Author: dean

King Gets Fired

This is an interesting article about the abolition of the monarchy in the country of Nepal. I put this in the category of “I’m not sure what to think of this.” On the one hand, abolishing a monarchy in favor of a Republic is good, but the government is now in the hands of people claiming to be communists. I’d rather live under a limited constitutional monarchy rather than a communist state. A limited constitutional monarchy like 19th century England respects individual rights far more than any 20th century communist state did. But, I don’t get the impression that these “Maoists” are really committed communists anymore. (Aside from university professors, are there any real communists even left in the world?) Since I don’t know much about that area of the world, I guess I will take a wait and see attitude on this bit of history.

Abolish Unauthorized Practice Statutes

This is an article explaining why unauthorized practice of law statutes should be abolished. I agree 100%. I have encountered lawyers who claimed to be proponents of laissez faire capitalism but refused to recognize that unauthorized practice laws are not consistent with capitalism and freedom of contract. Those lawyers are either hypocritical or ignorant -I am neither.

Iron Age Coup D’Etat

PBS had an interesting episode of NOVA last night about “bog bodies” that date back to Iron Age Ireland and England -which was around 350 B.C. Occasionally, in the bogs of those countries, a mummified body will be found because the plants in the bogs secret a substance that preserves flesh in a similar manner to how leather is tanned. The bog bodies usually show evidence of having been intentionally killed or murdered, such as having their heads bashed in, and having been stabbed fatally. The other interesting thing noted was that the bodies usually show evidence of having been people who would have been of high social standing.

There is some debate as to why these people of high social rank were killed and put into the bogs, but as soon as I learned that they were people of high social standing, I thought “coup d’etat”. Later in the show, there was a suggestion that these people may have been tribal chieftains, which strengthens my thinking on this subject. These killings may have been how people in a tribal society, which has no concept of elected government, deposed of a leader. If they had had a concept of elected representatives, then they simply would have voted for a new leader, but since they would have had no concept of that, the only way to get rid of their leader would have been to kill him, probably instigated by the leader’s “political rivals”. They noted that the killings were usually brutal, which suggested that they weren’t just ritualistic, but I think the brutality would make sense. If hard times had fallen on the tribe, and the leader was regarded as responsible, then brutally killing him for tribal resentment that may have built up over many years, would make sense.

Wrongful Prosecution

This is an interesting article describing a debate over whether to criminalize intentionally withholding evidence of innocence by a prosecutor in Texas. I think any prosecutor that would intentionally withhold evidence of a person’s innocence in order to get a conviction can only be described as a morally evil person. It is also appropriate to criminalize such conduct because it is using physical force, in this case jail or execution, to deprive the accused of a value, namely his liberty, or possibly even his life. It doesn’t matter that the prosecutor is not the one actually physically incarcerating the innocent person, any more than it would matter if the head of a crime organization ordered one of his henchmen to kill someone. Just as the head of a crime organization would be responsible for the crimes committed on his behalf, so too would a prosecutor be responsible for the unjustified incarceration or execution of an innocent man.

Wesley Snipes: An American Hero

I am extremely impressed by actor Wesley Snipes, who stood up to the IRS. It turns out that Mr. Snipes doesn’t just play heroes; he is a hero. His case reminds me of the trial of Hank Reardon in Atlas Shrugged.

The income tax is a system for punishing people’s success, and it needs to be abolished. While a national sales tax is still a coercive tax, and therefore not ideal, by taxing consumption instead of production, it at least doesn’t punish people for being productive.

More Silliness In Texas

This article describes what may be a good set of facts for testing the constitutionality of the Texas student-teacher-sex statute. The statute makes it a 3rd degree felony, punishable by 2-20 years in prison, plus sex-offender registration, for a teacher to have sex with a student regardless of the age of the student. Sex with a minor was always illegal, and also a felony. What this “improper relationship between educator and student” statute accomplished was to criminalize sex between what would otherwise be sex between consenting adults in Texas.

I can think of at least two constitutional issues to raise. First, is the level of punishment under the statute. I think that a third degree felony would seem excessive to most people. Second is the issue of the so-called “right to privacy”, which has typically come up in cases dealing with birth control and abortion. There may also be an issue of equal protection of the law, given the fact that the sex was only illegal in this case because it was between a teacher and a student, since 17 is the age of consent in Texas.