Justice For “STAND YOUR GROUND” …. NOT !

So it is over, almost…

The trial is over anyway and now the dust is beginning to settle. Let’s review what really happened here.

Two points need to be made here and I will say first that my affection goes to both Zimmerman and Martin families. But not to George Zimmerman.

Was this Justice ? … Yes and No …

The first point is that a jury is instructed to judge the evidence presented and apply the law to it as it is explained to them. So no fault to the jury that I can see here. They did there job under the law. So, Yes, that is Justice.

Second, The system worked but it is working with a flawed law. This is the BIG issue here. It allows anyone to pick a fight and use deadly force if you fight back and get away with it. So, No, This is not Justice.

Why is the law flawed? It is poorly written without thought to varying circumstances. Read the FL law here. Also General US stand your ground info from Wikipedia.

Let’s walk through what the law intended.

If you were approached by a person aggressively, you may use force and even force above what is applied to you in defense of yourself.

The problem here is Trayvon Martin was the one who had been approached in a harassing way. Most likely Mr Zimmerman was a bit braver that he should have been because he was carrying a gun. Surely Trayvon did not know this.

The question is who was out of place here. Who had a reason to be where they were.

Imagine yourself walking back from a store and someone comes up to you and starts asking you who you are and why your were walking on a public sidewalk and where were you going. And soon became physical with you as you tried to ignore him to the point you got physical back with the individual to continue on your way. And things get totally physical at this point, and if you were winning this fight, the individual then decided to use deadly force on the fight he started.

If Trayvon had the gun and used it on Zimmerman, That would be what the law intended.

Only he was a minor. Probably would have spent time in the pokey for it.

Zimmerman was not on or near his own property. Nor was he on his way to or from a area. He was “looking for trouble” and was not trained to do that. He was told by the police not to pursue his suspect. And at no time did Zimmerman convey information that Trayvon had done anything wrong.

Had Trayvon been noticed doing something wrong to person or property, that would have changed this scenario and justify Zimmerman’s’ actions. This just was not the case. Trayvon was simply traveling from point A to point B.

But the way the law was written, it does not spell it out in that specific way. It was left open for bad interpretation. Thereby allowing the aggressor to pick a fight and use the law in defense.

I can only wish those who are demonstrating in the street would continue demonstrating but only at the State House where a re-write of the law is needed before it is used poorly again. Just like the O.J. Simpson case, the problem here is that there was not enough evidence to convict Zimmerman of breaking the law and in this case, only because of a poorly written law allowed a loophole.

So, yes, the jury did the right thing. They applied the law. They did not have to like the law, just apply it as it is written. You can not judge the law on what you think it should say but by what it said at the time of the crime.

As is always said… “If you don’t like the law, Change the law”

Those that are upset, need to focus on the above in memory of these events. Time will be wasting by just demonstrating in the streets.

I feel for Trayvon as it could have been me instead. I would have put up a fight to continue on my way as he did. Trayvon was standing his ground as I would have. And that is what the law “intended” to protect.

Republicans Have More Egg On Face Than The Towel Will Dry

Most disturbing right now, a Immigration Bill, more on that in a moment.

Most everything the Republicans have done in the past 5 years (since 2009) have been to three objectives.

1-Hold the line on any changes governing what big business wants. And they have made that so obvious even though they spin it a bit different. Hence the banking re-regulation that never happened.

2-Don’t let Obama Succeeded at anything. Hence if a new program or a good existing department of the government can make things right, they demonize it and cut the funding there-by making it ineffective.

3- Hold on to power by any means.

1st, let it be known constitutional speaking that the House of Representatives being the legislative body governing that which spends any money. All spending bills must start in the House. That is tremendous power by itself. Remember Iran-Contra scandal…. it was a line in a spending bill that made that covert action illegal. It was this line in a budget bill… “there shall be no funding for the Contras”. – O.K. you get the idea.

So why is a simple immigration bill made so difficult. It is a two sided issue about cheap labor. Yes, really this is the issue as I will explain.

Those company’s backing the Republicans are in southern agriculture states. Meaning cheap hands to harvest the fields in large numbers. They do not want to pay more for this labor that does not really meet any standards and is why nobody in the US will do that work for what is offered. Tricky ways to circumvent minimum wage and safety standards.

On the other side of the coin…

Those company’s backing the Democrats are technological and engineering in nature and want to allow cheap labor from India and others to work mostly in Silicon Vally and like areas. Yes they can offer these folks a $80 k a year job with lower benefits and they are the happiest workers in the world. Why do you think there were so many lay-offs in Silicon Valley. They were making $160 – $ 300 k a year and very nice benefits. They currently circumvent the immigration law by continuing to issue visas in a unlimited way.

I can’t see the difference between the two. Only to make one side legal makes the other virtually illegal.

Hence the debate.

Just by appearances though, the republicans are once again getting more egg on their face than the towel (spin) can soak up . And it is not looking good for them in the mid-term elections. We shall probably see more ways to limit the voter turn out of the lower classes once again to help them maintain their shrinking power.

So the argument continues by spinning it to whatever issues excite the base of each party and not the reality on the ground.

We the people loose again no matter who wins this issue. Cheap labor is what they want, cheap labor is what they will get.

Why Events In Egypt Were Not A Military Coup

Since the ousting of Democratically elected Morsi by the Military, most major media and countries around the world view this as a military coup. At first glance and by the limited information presented to the public, it would appear that is just what happened.

I would like to add a new perspective as to why it was not a military coup.

Here are some facts that have not made any great headlines in the days of the creation of the Egyptian Constitution and Elections.

Morsi circumvented the constitution that he and the Parliament put in place. Granting himself powers not officially given to him.

So, this is the equivalent of the president declaring himself as a king, executing powers not granted to him under the constitution, legislating or making laws without the power to do so.

Democratically elected, Yes, but a virtual dictator afterwards.

This made Morsi just like the leader they got rid of. So before they had to learn that lesson again for 3 decades, the military did give a ultimatum and time to reconcile for these problems. He failed to act or even give the appearance of reconciliation and the military kept it’s promise.

What is ironic is that the interim leader the military picked to straighten this mess out was the major player in drafting the Egyptian interim constitution. If the military was looking for power, this would not be the guy you want leading. If you wanted to draft a Constitution and start a government to represent all the people, he is your man. It was a good pick and a signal of their intent.

He is a judicial person not a leader. I think he is the correct man to make this country work for the people it governs in a long time perspective. It is likely he will create a model for for other countries in the region.

For this to work, it will require participation of all the people and not from outside powers mingling. That would mean the USA and Iran.

I can only hope my hunches are correct. All people deserve a fair chance for a just government. Generically governing for all the people is not a easy thing in this day of the individual.

If this does not go well in Egypt, and with the situation in Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan and Iran, we could easily see a holy war between Muslims and likely would suck in other nations starting with Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel and thereafter easily becoming a limited WW3.

So this action the Egyptian Military made, was that of a Constitutional Correction for the people, not a coup.

Peace and Freedom only come to those that demand it.

NSA Whistle Blower Interview

Please read into this only what he says. Not what is not said.

Commentary:

Nothing said hear contradicts what some members of Congress closest to this story have said.

Notes:

We are talking about telephone records i.e. phone numbers, time of call, length of call … emails to who and check-sum of the email.

That type of stuff.

I am only outraged in this way:

1: There is no elected governing body to be certain that this information is held securely.

2: There is no stated length of time before these records are set to be deleted.

3: There is no watchdog to make sure this data is not used for political purposes. With this being said, I will remind you of a earlier post that was make here at Moot News about a CIA Director defamed from a simple request by a friend of a FBI agent who called on the agent to look up info on a harassing email.

Here it is if you missed it ! (from Nov 2012) Click to view.

Only One Question On Petraeus Investigation

If you now have a better view after reading that ask yourself what kind of excuses they can make up for bumping you out of a job to make room for a political appointee in your workplace.

Do you even comprehend the power of information. Notice it does not need to be truthful information but just innuendo to slander you out of society.

Don’t think it could happen…. to you… Well, the snowball is just starting and how big it gets as it rolls down the hill is up to you !

John Boehner – Someone should go to JAIL !

Of course John was serious when talking about the accusation that the IRS targeted right wing / Tea Party groups applying for a charitable tax exempt status.

Gee John…. Where were you when the banks collapsed ? Where were you when we started a war without providing the funding it ?

The person that should go to “JAIL” should be anyone who stops legislation that prevents us from knowing where those tax free political contributions come from and since that is what is really at issue here.

With this loop-hole in the law, any foreign company or nation may make political contributions to the made-up non-profit charitable organizations tax free and without disclosure of who they are.

The world will never know !

A national security problem soon to invade your home in the form of TV advertising and political mailers if it has not already.

And the Budget Battle Continues… Some Advice to Obama…

Yes, did you really think the budget battle was going to be over with the automatic spending cuts ?

TAX DAY is just around the corner and will be on everyone’s mind for those that have to pay by April 15th.

Since the Congress has been unable to preform their Constitutional Duties, the President will have to lead the way. He has been trying to make a general public argument and is failing with the general message.

The President needs to trust the American Public and get specific !

Find the 10 most popular tax deductions that are nothing but a mere subsidizing industries, Banks and the Oil Companies and should not be hard to find. Use these as a example of the type of “tax loopholes” he has been talking about in the general sense. Tax incentives for taking money overseas and or sheltering it from taxes would be specifically good to point out.

If you are going to bargain some of these ridiculous tax deductions, you need to say what they are or allow the Republicans in Congress define them as tax increases. This has been his big mistake.

After all, we have been told by the same Congressional Leaders that the free markets are so good and the Government should “get out of the way”… so let’s get out of their way by means of ending tax subsidies. Especially for those having record profits and have used those extra profits to buy-out competitors ending choices with the public, hence higher prices at the expense of the consumer.

Who at that point will have egg on their face ?

Only those who are protecting the “BIG MONEY”.

You will never see a meaningful FLAT tax proposal in congress as the rich would lose their shirt with such a flat tax and they know it !

This fact goes to show who’s interest the Congress has been protecting and that goes for both sides of the isle.

Most all the really big money benefits with all those tax deductions.

Yes, they pay a very high rate but only on a limited amount of the money they earn because of the deductions.

Even Mitt Romney had a lower effective tax rate than Someone I know supporting a wife a child making 35,000 total a year and can not afford the health care for his family so he goes without it and insurance on certain items he owns so he can put food on the table.

I can see no reason why the President can not bargain the high rates against ridiculous deductions that only the rich can afford to take in the first place.

Subsidies of corporate America receive far out way the social programs they complain about. Social Security is paid for in the most part by it’s recipients and should not be part of any bargain.

It would be time to pay back the money the SSA has invested in US Treasuries and that is something the Republicans don’t want to see happen. They claim a crisis because we might have to pay back the excesses of money in the system the government has basically borrowed. Something that started in a big way with the Reagan Administration.

Yes, that was the idea when Reagan told us how in danger the SSA was in and raised tax withholding’s we did not yet need. They took the new money and bought Treasuries that the government then was able to spend. Spend it we did on a massive navel build-up in the South Pacific and other military programs.

This brought jobs and not many complained loud enough about the fundamentals.

But those investments in US treasuries were to offset when the “baby-boomers” came to age and a strained the system of payout and healthcare.

The Time has come where the payout will exceed the paycheck withholding’s and Congress wants to keep the money and just cut spending within the system so those treasuries never get cashed-out. This make me wonder where the treasury dept has invested the money. The argument the recipients should suffer any cutbacks is terrible as they invested even higher amounts that was re-invested in the US and it will soon be time to pay-up/pay-back.

This is more of what the budget battle is about behind the scenes.

Of course, There has never been a social program that the Republicans have not set-out to destroy ! If they can not end it immediately, they will chip away at it one crisis at a time (fabricated or not) and reduce it’s funding.

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