Welcome to another edition of the Clear The Bench Colorado Friday Funnies - this week, a change of pace from the August “Dog Days of Summer” series (featuring cute & cuddly Colorado canine spokespup Nola) with a view from inside the courtroom.

Although the casual viewer may dismiss this clip as a mere farcical parody of real courtroom procedure, the judges in this sketch display about the same level of legal logic and respect for the rule of law as our own Colorado Supreme Court’s “Mullarkey Majority” in many of their recent decisions.

How else to explain the clear violation of the Colorado Constitution’s explicitly worded prohibition of tax increases without a vote of the people in the notorious “Mill Levy Tax Freeze” case just last March, justified with ridiculous re-wording, tortured terminology and semantic shenanigans?

And just as “nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition“, nobody expected - or even much noticed, at the time - the Mullarkey Court’s “November Surprise” ruling that allowed new taxes to be re-designated as “fees” in order to bypass TABOR (and that pesky requirement to allow people to have a say in tax increases).  Like the late arrival of the inquisitors in this sketch, it’s taken some time for the implications of that case to “make the scene” - but the quadrupling of the “marriage fee”, substantial increase in “vehicle registration fees” along with punitive (and unconstitutional) “late fees” due to the “FASTER” Colorado Car Tax, and of course Governor Ritter’s recent proposal to impose a new Gun Tax as part of his plan to “balance the budget” - are certainly torturing Colorado wallets.

Colorado, it’s time to get up out of the “comfy chair“ and exercise YOUR right to vote “NO” on retaining the four unjust justices of the Mullarkey Majority (Justices Michael Bender, Alex Martinez, Nancy Rice, and Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey) who need YOUR approval to continue taking away your constitutional rights: your right to vote on tax increases, your right to defend your homes and business from seizure by rapacious governments, and your right to enjoy the benefits of the rule of law, not rule by activist, agenda-driven “justices.”  Support Clear The Bench Colorado with your comments (Sound Off!), your contributions, and your “NO” vote on retaining these unjust justices in 2010!

Tags: Alex Martinez, Barber vs. Ritter, Bill Ritter, car tax, Colorado Car Tax, Colorado Constitution, Colorado Judges, Colorado Mill Levy, Colorado Supreme Court, FASTER, judicial accountability, Judicial Activism, judicial retention, Know Your Courts, Know Your Judge, late fee, Mary Mullarkey, Michael Bender, Mill Levy Tax Colorado, Mill Levy Tax Freeze, Mullarkey Court, Mullarkey Majority, Nancy Rice, Ritter Auto Tax, Ritter Gun Tax, TABOR, unjust justices