Time Magazine to Hand Over Reporter Notes - Yahoo! News

First Amendment rights?  What First Amendment rights?

For those of you keeping score at home, here’s the latest tally of the Bill of Rights that are either dead or coughing up blood (I’ll not go through the whole Constitution at this time):

• 1st Amendment
  “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.“
• 2nd Amendment
  “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”
• 5th Amendment
  “No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”
• 9th Amendment
  “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”
• 10th Amendment
  “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

Good thing military recruitment is down, or the 3rd Amendment would be next.

Time Magazine to Hand Over Reporter Notes - Yahoo! News

Property rights? What property rights?

OK, folks – how many fucking rights does the Supreme Court have to take away before we decide enough is en-fucking-nough?  This ruling enforces the feeling most libertarian property owners already have, that you don’t really own your land, but just rent it from the State – when they want it back, they can take it back.  I sense a Carl Drega moment coming to New London any day now…

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Supreme Court Rules Cities May Seize Homes

Reason #5: Why I Will Never Live in California

I will agree with the Supreme Court here - they had no jurisdiction - although in the wake of more recent rulings, that in and of itself comes as a shock.

Supreme Court Backs Government in Land Rights Case

Justice Thomas Dissent

If you’ve been living under a rock, maybe you don’t know that the Supreme Court ruled that the government can prosecute medical marijuana possession, even if it doesn’t involve interstate commerce.

The vote was 6–3 – the writer of the dissenting opinion was Justice Clarence Thomas, who has, in my mind, partially vindicated some of his earlier controversy.  Read his dissent here (PDF format).

Where do you go...

… when the people who are supposed to uphold the supreme law of the land don’t?  Simply put, the Supreme Court’s decision to allow federal medical marijuana prosecutions to move forward is in direct violation of the Interstate Commerce Clause, because the case in question did not cross a state boundary at all.  Instead, in a 6–3 decision, the Supreme Court decided that current federal interests trump Constitutional limits – why bother having a Constitution if we’re going to ignore it?

At the risk of invoking a version of Godwin’s Law, I blame Lincoln for starting all of this.

Cato Daily Dispatch for June 6, 2005

Papiere Bitte by Doris Colmes

You know, when a Holocaust survivor compares the Real ID act to Nazi Germany, Godwin’s Law is trumped.

Papiere Bitte by Doris Colmes

U.S. & World - Supreme Court OKs Medical Pot Prosecutions

Fox News has the report that the Supreme Court has OK’d federal prosecutions for medical marijuana violations.  Score one for the bad guys.

FOXNews.com - U.S. & World - Supreme Court OKs Medical Pot Prosecutions

Nebraska Motorcycle Helmet Bill Dead For Year

Another state to avoid driving through this summer – IIRC, there are seven states west of the Mississippi that have helmet laws.  They are:  Washington, Oregon, Kalifornia (go figure there), Nevada, Missouri, Louisiana, and Nebraska.  That means for me that, if I want to visit my in-laws in Illinois, I can remove my helmet once I enter Idaho, and not have to put it back on until I return (my route, calculated a few years ago when I had a Sturgis trip planned, went through Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Iowa, and into Illinois, deliberately skirting Missouri).  In fact, if you’re over 21, once you leave the Left Coast states, you can get all the way to the border of New York before have to put a helmet back on – New York, Vermont, and Massachusetts form a helmet-required block that prevents you from getting to the more libertarian minded New Hampshire and Maine.

Check out the helmet and other MC laws here or here.

TheOmahaChannel.com - Politics - Motorcycle Helmet Bill Dead For Year