Benjamin Franklin v Bundy

I've been thinking about cattleman Cliven Bundy's recent anti American rant and what it reveals about the warped views of American history it reflects.

Bundy and his Tea Party and Libertarian supporters envision America as some kind of historical anarchy. Laws are apparently tyranny in his view. And everything he has he did entirely on his own.

Benjamin Franklin, without whom we may not have ever achieved independence, had an entirely different view of property and taxes. Here is what he wrote in 1783:

16

Property

CHAPTER 16|Document 12
Benjamin Franklin to Robert Morris
25 Dec. 1783Writings 9:138 The Remissness of our People in Paying Taxes is highly blameable; the Unwillingness to pay them is still more so. I see, in some Resolutions of Town Meetings, a Remonstrance against giving Congress a Power to take, as they call it, the People's Money out of their Pockets, tho' only to pay the Interest and Principal of Debts duly contracted. They seem to mistake the Point. Money, justly due from the People, is their Creditors' Money, and no longer the Money of the People, who, if they withold it, should be compell'd to pay by some Law.
All Property, indeed, except the Savage's temporary Cabin, his Bow, his Matchcoat, and other little Acquisitions, absolutely necessary for his Subsistence, seems to me to be the Creature of public Convention. Hence the Public has the Right of Regulating Descents, and all other Conveyances of Property, and even of limiting the Quantity and the Uses of it. All the Property that is necessary to a Man, for the Conservation of the Individual and the Propagation of the Species, is his natural Right, which none can justly deprive him of: But all Property superfluous to such purposes is the Property of the Publick, who, by their Laws, have created it, and who may therefore by other Laws dispose of it, whenever the Welfare of the Publick shall demand such Disposition. He that does not like civil Society on these Terms, let him retire and live among Savages. He can have no right to the benefits of Society, who will not pay his Club towards the Support of it.

The Founders' Constitution
Volume 1, Chapter 16, Document 12
http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch16s12.html
The University of Chicago Press
The Writings of Benjamin Franklin. Edited by Albert Henry Smyth. 10 vols. New York: Macmillan Co., 1905--7.
Easy to print version.

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© 1987 by The University of Chicago
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On Immigrants

Seventy Years Ago: Building Planes And Training At Corpus Christi

Here are some of the best photos I have seen of maintenance and repair of WWII Naval Aircraft and the people who did the work: Click on the link.

http://www.businessinsider.com/vintage-world-war-ii-photos-from-the-base-where-george-bush-senior-earned-his-wings-2012-2?op=1

April 25, 1898 - 116 Years Ago - US Declares War On Spain

Here are photos of what the US Navy looked like during the Spanish American War:

http://www.businessinsider.com/what-it-was-like-in-the-navy-116-years-ago-2014-4

Moldova

I recommend Nicholas Kristof's article about Moldova in today's New York Times. A pretty small place under a significant threat from Russia.

Moldova, like Eastern Ukraine, Crimea, and the Baltic states, has pockets of Russians moved there while they were still part of the Soviet Union. It seems Putin wants them all back.

Not unlike the pockets of German speakers scattered across Central and Eastern Europe that Germany went after in the 30's and 40's. These Russian pockets should temper their enthusiasm for absorption into Russia. The analogous German experience didn't turn out so well.

In any event, I think this all shows that the Soviet Union was less about communism and more about Russian imperialism.

Cox v Town of Oriental

Today was the day the North Carolina Court of Appeals heard my case against the Town of Oriental. This was at least the end of the beginning, if not the beginning of the end.

We won't know the outcome for weeks or perhaps months. I'm not counting any chickens yet, but I think my case is strong. Still, there are never any guarantees when a case goes before a court.

Without getting into the ins and outs of my legal argument and the Town's, I want to register a mild complaint in another direction entirely.

From the time I first brought my concerns before the mayor and the town commissioners, I had the impression that elected officials and the town's attorney dismissed my views out of hand. What could a naval officer possibly know about the law? And why would he make a big deal about whether the town was acting within its legal authority?

Those who don't go down to the sea in ships have possibly never reflected that a warship operates in a very complex legal environment. Commanding officers must not only understand Law of the Sea, but also grasp how his actions may affect the interests of the nation differently depending on where the ship is located. The legal regime may vary depending on whether the ship is in US waters, or even whether the ship is in the Mississippi river, on the Great Lakes, or in other special regimes. Is the ship in international waters? Is the ship in the territorial waters of another sovereign state?

What legal regime applies? How does the legal regime affect the captain's authority and legal responsibilities?

I first encountered these issues when I was seventeen years old and learning to be a naval officer. To be sure, I was taught navigation and seamanship. I was taught ordnance and gunnery. I was taught the operation and maintenance of ship propulsion plants. I learned radar, sonar, other electronic systems. But that wasn't all.

The very first semester of my four year course of Naval Science introduced me to "US Naval Regulations, 1948." This document spelled out the authority and responsibilities of Naval officers - the source of the authority and the limitations on that authority.

A little later on, I studied the Uniform Code of Military Justice,  the Judge Advocate General Manual, and the Manual for Courts Martial.

These weren't just theoretical studies. They were central to my profession.

In those days, more so than today, unrestricted line officers performed most of the Navy's legal functions. We administered justice through non-judicial punishment as well as through our own criminal justice system under the UCMJ. In case of mishap, suspicion of criminal activity or in other cases, we conducted our own investigations using procedures in the JAG manual.

To do all of these things in 1954 when I began learning about it, the Navy had very few legal specialists. We did not even have a JAG corps of legal officers at all until 1950. You would not find one aboard most ships. Some major commands had a JAG officer assigned. The first JAG officer I served with was on a guided missile heavy cruiser in 1971.

When I was commissioned as a naval officer and reported to my first ship, within six months I was the ship's legal officer. I was also the navigator, the personnel officer, the administrative office, and a dozen other things. When the captain convened a court-martial, I was the trial counsel. Over the years, at various times I served as trial counsel, defense counsel, member of the court and president of the court. 

I first worked really closely with Navy JAG officers in the Pentagon in 1972. We collaborated on international negotiations, on issues involving status of forces agreements with foreign powers, in negotiations on Law of the Sea matters.

By that time, I had degrees in international law and diplomacy. Many of my civilian counterparts in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and in the State Department were attorneys. I learned a lot from them. After I retired, I continued working on international issues as an engineer and policy analyst in the field of international technology cooperation.

I certainly don't know as much about courtrooms as practicing attorneys do. That's why I retained one to represent me in my appeal of the trial court's dismissal of my complaint against the town.

There are a lot of terms of art in the legal field that don't come tripping off my tongue. Though I dare say few practicing attorneys know more about Law of The Sea than I do.

The best way for professionals to relate to each other is with mutual respect. The better to learn and to join forces.

My goal all along has been to protect the public interest and the rule of law.

Ukraine's Aspirations

In today's New York Times, Nicholas Kristof visits the Ukrainian village his father grew up in. The people Kristof describes are like the Ukrainians I know. They just want to be a normal European country.

We can and should help.

Seventy Years Ago: USS Houston (CL-81) Ready For Sea

USS HOUSTON (CL-81)

Boston, MA April 15, 1944, Newly commissioned Cleveland-class light cruiser Houston, after completing shakedown cruise in the Caribbean, provisioning, training, and final outfitting, reports Ready For Sea. Her orders: get underway April 16, 1944, proceed through Panama Canal to San Diego, California. On arrival, report to Commander, US Pacific Fleet for combat duty.

Ship Characteristics:

Awarded: 1940

Keel laid: August 4, 1941

Launched: June 19, 1943

Commissioned: December 20, 1943

Decommissioned: December 15, 1947

Builder: Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Va.

Propulsion system: geared turbines, 100,000 shp

Propellers: four

Length: 610.2 feet (186 meters)

Beam: 66.3 feet (20.2 meters)

Draft: 24.6 feet (7.5 meters)

Displacement: approx. 14,130 tons fully loaded

Speed: 32.5 knots

Aircraft: four

Armament: twelve 15.2cm 6-inch/47 caliber guns in four triple mounts, twelve 12.7cm 5-inch/38 caliber guns in six twin mounts, 24 40mm guns, 21 20mm guns

Crew: 70 officers and 1285 enlisted