May 2012

We often hear about how the Constitution was written by a bunch of bigoted slave owning white guys, as a way for people to discredit the founding fathers. We are told that slavery was all about white men owning black slaves. Too bad that those statements are misleading.

Ben Franklin was born in 1706 as one of seventeen children of Josiah Franklin and Abiah Folger. His father could not afford to pay for his education, so at 12 years old, his father signed an apprenticeship contract on Ben’s behalf, making Ben an apprentice to his older brother James.

Under the law at the time, an apprentice worked for the master craftsman and in exchange was taught the skill of that craft. In essence, his father had signed him into indentured servitude. Ben did not want to work for his brother, and as a result his brother frequently whipped him.

Benjamin wanted to write for the paper too, but he knew that James would
never let him. After all, Benjamin was just a lowly apprentice. So Ben began writing letters at night and signing them with the name of a fictional widow, Silence Dogood. Dogood was filled with advice and very
critical of the world around her, particularly concerning the issue of
how women were treated. Ben would sneak the letters under the print shop
door at night so no one knew who was writing the pieces. In all, he wrote sixteen of the letters, and they were wildly popular. So popular in fact, that when Ben finally admitted to writing them, his brother was angry with him.

The paper that James owned was frequently critical of the government, and he was ultimately jailed for expressing those views, leaving Ben to run the paper. Upon release from jail, James was not grateful to Ben for keeping the
paper going. Instead he kept harassing his younger brother and
administering beatings from time to time. Ben could not take it and
decided to run away in 1723, at the age of 17. Under the law at the time, this made Ben a fugitive, and he fled. He eventually wound up in Philadelphia.

Later in life, Ben Franklin owned slaves. It seems odd to think that a man who was in favor of liberty and who had been a slave himself would do so, but I think that judging the behavior of people from the past through the lens of our current attitudes and morals is not a fair comparison, especially considering that he became president of the Philadelphia Abolitionist society, and in 1790 petitioned congress to abolish slavery.

The petition, signed on February 3, 1790, asked the first Congress,
then meeting in New York City, to “devise means for removing the
Inconsistency from the Character of the American People,” and to
“promote mercy and justice toward this distressed Race.”

Our founding fathers were not perfect men, but at least had to foresight to establish a government that protected freedom more than any other government on the planet.

The evidence was released in the Martin/Zimmerman case today, including the autopsy results. There have been a few interesting developments in the past few days:

1 Martin was using drugs. THC, specifically. THC both impairs judgment and makes the user paranoid.

2 Martin’s only injuries were the gunshot wound, and bruising on his knuckles, and the gunshot was delivered from a distance of less than 18 inches. This shoots holes in the theory that Zimmerman was the aggressor. If he was going to be the aggressor, Martin would have other injuries, or no injuries (other than being shot).

3 Zimmerman had a broken nose, lacerations, bruises, a split lip, and was complaining of a back injury.

So far, not one piece of evidence has been released that contradicts Zimmerman’s version of events. While it is possible that Zimmerman was in the wrong here, we don’t convict people on possibilities. We need proof beyond a reasonable doubt. As long as Zimmerman’s version of events stands up to scrutiny, it remains a possibility. As long as it remains a possibility, that possibility makes self defense that reasonable doubt. As long as that doubt exists, Zimmerman cannot be guilty.

Edited to add: The  levels of THC (1.5 ng/mL) in the blood were low enough to show that Martin had not smoked marijuana within the last hour or so, and so low as to mean that he was probably not impaired at the time of the shooting. Levels in this range have been shown in studies to be present for up to 48 hours, so all the test shows is that Martin had been smoking marijuana within the last 48 hours.

I have to admit that I do not wear a gun strapped to my side while I am at home. I frequently walk around the house in gym shorts, and those are not exactly suited for carrying a firearm. Now there are many here who point out that this would leave you defenseless against home invaders.

You could hide a firearm in rooms where you spend a lot of time, thereby always having a firearm within easy reach, but how do you do that? What about security? A gun safe or lock box in every room can get expensive. There is a solution for people who do not have children in the house: The Quick Draw.

This magnet allows you to hide a gun on the underside of furniture in rooms where you frequently spend time, meaning that you will always have a gun within easy reach, and an intruder, being unlikely to look at the underside of your kitchen table, will likely not find them. The real downside here is that you will have to police them all up, should children come over for a visit.

I have a few of these, and they allow me to stash a small revolver in the dining room, or a pistol to the underside of a coffee table, the bottom of the countertop inside of a drawer in the kitchen, or the underside of a desk at the office. You are limited only by your imagination, and the fact that the only security for the weapon is the fact that it is semi-hidden.

Borepatch has a link to a post that reminds me of a story of my own. Some of the details of this story have been altered, because I am not sure how classified all of it still is. Still a good story.

While doing time in the Navy, I spent some time temporarily assigned to security. I carried a 1911, and my job as an armed sentry was easy: Follow the orders of the security officer and his designees, and no one else. Since we had nuclear weapons present, the Marines guarded the nukes, we guarded everything else. I hated it.

The authority of an armed sentry is nearly absolute, otherwise a person intent on doing bad things would merely dress up as a general and order the sentry to let them in. The second principle when you are in a nuclear command is that there is no such thing as a hostage. We were instructed to shoot through intended hostages to hit the target, but the safety and security of the weapons was absolute. When a security alert is declared, everyone who is not on the security detail is trained to turn away from the security team and either go prone, or face first against the wall. I have seen marines strike and handcuff officers who didn’t want to be ordered around by enlisted. The Navy took this security seriously.

My best story was the time that my partner and I (we were in pairs) were told to go to the safe and escort this officer and his briefcase filled with classified briefing papers from the safe to the place where the briefing would be held. We were told that at no time was this officer and his papers to be allowed out of our sight, and deadly force was authorized to protect them.

When we arrived at the location where the briefing was to be held, we were told by the officer that he would call us when the briefing was over, so that we could escort him back to the safe. That was when I pointed out to him that my orders were that I not let him or the papers out of my sight.The conversation went like this:

Officer: “You are not cleared for this information.”
DM: “Sir, I have a security clearance, and I have my orders.”
Officer: “I don’t care what clearance you think you have, you are not cleared for this. I am countermanding those orders, and I order you to leave.” 
DM: “Sir, I cannot take orders from anyone except my direct superiors. I have to stay.” (my partner at this time is whispering in my ear that maybe we should just go, before we get  in trouble)
Officer: “If you do not leave, I will have the Chief Petty Officer remove you.”
DM: “Sir, it is my duty to point out to you that I am carrying a sidearm, while you and the chief petty officer are not.” (putting hand on pistol)
At this point, my partner is having a seizure, because I just threatened to shoot an officer. The officer grabs the telephone, calls the security officer, and demands that we be brought up on charges. That didn’t work, and we stayed for the briefing.

I was sent back to my regular job less than a week later, three months before I was supposed to be.

So with the local news reporting that Zimmerman had head injuries, including a broken nose, and Martin had a gunshot wound and injured knuckles, it is apparent to me that Zimmerman’s account which claimed that Martin was the aggressor and was shot in self defense is the most plausible story, considering the evidence.

I recently had a conversation that shows how little some people understand about self defense and the law. Here is the conversation that I recently had:

Woman: but still Zimmerman was the one who followed Martin

DM:  Not illegal, and someone following someone is not a legal reason to begin beating on them.

Woman: no, but how do you know who “started it”? Martin had to fight harder, all he had was candy, Zimmerman had a gun.

DM:  One
man has head injuries, the other has no other injury than the gunshot
wound and bruised knuckles. This supports Zimmerman’s statement that he
was attacked by Martin. Since the state has to prove that Zimmerman is
guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, unless
there is some other evidence here that changes the story, there is a
real possibility that Zimmerman is telling the truth. As long as that
possibility exists, there is reasonable doubt, which means that
Zimmerman is not guilty.

Saying that Zimmerman had a
gun is meaningless. It doesn’t mean that Zimmerman was looking for
trouble, simply because he carried a gun, any more than having car
insurance means that you are looking to have a car accident. I have
carried a gun every day for over 20 years, and not once have I started a
fight while carrying it.

 Woman: No response.

My homeowner’s insurance cost $1,200 a year. My insurance on my two automobiles costs $1,500 per year. I have been with the same insurance company for 7 years, and I have never filed a claim. In that time, they have collected nearly $20,000 from me in profit, without a single dollar in losses.

I called them this morning, because I was registering a vehicle that I bought in Missouri. Since I was moving the title and registration from Missouri to Florida, I had to provide proof of insurance. That was when they gave me the bad news: For the last two weeks, I have had no insurance. Apparently, they did a routine check of my file, and discovered that my credit score had dropped since the last time they checked, and they say that makes me uninsurable. They didn’t even bother to send me a letter or make a telephone call to tell me that I was not insured. If I had not called, the first hint that I would have had would have been if I got in an accident. They didn’t even refund the premiums that I paid for the year in advance.

If it weren’t for the government demanding that I carry car insurance, I wouldn’t. I am not sure about other states, but the law in Florida is that a vehicle owner must have insurance that pays the owners and occupants of other vehicles in the event that an accident occurs that is the insured driver’s fault. In other words, you insure everyone except yourself. To insure your own vehicle costs extra. Here in Florida, there are so many drivers ignoring the law and driving without insurance, coverage for uninsured motorists is important.

I say that the law should be rewritten, so that I insure me and mine, and if you don’t want insurance, then don’t get any. Your loss.

As I said in yesterday’s post, I met a guy while I was in Belize City who was telling me how he was making a living by playing the handout game. I let him go on and on about how great he had it, because I wanted to get a feel for how America and Americans were perceived in that part of the world.

One of the things he told me was that Belize had a health care system that was better than the US model, because all health care was free or subsidized. He then went on to tell me that he was surprised that the US didn’t have free care as well. While researching some things for yesterday’s post, I discovered why that is: Because the US is the majority of the health care system for Belize, at least the portions that require anything more complex than a simple office visit.

A portion of Belize’s system is to subsidize travel to the US for patients that need:advanced care. Even at that, a significant portion of the funding for the health care system comes from the US, UN, Britain, and other countries, as well as volunteer health workers from other nations like the US.

PAP smears, C sections, cancer treatment, CT scans, chemotherapy, radiation therapy are performed in the US. MRI, nuclear medicine is simply not available. All doctors in Belize are educated elsewhere (5 out of every 7 are educated in Cuba) and are employees of the government and receive a salary of US$30,400 (BZ$60,800) a year (PDF alert). Many doctors, clinics, and hospitals will stay open after hours and treat the richer residents (and American expats) for cash, so that they can make some money on the side. All dental work, other than tooth
extractions, is done within this private system after normal business hours.

This is not a free health care system, it is a triage and transport system with a black market way for people with money to actually get care. Since we here in the US do not have anyone to send our sick people to, we cannot have a system like this.

About three years ago, I traveled to Belize City, located in a nation where the average wage is less than $3,500 a year. While I was there, I met a 34 year old guy who came to the United States and worked here for 8 years as an illegal immigrant, bagging groceries in New York City. He explained to me how it is easy to live the good life.

He had gotten an ITIN, and was paying taxes. After eight years, he claimed that he hurt his back at the age of 29, and with the help of a law firm in Miami, was able to get Social Security Disability. This disability totals nearly $700 a month, and he gets it for the rest of his life, even though he lives in Belize. This means that he is getting  $8,400 a year, two and a half times the average citizen’s wages.

Yes, there are many immigrants that are taking advantage of the giveaways and raping this country. The problem isn’t the immigrants, it is the government giving away tons of money. Stop doing that, and we can go back to the days of immigrants coming here to build a better life, and away from immigrants coming here for free money.

One of the cofounders of Facebook is renouncing his US citizenship because of high tax rates. With the tax rate rising to 40% from 33% this year, capital gains taxes rising, and foreign banks being required to report the funds of American citizens beginning Jan 1, he stands to lose nearly $2 billion in taxes this year alone.

His is a common  story: An immigrant who came to the country, made his money and then left. Simple math says that for every immigrant who becomes a billionaire, hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, remain poor and on government benefits.

The Laffer curve is being proven correct, as thousands of billionaires leave this country, taking their capital with them. We in the United States are destined to be living in a third world country by the end of the century, perhaps even by 2030.

In the 1830s, the people of Missouri were angry that Mormons were living among them and practicing bigamy. The Mormons committed other sins, in that they were opposed to slavery, tended to vote in cohesive blocks, and tended to elect other Mormons. This angered the local church going politicians, and they and their constituents began raiding Mormon settlements, and the Mormons began raiding them right back. The pattern was always the same: A Mormon settlement would be attacked, and when they fought back, they were accused of being an ‘insurrection,” and were driven from the land or killed. The locals would then confiscate their property. The Mormons eventually would settle around what is now Kansas City. Mormon petitions and lawsuits demanding a return of their property failed to bring any satisfaction: the
non-Mormons refused to allow the Mormons to return to their land and
reimbursement for confiscated and damaged property was refused.

William Peniston, a candidate for the state legislature, made
disparaging statements about the Mormons, calling them “horse-thieves and robbers”,and warned them not to vote in the election. Reminding Daviess residents of the growing electoral power of the
Mormon community, Peniston made a speech in Gallatin claiming that if the Missourians “suffer such men as these [Mormons] to vote, you will soon lose your suffrage.” Around 200 non-Mormons gathered in Gallatin on election day to prevent Mormons from voting.

On October 24, 1838, a state militia marched along the crooked river and confiscated weapons from Mormon homes. After imprisoning and preparing to execute Mormons who refused to turn in weapons, a Mormon raiding party attempted a rescue, which resulted in the Battle of the Crooked River. Four people were killed in the battle, and it resulted in the Governor issuing executive order 44, ordering the state militia to wipe out the Mormons.Three days later, the Haun’s Mill massacre occured, where 19 Mormons were killed by the Militia, even though a truce was in effect at the time.

John Smith, the founder of the Mormon church was arrested and then murdered in his cell.The killers were let free.

This resulted in the Mormons fleeing to Utah under an agreement where the militia agreed to stop killing them if they left the country. Under the new church leader Brigham Young, they founded Salt Lake City in 1846.

In 1857, the United States Congress declared that Utah was a territory of the union, and President Buchanan demanded that the Mormons follow the laws on marriage, which Young refused. Buchanan sent 2,500 Federal troops, who ousted Young and replaced him with a more favorable Governor. Utah then applied for statehood under this government, and was accepted on the condition that they outlaw polygamy in their constitution.

There you have it, the tenth, first, and second amendments all violated to force marriage laws on a free people. Note that before tyranny could be carried out, the government needed a monopoly on force. It is also hard to believe people when they tell you that ‘traditional marriage’ has been the law of the land in the USA when they use that as an excuse to outlaw gay marriage, when you know that marriage as practiced in this country was enforced at the muzzle of a gun.