From the February 2008 Idaho Observer:
The Stapler
As I awoke one morning I realized I needed staples to secure that my four-page letter to my lawyer would not be read by the prison guards. We all know full well that the guards read our mail even though there is the unenforced law against it. Furthermore if I were to take a stand for my rights and lose than I would suffer a 60-day sentence in the "hole" for "lying to the staff."
It is not for lack of staples that we prisoners are without hope. It is the dishonorable judges that fail to uphold the law and unfailingly uphold every conviction regardless of evidence. An enactment in 1871 allowed people to use civil remedies to overturn a wrongful conviction. The Supreme Court in 1994 reversed that long-established remedy for no reason.
Furthermore a dishonorable judge cannot be held accountable nor can they be prosecuted for anything. Their decisions often are nonsensical. They will at times even render NO opinion whatsoever. Then the court does not need to invent a phony reason. Why, in Florid, the State Constitution has been altered to allow judges to kill without even providing an excuse. When a public official betrays the public trust by knowingly circumventing the law he becomes the worst sort of criminal. They know better and still act unlawfully.
The "Common Law" has been with us for about 4,000 years. It decided cases as they were decided before. This was a system of Natural Law. Through many decades of trial and error it was honed to a system that had balance and the rights of the individual as paramount. Now we have a system whereby lawmakers continue to enact new statutes and codes continually which further ensnares individuals into the web of the government. By their definitions, our new sin is when we are disobedient to their will!
I am still on the hunt for a few staples to help insure my legal letter to my lawyer is NOT read by the guards. If they read it then they have the power to disallow it as not being "legal" enough. A prisoner can be sent to the "hole" for such an offense. Looks like another enacted rule that can be used to arbitrarily punish we who have no rights.
By switching us to a legislated law from the common law about 200 years ago they created a maze of statutes and codes that are not "positive law." This means that the long evolved common law is being destroyed by these pseudo laws, which also have, the consequence of changing even the jurisdiction of the court we are dragged into. As the com mon law is destroyed so are the Constitutional Article III courts. They are replaced by the Admiralty, law of the high seas, courts. This is evident when one sees the gold-fringed flag flying inside every courthouse in America. One becomes, as the defendant, guilty until proven innocent inside these courts.
I contend that the Common Law is more sacred due to it stemming from the grassroots of the people. For some of us the "law" has made it pretty tough just to use the stapler. For the Supreme Court, their overturning the civil remedy made people less powerful and subsequently also provided the courts and their ilk immunity from prosecution. "Even when acting with vile motive" we are immune says the court. Well, the common law did not bar civil suits. Thus, judges in England and France still suffered penalties for using their courtrooms for "vile motives." Harsher penalties were the order of the day because the judges knew better. They also had no immunity from breaking the law.
What a transformation in thinking.
Well, do I have hope of finding a stapler to use?
There may even be hope that we return to Common Law run with an independent judiciary held completely accountable for lies, corrupt arguments and actions with no "reason".
Of course my finding a stapler to use appears more likely.
Richard Geffen, Mayo, Florida