Momentarily Missing The Mustang

From the time I got my license up until three years ago, I drove Mustangs because they harken back to a time when cars had character and cool names such as Dart, Hawk, and Fury. Wouldn't you know it, just as I'm finally getting used to driving my humble but sturdy Subaru Outback around Missoula, today I spied a sky-blue vintage Mustang coasting down the road in the full glory of a sunny summer afternoon. It brought back fond memories and made me think for a moment that I should replace the one I shed. On further reflection, though, I recognized that such models are fairly useless when the weather gets cold and the terrain grows rough. I need something for all seasons, and now I've got it, so I waved the Mustang goodbye and pointed myself home.  

Exciting Times, For Me And For Us All

I have decided to take a major step toward personal freedom and independence: I am going to start my own law firm. For a long time I shied away from this because of all the headaches associated with running a full practice, but a little market research has shown a strong likelihood that I can work on a contractual basis to focus on researching, writing, and oral arguments -- the things I'm best at. Better still, I already have at least one person who wants to partner with me, and we can run this business out of our respective homes with little overhead. Will it pan out? I don't know, but I do know that I'd be crazy not to try. I have established a presence in my new home state; I can draw clients from my new state and the old one; I'm unmarried and have good savings to invest in myself; and if this indeed pans out, I can work from pretty much anywhere and have a lot more free time.

In short, I am making a bid to own my life. If there is a silver lining to be found in the "new normal" of vanishing jobs and economic insecurity, perhaps it is to motivate more people to take risks and think outside the box, thereby re-invigorating the creative spirit that once made America great.

Sometimes It's Wonderful To Be Wrong

Which I surely was about the outcome of the Zimmerman trial. The jury performed its duty admirably, contrary to my suspicions, and in so doing it has restored a kernel of my faith. It also has made me smile by giving a bold finger to the teeming mass of barbarians, lunatics, fools, and career agitators who are enraged that the rule of law triumphed over their bloodlust. This has been a valuable civics lesson for a dying civilization, and everyone who has a chance to sit on a jury should cherish rather than disdain it, for that is perhaps the only opportunity you will have to make a difference anymore (within the system, anyway).

EDIT

There is, of course, the distinct possibility that the Obama administration will pursue "civil rights" charges, which would be just as ludicrous and offensive as everything else about this administration. For one, Zimmerman is not a government actor and cannot deprive anyone of civil rights (indeed, he couldn't even be sued on such a theory). The only person whose civil rights are being routinely menaced and violated is Zimmerman himself, who exercised his most fundamental right to defend his life but has been attacked by government goons ever since. The state prosecution never should have been brought, and it never would have but for political intervention. Obama and other politicians disgraced their offices by taking sides rather than allow due process to run its course. Now that it has, they threaten to come back and persecute the man even more. For all the loose talk of riots, THIS is what truly justifies them, the spectacle of a government hostile to its law-abiding citizens. 

Zimmerman Trial Promises Interesting Results, No Matter The Outcome

I have been listening to a live feed of the Zimmerman trial every day for the past two weeks, and it is clearer than ever that this prosecution is a despicable farce that never should have been brought and serves no purpose other than to slake some people's unquenchable thirst for vengeance. Zimmerman's version of events has been corroborated six ways to Sunday, and the prosecution's own case has shown that Zimmmerman is a decent and respectful man whose only sin was going the extra mile to watch out for his family and neighbors. However misguided or zealous so many people wish to portray his actions, there is no evidence that he broke any law and thereby surrendered his right to defend himself when jumped by someone who fancied himself a gangster. Zimmerman had a reasonable fear of imminent death or seriously body harm, so he terminated that threat as was his right.

I do pity the judge her task, for the television cameras are rolling and untold numbers of people will be (and already are) jumping down her throat no matter what she does. The jury's task is not so difficult, at least not on its face: applying the law to the facts compels acquittal as the only possible outcome. I suspect, however, that the jury will agonize over this and follow a primitive thought process dictating that they "do something" to rectify Trayvon Martin's death, regardless of what the law requires. I am an avowed defender of jury nullification and respect a jury's prerogative to do what it finds appropriate, the law be damned. This is a power stretching all the way back to the colonial era and serves as a reminder that in America, the people are supposed to be sovereign. But there are a couple of wrinkles in the present circumstance. For one, the case is legally inadequate to reach the jury at all, since the prosecution's own evidence has shown that Zimmerman did not have a criminal state of mind, and that he had a right to defend himself that trumps any potential criminal liability anyway. Jury nullification is meant to check government power, not amplify it, so there is no necessary role for the jury to play here. Jury duty also demands a skill that has gone virtually extinct, namely independent and critical thought. Very few people bother to reflect on anything or reach their own conclusions anymore; after all, in our technological utopia the "experts" and pundits tackle big questions and provide us with slick, pre-cooked, and easy-to-swallow answers that only nutballs (such as I) bother examining or debating. Thus a modern jury is ill-equipped to perform its protective function even when necessary.

If the jury indeed flubs this case which never should have been allowed to reach it -- such as by convicting Zimmerman of second-degree murder or, as I suspect, a lesser-included offense such as manslaughter -- I can only hope that the intermediate District Court of Appeal or the Florida Supreme Court tosses out the conviction. That would be a true test of those judges' fitness for the bench. Would they do what the law requires, or what the mob demands?

The mob is already telegraphing its intention to riot if the jury acquits. If that does happen, law-abiding citizens have every right to defend themselves and should not flinch from exercising it. Just because you don't go looking for trouble does not mean that you shouldn't bite its head off when it comes looking for you.

 

No matter what, Zimmerman will be harassed, bullied, and hunted forever, all of which is far less legal and justified than anything he did.

George Carlin Attacks Men

To lighten the mood and show that I'm an equal-opportunity offender, here's a funny clip of George Carlin stereotyping and attacking men. [WARNING: Extreme profanity, but sometimes you have to take the bad with the good.]