reprint: High Price of Living at Home
Brad Webb
Reprinted without Jeff Pipkin's permission,
I hope he doesn't mind.
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THE HIGH PRICE OF LIVING AT HOME
I live at home. It costs a hell of a lot to live there, but I make
every effort to continue living there, no matter what the cost. Because
I LIKE LIVING AT HOME!
Living at home costs a lot more than just your rent or mortgage payment.
Pretty soon you get a bill for property tax, school zone tax, state
(maybe) or federal (guaranteed) income tax, and you ask yourself,
"why the hell should I pay them? What did they do to deserve so much of
my hard-earned money?" Answer: they don't deserve it, no it's not fair,
but if you don't pay it, THEY WON'T LET YOU LIVE AT HOME ANYMORE.
See how it works? You come in to work, your boss pisses you off, you
want to tell him to (you get the idea), but you bite your tongue and
do as you're told. Why? If you lose your job, they quit paying you.
Then you won't be able to make your rent/house payment. Then they WON'T
LET YOU LIVE AT HOME ANYMORE.
You get into a verbal exchange with some redneck and then he grabs your
shirt, you hit him, there's a fight, in the end he is dead or crippled.
You say, "It was self-defense! He attacked me!" Witnesses say the two
of you were starting trouble, a fight broke out, and the other guy's dead.
They haul you in, slap a charge on you, throw you in jail until there's a
hearing to decide how much you have to pay them to let you live at home
while you wait for the trial. Don't have the cash? Too bad, that's the
high price of living at home. And by the way, you were just protecting
your family? That's honorable, but who's protecting them while you're
in jail?
Here in Texas there was a case where a woman got 14 years on a
manslaughter charge for shooting her husband while he was beating her.
The entire case ultimately hinged on a single statement that she made
to her father that was overheard by nearby police that had been called
there. The key phrase was that she got the gun from where it lay and
killed him. She maintained in court that it was self-defense, but her
statement was used as evidence to the contrary. She lost her right to
live at home.
The point to this story is this: If you make a statement to a cop (or
even within earshot of one) without legal consultation, you are not doing
a good job of defending yourself from the law. It's stupid, and it might
just revoke your privilege of LIVING AT HOME. In some states, it could
even revoke your right of LIVING AT ALL! What you've heard on the
ubiquitous TV cop show is true -- ANYTHING you say can and will be held
against you in a court of law. It does NOT matter whether you have
been arrested or not! The woman in the above example was not under
arrest at the time of the statement. If you injure or kill someone in
self-defense, you should explain it to your lawyer in private. All
you tell the police is your name & address, etc. You see, it matters
greatly how you explain what happened. And just telling a cop what
happened puts you at a double disadvantage -- first, you don't have
the advantage of a lawyer to tell you not to use certain key words
that are considered to be legal terms; second, you may lose a LOT in the
translation. Whatever the cop writes on his pad becomes legal evidence.
If you're misquoted, that's too bad. If you're taken in for questioning,
you don't have to answer any questions. They may tell you all sorts of
things to try to get you to talk, "just tell us what happened so we can
all go home, we know you didn't do anything wrong." No matter what they
say, do NOT waive ANY rights, and do NOT say anything. You don't make
deals with the cops. If you want a deal, have YOUR lawyer make a deal
with THEIR lawyer.
Self-defense means a HELL OF A LOT MORE than just fighting off an attacker.
It means defending yourself from everything, including the law and the IRS.
(The only effective defense against the IRS is to pay your PROTECTION MONEY.
Their gang is bigger than anybody's, and the law means NOTHING to them.
They answer to NO ONE. Constitution?! HA!)
Let's say that you get into a harmless little cockfight with somebody in
a bar, and someone breaks it up, or maybe you win and walk out, nothing
is reported, everything is cool, right? Maybe. Then again, maybe he
finds out your address, and pays your family a visit while you aren't there.
Is it really worth that, when you could have just politely backed down and
made an exit? Okay, I can hear someone say, "All the more reason to use
only lethal techniques!" Fine. So he won't bother you again. Instead,
it'll have to be his brother, or his dad, or his best friend, or maybe
his sister, or all of the above. Still think you "won"?
Can you actually control someone to the point that you can fend off a
potentially lethal attack without injuring them? That depends entirely
on the skill differential and weapon differential. Yes, it is possible.
The differential has to be pretty significant, though. A beginner has
no options; you just hit as hard as you possibly can, and try to get
away. A master can show complete control of such a beginner, and can
even choose in advance a specific technique to use against him. Such
masters are rare, but there you have the extremes of the spectrum. Most
of us lie somewhere between those two extremes. Possesion of various
weapons can tip the scales. But if YOU possess a weapon that is illegal,
you may give up your right to LIVE AT HOME.
I know, it's better to be tried by 12 than to be carried by 6. Well, get
this: LIVING AT HOME is a hell of a lot better than either one! Maybe you
think you could never get caught with it. Did you know that in some places,
you can be arrested just for going more than X miles an hour over the speed
limit? Or maybe just for "probable cause"? If this happens, the officer
automatically gains the right to search your person as well as your vehicle.
Without your consent or a warrant. Maybe you get in a wreck and the officer
sees your weapon, or somebody testifies to that effect, or maybe the officer
decides to inspect your vehicle for evidence concerning the wreck or for
"controlled substances". If you're found with an illegal weapon in the
process, then you could lose your right to LIVE AT HOME.
One final illustration, and then I'll get down off my soapbox.
On my wedding day, en route to the wedding, I was stopped by an irate
redneck who, after the obligatory verbals, pulled out a knife. Use your
head on this one -- how can this situation be "won"? I assure you that
the differential was NOT such that I could have simply controlled him
with confidence that neither of us would get hurt. If I had to fight,
then one of us would be injured or dead when it was over. Conclusion:
if there was a fight, then at the end of it, I would either (a) be dead,
(b) have to go to a hosptial, and therefore miss my wedding (not to
mention having to listen to my new bride's opinion of all of that), or
(c) have to go make phone calls to the police and ambulance, and again,
miss my wedding, or (d) both b & c. (Did I mention that (a) would also
involve missing the wedding?) There was only ONE way I could "WIN"
this situation -- by doing anything I could to make sure that there was
no fight. And that is exactly what I did. Of course, in the future,
I'll simply refrain from using improper hand signals in the first place,
no matter how appropriate and deserved, even if I first receive such
signals in advance. By the way, did you know that your plea of self-
defense may not hold up if there is evidence to show that you provoked
the encounter?! Fortunately, I made it through that day without losing
my precious privilege of living at home.
I am now happily married, have two wonderful kids, and we all LIVE AT HOME.
Jeff Pipkins
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I am NOT authorized to represent | "If you can't explain it simply, you don't
my employer. Use my opinions | understand it well enough." --Albert
ONLY at your OWN risk. | Einstein
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Thanks Jeff.
Brad.
--
Brad Webb, HEY NEW EMAIL ADDRESS -->> bwe...@airmail.net
or reply to:erw...@rwasic33.aud.alcatel.com (wrchh187 bounces)
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Japan Shotokan Karate, Dallas,TX. Nortel, Inc. (214)684-1737
(214) 231-4922 Me represent NT? I think not.
Seek perfection of character. Don't make them laugh so hard.