We made the mistake of assuming that we were in an intellectual fight of sorts, but for all the supposed wisdom their side portended, it turns out that the operatives are nothing more than obsequious back-room connivers with spectacularly unremarkable IQs who acted far too rashly ... bringing about their own demise as their house of flimsy cards collapses about them.
And the silver bullet has turned out to be a forehead slapper!
The Constitution of the State of California – in Article I, Section 9 – says quite plainly:
“[An] ... ex post facto law ... may not be passed.”Wikipedia, on types of "ex post facto" ("after the fact") laws, says:
"... a form of ex post facto law commonly known as an amnesty law may decriminalize certain acts or alleviate possible punishments ... retroactively."Translation: ANY law made concerning the consequences of an act, made after the act was performed, that affects the actor either positively or negatively as a result of committing the act (e.g., makes him guilty when he was innocent at the time, or innocent when he was guilty at the time), is illegal.
This means that our Legislators' callous and in-our-faces grant of retroactive immunity under SBX2-11 for the thousands of criminal acts (as many as 108 THOUSAND felonies, by our count) by LA County Superior Court judges in taking payments from LA County's Supervisors (Antonovich, Knabe, Molina, Yaroslavsky and Ridley Thomas) to the tune of over $300 million dollars (using stolen tax dollars), is unconstitutional. (They had to have known this, which leaves us with the obvious question hanging in the air ... what did they get for themselves in return? Here's hoping the press will hammer their doors down and find out!)
The judges knew the payments were illegal all along. They have known since 1988, twenty-one years, that what they were doing was illegal and corrupt. And yet they continued, month-in and month-out, year-in and year-out, buying trinkets and luxuries with OUR dollars. Luckily, the foolishness of the legislators' tacit admission that the payment exchanges were criminal acts is a bonus for the People, negating most every justification in one fell swoop!)
The judges even managed to get ANOTHER raise for themselves recently ... they're now each getting an extra $57,000 per year, up from the $46,000+ they were receiving previously ... and THEN they ever so graciously announced they'd take a cut-back in pay along with the rest of the court staff during this budget crisis ("in a show of solidarity with court employees who are facing furloughs"). The truth is that, even with the cut, they're still making more than they were!
[Readers of the sorely-missed "Calvin and Hobbes" comic strips will see and understand that the judges and Legislators have been playing a game of "Calvinball" with us; in Calvinball, the rules change whenever the rule-maker can think of a new one that will benefit himself. It was funny, imaginative and entertaining in the comics.
The characters in our story, however, are far from loveable. They're mostly pompous old men who have proven they no longer stand for anything decent. This whole thing will ultimately be humiliating to their entire families. We actually regret that part, but there's been more than enough time for the decent to act. And your deliberate failure to act amounts to aiding and abetting Mr. Fine's torture by Judge Yaffe.]
Here's a clue about the futures of those given "retroactive immunity" under SBX2-11:
Gov. Schwarzenegger had better start clearing out the prisons soon to make room; five hundred new prisoners will soon be coming their way. In the meantime, perhaps Arizona's Sheriff Arpaio can give us some guidance on setting up tent city prisons in the desert, and help us figure out how many pairs of pink boxer shorts to order for the new inmates.
Question of the hour: To whom do you turn yourself in if you want to get on the right side of the Law if it's not too late?
[Follow-up report: Who, exactly, is afraid of which LA County Supervisor behind passage of SBX2-11 (Antonovich, Knabe, Molina, Yaroslavsky, or Ridley Thomas) ... and why?]
HELP WANTED AD: Lawfirm needed to assist in defense of current and former Los Angeles County Superior Court judges and involved members of the Board of Supervisors, members of the Judicial Council, members of the Legislature, lobbyists, developers, their counsel, and others. Apply for consideration in the Comments section. (Just kidding, barely. Although your phones will be ringing soon, no doubt. We look forward to seeing your clients in court!)
Image credits:
http://www.californiacriminallawyerblog.com/civil_rights/
Posts
