[fabsroman]

Goes to show how viewpoints can be slanted. Me, my wife, my parents, and my siblings feel as though not enough truckers ever get pulled over here. In fact, I cannot recall ever seeing an 18 wheeler pulled over, and I have seen some of them do some bone head things along with speeding.

As far as lawyers interpreting the law, remember that there are always two sides in any case. Each wanting a different interpretation of the law in their particular case. There was a case once where the highest Court in Maryland, the Court of Appeals, decided that late fees were unconstitutional because they were above and beyond the usury rate of interest. That case sparked class action lawsuit after class action lawsuit, and I was representing a defendant in one of those class action lawsuits. The company owned a bunch of self storage facilities and charged a $25 late fee. The class action lawyers were trying to sue for the return of all late fees within the past three years. As soon as the Court of Appeals came out with that crazy decision, the Maryland General Assembly passed a bill allowing businesses to charge late fees, and they tried to make the bill retroactive so that it covered all previous late fees. Well, the class action lawyers were arguing that the retroactivity portion of the bill was unconstitutional. Never got to the end of that one because I left the firm I was working for and the client was the managing partner's client.

So, even though the attorneys argue their interpretation of the law, it is up to the Courts to decide what the legislature meant when it passed the law, and the Courts usually look to legislative history (i.e., the notes from the legislative session), and if the Courts get it wrong and the legislature gets wind of it, the legislature has the ability to redraft the law to make it a little clearer. Last I checked, the legislature is elected by the people.

As far as society is concerned, I think the US is going the way of the Roman empire. We are getting too content with our remote controls, toilet seat warmers, desk jobs, etc. that we won't be able to do anything pretty soon. The barbarians are at the gate and we are watching the gladiators (i.e., sports) fight and we are handing out free bread (i.e., welfare). I think welfare has done a pretty good disservice to this country. That is why illegal immigrants have the ability to come here and find jobs, because Americans would rather be on welfare and medicaid than to work an honest day doing what the illegals do. Personally, I feel as though almost anybody can get a paying job if they want one. It might not necessarily be what they want, or pay what they want, but it is work and it pays. An example is the tech that works with my wife. Her husband has been unemployed for months, soon approaching a year, because the only skill he has is polishing terrazo floors and he cannot get a job doing that and he does not want to do just any type of work. Meanwhile, last year they sold their house because they could not pay the mortgage. They rented a townhouse closer to her work, but the payment was more than their previous mortgage, and they used the equity from the sale of their house to pay the rent. Now, they have finally figured out that they cannot afford the house they are renting and they are moving into something smaller, yet he still does not have a job. He sits home and plays video games all day and eats all day. He buys $50 video games as soon as they come out. One time, he ate all the food in the fridge that was meant for dinner, and he called his wife at work to tell her to buy more food. She broke down crying because they had no money and no credit to afford dinner. Meanwhile, they are trying to have a baby. This is what society is coming to.

I could go on forever. Suffice it to say that I am glad that I have guns and plenty of ammo.