You have the right to remain silent

I have seen some thought provoking topics lately and wanted to put one out there myself

You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in court of law. You have the right to speak with an attorney before questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided to you at no charge.

Most Americans have heard these Miranda Rights before but do you know where the term originated? Probably not, so let me give you the short version. A man named Miranda was arrested in Arizona for kidnapping and rape and he did do it because he confessed to the crime. He had a long history of crimes since the 8th grade. He was sent to prison but the Supreme Court overturned the conviction because he signed a confession, not knowing that he didn’t have to do that. Our 5th amendment to the Constitution says that you don’t have to incriminate yourself if you don’t want to. In other words, you never have to admit that you are guilty even if you are.

Now the rest of the story as Paul Harvey used to say. So you keep your mouth shut about what you did, get a lawyer, force the state to get one, tie up judges, lawyers jurors, court personnel, police witnesses etc etc. and finally get into court. Then they plea bargain and tell you: if you confess, they will give you a lighter sentence. I think that should have been said in the first instance. Here are my new and improved Miranda rights:

You have the right to remain silent and try to beat the system. Anything you say can and will be used against you in court of law. You have the right to speak with an attorney before questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided to you at no charge. However if you decide not to admit to a crime that you did do and are later found guilty, you will have to pay all court costs and compensate everyone involved for the time you wasted. There will be no last minute plea bargaining.
I would also read the following to lawyers: You have the right to represent anyone you choose. However if you discover that a client of yours is guilty and don’t turn them in, and later that client is found guilty, you will split the court costs with your client.

Here are some other rights that we Americans have:

---You have the right to complain about Gas prices while driving alone to work in a car that gets 8 miles to the gallon.

---You have the right to blame everything that is wrong with America on the President even though you never voted.

--You have the right to spend more than you make, quit your job and then ask the government to bail you out.

---You have the right to hate anyone that isn’t like you just because you can.

---You have the right to complain and then never do anything about it.

I hope this didn’t offend anyone. I just wanted to toss our some food for thought today.
Greg