On Tue, 21 Nov 2000 18:10:27 GMT, Eric Cordian <emc@artifact.psychedelic.net> wrote:
Bell has been jailed. Here we see the real use of Federal anti-stalking laws - to protect government whores from the citizens they harrass.
Interesting. Couple of things: 1) Jim Bell dont come across as the brightest of bulbs. Of course, its difficult to tell whether this is true, or whether its just a smear job (inadvertant or otherwise -- Ive had my own problems with Wired reporters misquoting me in order to "add color" to their reporting). Still, publicizing a system for assassinating political figures, and expecting said political figures to abide by the 1st Amendment protections regarding free speech, is stupidity beyond stupidity. If the government wants to squash you, they can do so -- they can seize all your assets under RICO (including all assets that would be needed in order to hire a lawyer to get your property back), crooked cops can lie under oath and say they found drugs in your possession with little recourse, and innocent people are sent to jail every day because it allows some harried police lieutenant to close out a file and look like a hero to the general public for "solving a crime" -- according to one study by a university law school, up to 70 of the people convicted of crimes are actually innocent, and were convicted because they were (illegally) deprived of the opportunity to conduct a defense (due to rampant underfunding of public defenders offices, and the RICO statutes which allow the government to seize all funds that could be used to conduct a defense, most people who are arrested do not even get to see their lawyer before the start of the trial -- in blatant disregard of the Constitution of the United States). And nobody cares, because the police are careful to target "those" people -- people who are poor, who are ignorant, or whose actions can be easily spun to make them appear dangerous or insane. Jim Bell wants to take on the Feds? What a moron! 2) Jim Bell also comes across as rather paranoid. Of COURSE hes being observed (at least occasionally) by federal law enforcement agencies. He is an ex-con, for cryin out loud, whenever a law is broken, the law comes looking at ex-cons first cause theyre the most likely cause of a law being broken. Its not paranoid to notice this, but its certainly paranoid to take the actions he has taken about that observation. I guess being held on trumped-up charges for his first conviction (i.e., possession of household chemicals now illegal!) warped his head, but what did he expect when he published a paper describing a system for rewarding assassination of political figures? I mean, what, he thought the 1st Amendment was something other than toilet paper that law enforcement officers wipe their rears with every day? (Actually, they usually dont care about the 1st, its the 4th, with their unconstitutional seizures of property under the RICO statute, that they wipe their rears with every day, but still...). 3) He is being held without bail. This appears to be a new tactic used by law enforcement to punish people that they know they dont have enough evidence to convict. For example, in Wilmington, North Carolina, a student commented about the Columbine killings, "those kids were stupid, if they wanted to kill jocks they should have started at the gym, not at the library." He was jailed without bail on charges of "making threatening statements". His parents were irate, because typical punishment in North Carolina for first offense of "making threatening statements" is a $500 fine and probation. The judge and sheriffs office kept him jailed without bail as "being a dangerous threat", in full defiance of the Constitution of the United States and its constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech and due process, because they wanted to "teach a lesson". They taught a lesson, alright -- thats one kid who will never trust government again. 4) Its interesting that federal law enforcement agencies view the identification of their officers as a threat. It reminds me of fascist police officers in Serbia who taped over their badges so that the demonstrators could not identify the people who were depriving them of their rights. It appears that even identifying and filing a public complaint against a federal law enforcement officer (i.e., publishing a copy of that complaint on your web site as well as via "official channels") could be construed as a "terrorist threat" under the federal statute that was quoted. I think that many Americans are rather sanguine about their freedoms. We have forgotten that only fifty years before, a government-sanctioned and government-enforced system of apartheid systematically and with full government force deprived civil rights from a full 1/5th of the population of the United States. We have forgotten that, only 30 years ago, citizens of the United States were being killed by the National Guard for the crime of being near a demonstration against a war they disagreed with. Freedom is not something that is built into our country. Freedom must be purchased with blood, the blood of four little girls killed by those who bombed a church in Birmingham Alabama, the blood of civil rights workers murdered in cold blood in Mississippi with the full knowledge of government officials of the State of Mississippi, the blood of anti-war demonstrators in Ohio. Today we have forever deprived a full 1/5th of the black male population of many cities of the right to vote, with full government sponsorship and enforcement, but for some reason nobody seems to see it because government has been careful to target "those" people, people whose skin color is "not like ours", those nasty smelly poor people, and other such "undesirables". Apparently Americans believe that civil rights guaranteed by the Constitution only apply if youre white and middle-class. I think that many Americans are also sanguine about their continued freedom. All I have to note is that in 1984, Yugoslavs rejoiced in the afterglow of the Sarajevo Olympics, a glowing testament to their democratic government and modern attitudes and sensibilities. Yugoslavia rejoiced in joining the community of modern European nations. Their booming economy even sold cars here in the United States (the infamous Yugo). A scant 10 years later, Yugoslavia was in the grip of a fascist dictatorship who used "ethnic cleansing" to tighten his grip on power, its economy was in ruins, and the nation had broken up into ethnic pieces warring upon each other. The lesson: a booming democracy can turn into a fascist dictatorship in almost no time at all. Whoops, I guess this message puts me on the governments "terrorist hit list". Note to feds -- the only guns I own are a couple of antique shotguns inherited from my father and my grandfather, the only dangerous chemicals I own are normal household cleaners, the only cyber-terrorism Ive ever advocated is the ghastly notion of calling public officials damned liars on the Web when they lie to us. I am a liberal in the classic sense, who believes that government has a purpose and is necessary for the furthering of the general good but that its powers must be limited and carefully controlled by the people in order to avoid turning into a fascist dictatorship that only pretends to be a democratic republic (thus my distaste when our government violates the Constitution of the United States with willful disdain). I am also a committed pacifist who believes that all killing is morally wrong, even when done in self defense or in war time (I do recognize that man is an animal who like all animals possesses a survival instinct and thus killing in self defense must be expected, but animal instinct is not a moral defense). Good luck painting me as a crazed Unibomber out to murder folks. -- Eric Lee Green There is No Conspiracy eric@badtux.org http://www.badtux.org