Sen. Lindsey Graham appeared to confirm this week one of the greatest fears for civil libertarians in the aftermath of the burning of the Qu’ran (Koran) by Rev. Terry Jones. With Muslims murdering innocent people as a protest to the book burning, Senator Graham has called for Congress to go hold people accountable for such acts. The message is clear and predictable: if someone’s exercise of free speech has caused problems, limit the free speech.
In the video above, Graham states “I wish we could find a way to hold people accountable.” He stresses “[f]ree speech is a great idea, but we’re in a war.” Of course, neither he nor his colleagues ever bothered to declare war. Likewise, Obama did not even consult with Congress before going to war in Libya.
Fortunately, the Constitution still exists to bar such impulses against free speech. Notably, however, China is arresting people who are viewed as destabilizing the country with their art and ideas. Now some members of Congress want to join countries in a type of criminal blasphemy law — an idea that Obama appeared to accept in supporting a resolution under pressure from Arab allies on protecting religion from critics.
Free speech is designed to protect us against our own leaders — like Sen. Graham. It is not enjoyed at the whim of the U.S. Senate. And, by the way, the diaper genie is a “great idea.” Free speech is what defines us as a people.
Jonathan Turley
Yeah people have been trying to get me to write a book. It could actually be a movie with the visuals of skiing, not just talking heads.
But first I am going to sue the government again. And this time I am going to use the Judge Wood 28 USC 401 citation that Buddha is Laughing got me to dig up.
One thing that is really weird is that Steamboat’s latest city manager Jon Roberts recently ended up with three broken ribs, a broken eye socket and a dislocated shoulder with no explanation as to how it happened. He was skiing on an open run that he was familiar with, See Me, a run I skied many times, and was just found there.
well Kay….they look like the best sort of people to leave behind. why keep wallowing in their detritus?
you will end up smelling really nasty….
Buddha,
My antics with the daP actually got me interrogated by the campus police. Apparently making a smiley face out of tacks on somebody’s pretentious senior recital poster constitutes a threat. Or rather, doing that when you’re friends with somebody he hit on, and rejected him, and also happen to friends with somebody who was competing against him in a concerto competition.
My response to the guy who got stuck talking to me was “sorry I made your job harder, I was just being a dumb college student.” His response was “Yeah, me too.”
Gyges,
In the words of Frank Zappa: latex solar beef.
It always cares.
Kevin Bennett isn’t a lawyer. I did report his lawyer, Randall Klauzer, the one who got a restraining order on me so that Bennett could keep the buildings that violated the zoning, which violated Rule 4.5 of the Rules of Professional Conduct. I complained that he got the restraining order without a statutory basis or statutory procedure and that he got the judge to sua sponte rule that I molested Jane Bennett. If I had molested her, that would have been a crime requiring normal criminal procedure. In court he kept talking to Judge Garrecht about going fishing.
I reported Elizabeth Wittemyer, the prosecutor who prosecuted me in Routt County without a written statement of probable cause or an arraignment, violated statutes by dismissing it out of court, and then told the press that Jane Bennett was my victim but a trial would be too expensive. I complained that she didn’t follow the rules of criminal procedure and that she was biased because her husband was a real estate developer and suggested that Kevin Bennett helped him get a permit for a new ski area at Stagecoach that he tried to sell in the Wall Street Journal for $20 Million or $75 K per acre for vacant land they paid about $ 10 K for. Before Jane Bennett signed the criminal summons in capacity as police officer another police officer Kirby Blackmun came to warn me that the DA was “in on it”. I complained to the D.A. about that, a big mistake, and then Kirby lost his job.
I also reported the lawyers who asked Nottingham to put me in jail without a criminal charge. Chris Beall, David Brougham, Brett Huff, Tracy Van Pelt.
I reported Danielle Moore, a lawyer who worked for the State AG and appeared against me and then went to work for Hall & Evans and appeared against me. I emailed with her boss at the AG and she confirmed they had not given permission for that.
I reported Edward Nottingham for making threatening statements — witness intimidation.
I reported Cari Hermacinski, a lawyer who owns my old house and is currently president of Steamboat’s city council, for adding on a two story hot tub porch that goes into the setback about 8 by 12 feet without getting a variance.
I reported Anthony Lettunich the city attorney for working simultaneously for the city as for real estate developers without having a contract with the city or informing them about his other clients. I also reported him for billing the City of Steamboat Springs for a three way long distance ex parte with David Brougham and Magistrate Schlatter, with no notice to us until years later.
I reported Christopher Beall for representing Mutual Insurance of Bermuda even though it didn’t have a NAIC number and he didn’t file a Rule 26 disclosure and he didn’t disclose that to the 10th Circuit as required by local rules and not disclosing the insurance company to the 10th Circuit as required by local rules.
I reported David Brougham for representing Underwriters at Lloyds London even though it is only authorized to sell insurance to individuals in Illinois and Kentucky and not disclosing Lloyds to the 10th Circuit as required by local rules. I also reported the 20 + itemizations on his attorney bills for calls to and from the federal court house to discuss future events such as how and when the court would rule.
KNOWYOURCOURTS web site had many of these complaints on line for a while.
All my complaints to Colorado Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel were assigned to Matt Samuelson. Every time Samuelson ruled that the behavior was acceptable for an advocate and that the Colorado Attorney Regulation Counsel would not investigate. And then he called me and said that they won’t “accept any more complaints” from me.
Buddha,
This reminds me of college when I simultaneously started the Apathetic Dadist Party (daP) and the Anti-dadist Apathetic Party (Adap).
Life is absurd, but who cares?
artwerk notwithstanding….Kay, write a book, call Oprah….get an Attorney who is not a dried up testicle…what you are doing now is just alienating anyone who may try to listen…you obviously have a case, people don’t exhibit your type of anger without good reason. Most people don’t get that the whole system is currently corrupted because people like yourself have 1.) been actively hurt by it and 2.) subsequently and deliberately shut out by it from any recourse and /or resolution.
Your position, unfortunately, means that the system is not what it says it is….and in the absence of anyone willing to NOT be a pawn of the system, you are a potential threat. To judges, to lawyers, to politicians, to the kind of people who don’t think lying and worse are any big deal. You are gambling the rest of your life against winning against people who are that weak….for what?
$$$ – ???
don’t you know that there are people who see what’s going on?
Gyges,
It wouldn’t be interesting if we didn’t have the distractions from the Tooties of the world!
Non-corporeal persistence to Dada!
Buddha,
Death to Dada! Long Live Dada!
Those crazy Dadaists!
HenMan,
I’m of the opinion that both Kay and Tootie are bots programed by an incredibly intelligent Dadaist, who is having a German Soprano, and Italian Tenor read our responses to them out-loud in Sprechstimme, while he records them. He’s splicing the recordings randomly into 5 different tracks, and playing them all simultaneously at visitors who are standing in front of a picture of a three hole punch.
So our discussion on Free Speech got turned into part of a piece showing the absurdity of all human existence.
Well I guess you could say that about anyone who sues a state or federal government.
I don’t know another way out of my situation. I am already 57 so the idea that I would go bankrupt and then embark on a second career, burdened with the civil contempt conviction and the on-line defamation, isn’t really practical.
The benefits for me of winning against the government are huge. If I can base a judgment on the face value of the lawsuits that the USMS intervened in I will get enough money to retire + enough money to set up family businesses + enough money to pursue some sort of justice program. And I would feel that I had personally changed the course of history and established rights. I already feel that way to some extent since they have stopped incarcerating pro se litigants as a method of winning lawsuits.
On the advice of my lawyer in Steamboat Springs I sued the Kevin Bennett and associates in federal court in Colorado.~Kay S
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…and did you report their sorry butts to the bar and what happened about that?
kay sieverding 1, April 6, 2011 at 10:51 am
Delusional non-acceptance of the facts of past events/denial
I accept the fact that I was a victim of federal felonies including 18 USC 1512, 1513, 241, and 242.
Accept it in the same way as a victim of rape.
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Kay,
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different outcome.
You are asking the fox to reimburse you for the eggs he stole and ate.
Why play with cheaters and make yourself sick?
Can’t you find another way?
Gyges, Stamford Liberal, Frank, Bruce in Jersey, Mike Spindell, rcampbell, Blouise, Buddha, Otteray Scribe, et al-
Remember a couple of years ago when we were having an interesting discussion about Sen. Lindsey Graham and Freedom of Speech? Does anyone remember how that all came out? Seems like it was only yesterday…..
OFF topic, but a worthwhile aside…
I had an attorney when I lived in Steamboat Springs Colorado. Then I moved to Wisconsin and didn’t find another one. On the advice of my lawyer in Steamboat Springs I sued the Kevin Bennett and associates in federal court in Colorado. I could have done that from Steamboat but after there was a bullet hole through our window we were afraid to stay there.
Suing in federal court in Colorado from Wisconsin made it more difficult to find a lawyer. I really needed one in Denver. There actually aren’t very many federal court plaintiffs attorneys in Denver. I made some calls but didn’t find one. Maybe I could have if I had tried harder. I eventually met someone who said he would have taken my case but by then it was too late.
I was worried about the costs of a lawyer. A David Criste sued the City of Steamboat Springs and reportedly his legal bills were well over $100K before he got past a most to dismiss. He told me that he had a deposition that a city council member said that their plan was to bankrupt him with legal bills.
I had actually been doing legal research for money off and one since I was in college. (Not for individuals) I got a scholarship to graduate school based on research I did on local government land banking. I took a course in urban law and my professor recommended me. I had privileges at the Harvard Law library. I did my thesis on municipal disclosure which was pretty technical. I didn’t know the risks I was facing and I thought that pro se litigation couldn’t be that difficult. I went into the case too with open records responses I had collected from Steamboat while I still lived there. I also had tape recordings of city officials that I got by carrying a tape recorder in my purse when meeting with them.
I had a subscription to Case Clerk.com I started with the Supreme Court decisions and copied everything that seemed relevant. I found this quotation from Justice Marshall and I believed it:
The 1871 Congress intended § 1 to “throw open the doors of the United States courts” to individuals who were threatened with, or who had suffered, the deprivation of constitutional rights, id. at 376 (remarks of Rep. Lowe), and to provide these individuals immediate access to the federal courts. Patsy v. Board of Regents of State of Florida, 457 U.S. 496 (1982)
As part of my city planning education, I studied the case law supporting zoning, Euclid etc., and that is why I believed that it was based on the 14th Amendment and that the City’s decision to sometimes aggressively enforce the zoning but to order that city laws were to be ignored on Princeton Ave was a violation of the constitution.
When I was in college I had a lover whose father was in Auschwitz for 5 years and that caused me to feel more strongly about the rule of law. His father insisted he go to law school.
Kay,
Wow, that’s offensive. Tell you what, when you and everyone that shares your faith and genetic material get enslaved, tortured, and killed. THEN you get to use holocaust imagery.
Anyway, back on topic…
O.k. I tried animals on trampolines, that didn’t work. So, in an effort to return this conversation to something a bit closer to the original topic,I’ve got no choice but to pull out the big guns.
That’s right, video game themes played on tuned Tesla Coils.