having said that; they were victories for the body politic. Any police sniper who gets the urge under color of authority to shoot someone has to worry will he be indicted for murder, will my agency be sued? Any agency that makes war on a religious sect needs to ask its self how many Tim McVeighs are we creating? How many of our people will die on the way in?

The recent raids in Texas resulted not in shootouts but in the court system being besieged by armies of lawyers.

The sound of revved engines and the smell of diesel from your tanks is thrilling. The rush from the hunt is exhilarating. The resulting litigation from the due process violations is bone crushing and will go on for years.

Those that want to throw a net over a given province and go house to house in search of perps will once again be held in check by cooler heads that will anticipate the cost of such actions to their careers.

Nifong serves as a reminder for prosecutors who use the power of their office to win elections.

Scrap the Constitution and all bets are off. This country will rip itself apart and we will have a future as bleak as Lebanon. Keep it and it remains a bright line by which the actions of our government can be measured.

[slesh]

Cloud9,
Thank you for coming to the defense of this document. I agree with you, it is not the writing that is flawed, but the implementation of those writings, or the complete lack thereof. It is not, as I have stated, the perfect document, but it is a start and should be given due respect.
I also agree with others who say it has been ignored not only to further the borders of America at the expense of the native americans but also individuals who use it to gain individually from abusing it or ignoring it.
I say this: It is every citizens responsibility to monitor who is abusing this document and take action accordingly, that includes militia trials with penalties put forth according to fact, if the branches of government do not, will not do so in accordance with the constitution that it is the citizens responsibility to do so.
Call it what you will, but the more we tolerate such events, the more we encourage them to take place to begin with.
JUSTICE, BY THE FACTS, WITH THE FACTS AND NOTHING BUT THE FACTS SUPPORTING SUCH JUSTICE!

[Ferretlover]

Cartoon

[Cloud9]

Golem we have been down this road before. We’ve had the alien and sedition acts. We have had the Palmer Raids. We have had Joe McCarthy. We’ve had lynchings. We have had the Klan. We have had Reginald Denny.

There was a rant in the Wall Street Journal this week by some guy who was bent that habeas corpus had released a suicide bomber. Some guy got out of GitMo and went back home and blew himself up killing dozens. That is a tragedy. But the greater tragedy would be to scrap habeas corpus and set up a state that disappears its citizens in the middle of the night.

That is why people have guns. The murders, the suicides, the accidents are each and every one a tragedy. Those tragedies are nothing compared to the atrocities of a state that decides it would be better off without the Mexicans or the Blacks or the Whites. An armed people keeps genocide in check.

The Patriot Act will not stand the light of day. While we lust for an alpha male that will cut through the fluff and sort the mess out for us, Jack Bower is still a murderer. His form of justice may save the day but in the long run, men like him can collapse a state. We are a nation of laws. Bower is an outlaw.