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
Kay, an attorney friend of mine has a large framed needlepoint sign behind his desk that his wife made for him. It is positioned so that all clients sitting in front of him can see it over his shoulder. The lettering is in Old English. The needlepoint sign says:
Kay, the truth makes you angry and frustrated, but after all the dust settles, it is still the truth. It makes you angry and frustrated, but there is an old adage that says when you are in a hole, stop digging. It is time to throw away your shovel and ask someone for a ladder to get you out of the hole you have dug for yourself.
kay,
The sanctions to which I refer are at the discretion of whichever judge you piss off next. Given the way you behave, that you will eventually piss off another judge is almost a certainty as long as you insist on representing yourself. Read that list from The Manual for Complex Litigation to get an idea of what’s possible.
They didn’t file a counter claim. The idea of a Rule 11 judgment is that there was intent. I had a claim of First Amendment Retaliation as recognized by the Supreme Court 3 years after I filed.
Bankruptcy wouldn’t be worth it. Suicide would be better.
And just what sanctions are you talking about?
DOJ did not file a motion to impeach my testimony.
DOJ did not file a Rule 11 motion.
No DOJ claimed that DOJ and or its systems are exempt from 5 USC 552a (e)(7). Not just once but three times in their last motion.
Here Kay,
Intentional Torts: Debts resulting from a willful or malicious act may not be discharged. Debts resulting from intentional torts and debts incurred by fraud are presumably dischargeable. In this type of situation, the creditor must file a request with the court to have the debt declared nondischargeable.
Now find you one and do it…Bankruptcy Attorney’s have no shame…They will do it and are set by fee what they can charge by the court…customary fees…period…anything outside the norm is recoverable…by the court for the estate…
The battle over health care will probably help me. People will go to court to enforce insurance contracts. Many of them will be pro se. Are the courts going to deny them all discovery, grant motions to dismiss with prejudice, etc. and then throw them in jail because they don’t have lawyers?
Look at the pro se guides in federal court. None of them say that people will be put on lists of people who can’t represent themselves or that they will be imprisoned for filing a lawsuit without a lawyer. Are they going to start disclosing that?
That’s crazy talk, kay.
You’ll run the risk of even more sanctions is what you’ll do.
Don’t fool yourself.
The only person you are making miserable is yourself.
And possibly your husband.
If I don’t win then at least I will create case law so that misery will have company
Kay sez: “Don’t have an option to “get a life”. Must win in court. No other choice.”
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Kay, you do have choices. Talk to a credit counselor or bankruptcy attorney. It has been established beyond any reasonable doubt that you will NOT win in court. The operant words here are NOT WIN. As for your creditors collecting the fees, you cannot get blood out of a turnip. Keep in mind that if you had not persisted as you did, you would not be in this pickle in the first place, but this is not the time to assign blame. It has shifted from a rescue effort to damage control.
You are NOT GOING TO WIN. Try damage control instead. You are going to be out some money and your ego will be in tatters, but it is not the end of the world. But, and this is a very big “but,” it is imperative that you follow the advice of the credit counselor or bankruptcy lawyer. Do not argue the merits of your case with them. YOU WILL NOT WIN so quit trying. You could end up having the credit counselor or bankruptcy lawyer firing you as a client if you keep trying to argue your case, because YOU WILL NOT WIN.
A federal judgment also stops you from getting Medicare or social security
I am doing something. I am suing the government under the Privacy Act.
I did look into it.
I don’t have any other substantial debts that are dischargeable in bankruptcy and if I were to file bankruptcy it would be pro se and that is a miserable experience and not worth it.
I would never ever agree that I was the customer of these lawfirms or that the fee shifting was legal.
As I said I am self employed as is my husband. It’s not like declaring bankruptcy when you are employed and get a paycheck the next week.
The magistrate’s report said that he was recommending attorney fees because I showed malice in an objection I didn’t publish by saying that Kevin Bennett might be a drug dealer. When I lived there I heard from a number of sources that he was a drug dealer or former dealer. I put those names in the objection. They could have called them for testimony but they didn’t. Then in 2009 he ran for office again and all the candidates were asked if they had any felonies. He said that he had pled guilty to conspiracy to sell THC and I guess moved it. That is on the Steamboat Pilot web site or at least was the last time I looked.
The magistrate’s report said that I showed malice by claiming that there might be government corruption in Steamboat Springs. Bennett’s property tax rolls, 701 Princeton Ave, for Routt County PIN 222800001 don’t match the building permits or what you can see from the street. On the property tax rolls it says he has a 1.5 car garage built in 1975. In real life he has a two story detached building built in 2000 that parks two cars and has rooms behind and over it which on the building permit that he signed as owner builder is listed as having over 2000 square feet and has heating and plumbing. # S-00-106. The accessor Gary Peterson emailed me last month that there aren’t any square feet listed on the building application. On the tax rolls it says he has a guest house built in 1950, it was built in 2000. The city minutes show that when he was supervising as city council president he told them all he built was a garage.
The former Routt County assessor Mike Kerrigan told the Steamboat Pilot that there are many illegal buildings in STeamboat Springs and enforcement of the regulations is lax. That was after a man died in a home that was legally a garage but was rented for 10 years and was a block from the building department, on ground floor and painted purple. David Engle. There are also supposedly $5 Million in missing developer taxes and the city refuses to have an audit.
I have a masters degree in city planning from MIT and I published a book on municipal finance. I don’t want to work scrubbing toilets. I want meaningful work.
OS,
God Speed.
Kay,
The only time Attorney fees are not discharged are when, there are exceptions…but they have to be for what…look into that and do it…at least a 13 gives you the ability to pay…a portion…the garnishment statutes in Colorado are good for creditors…so do something and quite bitching…
sorry about your grandson
Don’t have an option to “get a life”. Must win in court. No other choice.
raff, I would give my next ten years income to be able to sit with my grandson tonight. We buried him this afternoon to the skirling of the bagpipes. His sgian dubh, the knife a Scotsman carries in his kilt hose (sock), was buried with him.
Can’t get out of attorney fees with bankruptcy. Legal sanctions are not dischargeable in bankruptcy. Plus I have no job, I am self employed and so bankruptcy would destroy my ONLY source of income.
McConnell Siderious claims I owe them over 30 K. They represented Jane Bennett, the woman who signed a criminal complaint in capacity as a police officer, even though she wasn’t a police officer, because the police wouldn’t sign a criminal complaint and they represented her lawyer too.
They said I should be subject to attorney fee shifting because the magistrate said that all attorneys have immunity in their role as advocate.
Her attorney Randall Klauzer got a sua sponte ruling from Routt County judge Garrecht that I molested her by complaining that she violated the zoning. He says I molested her from 30 feet away while she was with three men. She said under oath that there was no offensive touching, that I hadn’t followed her around, and that the only time I called her was once years earlier. I called her because UPS left a package for her at our house.
Klauzer told Judge Garrecht that he should issue a permanent restraining order against me because there were criminal charges. The only person who signed the criminal charges was Jane Bennett. There was no written statement of probable cause. I was not arraigned. The prosecutor, who was married to a real estate developer, dismissed the criminal charge out of court, which violated Colorado criminal procedure. My lawyer Bill Hibbard filed a motion for an oral hearing but she was opposed to that. Judge Garrecht wrote that he had not received any information about probable cause.
Those attorney bills were not itemized. I provided 27 pages of case law as to why attorneys don’t have general immunity.