J.A.I.L. News
Journal
______________________________________________________
Los Angeles,
California
March
26, 2005
_____________________________________________________
Terri
Schiavo & J.A.I.L.
(By Ron Branson
- National J.A.I.L. CIC)
I have been asked to
state how J.A.I.L. could be of assistance in the
Terri Schiavo case. First allow me to state my personal opinion
regarding this matter. I have heard so many serious allegations
that raise high concern with me that calls for an immediate replacement
of the means to restore hydration and nourishment to Terri, if for no
other reason than to hear the witnesses and to address all the
allegations. If anyone thinks these allegations will die with Terri,
they are kidding themselves. These witnesses will be the subject
of books, documentaries, internet chatter, and will surely gender
further distrust in government, and especially the judiciary. This
latter result is not bad, but unfortunately it will
be at the expense of the life of Terri Schiavo.
History is replete with
instances where meaningful change has come about in civilizations
when governments became so abusive and egregious so as to shock the
consciences of the people and outrage the masses.
Just a while ago I entered
an electronic store where I conducted business, and during that
transaction I offered the sales clerk my
href="../../State_Chapters/dc/DC_initiative.doc">www.jail4judges.org
business card. Instantly he smiled as he viewed it, and without comment
from me, he centered his attention to Judge Greer and Terri
Schiavo. Perhaps the instant question more appropriately should not be
what J.A.I.L. could do for Terri Schiavo, but rather what Terri Schiavo
is doing for J.A.I.L. and for America. Notwithstanding that fact, I
have been asked to address the former question, and so will I
do.
The Terri Schiavo matter is
justifiably inflamed with emotions, but J.A.I.L. is not designed to
deal with emotions, but rather deliberate violations of black and
white written laws, such as constitutional provisions, processes
and procedures, fraud and avoidance of material issues of fact
that if considered, would change the outcome of a court
decision.
Yes, yes, yes, I know many
of you are ready to pounce on this and say, "This is exactly what has
happened in the Terri Schiavo case." But since J.A.I.L. has not passed
and become a constitutional amendment in the State of Florida, these
are all moot questions. As a practical matter, I fear that Terri
is doomed to die a horrible death of dehydration, and I do not buy the
line that such death is painless to her. If our system decided to put
to death Scott Peterson by capital punishment in this manor, there
would be screams of "cruel and unusual punishment," and such screams
would be correct, and the courts would surely declare such manner of
death unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment of the
Constitution. The argument that Terri did not commit a capital offense,
and therefore is not entitled to such right is unavailing. Are the
courts saying, if Terri took out a gun and killed everyone in sight,
she would be entitled to rights under the Eighth Amendment?
If we are so gracious so as to entitle murderers to a merciful death,
would not Terri also be entitled to the same degree of mercy? And what
kind of precedence are we setting in America?
Were J.A.I.L. to be passed
in Florida in this next election cycle of 2006, would it open a
possible remedy to Robert Schindler based upon fraud? Perhaps it
would, but Terri would already be dead, and J.A.I.L. cannot raise the
dead to restore rights to them. The best it could do is vindicate the
Schindlers.
We have all heard the
saying, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." How true
this is! Now let us turn to "What if." What if the People of
Florida had placed J.A.I.L. on their past ballot and passed J.A.I.L. in
2004, and it was now an amendment to the Florida Constitution?
What would be the potential scene today in the Terri Schiavo
case?
First off, it is doubtful
that there would even exist a Judge Greer on the Florida bench today,
for his attitude would likely have forced him to choose to either take
an early retirement in order to avoid the "Three Strikes and You're
Out" provision of J.A.I.L., or he might be dismissed under its
provisions in disgrace. But for the moment, let's suppose that Judge
Greer was still on the bench today. Does anyone doubt that Judge
Greer would be much more considerate of the Terri Schiavo matter if he
knew he could be drawn before 25 citizens who could decide his judicial
fate? Would he risk a potential indictment by the J.A.I.L. Special
Grand Jury, and a subsequent trial that could potentially land him in
prison by a conviction and sentencing of the people? Neither you nor I
could answer these "What if," questions, but I know where my money
would go on these questions.
J.A.I.L.'s greatest benefit
is the fear by judges of being held accountable directly to twenty-five
citizens in which their judicial immunity would avail them nothing. In
other words, J.A.I.L. is the "Ounce of prevention, rather than the
pound of cure," although if the judges wish to test the teeth of the
tiger, the Special Grand Jury's message will be, "Go ahead! Make
my Day!"
Our problem today is that
too many people still trust government to be "reasonable." However,
this defies the foundational words of George Washington, "Government is not reason. Government is not eloquence. It is
force; and, like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful
master!" I have listened to people
time and time again who say, "But ..." and try to make a case for
reasoning with government. I ask, how many fires have been extinguished
by reasoning with the fire?
Ultimately, it is
necessary, by the nature of government, that there arise absolute
showdowns between it and the people. "Those who profess to favor freedom,
and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops
without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and
lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters.
This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it
may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle! Power
concedes nothing without a demand. It never did, and it never will.
Find out just what people will submit to, and you have found out the
exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them;
and these will continue until they are resisted with either words or
blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the
endurance of those whom they oppress." --Frederick Douglass, August 4,
1857.
If
is unfortunate that Terri Schiavo has to be the focus of this
confrontation, and we are likely to lose Terri, but you can rest
assured that there will be many more "Terri Schiavos" in the
future, in which we shall face near identical
questions. The real question is, "Have we learned anything from this
Terri Schiavo case?" It is true that we have a right to petition
government, including the courts, for redress of grievances! Not
even the government at any level denies that, but they say, "Go ahead
and petition all you want, but we're not obligated to
respond."
Notice in our Declaration
of Independence, passed unanimously by our Forefathers, it does
not say, "if a
long train of abuses," but rather, "...when a
long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same
object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is
their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to
provide new guards for their future security."
J.A.I.L. is
America's new experiment in settling the People's confrontation
with government in resisting injustices by words rather
than blows. J.A.I.L. is absolutely necessary for the future
tranquility of America as the line of conflict falls between the People
and the judges. The choice is either tranquility or tyranny -- we
can't have both.
-Ron
Branson
J.A.I.L.- Judicial Accountability Initiative Law -
href="../../State_Chapters/dc/DC_initiative.doc">www.jail4judges.org
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"..it does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate,
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minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.." - Samuel
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