A good argument can be made — and I tend to agree with it — that the Sixth Amendment, not the Second, is our last line of defense against tyranny. This is the amendment that guarantees that a criminal defendant be accorded a speedy trial by an impartial jury of his peers.

The government can do a lot of horrible things to you — imprison you, confiscate all your wealth, even kill you — but not until 12 of your peers, selected at random, have found that you violated a law that carries one of those penalties. Resorting to Second Amendment remedies should never be necessary as long as we have a Sixth Amendment.

However, when the defendant is a conservative Republican whose “crime” was taking power away from liberal Democrats, and those sitting in judgment were drawn from the most liberal jury pool in the state, the Sixth Amendment becomes a sick joke.

Last Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, was convicted of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering by a not-so-impartial jury of his not-quite peers in Austin, TX.

Here are the basic facts in this case:

DeLay controlled a political action committee, Texans for a Republican Majority PAC (TRMPAC), which was focused mainly on electing Republicans to the state legislature. Some of the money raised by the PAC — $190,000, to be exact — had been raised from corporations. Read more »

“They hate us for our freedoms,” said former President George W. Bush by way of explaining the 9-11 attacks. Well, thanks to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), we no longer have one of our freedoms, namely freedom from unreasonable search and seizure. This month, the TSA escalated its screening procedures to require airline travelers to submit to either nude imaging scanners or “enhanced” pat-downs of their genital areas.

So, now that we’re considerably less free, maybe “they” won’t hate us anymore, or, at least, not so much. And if that’s the case, maybe we can dispense with the porn scans and groping.

Of course, we know that’s not going to happen. Whenever governments or police agencies are criticized for exceeding their authority, their response is to circle the wagons and dig in.

And that’s what they’re doing in response to the backlash that erupted last week after John Tyner, a software engineer on his way to South Dakota to hunt pheasant, posted on the internet an accidental video of his own experience with TSA gropers. “You touch my junk and I’m going to have you arrested,” Tyner told the TSA agents, who then escorted him from the airport. After his video went viral, Michael J. Aguilar, head of the TSA’s San Diego office, said Tyner could be facing $11,000 in fines for — get this — leaving the airport.

The $11,000 fine, the TSA made clear, would apply to anybody who enters an airport checkpoint, refuses to be scanned or groped, and then tries to leave. They must first submit to questioning by TSA agents. This threat was made in response to a website’s call for people to opt out of the nude scan (if they can) and force TSA agents to pat them down. Read more »

You’ve got to hand it to Warren Buffett: his sense of timing is perfect — no, better than perfect. On Wednesday he writes a thank-you note to Uncle Sam, and the very next day the White House announces that he’s to be awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Actually, it wasn’t the medal for which he was thankful. He was thanking the government (and Ben Bernanke, Hank Paulson, Tim Geithner and Sheila Bair) for bailing out Wall Street.

And well he should. TARP has been a veritable gold mine for Buffett. And his sense of timing was perfect there, too.

Consider: in September 2008, Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. invests $5 billion in Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., receiving in exchange 10-percent preferred stock plus warrants to buy up to 43.5 million shares of common stock for $115 per share. Just weeks later Congress passes TARP and Goldman Sachs, having recently transformed itself into a bank holding company, qualifies for the bailout and receives $10 billion in TARP funds.

Buffett’s investment is earning Berkshire about $500 million per year in dividends. Not bad. Not bad at all, considering that the dividend yield on the common shares of bank holding companies is currently hovering somewhere south of one percent. “We love the investment!” Buffett exclaimed to Berkshire investors at the holding company’s annual meeting in May. Read more »

Let’s see if I understand this correctly.

On November 2 Republicans won their biggest Congressional victory in 72 years, picking up at least 64 seats in the House of Representatives and winning 65 percent of their races for the Senate, where they will add six seats. In 2011 the GOP will hold more seats in state legislatures than at any time since 1928, and, since these legislators will control Congressional redistricting, Republicans will have the opportunity to strengthen their control of Congress over the next decade. In addition, at least 29, and possibly as many as 31 state governors will be Republican.

And party insiders and “conservative” pundits are blaming Sarah Palin for such a poor showing?

I don’t find this to be particularly surprising. A Politico story published on Halloween Day revealed that as soon as the 2010 elections were over, Republican elites were planning to turn their attention to the “urgent” task of stopping Palin.

And, sure enough, right after the election the attacks started. It was almost as if someone pressed a button or issued a secret order.

First, an unnamed source leaks the information that former President George W. Bush has told friends he doesn’t believe Sarah Palin is qualified to be President. On the same day former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan calls Palin a “nincompoop”.

Then, still on the same day, former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson blames Palin (and South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint) for GOP losses in Nevada and Delaware (I deal with some of Gerson’s idiotic ramblings here.) Read more »

Happy Veterans Day!

We didn’t start the wars or choose the enemies we were asked to fight, but we did what we had to do.

I’m pleased to see that Lt. Col. Allen West won his race for Congress.  I probably would disagree with him about the wisdom of going to war against Iraq, but I’m in 100 percent agreement with what he did in Taji on August 20, 2003 when he fired a shot past a detainee’s head in order to get him to reveal plans for an ambush against his unit. In doing so, he put the safety of the men under his command ahead of his own career. Although the detainee was not harmed, Col. West was charged with assault and put through an Article 32 hearing, which ended his career.

But this is what we do in war — we take care of each other. Col. West is the kind of officer most of us would be glad to serve under. I’m glad he has finally been vindicated. (And I hope the officers who ran him out of the Army will have to come before his committee to beg for funds…it will be fun watching them them squirm!)

So, to Colonel and now Congressman-elect West, and to all my other fellow veterans out there, celebrate your day!