Publisher: Who Cares What the Law Says? Government Can Do as It Pleases!

Missouri Publisher of the Columbia Tribune Henry J. Waters the Third is incensed and frustrated. Missouri legislators like Senator Jim Lembke and Representative Paul Wieland, and tea parties throughout the state are opposing red light cameras because they deprive citizens of their due process rights and circumvent state statute as well.

For example, one of the main problem with red light camera ordinances is that they illegally re-classify running a red light as a NON-moving violation, so they can treat the issue like a parking ticket. This allows an assumption that the driver and owner are the same, thereby switching the burden of proof from the prosecution to the defendant. In many municipalities, running a red light is designated as “parking in the middle of an intersection,” in order to avoid the fairness of a criminal trial and more easily extract funds from defendants. There are a host of other issues, too, such as the manner in which the violations are served. Short story is the municipalities are committing mail fraud and extortion.

Henry J. Waters the Third’s response? Who cares what the law says! Trashing due process rights is a more expedient means of law enforcement.

“Sen. Jim Lembke leads a fight in the Missouri Senate over the constitutionality of red-light cameras, alleging everything from mail fraud to racketeering to lack of due process to violation of the state Hancock Amendment…

Why make this so hard? … Levying fines against vehicle owners instead of struggling with driver ID would probably constitute even better enforcement because violations could be more quickly, accurately and universally charged.

Red-light cameras work. Identifying drivers is not necessary. The General Assembly could rationalize the use and enforcement of red-light cameras by making violations something other than “moving.” If “non-moving” offends their sense of semantic tidiness, let lawmakers make up a new word. Semantics is not the issue. Easy, proper use of the cameras is.”

In other words, to hell with the Constitution, cameras are efficient. What me worry?

Well, for Comandante Henry J. Waters the Third, and the rest of the military juntas out there, the law is simply a toy of the ruling class – corrupt entities, politicians and agents.

That’s all fine and good for hell-holes like Venezuela, but in America, we have laws for a reason. Corrupt local governments enjoy no legitimate ability to contravene the Constitution and state law, or to extort money from the public. Every last one of them that does, however, should be made to feel the full wrath of the law, along with their camera company co-conspirators, such as American Traffic Solutions.

If the red light camera racket was strictly a private one, the FBI and a dozen arms of the federal government would crush the wrongdoers like a wormy apple. But, because the gangers tactics are given the legitimacy of a municipal seal of approval, various departments are willing to look the other way. Well, friends, we can call BS on that. What’s good enough for Gotti is good enough for Government. That’s one sacred cow that’s ready for the slaughterhouse.

Well, it won’t be long before a barrage of civil suits hits the offending municipalities and businesses. As they sow, so shall they reap. I highly encourage enterprising attorneys to investigate – not just in Missouri, but nationwide. Remember, firms like American Traffic Solutions have a very large national presence.

But, I digress.

The real question is, why are so many Establishment Media outlets so willing to dismantle the law to accomplish agendas? There is a clear pattern, and breaking the rules is always acceptable if it means getting what they want. This episode merely captures the zeitgeist of the industry.

Thus concludes the article.

(SPECIAL BONUS for Big Journalism Fans! A poem related to this article, written by the author, below.)

Intro: Petty tyrants and uppity publishers like Comandante Henry J. Waters the Third ask, “Who cares about the law?” In response, I have composed a poem entitled, “No One Cares About the Punta of the Junta,” or alternately, “The Punta is Lost Upon the Junta.”

“Comandante Henry J. Waters the Third

Loudly shouted but wasn’t heard

‘The law doesn’t matter! Who cares how it’s read!?!’

And he pouted and shouted; veins popped in his head.

For the laws in Missouri were not on his side

So he basked in his ignorance and the lobbyist’s lies.

He devoured every talking-point, munched every word

And they sank in the belly ‘O Comandante Waters the Third.

He had misjudged the public, he mistook them for fools

After all, who but a peasant, plays by the rules?

Camera companies sure didn’t, nor did municipal boards

Delighting Comandante Henry Waters the Third.

But the people were wise, their money’d been took’d!

By corrupt public thieves. The rascals! The crooks!

Camera companies were bad too, yet their wrong was ‘sherd’ (shared)

By the likes of Comandante Henry Waters the Third.

So he pouted and shouted, and veins popped in his head.

But the people knew he was wrong. No one cared what he said.

The cameras would end, the public’s welfare, bett-er’d

Poor chagrined Comandante, Henry J. Waters the Third.”