Know Your Rights Redux, Part 1: We, the Rebel Alliance, do, therefore, in the name -- and by the authority -- of the free beings of the galaxy...

(UPDATE: Added complete series links.)

A friend on YM says that the harassment and web lynching I've been getting in my defense of one JB Lazarte's rights and analysis/ opinion on his situation is par for the course, and should be expected by any serious civil libertarian. The American Civil Liberties Union, for instance, is one of the groups most derided by the religious right in the United States.

Well, we've been hit before because of the criticisms we've made. We've weathered the web lynching and the web stalking (waves to they who read surreptitiously), we've survived the hate mails (waves at my anti-RH hate emailers); we couldn't have done it without your support and readership, folks.

Anyway, folks and first-time visitors, let me tell you a little bit about jesters. In the ancient days, when the crime of telling the truth was punished by tyrannical monarchs and warlords -- much like in this country, I guess -- jesters were the only people who could and did tell the truth as they saw it. After all, it is convenient for the arrogant and in power to disbelieve truths spoken by fools... and despite the speaker, the truths remain self-evident.

No surprise there, then? We write what we write and how we write it in keeping with this tradition. Their follies, their stupidities, their demonstration of a lack of functioning neurons -- these become our content. Heh heh.

We are back.

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Okay. In keeping with the theme that we've been riding on for the past few days, here I am rehashing an old post derived from rebolusyon2006.blogspot.com, cleaning it up for easy reference. This is going to be a series of posts on what rights one has available to him, in whatever situation.

What we're going to do is attempt to provide a primer for you good folks on how to act when the law comes knocking at your door. Remember, in this country of ours it does happen that you don't have to have committed a crime for the law to give you a hard time.

Today we begin with basic concepts: whatever you do, no matter how stupid you become, you do NOT lose your basic rights. These include:

- The right to life;

- The right not to be tortured, nor subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;

- The right not to be subjected to forced labor;

- The right not to be imprisoned for non-payment of a debt;

- The right not to be punished for an act which was not yet a crime at the time of its commission;

- The right to be recognized and treated as a person; and

- The right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

These rights are absolute. Period. At no time will they ever be suspended.

Keep that in mind. Burn these rights into your retinas. From these rights all others spring.

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We'll talk more later. Keep these rights in mind, all.

Posts in this civil rights series:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10