constitution

Chris Knight's avatar

‘Fess up: how many of us laughed about the Third Amendment when we learned about it (or were supposed to have learned about it) in ninth grade?

Quartering Act, French and Indian War, George III, Revolutionary War, Colonial America
The Quartering Act, 1763.

(Chris raises his hand)

The Third Amendment – part of the Bill of Rights in the Constitution – reads thusly: “No soldier shall in time of peace be quartered in any house
without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war but in a
manner to be prescribed by law.”

But an incident two years ago which is just now coming to light in court demonstrates how much we should appreciate our rights, whether or not we actively employ them  Anthony Mitchell and his parents,
Michael and Linda Mitchell, were asked by the police department of Henderson, Nevada for the use of their homes in a “domestic violence” investigation.  All three members of the Mitchell family declined, ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

I can no longer, in good conscience and in keeping to my faith in God, recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America.

This is a choice which I have abided for nearly a year.  At various times I have felt led to articulate my reasons for doing so.  Indeed, this past fall a friend helped me to record a video about my decision to never again say the Pledge of Allegiance (we filmed it at Guilford Courthouse Battleground, in front of the statue of General Nathaniel Greene, for what it’s worth).

Recent events have brought me to a place where at last I am compelled to write about why I’m not only refraining from the Pledge of Allegiance, but have come to see it as representing too much of what is wrong with America, and even in dire opposition to the vision of ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

This is Lois Lerner, who headed the Internal Revenue Service’s exempt organizations division during the time that the IRS was singling out “tea party”-affiliated groups and other politically conservative people with audits and intimidation…

Lois Lerner, Internal Revenue Service, taxes, government
Where do these people keep coming from?

Lois Lerner of the IRS invoked the Fifth Amendment so as not to potentially perjure herself during hearings in the House of Representatives investigating her agency’s unethical and illegal activities.

Every year, you and I and millions of other Americans have to file 1040 forms with the IRS.  If we don’t, we go to jail.  If we withhold information on the 1040 forms, we go to jail.  If we don’t sign the forms, we go to jail.  At no time does the IRS afford us the right to invoke the Fifth Amendment so as not to incriminate ourselves. 

Lois Lerner in her capacity as a high-ranking official of ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

The Founding Fathers would “repent in Heaven” – as John Adams threatened those early Americans – if they could see the country they founded and what has come to light in the past few days.

If anybody can tender any argument whatsoever in defense of the Internal Revenue Service, I for one wish to hear what it is.

IRS, Internal Revenue Service, spying, audits, Tea Party, Tea Parties, conservatives, corruption, abuse of powerI am not a conspiracy theorist but hey, whaddya know: the conspiracy theorists were right all along.  The United States Federal Government really has been spying on the dissidents, the disaffected and those who want less intrusion into their private lives.  Add in how the government has also been found to have been spying on Associated Press journalists and then the whole mess about Benghazi (which cost lives, mind you) and only an idiot would deny that We The People are no longer in charge and that our own government has ...

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A short while ago the members of the United States Senate voted 70 to 24 to pass the “Marketplace Fairness Act”: AKA “Internet sales taxes”.

The Senate has approved collecting taxes on goods sold on the Internet.  We’ll examine that in just a sec.

(“Marketplace Fairness Act”?  God, I hate how these people try to govern by emotion instead of intelligence…)

Anyone who voted for this bill should be removed from office at the earliest possible legal opportunity.  For one thing, it is insanity for government to be levying more taxes upon us at a time when you and I and most other Americans are being obligated to tighten our belts.  How much more do our supposed “representatives” believe we can take?

But what is most on my mind tonight is how this bill is a flagrant violation of the Constitution of the United States.

According to Article One, ...

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At last night’s monthly work meeting of the Rockingham County Board of Education, the proposal was put forth that the board should begin each session with prayer.  It’s been a longstanding custom to have a moment of silence.  If the board approves of it at the May 13th meeting, that would be replaced with a public prayer before an official function of government.

Here’s the story from today’s News & Record…

Board members spent nearly an hour talking
through the finer points of whether they should open meetings with
prayer. It was discussion that at times became tense but never
contentious.

The school board currently opens its
meetings with a moment of silence. Board member Ron Price asked the
board to consider adding prayers during the last meeting.

The members will vote on the issue May 13

The possibility of a lawsuit was brought
up Monday night by

...
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Chris Knight's avatar

Today officially marks one century of extortion at the point of a gun by the Internal Revenue Service!

It was on this day, February 3rd 1913, that the 16th Amendment was allegedly ratified (there exists substantial evidence that the amendment was not passed per due process by enough states, that and then-Secretary of State Philander Knox’s declaration that the amendment was “in effect”).

The 16th reads…

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.

We do not need the income tax and never have. This country did fine for more than a century with tariffs. And it would do just as fine now… or better.

It is far past time that the American citizens call the income tax for what it is: a shackle holding us down. Just ...

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Senator Dianne Feinstein – a person who exemplifies the absolute worst that an elected official could possibly be – is trying to ram through another gun control bill on Capitol Hill. It would take away dang nearly every firearm that We The People have as articulated in the Second Amendment… EXCEPT for her own and those of other government officials.

So lemme get this straight: Feinstein, who owns a pistol or two herself, wants legislation that will prohibit the “little people” from having guns but also wants to keep her own.

I am trying to be a man of polite society so I will refrain from using the word that many will be tempted to use in describing Feinstein. I can at least say with no small degree of accuracy “rank hypocrisy”.

And then from the D.C. area there is the story of a man who several days ago ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

Handgun and rifle magazines are selling out at Wal-Mart and other retailers and the prices for them are soaring on eBay and other sites. One gun shop in Charlotte did more than $1 million in sales yesterday: the most it’s had in over half a century of business. With the increasing likelihood that the Obama Administration and too much of Congress are going to attempt restrictions on guns and magazines, people are gettin’ it while the gettin’s good.

So I can’t help but think: a magazine isn’t much more than a metal box with a spring. Come to think of it, that’s all a magazine is. I could very easily manufacture a rough but working magazine – holding as much ammo as I wish – in a machine shop. Apart from the spring, EVERYTHING that I’d need to produce a magazine in an hour or so’s time is within ready ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

Look, I know about the guy’s role in the Saturday Night Massacre. There were a number of beliefs that he held to which I do now and always will vehemently disagree with, particularly with his stance on jury nullification. He also was way off about the Second Amendment, holding to the notion that it was intended for participating in government-sanctioned militias.

But I’ve also long believed that in spite of those and many more qualms about the man, Robert Bork truly – as best he understood – adhered to the highest principles in respect to law and the Constitution.

And claims from petty politicians (like Ted Kennedy) aside, it must be agreed by all: Bork was a brilliant jurist in every sense.

Judge Robert H. Bork passed away this morning at the age of 85.

Thoughts and prayers going out to his family.

And I have to wonder today – ...

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