Commentator: Hello and we're back with our esteemed guests Professor McBottom of Cambridge University's Economics department. The Honourable George Jones, retired Liberty supreme court justice, and Mike from Saskatchewan.
Mike: Hello! :: waves ::
Commentator: Gentlemen, as you know the arrest of Citizen Katz has sparked a great constitutional crisis circulating around the First Amendment right of Association...
Prof: I'd like to stop you there, I can see where this is going, and let me assure you there is precedence for this kind of trial. Citizen Katz is a terrorist, out of his own mouth he says he works with them... I say lock him up...
Judge: The law is more complicated than that. This isn't cops and robbers. You don't run around shooting someone because they have a flashing logo over their head that says "I'm a terrorist kill me" we actually have to have a crime to have occoured before that.
Mike: Awwwwwww...
Commentator: Yes but what is Citizen Katz's legal right here?
Judge: well we're basically saying, by arresting him, that he has no freedom of Assembly to meet with who he chooses, we're saying he has no right to Association with any group contrary to the agenda of the current administration. And lastly we're saying he has no right to Freedom of Conscience, which is where he is allowed to object to the policies of the government and express those opinions in any way he chooses...
Prof.: Your saying, then, that he has the right to blow people up.
Judge: not at all, but that is the point here, isn't it? If he blows people up, as you put it, he should go to jail for those crimes. But So far there is no conclusive proof that Citizen Katz has blown anyone up. Or in fact, any proof provided that he has helped anyone blow someone up. You see without an actual crime, there is no trial. And Association is not a crime.
Mike: I like to blow stuff up...
Prof: So now we're saying the constitution of Liberty has enshrined the right for its citizens to hang around with criminals and terrorists, gabbing around the water cooler...
Judge: Yes, as long as that is what they are doing, certainly it does. You see, and here is where the prosecution has made a grave error, there is no evidence to the contrary.
There is no proof that Citizen Katz has plotted or planned any terrorist acts, in fact, by all accounts, he is quite a peaceful man. If we want to arrest people for association, we have to amend the constitution first, and we cannot arrest people for acts which were legal when they committed them.
Mike: I'm plotting something... something BIG!
Prof: theres the fact that he started a riot
Judge: Katz was shot, unconscious on the ice, it was televised. He didnt start that riot, or even entice any such thing. That would be a terribly bad thing to charge him with, basically they would be breeching his right to Assembly, right there. No they will be going after his Associations.
Prof: You can't have government sanctioned tea parties with terrorists and criminals...
Judge: Have you seen the New York tradelanes lately? That's all it is up there, tea parties with pirates.
Judge: But you don't see the Liberty Navy arresting them, no.
Judge: Two known ships could sit next to each other and discuss all kinds of violence, with a Liberty Navy fighter watching and listening in. And they'd do nothing, unless they had evidence of conspiracy to commit violent acts. No, this is direct targeting of a political campaigner, it is wrong and we should know better in Liberty.
Prof: But, you have to hear yourself, you're saying that a Communist has the right to run for governor!
Judge: Sure he does, just like every citizen of Liberty has that right. It is why we have freedoms here. We're not Rheinland, we're not Kusari... and forgive me Professor I know you're wife is Bretonian, but they don't exactly have the best track record for freedoms either.
Mike: I should shoot the President...
Prof: No? Well maybe they have a point there Judge, I mean. Gods... we're talking about the Coalition here...
Judge: No, right now we are talking Political Independence for Ontario, and a Gubernatorial election. Citizen Katz has made it quite clear that he would hold a referendum on the Coalition after independence. It is legal, it is the correct way to do this, and like it or not, once Ontario separates, it is an Ontarian choice.
Prof: How would you vote?
Judge: What?
Prof: How would you vote, if you were a citizen in Ontario?
Judge: It is a complicated question. I like Katz's policies, I do, but I love Liberty.
As of right now I might vote for him, because he has the right idea, I might even vote for separation because I think it is high time that a message was sent to the Administration of Liberty that something is terribly wrong in Liberty and has been since the war started... but vote to Join the Coalition, no I think I'd draw the line there.
Mike: If I join the coalition do you think they'd make me president?
Commentator: Right, moving on, could Alvin Katz be legitimately tried for anything? There has been talk that secession itself is unconstitutional, but we've never come across such an issue before...
Prof: Well, looked like he started a riot to me. And if we got things sorted out and outlawed association with Communists, terrorists and foreign powers, I'd be all for it.
Judge: We'd need evidence that he did anything illegal, and if we did amend the constitution to outlaw association with certain groups, he couldn't be tried for it, since it occurred before it was illegal. Secession itself would have to be debated in the Supreme Court, but arguing in favour of it isn't illegal...
He might have to suggest that the constitution be amended to allow such, then go about voting on secession...
Rioting, well, this is for the courts to decide, but I seriously doubt that getting shot at by a would-be assassin can seriously constitute an attempt to cause trouble.
Prof: Why else was he there, huh? Come on, don't be so gullible!
Mike: Looked like he was there for the hockey, eh?
Commentator: And that's all we've got time for! Now, the weather in your area...