Want to leave the country? It ain't easy!

[OnyxCougar]

not if it wasn't properly ratified it's not.

[garnet]

Originally Posted by jaguar

Cambodia has always been my refuge of choice if it ever came to that, total lawlessness is a virtue in such circumstances however St Kitts has potential..

I can see St. Kitts, but....Cambodia? It's supposed to be very pretty there, but other than that I've never heard a whole lot of positive things about Cambodia. I'm curious to hear your reasons as someone (I assume) who has traveled there.

[flippant]

Fillipino rice farmer....turned sake maybe....they are gonna LOVE me...

[Radar]

The sixteenth amendment is by definition legal and constitutional.

False. It was fraudulently ratified without the proper number of legal votes. But even if it had been ratified it would be unconstitutional because it violates several other parts of the Constitution and nothing may be added to the Constitution that contradicts other parts.

You can add something, or you can repeal something, but you can't contradict something.

This is according to the Supreme Court.

"All laws which are repugnant to the Constitution are null and void."
-- Marbury vs. Madison (Judgement of the 1st Supreme Court)

"No one is bound to obey an unconstitutional law and no courts are bound to enforce it. The general rule is that an unconstitutional statute, though having the form and the name of law, is in reality no law, but is wholly void, and ineffective for any purpose, since unconstitutionality dates from the time of its enactment, and not merely from the date of the decision so branding it."

-- 16th American Jurisprudence 2d, Section 177 late 2nd, section 256

"This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding."

-- U.S. Constitution, Article 6, clause 2

No laws, court decisions, acts of congress, etc. can be made that contradict any part of the Constitution. That includes amendments which are laws. You can't say, "Jumping Rope is illegal" and then say "Jumping rope is legal". You must repeal the "jumping rope is illegal" portion of the Constitution and that alone would make it legal.

The Constitution was written specifically to limit the powers of government and NOT to place any limits on the rights of the people. Any amendments which violate our rights like the 16th and 18th are violations.

The 16th amendment contradicts and violates the 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 13th amendments, and the apportionment clause of Article 1, section 8. So even if you were able to get the number of legal votes to pass the amendment (which they didn't do), you'd first have to pass amendments to repeal all of those before you could add it; otherwise it's blatantly unconstitutional in its face and is therefore null and void.

[jaguar]

See above, if I'm in need of a bolt-hole a country with a liberal attitude to bribery, a mostly dsyfunctional justice system and unreliable police/military are all good traits =) I like some things about the place, lots of others (forced prostitution, child prostitution) give me the creeps. If I emigrating for purely political/monetary reasons it'd be St Kitts or another tropical island somewhere, plenty of little ones dotted though the pacific.

[Undertoad]

My ex-acquaintance Art Farnsworth will be testing all your theories in court:

Farnsworth's arrest grabs attention for tax movement

Art's take is that he's not liable. He hasn't paid for years.

He spent last weekend in jail. He's out on $100,000 bail and wearing an ankle bracelet. The feds are going to take a crack at him.

"Legal" is in the eyes of the courts.

[Radar]

The courts are not the sole arbiters of the Constitution. In fact every citizen of the United States has not only the ability, but the responsibility to decide what is or isn't Constitutional.

I can tell you what will happen. The IRS will deny him due process. They will tell him he can argue his case before a federal judge but no witnesses can be called, no evidence presented, and he can have no jury.

They've done it many times before.

They know no jury will side with the government so they refuse to allow anyone to have a jury trial and won't allow the public to attend the hearing.

[Undertoad]

So how many years will Art spend in the fed prison?

[richlevy]

Originally Posted by garnet

I can see St. Kitts, but....Cambodia? It's supposed to be very pretty there, but other than that I've never heard a whole lot of positive things about Cambodia. I'm curious to hear your reasons as someone (I assume) who has traveled there.

I did hear from a reliable source that you can buy a lobster dinner in Cambodia for like, a dollar. (Men in Black II)

Maybe you should think Romania or some other ex-East Bloc nation.

[richlevy]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

My ex-acquaintance Art Farnsworth will be testing all your theories in court:

Farnsworth's arrest grabs attention for tax movement

Art's take is that he's not liable. He hasn't paid for years.

He spent last weekend in jail. He's out on $100,000 bail and wearing an ankle bracelet. The feds are going to take a crack at him.

"Legal" is in the eyes of the courts.

"He's gonna have his day in court, and he is 100 percent innocent of the charges," said Joseph Schiaffino, a Republican and former Perkasie councilman who, like Farnsworth, doesn't pay federal income taxes.

A Republican who doesn't pay taxes, what a rare find!

[wolf]

Oh dear. I turn my back for a minute and you guys got him started ... thing is, I agree with him on the tax thing, however, I'm desirous enough of a hassle free life in this respect that I fill 'em out and send 'em in and act joyously happy when I get the refund, which I give the special name of "free gun money."

[garnet]

Originally Posted by richlevy

I did hear from a reliable source that you can buy a lobster dinner in Cambodia for like, a dollar. (Men in Black II)

Maybe you should think Romania or some other ex-East Bloc nation.

I'll pass on the lobster, but the Eastern Bloc nations might be an interesting choice. Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia were quite enjoyable, but I have no clue about how immigration would work in those places. Plus the languages seemed pretty darn tricky, too.

I am applying for dual citizenship to Ireland, if I can manage to get all the necessary paperwork together about my grandfather. May come in handy the next time I travel internationally.

[OnyxCougar]

Originally Posted by garnet

I'll pass on the lobster, but the Eastern Bloc nations might be an interesting choice. Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia were quite enjoyable, but I have no clue about how immigration would work in those places. Plus the languages seemed pretty darn tricky, too.

Croatia has a growing economy and the land itself is gorgeous. The western coast is on the Adriatic (right across from Italy), and the people are warm and friendly.

Current living conditions are reminiscent of the Britain of 15 years ago. Radiating heaters, no air conditioning, very few people with internet access at home. However, some things are very modern: most people have a cell phone, the music is as varied as folk (kinda polka-ish) and American rock and hip-hop, and British pop.

The majority of people there speak some form of second language, English, German and Russian are the most popular.

The majority of folks are Eastern Orthodox Catholic, with a minority of Christian and Muslim faiths. There is a growing trend with the young people towards Pagan faiths.

The language is fairly easy to learn, it's phonetic, and similar to Czech, but most closely associated with Serbian (it's official name used to be Serbo-Croatian), and in it's ancient form (Glagolitic) it's very similar to ancient Russian.

I don't really have a good grasp of their industrial situation, as I wasn't really into that while I was there. There are ALOT of farms and agriculture outside of the main cities (Zagreb, Split, Dubrovnik, etc).

Citizenship is as follows:

Article 8
A foreign citizen who files a petition for acquiring Croatian citizenship shall acquire Croatian citizenship by naturalization if he or she meets the following prerequisites:

1. that he or she has reached the age of eighteen years and that his or her legal capacity has not been taken away.
2. that he or she has had his or her foreign citizenship revoked or that he or she submits proof that he or she will get a revocation if he or she would be admitted to Croatian citizenship.
3. that before the filing of the petition he or she had a registered place of residence for a period of not less than five years constantly on the territory of the Republic of Croatia.
4. that he or she is proficient in the Croatian language and Latin script.
5. that a conclusion can be derived from his or her conduct that he or she is attached to the legal system and customs persisting in the Republic of Croatia and that he or she accepts the Croatian culture. It shall be deemed that the prerequisites from point 2 paragraph 1 of this Article have been met, if the petition was filed by a stateless person or by a person who, according to the Law of the country whose citizen he or she is, will lose it by naturalization.
If the foreign country does not envisage the revocation or is asking for prerequisites to be met, which can not be met, a statement by the person who has filed the petition stating that if he or she acquires Croatian citizenship, he or she renounces foreign citizenship, is sufficient.

Article 8a
A guarantee of admission to Croatian citizenship may be issued to a foreigner who has filed a petition for admission to Croatian citizenship, and who, at the time of filing a petition did not receive a revocation of foreign citizenship or who does not have proof that he would get a revocation if he gets admitted to Croatian citizenship, if he meets all other prerequisites from Article 8, Paragraph 1, of this Law.
The guarantee issued shall be valid for a period of two years.

[Beestie]

You guys are overlooking the most obvious choice of a good place to go to not have to deal with the US political/justice system:

HAWAI'I

Over there, they fly the state flag at half mast on the anniversary of Hawai'i's statehood. That place is a refuge for mainland refuseniks.

[jaguar]

Estonia is looking good as well, I can't wait to go there, they've got better broadband than us. Lobster thing is true, king prawns as well.