Posted 1:35 PM by Creditwrench

Some time ago I posted about an article that was put out by the Federal Reserve System telling us what our financial future is likely to become. I'm sure that a few of my readers might remember that article. In it the Fed was discussing the future of the U.S. economy and what is in store for us. They referred to the Japanese economy which tanked about 10 years or so ago and apparently is still in deep economic recession with little or no relief in sight. And it tanked when interest rates went through zero percent and into the negative interest rate area.

America built the Japanese economy after the war by buying their transistor radios and their TV's and all the rest of the electronic miracles and automobiles and the steel they produced in gargantuan quantities. And we did it on deficit spending and fiat money. On false promises we could never hope to fulfill in any sustainable manner. And then we abandoned them to move first of all to Mexico and the Latin America's whom we have also abandoned for China and the Asian Rim countries because of labor and environmental concerns. And when we passed NAFTA, we also tanked the Japanese economy. Of course, there were other reasons such as corporate mismanagement, bank scandals and other Enronic scenarios, so it wasn't really all our fault. The Japenese themselves were not entirely faultless either.

The point to be made here is that once the interest rates went negative the Japanese money supply dwindled to a mere trickle due to the fact that nobody would loan out money at such rates even though they could and would charge interest on any money loaned to the private sector, it still had to be loaned out at very low profit levels, hardly enough to make loaning money worthwhile.

And that is basically what happened during the great American depression. The banks became frightened and simply would not loan money and the money supply contracted to the point where very little was to be had anywhere and so the stock market crashed. What money was available suddenly became so valuable that we could buy eggs for a nickel a dozen and a loaf of bread for a dime. Wages were at about 15 to 20 cents an hour and nobody could find any work to earn even that. All because the money supply was shut off by the banks. And when Roosevelt took over the reins of power he immediately set up legislation to prevent that from happening again and it was known as the Federal Reserve System. Roosevelt's reasoning was that if the money supply were in the hands of the government rather than private bankers the money supply could not ever be shut down like that again and America would never suffer another great depresssion again. Simply could not happen, he claimed. And the land was healed because everybody believed him.

And now we are faced with just exactly that which could never happen again, thanks to Nafta and Gatt and the various other trade treaties. And now things are made so cheaply that nobody will borrow money to set up new factories to build new businesses or search for new energy sources or much of anything else except the private sector who will borrow incessantly beyond their means at the slightest excuse all made easy by plastic money.

So what is the Fed to do about the interest rates. They can't raise rates because if they do the economy will tank even faster. They can sit tight for a while and do nothing at all about lowering the interest rates even though economic honesty demands that they act to continue to chase the inevitable downward spiral.

They can also start charging interest on money held in savings accounts and other trust instruments, but that isn't feasable at this time because there is no way to track the actual path of each banknote. They would all have to have the RFID tags in the money and they would have to be incredibly smarter than RFID tags are today or are ever likely to be and the support system to monitor the money would be virtually impossible even with the modern technology we currently have. So even though it is feasable it is not a practical solution.

Another thing the Feds said earlier that they could do would be to buy huge quantities of foreign currency such as the eurodollar and the yen and whatever thereby distributing the downward pressure more evenly among the other nations but doing so might be illegal and even if illegal the other nations would soon put an end to that. So the Fed said that was also not a viable option.

So about the only thing left that would be both legal and feasable would be to use surplus cash to buy government debt instruments. Doing so would be about the only viable option the Fed said in that earlier article. And in that article the Fed said that is probably exactly the course of action they would pursue.

And early this morning I opened an email from somewhere discussing a mysterious and curious phenomena which had been observed by Matt Drudge of the Drudge report who could not understand why it was that over the last two months our money supply had been dwindling at the alarming rate of 11 billion dollars a day over the last two months. I think we have the answer. The fed obviously seems to be doing exactly what it duscussed in it's mid summer report which is to buy government securities with it's vast storehouse of liquid cash in a last ditch effort to keep the interest rates from being forced into negatiivity and the economy from crashing. But even they admitted that the problems with the American economy are so deep that serious doubts exist in the minds of the Fed economists about the eventual workability of such action since they too are eventually and inexorably heading for the proverbial brick wall bearing the words "ALL WEALTH HAS IT'S LIMITS"

The burning bush question then becomes one of how on earth can the Fed legally use worthless fiat instruments of debt to buy equally worthless instruments of debt but of a different stripe and expect to get away with it?

"But" wait, you say, "How can it be that I am predicting all this doom and gloom when the latest economic indicators show that the economy has grown by 8% this last quarter? Surely that proves that Bill Bauer is full of it as he is so often accused of being. "

To those who believe that nonsense I ask, "Don't you imagine that the Fed releasing 11 Billion a day into the money markets buying CDs and other worthless instruments of debt is going to cause a nice rise in the stock and money markets as we have recently been seeing and would that not show up as an increase in the economy thereby artifically presenting a nice rosy picture for the populace who will later be incredulous as they wonder how such a robust economy could possibly have tanked? The markets may indeed be rising but I am confident that we will soon see the end of that and a deafening crash in the equity markets and our entire economic system.

Maybe Matt Drudge can't figure out the mystery but to me it is about as plain as the nose on one's face. And while Matt and the rest of the pundits are trying their best to figure out this mystery I have other better advice and that is to get your money out of the markets while they are rising and invest it in more useful things such as gun powder which you had best store in a nice safe dry place because I seriously doubt that the day is far off when you will be needing it desperately.

And to those not so lucky as to have stocks and bonds and such I say that you had best invest all the money you can lay your hands on in food, alternative energy systems and staples as well as guns and ammo because the day may not be far off when you decide to go to the store and your fiat money would not buy anything even if they had it in the stores to sell you. You need to understand that if all incoming supplies to the grocery stores were suddenly cut off there would not be enough stock in their back rooms to last even one day. A few hours at most.

We can hope against hope and we can decry such as I as being fear mongers or what you will. I sincerely hope you are right and I am wrong, but the handwriting is most definitly on the wall and the Fed has already foretold the probable future a few months back.

And there is absolutely not one thing in our economic future that could possibly pull us out of it. Our farms can no longer be our economic base nor have we any factories capable of fulfilling that role either. All have gone South or to the Asian Rim countries.

Our military is much weaker than it used to be and is apparently in no small amount of trouble in Iraq and other places.
It will be we the people who will most likely have to eventually defend our homes and our nation and if we are disarmed we will be totally unable to do so.

Let us not be fooled. We need to start understanding the processes at work here and what the future protends. We need to take precautions against the probability of a bleak future. Those who are debt free and have liquid items to sell or barter for food and other staples are the ones who will come out winners in the near future.

That is why it is so important to eliminate whatever debt we cannot hope to pay in the short term and pay down to almost nothing that which we can pay down, but we must do so in ways that do not blemish our credit.

Those who heed the above advice will be in good shape no matter what happens and those who do not will surely wish they had sooner or later.

Posted 9:33 PM by Creditwrench

11-26-03

Employer Simkanin Prosecution Ends in Mistrial

Judge Stymies Both Jury & Defense
DOJ Intends to Retry Simkanin ASAP

Jury Hung at 11-1 Favoring Acquittal

After almost 6 months of incarceration in isolation awaiting his federal trial, non-withholding employer Dick Simkanin’s trial ended this evening in a mistrial after the jury was unable to reach a verdict on federal charges that Simkanin failed to Withhold taxes from his employees.

Simkanin, a successful Bedford, Texas business owner, had been charged with 12 counts of Willful Failure to Withhold employment taxes for his employees and 15 counts of filing False Claims for requesting refunds of tax pre-payments that had been made by Simkanin on behalf of those employees.

Facing years in federal prison, his trial lasted only hours, beginning and ending yesterday – largely because the Court denied Simkanin the opportunity present any expert defense witnesses or legal evidence regarding the contested legal obligations under US income tax statutes. Jury deliberations started this morning and the mistrial was declared around 6 PM Central time. A report from several sources close to the Simkanin team was that the jury hung 11-1 in favor of acquittal.

US Attorney Jarvis stated that he intended to retry Simkanin “as soon as possible.” Simkanin, who has NO criminal record, was immediately ordered back into federal custody by Judge John McBryde.

Reportedly contributing to the jury’s inability to reach a verdict were nine separate requests and questions from the jury including a request to see a written copy of the jury instructions, a request to see a copy of the Internal Revenue Code and for the judge to provide a copy of the specific US statute that required Simkanin to withhold. Judge McBryde refused these significant requests. According to court observers, Judge McBryde also significantly impaired and repeatedly interfered with defense counsel Arch McColl's cross examination of government witnesses.

One example of how Judge McBryde dispensed justice during the short trial occurred following the testimony of one of the IRS expert witnesses who testified that the definition of “employee” that applied to Simkanin as an “employer” was found at Internal Revenue Code Section 3401 (which is for legal definitions), and defines “employee” as:

“For purposes of this chapter, the term “employee” includes an officer, employee, or elected official of the United States, a State, or any political subdivision thereof, or the District of Columbia, or any agency or instrumentality of any one of the foregoing. The term “employee” also includes an officer of a corporation.”

During a break, Judge McBryde requested US Attorney Jarvis for the legal definition of “employee” to include in the jury instructions. Defense attorney McColl then attempted to show the judge the definition in the IRC at section 26 USC 3401 that had just been testified to by the IRS witness. According to court observers, the judge dismissively “waved off” McColl with a flip of the wrist and a comment, “I know what your position is Mr. McColl, and I disagree. That is not a definition. It says ‘includes’ not ‘defines’. I want Mr. Jarvis' position.”

According to courtroom observers, US Attorney Jarvis later recalled the IRS employee to the witness stand, and the witness subsequently “corrected” his previous testimony to affirmatively declare that the definition of “employee” which applies to Simkanin was not from Section 3401, but rather from Section 3121(d).

Although the definition of “employee” found at 3121 is certainly more encompassing than the legal definition first asserted by the IRS witness, the subsequent definition may ultimately cause unanticipated problems for the government if it attempts to retry Simkanin. The following citation is from section Section 3121(e), which, (per the “corrected” testimony of the IRS witness), also contains legal definitions for the terms “State” and “United States” for the purposes of the withholding chapter that Texas resident Simkanin was allegedly charged with violating:

(e) State, United States, and citizen

For purposes of this chapter -

(1) State

The term ''State'' includes the District of Columbia, the

Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and

American Samoa.

(2) United States

The term ''United States'' when used in a geographical sense

includes the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands,

Guam, and American Samoa.

An individual who is a citizen of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico

but not otherwise a citizen of the United States) shall be

considered, for purposes of this section, as a citizen of the

United States.

During the two previous years, Simkanin had appeared before two separate federal grand juries, each apparently refusing to indict him after hearing Simkanin directly testify about the true legal substance of the US Income Tax Code. At each of these grand jury proceedings, Simkanin also provided each grand juror with substantial documentary evidence showing both the constitutional problems with the income tax system and evidence of how our government has conspired to contain these truths through deception and abuse of the public trust.

According to sources on the defense team, in early October, Simkanin, believing his trial was being “railroaded” by the federal prosecutor, acting in collusion with the District court, plead guilty to a single tax charge. Weeks later, the plea bargain was withdrawn by the DOJ because of an error in the government’s original plea offer. Simkanin, apparently, reconsidering his earlier decision to plea, decided to go to trial and seek bona fide justice.

Today, he almost got it.

More details will follow as available...

Posted 2:19 PM by Creditwrench

The power of the J'accuse blog

And important public announcement

Congress has just cancelled Thanksgiving under the Patriot Act.

They finally figured out that all the turkeys are in Washington.

LOL

Posted 1:30 PM by Creditwrench

The power of the J'accuse blog

Jist wanted to take a brief moment to teach the awsome power of the J'accuse and similiar blogs that present good informational content and links.

As you all well know or can see by visiting the j'accuse blog, Richard Cornforth made a public announcement on Saturday morning Nov 22, 2003 which I posted to the j'accuse blog at 10:02:07 that same morning.

As many of you know it normally takes several weeks or months to get a web site or web page into the search engines if you can get it there at all and when you do it will seldom make even the first page of listings let alone a high rank position on the first page.

At about 1:30 A.M. Monday morning, Nov. 24th, 2003 I was notified that someone had done a search on Google using the search term "Attorney Richard Cornforth" and as I usually do I went to the search page they used and what do I find in the #7 slot but the listing of Richard's statement made about 36 hours prior to the time I found if on Google!

That is about the average time it takes a good blog to get it's messages in the search engines and they usually get right up on top or very close to the top.

Of course, just putting up a blog isn't good enough to get that kind of results. There are millions of blogs all over the internet and more going up every day. It takes a lot more than just putting up a blog if you want to get into all the search engines within the 12 to 48 hours that my blogs average. And it takes a lot to put up a blog and get more than 32,000 hits in 7 monhs.

But the J'accuse blog isn't doing all that badly by any stretch of the imagination either. Lots of blogs are never seen by anybody but the webmaster and maybe a few of his friends. The J'accuse blog has only been up about 2 months now and has had over 600 visits. That's not too shabby either. But there are a lot of things going on behind the scenes that makes that kind of performance happen. And there are even more things that can be done which will enhance the performance of the J'accuse blog even more and I will do those things too as time and other factors permit.

There are also some little things that each and every one of you can probably do for free to help push the j'accuse message. I'm already doing them with my main blog and also working with a popular political party to help generate votes for the 2002 elections and by the time we get done we should easily beat all opponents combined in getting out the pary's political messages. And I am doing the same thing with my main blog as well. Millions of messages on whatever subject is entirely possible without ever spamming anybody. And it isn't even hard or expensive. All it takes is a few computers and even old ones that have been retired because they were too old and slow or couldn't be practically upgraded any more can be put to good use in getting out the message instead of just sitting in some corner going to rot.

Just thought I would give you all a chance to see what can be done. So if you want to see the results for yourself just go to Google and type "attorney Richard Cornforth" in the search box and you will quickly see what I am talking about.

Posted 1:31 PM by Creditwrench

Subject: FIRST-PERSON: Judges need to be 'checked & balanced'


FIRST-PERSON: Judges need to be 'checked & balanced'
Friday, Nov 21, 2003
By Kelly Boggs

"A sound and sane amendment needs to be drafted that will provide judges with real accountability. If the judiciary is not somehow "checked and balanced," and done so soon, the patriot dream envisioned by our founders could well become a nightmare."

McMINNVILLE, Ore. (BP)--

"O beautiful for patriot dream that sees beyond the years" the fourth stanza begins in the classic composition, "America the Beautiful." We in the United States are benefactors of the unique wisdom and uncanny foresight shown by the founders of our nation. They not only sacrificed to secure their own liberty; they also formed a government based
on a timeless Constitution that would benefit future generations.

If America was to survive and thrive into the future, the founders understood all too well that the new nation would have to rest on a sturdy foundation of proven principles. Thus the U.S. Constitution was intended to withstand populist trends and societal fads.

The framers of the Constitution, and the subsequent Bill of Rights, carefully crafted a document that flowed from a Christian consensus. This is not to imply that all the founders were Christians. However, there was an overwhelming acceptance of a Creator who had established the world upon fixed laws -- the "Laws of Nature and of Nature's God," as referred to in the Declaration of Independence.

The very reality of a government with a separation of powers is due to the fact that our founders believed that man, as an inherently sinful creature, could not be trusted with unchecked power. With the establishment of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government, the constitutional framers were in essence saying that they did not even trust
themselves with concentrated power.

In recent years the founders have been much maligned for their flaws and shortcomings. One such criticism involves their failure to address the insidious institution of slavery. While some have sought to excuse them on the basis that they were merely products of their time, there really is no justification for their action or lack thereof. However, it should be noted
that the Constitution they produced became the very vehicle for righting the wrong they had indulged.

The framers of the Constitution understood well that they were flawed and, as such, prone to mistakes. The result: They made provision in the Constitution whereby future generations could revise any legislative mistakes they or ensuing lawmakers might make.

In Article V of the Constitution, the founders set forth the manner in which their guiding document could be amended. One of the very first uses of the amendment process was to outlaw slavery in America; thus a glaring mistake of the framers was corrected by the Constitution they created.

The time has again come for the people of the United States to demand that the amendment process be utilized. And no, I am not talking about a "defense of marriage" addition to the Constitution. While such an amendment is perhaps needed, I believe it is time for a much broader amendment -- one that will provide the American people with a safety valve against the tyranny we now face.

For at least four decades the judiciary has been slowly spinning out of control. With the recent rulings concerning sodomy, the Ten Commandments and homosexual "marriage," it is now obvious that judges are accountable to no one and nothing, least of all the "Laws of Nature and Nature's God."

The fixed intention the framers had for the Constitution is now said to be fluid. As such, judges routinely interpret the Constitution so as to conform to society's flaws rather than to correct them. The Constitution, once a bulwark against the whimsical waves of societal trends, is now adrift upon the fickle sea of popular culture.

Sound legal reasoning has given way to sociological jurisprudence and legal realism that ignores not only the will of the people, but also time-tempered wisdom and even basic biology. Judges have not only invented legislation, but have mandated it as well.

A sound and sane amendment needs to be drafted that will provide judges with real accountability. If the judiciary is not somehow "checked and balanced," and done so soon, the patriot dream envisioned by our founders could well become a nightmare.

--30--

www.sbcbaptistpress.org

Posted 1:24 PM by Creditwrench

Judge Wins Court Ruling

By Rob Moritz
arkansas news bureau rmoritz@arkansasnews.com

LITTLE ROCK - The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday narrowly overturned a disciplinary panel's admonishment of Court of Appeals Judge Wendell Griffen for speaking out about racial issues at the University of Arkansas.

In the 4-3 decision, the high court said the standard used by the Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission to sanction Griffen "intrudes on legitimate free speech."

Griffen said Thursday that he was "greatly relieved" by the decision.

"This has been a long and a painful and a grueling ordeal, so it's very gratifying to prevail after all the months that I've spent fighting the charges of unethical conduct," he said.

"It's gratifying to prevail, especially knowing that this was an anonymous complaint, apparently because somebody wasn't happy that I criticized the record of the University of Arkansas about racial diversity," Griffen said.

"I'm personally relieved that my record will be cleared," he said.

Justice Robert L. Brown, who wrote the majority opinion, said the judicial-conduct standard used by the commission, known as a canon, "is not sufficiently drawn so as to advise Judge Griffen under what circumstances he might consult with a legislative official on a matter of personal interest."

Arkansas Judicial Canon 4c1 prohibits a judge from appearing at a public hearing before an executive or legislative body or office, except on matters concerning the law, the legal system or administration of justice. The canon also makes exceptions when a judge is acting alone in a matter involving the judge or judge's best interest.

"Because of this, the canon did not place Judge Griffen sufficiently on notice as to what is proscribed as conduct," the decision said.

The decision, however, agreed that the comments Griffen made were offensive to some.

"Without question, there are varying opinions regarding the propriety of Judge Griffen's remarks. The issue, though, is whether his comments constitute an ethical violation, leading to punishment."

The decision continues by saying that "without proof of a 'narrow tailoring' of the exception by the Judicial Commission when the parameters of speech based on conduct are directly involved (the canon) as applied to Judge Griffen, violates his First Amendment rights.

The court encouraged the judicial panel to review the canon and recommend changes, so that in the future there is a standard for governing such conduct.

Griffen was admonished for criticizing the University of Arkansas' record on racial diversity during a meeting last year of the Legislative Black Caucus. He addressed the caucus in Fayetteville after the university's firing of Nolan Richardson as head basketball coach.

Griffen argued that he had expressed his opinion on an issue he has personal interest in when he spoke to the Legislative Black Caucus on March 18, 2002.

Griffen is one of three black judges on the 12-judge Court of Appeals and attended the University of Arkansas.

Griffen also was accused of violating the judicial code against lobbying the Legislature. He urged members of the Legislative Black Caucus to use budgetary purse strings to express their displeasure with what he sees as a lack of progress at the university in diversifying the facility and administration.

Siding with Brown in the majority were Chief Justice W.H. "Dub" Arnold, and Justices Annabelle Clinton Imber and Ray Thornton.

Dissenting were Justices Jim Hannah, Tom Glaze and Donald L. Corbin.

Corbin said the canon is not vague and that Griffen's lobbying of lawmakers "was so egregious that there can be no doubt that it violated the canon."

Hannah also said a judge "may not simply cast aside his or her judicial mantel when he or she chooses and walk in life as other men or women."

"Although Judge Griffen would like to carve out his personal life and separate it from his life as a judge, that simply is not possible," Hanna wrote. "The position of judge is a high calling, and it carries with it obligations not borne by the average person."

Glaze said that if the "judicial branch is to maintain its integrity, it must do so by remaining separate from the legislative and executive branches."

SW Times Online commentary

Posted 10:02 AM by Creditwrench

I normally don't like to parrot things that have been posted in Carole's Yahoo groups message forum unless there is an overwhelming public interest in doing so in order that the many readers of the J-accuse blog who are not privy to Carole's group may be informed on important matters. For that reason only I will repeat Richard Cornforth's message and will add a reference link to the message posted on my message forum so that all may see what Richard is referring to.

---

First, the week's results! I am happy to report that my associate Mark Mayes won vacation of a void judgment in Kansas this week.

In other news: Gary in Florida negotiated an agreed dismissal of a case against him, Mike in Oklahoma has a pretrial scheduling order on a quiet title which is a form of challenging a void judgment (Mike appeared in overalls against a team of five attorneys), and Fred, in a Texas federal court, won a motion to quash in his case against a major airline.

Guy in Arkansas had a court appearance on Tuesday and although the judge ruled against Guy, the judge, the lawyers and private parties were placed on notice of violation of 18 USC 371. Guy subsequently talked with federal authorities and will celebrate Thanksgiving with the knowledge that the feds have already said there will be a prosecution.

I got a report from Bill Bauer that some moron had badmouthed me and collaterally attacked Naomi who lives in Tennessee. What this half-wit doesn't know is that Naomi has won one of three cases with one still pending. The case the coward referred to was a fixed contest. The failing in that case was not the pleadings nor Naomi's will and resolve but crooked judges.

Naomi had placed evidence of fraud in the record. Now comes someone attempting to make me look bad - hum? Logically, this person knows Naomi and knows that Naomi has relied on me. Also logically, this person has been somewhat frustrated in trying to impose on Naomi or maybe get Naomi to patronize some paytriot.

Likely this person believes that if he can discredit me, he can persuade Naomi to abandon facts, law, and procedure and focus on redemption or some other b.s. Since Naomi's record is one win, one in progress, and one alleged loss under review, I'd first be curious to know if this clown ever had the brass to go to court and the brains to come out with a win - I doubt it.

Rather than waste anymore time on the subject, I, Richard Luke Cornforth, hereby declare war on the paytriots including Barton Butz, Winston Shrout, Hartford Van Dyde (although he's in prison), Roger Elvick (although he's on his way back to prison), Rice McLeod, Jacques Jackaround, Autin Gary Cooper, and any others of like mind who are attacking, directly or indirectly, good people like Naomi.

Watch the J'accuse blog for intense activity beginning early next year with the result of eliminating patriot for proffit b.s.

---

The Creditwrench Message board

Posted 11:56 AM by Creditwrench

12,000 estranged fathers take their lives last year. One every 45 minutes in the USA. One male will commit suicide every 22 minutes in the USA. Expect the number to be even higher each year. Sign the petitions. Send the petitions on to others. BECOME ACTIVE.

Despite being unable to work due to health problems, John Linville is threatened with being jailed in December ( - some Christmas present ) for being unable to pay child support for children he is refused access to by his ex..
Please sign the petitions for him via the link below.

John has been driven to the brink of suicide by the monstrous and inhuman child support system of America. Fathers from all over the world are fighting on his behalf.

Two petitions relating to John Linville's case have been hosted at petitononline. Please sign them and distribute widely!! Goal is 1000 signatures at least for each petition, closing dates for both is December 4th. The signatures will be downloaded and faxed in time to the Court and the District Office.

The Division of child support enforcement Petition to Virginia Lynchburg District Office Division of child support enforcement was created at: Petition on line

The Bedford Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court Petition to Bedford Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court was created at:
Court petition

Sign and distribute the petition for RESTORATION OF CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS.
another petition on line

Ed WARd, MD
edward19@cox.net
Member of FORCE in Louisiana, Founder of Hunger Strike for Justice in USA
FORCE-LOUISIANA
Yahoo HSFJ group
Sign and distribute the petition for RESTORATION OF CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS.
Rites ABC

NCFC.net
SPCA.ORG
NCFM.ORG
MENS-NETWORK.ORG
HTLWORLD.COM
J-ACCUSE
MAGNA CARTA NEWS SERVICE
CREDITWRENCH BLOG
CREDITWRENCH WEBSITE

Posted 9:54 AM by Creditwrench

Directions to Dan Meador's funeral are to be had at

Maps to Dan Meador's funeral

Also please do not forget to attend the memorial services for Pat Patton today at 2:00 P.M. at the Elk's Lodge on North Tulsa Street in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Posted 3:41 PM by Creditwrench

Oklahoma House of Representatives
November 13, 2003


By MIKE W. RAY
House Media Division Director
OKLAHOMA CITY -- The agency that investigates complaints against state and municipal judges wants the Legislature to restore less than half of the appropriation that was cut from its budget this year.

The Council on Judicial Complaints seeks an appropriation of $282,599 for Fiscal Year 2005, an increase of $14,600, or 5.44 percent, from the allocation this year. Because of a marked decline in tax revenues, state lawmakers lowered the council's appropriation for FY 2004 by $33,682, to $267,999, an 11.2 percent reduction.

The additional funds requested next year are needed to reimburse council and staff members for travel expenses, to compensate a court reporter, and for mandatory training programs, council Director Eric Mitts told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Public Safety and the Judiciary.

The council's job is to "efficiently and impartially" investigate complaints about the conduct of persons holding judicial
positions, and to determine if such complaints should "be made the subject of action before the Court on the Judiciary" or should be dismissed.

"Our function is to preserve the reputation and quality of the judiciary," Mitts said. Some 626 judges (254 state, 372 municipal) are under the jurisdiction of the Council on Judicial Complaints.

During the past five fiscal years the council had 3,578 "public contacts" that resulted in 843 complaints filed against judges, ledgers reflect. Complaints are lodged against a jurist for myriad reasons, Mitts related. "Nine times out of ten it involves conduct that occurred during a court proceeding." A common example, he said, is when a judge takes a matter "under advisement" and fails to rule on it within the time frame established by Supreme Court rules.

In the past five years the council dismissed 784 complaints, records show; only two judges were ousted from office during that period. "Very few" complaints result in formal charges being referred to the Court on the Judiciary, Mitts said. According to Mitts, research compiled by the American Adjudicature Society shows that nationally, 96 percent of all complaints against judges ultimately are dismissed.

Mitts told the chairman of the legislative subcommittee, Rep. Joe Dorman, D-Rush Springs, that on average about 15 cases a year require an extensive investigation to be conducted and testimony to be taken and transcribed.

"The public needs our entity," Mitts asserted. Often, in a divorce case, a criminal case or a probate matter, some people "feel like they've been mistreated." With the Council on Judicial Complaints, "They at least know someone independent of the judge has looked at the facts in their case."

"This is a perfect example of government accountability; people who feel they have been wronged by the courts have recourse," Dorman said later. "We have moved far beyond the court scandals of the 1960's in large part because of this council and its oversight."

The council has considered an average of about two dozen complaints at each of its meetings during the past three years, Mitts reported.

The council held 10 meetings in FY '99, a dozen meetings in FY 2000, nine in FY 2001, seven each in FY 2002 and 2003, but only four so far in FY 2004 because of its shrunken budget, Mitts said. In addition, he said, the council is borrowing resources from other agencies.

For example, the council shaved $2,000 in expenses by discontinuing its Internet account and instead getting dial-up service through the Office of State Finance at a nominal cost of $10 per month.

The state Office of Personnel Management "handles our payroll for us," and the Department of Central Services "handles our court reporter and our attorney contract and our office lease," Mitts said. The Council on Judicial Complaints shares quarters in Oklahoma City with the Oklahoma Bar Association, and uses the association's receptionist; in addition, when the council needs to refer to state statutes, "we walk across the hall" to the Bar Association's law library "and get whatever information
we need," Mitts said.

Rep. John Smaligo, R-Owasso, commended the council for its frugality but wondered, "Are there other savings that could be made?"

"Our base appropriation is lower than what we need to operate," Mitts replied. In fact, he said, for every $100 appropriated to state trial and appellate courts in Fiscal Year 2000, the Council on Judicial Complaints received barely over a nickel, and the council's share has since dropped to 4.5 cents this year.

"I want to make sure you have adequate resources," Rep. David Braddock, D-Altus, an attorney, told Mitts.
The agency has two full-time staff members (Mitts and an assistant), a contract attorney (J. Duke Logan of Vinita) and a contract court reporter. The three-member council is comprised of two lawyers and a lay person: Stilwell attorney Lloyd E. Cole, Jr., Hugo attorney Bob Rabon, and Claremore banker Jeffery Jensen.

Council members are appointed by the Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, the President Pro Tempore of the Oklahoma Senate, and by the Oklahoma Bar Association.
-30-

Posted 2:54 PM by Creditwrench

A map showing the approximate location has been placed on the J-accuse blog

If you need driving directions for Pat Patton's memorial services please go to the blog so you can see where it is at.

Posted 1:02 PM by Creditwrench

Memorial services for Pat Patton

will be held tomorrow afternoon (Friday Nov. 14th, 2003) at 2:00 P.M. at the Elk's lodge between 39th & 50th on Tulsa Street in Oklahoma City.

Please plan to attend if at all possible.

Below is a map of the area of the Elk's Lodge in Oklahoma City. It has been a very long time since I have been there so I'm not exactly all that certain about the exact location on Tulsa but I believe it would be in the green area on the left side of Tulsa just above 45th street. If that is not so then it will be the area just south of 43rd Pl. If someone is familiar with the exact area will they please contact me at 616-7901 and let me know and I will correct the above directions. In any case, the Elk's lodge is easy to see on the west side of Tulsa street.

Posted 9:53 AM by Creditwrench

Another terrible loss

Dear friends,

It is with a very heavy heart I bring you the sad news of Pat Patton passing away last night, November 12th, at 9:30 p.m.

Per Pat's wishes, his remains will be cremated. Since his family was able to gather at Pat's side prior to his death, plans are being made to hold a memorial service this Friday in Oklahoma City.

Memorial Services are tentatively set for Friday afternoon at 2:30 P.M.
I don't have the exact address at this time.

Please keep the Patton family in your prayers..

Letters, cards and support can be sent to Stella Patton and the Patton family at the following:

The Patton Family
P.O. Box 700295
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73107

Posted 7:20 AM by Creditwrench

Another sad day in Oklahoma following the news of the death of Dan Meador.

According to word received this A.M. our good friend Pat Patton is in Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma with an anuerism and his survival chances are not great.

His wife reports that even if he survives he will probably never be the same old Pat.

This is a great loss to our community and a sad time for all indeed.

His presence and his efforts are sorely needed and there will be nobody who can truly fill this great man's shoes.

Posted 5:02 AM by Creditwrench

From: Ralph Kermit Winterrowd 2nd

ralph@jusbelli.com

Hello friends of Dan Meador,
I received a call this morning that Dan Meador of Marlin,
Oklahoma has passed away. He went into the hospital approximately
one week ago over issues concerning his heart and he had recently
quit smoking to help his lungs. He was then moved to a hospital that
does only issues concerning your heart in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
He had a blood clot in some part of his heart and was given medicine
to dissolve the clot. He had responded so positively to the medicine
that he was taken off of the different drips inserted into his veins
Saturday.
Either Sunday or early Monday, he was discharged and went
home to Marlin. I talked to him Monday and he sounded better that he
had for years. He was so upbeat and full of life, stated he could
breathe so much better, and had exercised on the property and would
continue to do so to strengthen his body muscles and hi heart.
Dan was watching TV on the couch this morning about 3 A.M.,
which he enjoyed doing, and at 4 A.M. he was found by Gail and her
son, David, on the couch passed away.
Dan Meador has been out in front of leading and exposing the
unlawful tax issues of the Internal Revenue Service imposed upon the
people of America. His research, insight, and writing will be missed
by all peoples fighting for our Republic and our unalienable rights.
His wife Gail and Dan also had a ministry that will be missed by many.
Dan and Gail were very dear friends and I will miss him so.
They of a kind that you are very fortunate to have been blessed to
know in this life and have as very dear friends.
Let us keep Gail that their families in my prayers.
The funeral is tentatively scheduled to be this Saturday.
One can not question the wisdom of God to call Dan home at
this particular time, but that does not lessened the grief of us
still left behind.

Good by for now, Dan Meador.

Ralph

Posted 12:19 PM by Creditwrench

From Larkin Rose: Dan Meador has passed away

It is a rare person who can stand up for what is right, daring to put himself in harm's way, and do so with cheer, good humor, patience and kindness. Dan Meador is such a person, which is why I am sorry to report that Dan passed away early this morning.
I never had the pleasure of meeting Dan in person, and for the most part he fought on a different battlefield than I did (though against a common enemy). But from the contact we did have, it quickly became clear to me that Dan was a "breed apart"; knowledgeable yet humble, with firm principles yet so easy to get along with.
He will be missed, for his research, his passion for the truth, his hunger for justice, but also just for being a good guy. If you wish to send your condolences, support, etc., here is the place to do it:
Gail Meador
P.O. Box 547
Marland, OK 74644
Dan certainly did his "fair share" of working to make this country a better place. If everyone did just a tenth of what Dan did, this world would be a great place to live in.
Sincerely,

Larken Rose

Posted 7:26 AM by Creditwrench

Charlie Meadows
Guest User


11/09/2003 17:16:30
It appears the EDGE is a continuation of, and or refinement of, the type of Central Planning - government/private sector partnerships that we have been doing for some time. This is more of an Eastern European style of economic philosophy rather than the free market approach as envisioned by our founding fathers.

In all the planning discussions, was there ever any serious thought given to reducing excessive government regulations, expensive startup fees, the elimination of franchise, corporate, capitol gains taxes and the reduction or elimination of personal income taxes as a means to lower the cost of production of goods and services in Oklahoma and thus make Oklahoma businesses more competative on a national and international level?

Creating an environment for entreperneurial sucess is fair and I believe more sucessful than the expensive central planning economic ideas proposed by the edge. If those ideas really produced more than their cost then we would no longer have to be continually increasing our efforts and raising the cost of government.

The real hinderence to taking the free market approach is the need to greatly decrease government spending. This would require reducing government waste and inefficiency but most importantly it will require eliminating spending for things government now does that are actually improper and immoral in a free market society, but are commmonly found in a socialist society. To eliminate these improper functions of government would cause a deafening squeal from the many little piglets who make their living or are subsidized off the government nipple.
Bottom
C. M. Woods
Guest User


11/09/2003 22:04:03
Right on -- Charlie Meadows! Your comments fit my thoughts to a T. It seems to me that each report from the so-called experts reflected the thoughts of special interest groups and contained very few suggestions for improving the economy in general.
Bill Bauer
Guest User


11/09/2003 23:09:42
They always need more and more money to fund their grandoise schemes. If they would simply take a good hard look at our court system they would find a way to save a ton of money.

Just stop and think about what goes on in our lower courts.

Collection agents and their attorneys flood our court system with demands for judgments against debtors. In the
final analysis, only about 20% of them will ever be collected on. That means that 80% of our court system's time spent on hearing such matters and rendering judgments upon them is totally and completely wasted.

That is an awful lot of money just being tossed down the drain all over the state.

Instead of worrying about the edges they ought to do something to stop such waste of tax payer's money and doing so would be extremely easy. All that would be needed would be a law that said that if a judgment had not been actively pursued by the plaintiff within 6 months the judgment would be come null and void and the
plaintiff would become ineligible to file another motion for summary judgment for one year in any court in the state of Oklahoma.

Enforcement of such a law would be extremely easy as well. It could be done by the county clerks. We have enough computing power to keep track of it and a simple
affidavit by the plaintiff showing what he had done to collect his judgments would be sufficient. If he lied on the affidavit let him spend a year doing supervised public service work on weekends and holidays thereby saving us even more tax dollars.

Doing something like that would make a whole lot more sense and do a whole lot more for our state budgets than some new do nothing edge commission.

Bill Bauer
Oklahoma City

Posted 9:41 PM by Creditwrench

Postings from Gov. Brad Henry's think tank.

It's known as the "edge" commission and is supposed to help the govenor find out what people think his admististration can do to help the economy. Charlie Meadows, well known Oklahoma Commentator starts the discussion


Charlie Meadows
Guest User


11/09/2003 17:16:30
It appears the EDGE is a continuation of, and or refinement of, the type of Central Planning - government/private sector partnerships that we have been doing for some time. This is more of an Eastern European style of economic philosophy rather than the free market approach as envisioned by our founding fathers.

In all the planning discussions, was there ever any serious thought given to reducing excessive government regulations, expensive startup fees, the elimination of franchise, corporate, capitol gains taxes and the reduction or elimination of personal income taxes as a means to lower the cost of production of goods and services in Oklahoma and thus make Oklahoma businesses more competative on a national and international level?

Creating an environment for entreperneurial sucess is fair and I believe more sucessful than the expensive central planning economic ideas proposed by the edge. If those ideas really produced more than their cost then we would no longer have to be continually increasing our efforts and raising the cost of government.

The real hinderence to taking the free market approach is the need to greatly decrease government spending. This would require reducing government waste and inefficiency but most importantly it will require eliminating spending for things government now does that are actually improper and immoral in a free market society, but are commmonly found in a socialist society. To eliminate these improper functions of government would cause a deafening squeal from the many little piglets who make their living or are subsidized off the government nipple.
Bottom
C. M. Woods
Guest User


11/09/2003 22:04:03
Right on -- Charlie Meadows! Your comments fit my thoughts to a T. It seems to me that each report from the so-called experts reflected the thoughts of special interest groups and contained very few suggestions for improving the economy in general.
Bill Bauer
Guest User


11/09/2003 23:09:42
They always need more and more money to fund their grandoise schemes. If they would simply take a good hard look at our court system they would find a way to save a ton of money.

Just stop and think about what goes on in our lower courts.

Collection agents and their attorneys flood our court system with demands for judgments against debtors. In the
final analysis, only about 20% of them will ever be collected on. That means that 80% of our court system's time spent on hearing such matters and rendering judgments upon them is totally and completely wasted.

That is an awful lot of money just being tossed down the drain all over the state.

Instead of worrying about the edges they ought to do something to stop such waste of tax payer's money and doing so would be extremely easy. All that would be needed would be a law that said that if a judgment had not been actively pursued by the plaintiff within 6 months the judgment would be come null and void and the
plaintiff would become ineligible to file another motion for summary judgment for one year in any court in the state of Oklahoma.

Enforcement of such a law would be extremely easy as well. It could be done by the county clerks. We have enough computing power to keep track of it and a simple
affidavit by the plaintiff showing what he had done to collect his judgments would be sufficient. If he lied on the affidavit let him spend a year doing supervised public service work on weekends and holidays thereby saving us even more tax dollars.

Doing something like that would make a whole lot more sense and do a whole lot more for our state budgets than some new do nothing edge commission.

Bill Bauer
Oklahoma City

Posted 5:09 PM by Creditwrench

A new Richard Cornforth Seminar

Richard Cornforth will be holding a new seminar in Roswell, New Mexico

November `15th & 16th

300 N Missouri
Roswell NM 88201

This is the last Richard Cornforth seminar for 2003

Announced price is $100 per person at the door.
No discount for couples is announced.

Questions about this seminar may be directed to Hiram Hudson at 505-626-3213 or 623-2936

Richard Cornforth Seminar

in Roswell, New Mexico
Watch for the latest updates here and on the J-accuse National Headquarters blog

Richard Cornforth

Click the map for a blow up of the location

Richard Cornforth Article

ADVERTISING BY MAGNA CARTA NEWS

Air Force One remodeled ALA George Bush

CLICK HERE FOR THE CREDITWRENCH WEBSITE

Posted 7:48 PM by Creditwrench

A new Richard Cornforth Seminar

Richard Cornforth will be holding a new seminar in Roswell, New Mexico

November `15th & 16th

300 N Missouri
Roswell NM 88201

This is the last Richard Cornforth seminar for 2003

Announced price is $100 per person at the door.
No discount for couples is announced.

Questions about this seminar may be directed to Hiram Hudson at 505-626-3213 or 623-2936

Richard Cornforth Seminar

in Roswell, New Mexico
Watch for the latest updates here and on the J-accuse National Headquarters blog

Richard Cornforth

Click the map for a blow up of the location

Richard Cornforth Article

ADVERTISING BY MAGNA CARTA NEWS

Air Force One remodeled ALA George Bush

CLICK HERE FOR THE CREDITWRENCH WEBSITE

Posted 4:11 PM by Creditwrench

No webpage reference is available for this article

New Virus Dresses Up as E-Mail

Reuters Page 1 of 1

09:49 AM Oct. 31, 2003 PT

A new e-mail virus capable of turning infected personal computers into "spamming" machines emerged on Friday targeting corporate and home users in Europe and the United States, a computer security expert said.

Anti-virus software makers Trend Micro reported that tens of thousands of its corporate computer users in France and Germany were hit on Friday afternoon by the virus, dubbed "Mimail.C."

By 11:30 a.m. ET on Friday, there were reports of infections in the United States too, said Raimund Genes, European president of Trend Micro.

The firm had a "medium risk" rating on the bug. "We may be upgrading it to high risk if it spreads in the U.S.," he added.

The virus carries the subject message line "our private photos ???." Opening the e-mail triggers the virus into action.

The virus installs an SMTP, or simple mail transfer protocol, program on an infected PC that turns the computer into a type of e-mail computer server capable of sending out torrents of virus-infected messages, Genes said.

The e-mail has spread quickly because it spoofs e-mail addresses, making it appear as if the e-mail comes from a friend or co-worker. "It's an old spammers trick," said Genes.

The virus is not believed to be particularly damaging to the infected computer, but it has the potential to unleash a flood of virus e-mails that could bog down corporate networks, Genes said.

---

I've devised a trick to help defeat both the spammers and the virus programs too. So far it is working pretty well. The first thing one needs to do to implement this strategy is to set up an email filter that will delete any emails from anyone who has an address card on file in your address book. I don't know about Internet Explorer but in the latest versions of Netscape you can do this.

The next step is to put an address card in your address book for each and every spammer that sends you an email. When they send the next one, the filter automatically deletes it. After a while, no more spam or at least much less of it.

And with the never ending supply of emails that contain virus in them or are virus themselves whose first trick is to peruse your address book and send out copies of itself to everybody in your address book, you hardly dare to put any of your friends, acquaintances or contacts in your address books anymore. So you might as well get some good out of it.

Of course, if you do get a virus then it will start spamming the spammers trying to infect them. Most of them have "blind" email addresses that bounce any incoming emails to them and that sets off the mailer daemon "unable to deliver" messages so you put the mailer daemons in your address book too.

Might as well get your revenge because somewhere in that mess of address cards will be the email address of the idiot who sent you the virus in the first place so maybe you can infect his computer too. (LOL)

If enough people will do this we ought to put an end to the spammers and the virus problem as well. After all, if they send out spam and it goes to a few virus infected computers they may just be in for some real fun. And if the sender of the virus starts getting back several thousands of his own emails in the form of the mailer daemons he will also have a real problem.

Those of us who have such a filter system installed would not experience much of a problem in terms of increased CPU usage but those who are the source of the problems would have suddenly generated themselves a real problem in terms of
CPU usage. Several thousand people using this trick just might do a better job of shutting down the spammers than the spam cops have ever been able to do.

Try it. You will like it. It can be a mess at first but in a day or two your file of address cards will grow to be big enough that your spam emails will drop to almost nothing.

Posted 9:25 PM by Creditwrench

The speech of Janice Rogers Brown before the Federalist Society has provoked a great many hostile questions from Democrats in her homination hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee for a seat on the District of Columbia
Court of Appeals, but until now, the speech has only been available online as a PDF image file at Speech in PDF.

So I decided to render it into HTML and other formats, which may be found linked from Speech in HTML and directly at
, .txt, .doc, .rtf,
.wpd . Here is the text version. You may decide for yourself whether this speech indicates this may be someone we want on the federal bench. You might want to spread this around.

------

"A Whiter Shade of Pale": Sense and Nonsense —
The Pursuit of Perfection in Law and Politics

Speech of Janice Rogers Brown,
Associate Justice, California Supreme Court

The Federalist Society
University of Chicago Law School
April 20, 2000, Thursday
12:15 p.m.

Thank you. I want to thank Mr. Schlangen (fondly known as Charlie to my secretary) for extending the invitation and the Federalist Society both for giving me my first opportunity to visit the City of Chicago and for being, as Mr. Schlangen assured me in his letter of invitation, "a rare bastion (nay beacon) of conservative and libertarian thought." That latter notion made your invitation well-nigh irresistible. There are so few true conservatives left in America that we probably should be
included on the endangered species list. That would serve two purposes:
Demonstrating the great compassion of our government and relegating us to some remote wetlands habitat where — out of sight and out of mind — we will cease being a dissonance in collectivist concerto of the liberal body politic.

In truth, they need not banish us to the gulag. We are not much of a threat, lacking even a coherent language in which to state our premise.

[I should pause here to explain the source of the title to this discussion. Unless you are a very old law student, you probably never heard of "A Whiter Shade of Pale."] "A Whiter Shade of Pale" is an old (circa 1967) Procol Harum song, full of nonsensical lyrics, but powerfully evocative nonetheless. Here's a sample:

"We skipped the light fandango
turned cartwheels cross the floor
I was feeling kinda seasick
but the crowd called out for more.

The room was humming harder
as the ceiling flew away.
When we called out for another drink
the waiter brought a tray."

There is something ab out this that forcibly reminds me of our current political circus. The last verse is even better.

"If music be the food of love
then laughter is its queen
and likewise if behind is in front
then dirt in truth is clean...."

Sound familiar? Of course Procol Harum had an excuse. These were the 60's after all, and the lyrics were probably drug induced. What's our excuse?

One response might be that we are living in a world where words have lost their meaning. This is certainly not a new phenomenon. It seems to be an inevitable artifact of cultural disintegration. Thucydides lamented the great changes in language and life that succeeded the Pelopennesian War; Clarendon and Burke expressed similar concerns about the political transformations of their own time. It is always a disorienting experience for a member of the old guard when the entire understanding of the old world is uprooted. As James Boyd White expresses it: "[I]n this world no one would see what he sees, respond as he responds, speak as he speaks,"1 and living in that world means surrender to the near certainty of central and fundamental changes within the self. "One cannot maintain forever one's language and judgment against the pressures of a world that works in different ways," for we are shaped by the world in which we live.2

This is a fascinating subject which we do not have time to explore more thoroughly. Suffice it to say that this phenomenon accounts for much of the near hysterical tone of current political discourse. Our problems, however, seem to go even deeper. It is not simply that the same words don't have the same meanings; in our lifetime, words are ceasing to have
any meaning. The culture of the word is being extinguished by the culture of the camera. Politicians no longer have positions they have photo-ops. To be or not to be is no longer the question. The question is: how do you feel.

Writing 50 years ago, F.A. Hayek warned us that a centrally planned economy is "The Road to Serfdom."3 He was right, of course; but the intervening years have shown us that there are many other roads to serfdom. In fact, it now appears that human nature is so constituted that, as in the days of empire all roads led to Rome; in the heyday of liberal democracy, all roads lead to slavery. And we no longer find slavery abhorrent. We embrace it. We demand more. Big government is not
just the opiate of the masses. It is the opiate. The drug of choice for multinational corporations and single moms; for regulated industries and rugged Midwestern farmers and militant senior citizens.

It is my thesis today that the sheer tenacity of the collectivist impulse — whether you call it socialism or communism or altruism — has changed not only the meaning of our words, but the meaning of the Constitution, and the character of our people.

Government is the only enterprise in the world which expands in size when its failures increase. Aaron Wildavsky gives a credible account of this dynamic. Wildavsky notes that the Madisonian world has gone "topsy turvy" as factions, defined as groups "activated by some common interest adverse to the rights of other citizens or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community,"4 have been transformed into sectors of public policy. "Indeed," says Wildavsky, "government now pays citizens to organize, lawyers to sue, and politicians to run for office. Soon enough, if current trends continue, government will become self-contained, generating (apparently spontaneously) the forces to which it responds."5 That explains how, but not why. And certainly not why we are so comfortable with that result.

America's Constitution provided an 18th Century answer to the question of what to do about the status of the individual and the mode of government. Though the founders set out to establish good government "from reflection and choice,"6 they also acknowledged the "limits of reason as applied to constitutional design,"7 and wisely did not seek to invent the world anew on the basis of abstract principle; instead, they chose to rely on habits, customs, and principles derived from human experience and authenticated by tradition.

"The Framers understood that the self-interest which in the private sphere contributes to welfare of society — both in the sense of material well-being and in the social unity engendered by commerce — makes man a knave in the public sphere, the sphere of politics and group action. It is self-interest that leads individuals to form factions to try to expropriate the wealth of others through government and that constantly threatens social harmony."8

Collectivism sought to answer a different question: how to achieve cosmic justice — sometimes referred to as social justice — a world of social and economic equality. Such an ambitious proposal sees no limit to man's capacity to reason. It presupposes a community can consciously design not only improved political, economic, and social systems but new
and improved human beings as well.

The great innovation of this millennium was equality before the law. The greatest fiasco — the attempt to guarantee equal outcomes for all people. Tom Bethell notes that the security of property — a security our Constitution sought to ensure — had to be devalued in order for collectivism to come of age. The founders viewed private property as "the guardian of every other right."9 But, "by 1890 we find Alfred Marshall, the teacher of John Maynard Keynes making the astounding claim
that the need for private property reaches no deeper than the qualities of human nature."10 A hundred years later came Milton Friedman's laconic reply: " 'I would say that goes pretty deep.' "11 In between, came the reign of socialism. "Starting with the formation of the Fabian Society and ending with the fall of the Berlin Wall, its ambitious project was the reformation of human nature. Intellectuals visualized a planned life without private property, mediated by the New Man."12 He never arrived. As John McGinnis persuasively argues: "There is simply a mismatch between collectivism on any large and enduring scale and our evolved nature. As Edward O. Wilson, the world's foremost expert on ants, remarked about Marxism, Wonderful theory. Wrong species.' "13

Ayn Rand similarly attributes the collectivist impulse to what she calls the "tribal view of man."14 She notes, "[t]he American philosophy of the Rights of Man was never fully grasped by European intellectuals. Europe's predominant idea of mancipation consisted of changing the concept of man as a slave to the absolute state embodied by the king, to the concept of man as the slave of the absolute state as embodied by 'the people' — i.e., switching from slavery to a tribal chieftain into slavery to the tribe."15

Democracy and capitalism seem to have triumphed. But, appearances can be deceiving. Instead of celebrating capitalism's virtues, we offer it grudging acceptance, contemptuous tolerance but only for its capacity to feed the insatiable maw of socialism. We do not conclude that socialism suffers from a fundamental and profound flaw. We conclude instead that
its ends are worthy of any sacrifice — including our freedom. Revel notes that Marxism has been "shamed and ridiculed everywhere except American universities" but only after totalitarian systems "reached the limits of their wickedness."16

"Socialism concentrated all the wealth in the hands of an oligarchy in the name of social justice, reduced peoples to misery in the name of shar[ed] resources, to ignorance in the name of science. It created the modern world's most inegalitarian societies in the name of equality, the most vast network of concentration camps ever built [for] the defense of liberty."17

Revel warns: "The totalitarian mind can reappear in some new and unexpected and seemingly innocuous and indeed irtuous form. [¶]... [I]t ... will [probably] put itself forward under the cover of a generous doctrine, humanitarian, inspired by a concern for giving the disadvantaged their fair share, against corruption, and pollution, and 'exclusion.' "18

Of course, given the vision of the American Revolution just outlined, you might think none of that can happen here. I have news for you. It already has. The revolution is over. What started in the 1920's; became manifest in 1937; was consolidated in the 1960's; is now either building to a crescendo or getting ready to end with a whimper.

At this moment, it seems likely leviathan will continue to lumber along, picking up ballast and momentum, crushing everything in its path. Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates, and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets;
unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible.

But what if anything does this have to do with law? Quite a lot, I think. In America, the national conversation will probably always include rhetoric about the rule of law. I have argued that collectivism was (and is) fundamentally incompatible with the vision that undergirded this country's founding. The New Deal, however, inoculated the federal Constitution with a kind of underground collectivist mentality. The Constitution itself was transmuted into a significantly different document. In his famous, all too famous, dissent in Lochner, Justice Holmes wrote that the "constitution is not intended to embody a
particular economic theory, whether of paternalism and the organic relation of the citizen to the State or of laissez faire."19 Yes, one of the greatest (certainly one of the most quotable) jurists this nation has ever produced; but in this case, he was simply wrong. That Lochner dissent has troubled me — has annoyed me — for a long time and finally I understand why. It's because the framers did draft the Constitution with a surrounding sense of a particular polity in mind, one based on a
definite conception of humanity. In fact as Professor Richard Epstein has said, Holmes's contention is "not true of our [ ] [Constitution], which was organized upon very explicit principles of political theory."20 It could be characterized as a plan for humanity "after the fall."

There is nothing new, of course, in the idea that the framers did not buy into the notion of human perfectibility. And the document they drafted and the nation adopted in 1789 is shot through with provisions that can only be understood against the supposition that humanity's capacity for evil and tyranny is quite as real and quite as great as its capacity for reason and altruism. Indeed, as noted earlier, in politics, the framers may have envisioned the former tendency as the stronger,
especially in the wake of the country's experience under the Articles of Confederation. The fear of "factions," of an "encroaching tyranny"; the need for ambition to counter ambition"; all of these concerns identified in the Federalist Papers have stratagems designed to defend against them in the Constitution itself. We needed them, the framers were convinced,
because "angels do not govern"; men do.

It was a quite opposite notion of humanity, of its fundamental nature and capacities, that animated the great concurrent event in the West in 1789 — the revolution in France. Out of that revolutionary holocaust — intellectually an improbable melding of Roseau with Descartes — the powerful notion of abstract human rights was born. At the risk of being skewered by historians of ideas, I want to suggest that the belief in and the impulse toward human perfection, at least in the political life of a nation, is an idea whose arc can be traced from the Enlightenment, through the Terror, to Marx and Engels, to the Revolutions of 1917 and 1937. The latter date marks the triumph of our own socialist revolution. All of these events were manifestations of a particularly skewed view of human nature and the nature of human reason. To the extent the
Enlightenment sought to substitute the paradigm of reason for faith, custom or tradition, it failed to provide rational explanation of the significance of human life. It thus led, in a sort of ultimate irony, to the repudiation of reason and to a full-fledged flight from truth — what Revel describes as "an almost pathological indifference to the truth."21

There were obviously urgent economic and social reasons driving not only the political culture but the constitutional culture in the mid-1930's — though it was actually the mistakes of governments (closed borders, high tariffs, and other protectionist measures) that transformed a "momentary breakdown into an international cataclysm."22 The climate of opinion favoring collectivist social and political solutions had a worldwide dimension.

Politically, the belief in human perfectibility is another way of asserting that differences between the few and the many can, over time, be erased. That creed is a critical philosophical proposition underlying the New Deal. What is extraordinary is the way that thesis infiltrated and effected American constitutionalism over the next three-quarters of a century. Its effect was not simply to repudiate, both philosophically and in legal doctrine, the framers' conception of humanity, but to cut away the very ground on which the Constitution rests. Because the only way to come to terms with an enduring Constitution is.to believe that the human condition is itself enduring.

For complex reasons, attempts to impose a collectivist political solution in the United States failed. But, the political failure was of little practical concern, in a way that is oddly unappreciated, that same impulse succeeded within the judiciary, especially in the federal high court. The idea of abstract rights, government entitlements as the most significant form of property, is well suited to conditions of economic distress and the emergence of a propertyless class. But the economic convulsions of the late 1920's and early 1930's passed away; the doctrinal underpinnings of West Coast Hotel and the "switch in time" did not. Indeed, over the next half century it consumed much of the classical conception of the Constitution.

So secure were the intellectual underpinnings of the constitutional revolution, so self-evident the ambient cultural values of the policy elite who administered it, that the object of the high court's jurisprudence was largely devoted to the construction of a system for ranking the constitutional weight to be given contending social interests.

In the New Deal/Great Society era, a rule that was the polar opposite of the classical era of American law reigned. A judicial subjectivity whose very purpose was to do away with objective gauges of constitutionality, with universal principles, the better to give the judicial priesthood a free hand to remake the Constitution. After a handful of gross divisions reflecting the hierarchy of the elite's political values had been drawn (personal vs. economic rights, for example), the task was to construct a theoretical system, not of social or cultural norms, but of abstract constitutional weight a given interest merits — strict or rational basis scrutiny. The rest, the identification of underlying, extraconstitutional values, consisted of judicial tropes and a fortified rhetoric.

Protection of property was a major casualty of the Revolution of 1937. The paradigmatic case, written by that premiere constitutional operative, William O. Douglas, is Williamson v. Lee Optical.23 The court drew a line between personal rights and property rights or economic interests, and applied two different constitutional tests. Rights were reordered and property acquired a second class status.24 If the right asserted was economic, the court held the Legislature could do anything it pleased. Judicial review for alleged constitutional infirmities under the due process clause was virtually nonexistent. On the other hand, if the right was personal and "fundamental," review was intolerably strict. "From the Progressive era to the New Deal, [ ] property was by degrees ostracized from the company of rights.25 Something new, called economic rights, began to supplant the old property rights. This change, which occurred with remarkably little fanfare, was staggeringly significant. With the advent of "economic rights," the original meaning of rights was effectively destroyed. These new "rights" imposed obligations, not limits, on the state.

It thus became government's job not to protect property but, rather, to regulate and redistribute it. And, the epic roportions of the disaster which has befallen millions of people during the ensuing decades has not altered our fervent commitment to statism. The words of Judge Alex Kozinski, written in 1991, are not very encouraging." 'What we have learned from the experience of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union ... is that you need capitalism to make socialism work.' In other words,
capitalism must produce what socialism is to distribute."26 Are the signs and portents any better at the beginning of a new century?

Has the constitutional Zeitgeist that has reigned in the United States since the beginning of the Progressive Era come to its conclusion? And if it has, what will replace it? I wish I knew the answer to these questions. It is true — in the words of another old song: "There's something happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear."27 The oracles point in all directions at once. Political polls suggest voters no longer desire tax cuts. But, taxpayers who pay the largest proportion of taxes are now a minority of all voters. On the other hand, until last term the Supreme Court held out the promising possibility of
a revival of what might be called Lochnerism-lite in a trio of cases — Nollan, Dolan, and Lucas, Those cases offered a principled but pragmatic means-end standard of scrutiny under the takings clause.

But there are even deeper movements afoot. Tectonic plates are shifting and the resulting cataclysm may make 1937 look tame.

Lionel Tiger, in a provocative new book called The Decline of Males, posits a brilliant and disturbing new paradigm. He notes we used to think of a family as a man, a woman, and a child. Now, a remarkable new family pattern has emerged which he labels "bureaugamy." A new trinity: a woman, a child, and a bureaucrat."28 Professor Tiger contends that most, if not all, of the gender gap that elected Bill Clinton to a second term in 1996 is explained by this phenomenon. According to Tiger,
women moved in overwhelming numbers to the Democratic party as the party most likely to implement policies and programs which will support these new reproductive strategies.

Professor Tiger is not critical of these strategies. He views this trend as the triumph of reproduction over production; the triumph of Darwinism over Marxism; and he advocates broad political changes to accommodate it.

Others do not see these changes as quite so benign or culturally neutral. Jacques Barzan finds the Central Western notion of emancipation has been devalued. It has now come to mean that "nothing stands in the way of every wish."29 The result is a decadent age — an era in which "there are no clear lines of advance"; "when people accept futility and the absurd as normal[,] the culture is decadent."30

Stanley Rosen defines "our present crisis as a fatigue induced by ... accumulated decisions of so many revolutions."31 He finds us, in the spirit of Pascal, knowing "too much to be ignorant and too little to be wise."32

I will close with a story I like a lot. It's a true story. It happened on June 10, 1990. A British Airways jet bound for Malaga, Spain, took off from Birmingham, England. It was expected to be a routine flight. As the jet climbed through the 23,000-foot level, there was a loud bang; the cockpit windshield directly in front of the captain blew out. The sudden decompression sucked Captain Lancaster out of his seatbelt and into the hole left by the windscreen. A steward who happened to be in
the cockpit managed to snag the captain's feet as he hurtled past. Another steward rushed onto the flight deck, strapped himself into the captain's chair and, helped by other members of the crew, clung with all his strength to the captain. The slipstream was so fierce, they were unable to drag the pilot back into the plane. His clothing was ripped from his body. With Lancaster plastered against the nose of the jet, the co-pilot donned an oxygen mask and flew the plane to Southampton
—approximately 15 minutes away — and landed safely. The captain had a fractured elbow, wrist and thumb; a mild case of frostbite, but was otherwise unharmed.

We find ourselves, like the captain, in a situation that is hopeless but not yet desperate. The arcs of history, culture, philosophy, and science all seem to be converging on this temporal instant. Familiar arrangements are coming apart; valuable things are torn from our hands, snatched away by the decompression of our fragile ark of culture. But, it is too soon to despair. The collapse of the old system may be the crucible of a new vision. We must get a grip on what we can and hold on. Hold on with all the energy and imagination and ferocity we possess. Hold on even while we accept the darkness. We know not what miracles may happen; what heroic possibilities exist. We may be only moments away from a new dawn.



1 James Boyd White, When Words Lose Their Meaning (Univ. of Chicago Press 1984) p. 4.

2 Ibid.

3 F. A, Hayek, The Road to Serfdom (Univ. of Chicago Press 1994).

4 Golembiewski & Wildavsky, The Cost of Federalism (1984) Bare Bones: Putting Flesh on the Skeleton of American Federalism 67, 73.

5 Ibid.

6 Hamilton, The Federalist Papers No. 1 (Rossiter ed. 1961) p. 33.

7 Michael W. Spicer, Public Administration and the Constitution: A Conflict in World Views (March 1, 1994) 24 American R. of Public Admin. 85 [1994 WL 2806423 at *10].

8 John O. McGinnis, The Original Constitution and Our Origins (1996) 19 Harv. J.L.& Pub. Policy 251, 253.

9 Tom Bethell, Property Rights, Prosperity and 1,000 Years of Lessons, The Wall Street J. (Dec. 27, 1999) p. A19.

10 Ibid.

11 Ibid.

12 Ibid.

13 John O. McGinnis, The Original Constitution and Our Origins, supra, 19 Harv. J. L.& Pub. Policy at p. 258.

14 Ayn Rand, Capitalism the Unknown Ideal (New American Lib. 1966) pp. 4-5.

15 Ibid

16 Jean Francois Revel, Democracy Against Itself (The Free Press 1993) pp. 250-251.

17 Id. at p. 251.

18 Id. at pp. 250-251.

19 (198 U.S. at p. 75.)

20 Clint Bolick, Unfinished Business (1990) p. 25, quoting Crisis in the Courts (1982) The Manhattan Report on Economic Policy, Vol. V, No. 2, p. 4.

21 Jean Francois Revel, The Flight From Truth (Random House N.Y. 1991) p. xvi.

22 Id. at p. xxxvii.

23 348 U.S. 483.

24 Tom Bethell, The Noblest Triumph (St. Martin's Griffin, N.Y. 1998) p. 175.

25 Id. at p. 176.

26 Alex Kozinski, The Dark Lesson of Utopia (1991) 58 U.Chi. L.R. 575, 576.

27 Buffalo Springfield, For What It's Worth (1966).

28 Lionel Tiger, The Decline of Males (Golden Books, N.Y. 1999) pp. 21, 27.

29 Edward Rothstein, N.Y. Times (April 15, 2000) p. A l7.

30 Ibid.

31 Stanley Rosen, Rethinking the Enlightenment (1997) 7 Common Knowledge, p. 104.

32 Ibid.