On the great value of Twitter

(NEWSER) – A Texas teen tweeted 144 times in six hours about being molested by a family member and being forced into prostitution. Then 18-year-old Ashley Billasano killed herself—after announcing to some 500 Twitter followers she was going to do just that, reports theHouston Chronicle. No one sought help for her, reports Fox News Houston.

Mo' on Crime

Crimes - acts which society has decided you can't do and can punish you for if you decide to do them - are really "law violations." Society makes up laws against things they don't want you to do, codifies the act, and stipulates the penalty. "Society" meaning you and your neighbors at a town hall meeting, or, much more frequently, your elected representatives, such as your city council, county commission, state legislature, or, sometimes, even the federal legislature. Oh, we have no shortage of criminal-type laws, and violating ANY of them can get you punished. Theoretically.

Does it matter if you personally don't agree with a law? If you think a law is foolish? If you think no one is harmed by a particular act? Not really - not unless you can convince a lot of your fellow citizens to think as you think and modify or abolish the law you don't like.

Because all laws are thought up and defined by some level of society, all violations of laws (called "crimes") are committed against society as a whole ("the people" or "the state") and not against individual persons. If you kill someone (and if it is against the law to kill someone in your state) you may be sure that your criminal charges will read, "State of Ohio vs. John Doe" and not "Dead Person vs John Doe." We speak in this post of criminal law and not civil law.

The state - the society which has been offended by your actions - is represented by a State's Attorney or District Attorney or County Prosecutor, or whatever you call him or her in your location. This person represents "The People" and it doesn't really matter if the offended party wants to press charges or not. At least not in theory. The person who was raped or beat up or robbed can be subpoenaed, as a hostile witness if necessary. Why? Because it isn't about a woman who gets beat up by her drunk husband who doesn't want to press charges against him. It is about the people at large not wanting to allow people to beat up other people in their society.

The reality, of course, is very different. There is precious little actual "justice" meted out in any state in the U.S.A. The District Attorney (acting in the name of "The People") will likely drop charges if the woman won't testify willingly. There are 100 other cases to be dealt with, so if she chooses to get beat up time after time, what are we to do? Move on to the next one.

Please resist the temptation to drift off onto the side road of why battered women stay with and defend their abusers. That would be the subject for a much different post.

Trials are expensive. As a result, the District Attorney and his minions spend most of their time "plea bargaining" and insulting justice in the process. Nothing else to be done unless we want to construct a hundred times as many courtrooms and prison cells. At least bad people sometimes spend SOME time in jail when they plea bargain. That's the DA's rationale for plea bargaining. Remember that a criminal is unlikely to face any serious prison time until he has had 87 chances to rehabilitate himself and has already hurt or robbed many people. And remember if a criminal is sentenced to 10 years in prison, he may serve 18 months or so in actuality.

Laws change. It was probably once against the law to throw rotten eggs at politicians in Wisconsin. I don't know. It was once against the law to kill unborn babies in all states. Fancy that. Here's an odd one: I read an article in my local paper just yesterday that this guy was sentenced to 10 years in prison for killing an unborn baby by beating up his wife and kicking her in the stomach while wearing heavy boots. It took a few years to get him tried. I was irate about him getting only 10 years, Palin law-and-order zombie that I am. Then I thought, if the guy had been a doctor, it would have been ok. Depends on what the woman wants at the time, you know.

Don't go down the side road of doctors not using the boots and kicking method of abortion. Just don't. Thank you.

Marijuana? Public nudity? Prostitution? Apparently enough of your neighbors still don't want to live in that kind of society. So you need to work to get those laws abolished if you don't like them. I have read that in the Netherlands, even the hardest drugs are legal and the vilest chilepronergerphy is A-ok with the Dutch. Not so in West Texas. Maybe not so in Amsterdam, either. Like I said, I just read it somewhere.

All laws are enacted by society.

All crimes are defined by society.

All crimes when committed are (therefore) committed against society.

All crimes that are prosecuted are prosecuted in the name of the people of that society.

All people who are punished for committing crimes are punished in the name of society.

There are no victimless crimes. There are only laws broken and laws unbroken. If you don't agree that something should be against the law, well, that's too bad, isn't it? You can live by your own standards when you live alone on the planet, I guess. Otherwise, work for change. Society, in some way, is always the victim. At least until that society decides it doesn't want that law anymore. Go figure.

A tiny bit (the abortion part) of this is just my opinion. The rest is just cold hard facts of life.

Rights and needs

Need: "To require something because it is essential."

Want: "A desire to possess some thing or condition."

Right: "A legal entitlement to have something, or to act in a certain way."

Obligation: "Duty; commitment."

Responsibility: "The state of being accountable."

Privilege: "A special right, immunity, advantage; not given to all people or all classes."

Some possible rights:

The right to have food to survive;

The right to have shelter;

The right to be free from fear of attack or death;

The right to own property;

The right to clean drinking water;

The right to receive a living wage for one's labor;

The right to keep the fruit of one's labors and not have it taken away and given to others;

The right to a certain standard of housing;

The right to a free education;

The right to be a drug addict (for example, to be an alcoholic);

The right not to work if one is so inclined;

The right to work at the job of one's choosing;

The right to have one's native language spoken at school and printed on forms;

The right to equal or preferred access if one is handicapped;

The right of free travel without regard to political borders;

The right to live where one wants to live;

The right not to be bound by laws one doesn't agree with;

The right not to be killed if one does murder;

The right to free medical care;

The right to have adequate transportation;

The right to breathe clean air;

The right to be properly and adequately clothed;

The right not to serve in any army;

The right to receive a pension when one is old; to be secure in one's old age

Who can think of more rights all people should have? There must be many more. Are all of these true rights? Are some simply desired conditions rather than true rights? Who decides?

I believe many of these things are actual human rights. The trouble, as always, is in the securing of them and the guarantee of them. I also believe several of these things are not rights at all.

I always seem to do fine if I just make a general list of my ideas instead of going into detail about how to do things.

So here is a list of general things I believe in about government, taxes, and like that.
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I believe the the USA is a republic.

I believe republic means that the ultimate power rests with the people and not the government.

I believe the government exists to serve the people and not the other way around.

I believe the people have representatives for the purpose of telling government what the people want done and what the people's vision for the country is.

I believe it is the duty of the executive branch of our government to execute the will of the people and to work diligently to secure the people's vision.

I belief the people exercise their power through representatives they send to congress.

I believe it is the duty of Congress to pass laws which protect the interests their employers, the people, and which work to secure the vision the people have for their country.

I believe the House of Representatives represent the people directly and that the Senate represent the interest of entire states. States are made up of people, of course, but the Senate represents a larger concensus.
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I believe everyone in the world is entitled to at least the basic necessities of life and that the people do not have to do anything to "deserve" these basic life necessities. The necessities of life should include clean water to drink, wholesome and adequate food to eat, clothing to wear, and a place to live to protect them from the elements and ensure a congruent family life. I believe all the people in the world should have access to a regular uninterrupted education. I believe all people are entitled to live unmolested by outside aggressors.

I believe everyone in the USA is entitled to sufficient food, clean water, adequate housing, access to a quality education, a place to live, access to medical care.

I believe all men and women are born to equal opportunity to make their way in life and to excel beyond that initial equality to achieve whatever personal or material success that is within their abilities to achieve.

I believe the governments of the United States exist to protect the rights and well-being of the citizens, and to facilitate the citizens' pursuit of happiness and prosperity.

I believe in the right of individual law-abiding citizens to be left alone by their government.

I believe the government is best that governs least.

I believe in compassion for our fellow brothers and sisters. I believe in charity and in good works. I believe in neighbors helping neighbors and, when possible, not abdicating that responsibility to governments.

I believe taxes are necessary to support our society and its protections and needs. I believe those with money should contribute money, and in proportion to the blessings of their individual prosperity.

I believe those not blessed with material wealth should contribute to their society by doing public works, that they may not feel left of that society, or suffer the humiliation of being supported by their neighbors.

I believe those who are sick, disabled, handicapped or otherwise not able to work, should be supported by their fellow citizens to the extent that they cannot support themselves, up to and including total support.

I believe all people are entitled to the dignity of honest work, the dignity of education, and the dignity and benefits of equal citizenship.
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I believe in the right of society to protect itself and to establish rules to effect a peaceful existence.

I believe that society has the right to punish citizens who do not abide by the laws it has put in place to protect its citizens, including the absolute right to put citizens to death after due process of law.

I believe there should be levels of citizenship, and that the highest levels of citizenship, such as voting and the enjoyment of all freedoms specified in the U.S. Constitution, should be extended only to honest, productive, law-abiding citizens. I believe the rights of criminals and other troublemakers, including repetitive scofflaws, should enjoy only limited rights and privileges of citizenship until their reform has been honestly and truly effected.
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(to be continued)