23 January 2012

There are laws about this.......

I don't know if any of you good people have read about these two "incidents" on the web. They did not make much of an impression on the "media" here in the US. The second, which I'll get to in a moment, did not make it to the TV news at all.
I am referring to two recent items where in Gobomber was verbally threatened.
The first was made by the speaker of the House of Representatives in Kansas, a Mr. Mike O'Neal. He referred to Psalm 109.8 which goes: "Let his be few and brief; and let others step forward to replace him." That verse goes on in Psalm 109.9;  "Let  his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow."  Now as this was made in reference to Gobomber, it sure appears to me that this guy is wanting Gobomber dead. How else does one wish for a mans' children to be fatherless and his wife a widow? The only way is for the man to be dead. I would think that any lawyer worth his/her law school diploma would be able to make a case of threatening the president. That is a crime folks.
Even with an apology, it was and is a crime to threaten the president. When will the FBI or some other law enforcement agency investigate this?


The second takes us to a publication; the Atlanta Jewish Times. The editor of that paper was writing about an attack on Iran and how the US appears to not be 100% 
on board" with such a folly. He goes on to suggest possible methods to get the US to be fully with the zionist entity to attack Iran and take out its nuclear plants. His third "option" is as follows; "...give the go-head for U.S. based Mossad agents to take out a president deemed unfriendly to Israel, in order for the current  vice president to take his place and forcefully dictate the United States' policy includes helping the Jewish state obliterate its enemies."
Wow! Now there you have it, in black and white on the pages of a newspaper published right here in the old US of A. A call for the assassination of the president of the United States. How much more unsubtle does one need to be? How much more direct can a person be? 
Now, of course the ADL has come out against this article and has called it "irresponsible and extremist "  It is all that and more. Very extremist in my view. How nice of the ADL to tell us all how such comments are irresponsible and extremist. As if we could not have figured that out for ourselves. Yes, that last was sarcastic. That is how I see it.
Such comments by these two people just point out the mean, nasty character of the country today. This may upset some people, but it remains true to an extent. Mush of the criticism of Gobomber has to do with his skin color. Yes, racism IS alive and well here in the USA. 


None of this excuses such comments by anybody. That an editor of a small paper puts such vile comments in print is one thing, for an elected representative to say such comments out loud and on the record is quite another. Neither are in any way excusable though.
The editor, a Mr. Andrew Adler has resigned according to a according to an item at Talking Points Memos Livewire posted at 2:34PM today, 23 January 2012. How nice of him. Yes, there I go again, being sarcastic. Well, when a person, a US resident in  both cases here, issues a threat to the president, I take the "apology" quite sarcastically/cynically. That is just my nature.
Mr. O'Neal has been given a petition signed by 30,000 citizens of Kansas asking that he resign from the state legislature. The petition drive was headed by two ministers from the Topeka, Kansas area. Thank you both and all who signed the petition. They made the following statement;   "As people of faith, we believe that scripture should never be used to justify praying for the death of anyone. Speaker O'Neal's  hateful abuse of scripture is unacceptable and a disgrace to his office, and he should immediately resign."  Again, thank you both and all those who signed. 
As many of you know, I do not belong to nor do I follow any religion. I do think that one should give credit where credit is due. In this case, to the ministers who started the petition and those who signed it. 


Now onto another question. When will these tow men be investigated by the FBI or some other law enforcement agency? The Secret Service is supposed to protect the president. They should be getting an investigation going into both of them.
There ARE limits to our freedom of speech. Advocating the overthrow of the government is among those limitations. Threats on the life of the president is also unprotected speech, as it should be. 
U.S. Code 2385 states: "Whoever  knowingly or willfully advocates, abets,advises, or teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States .....by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government;....
"Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both......" U.S. Code
The story of the newspaper editor has not been picked up by any TV station that I am aware of. As of now, Mr. O'Neal has yet to apologize. As I said above, Mr. Adler has given an apology and he has resigned from his position with the paper. One further comment on that, he owns the paper where his remark was published. So, he steps down as editor, he still owns the paper, how will he continue to influence that paper?
My personal view, which is what this blog has always been and will continue to be, is that Mr. Adler only made his apology because the ADL and  AJC (American Jewish Congress) him out . Both groups have expressed their revulsion to what he wrote regarding Gobomber. So, these two groups get a "congrats" from me today. Again, give credit where it is due.
Again, we all need to ask, when will the FBI and/or the Secret Service investigate these tow people? Comments like these cannot be allowed to stand unpunished. Not is we are a nation of laws. There are recognized limits to our freedom of speech. These limits are known, have been known for years. There is no excuse nor is there any apology that will do here. Both of these people should be arrested and in court on charges for the threats they made. 


Some may say, with reason it seems, that these people are a symptom of the racist attitude that still inhabits the US today. There is some truth to that, sad to say. Some of the anger at Gobomber IS due to his skin color. There are those among us who despise his presidency only because he has a beer tan that they have. In my opinion, these comments are in part due to the racism of the people who made them.  Some people made comments to this effect about the "tea party" meetings where some who attended brought their guns in plain view to all assembled. 
We have candidates running for their party nomination who express racist views. The calling of the president as the "food stamp president" comes to mind. Well, the facts are that more white people receive food stamps than black people get them. It brings to mind the garbage pulled by "saint" Ronnie of Raygun and his "welfare queens" who did not exist in any number.The American voters are bombard by false statements, rumors, and out right lies. And yet, many still buy into the crap. They are too busy or disconnected to not bother to check on the factual information that would prove they are being lied to. 
It is the duty of all citizens to stay informed. We cannot ever sit back and let the media do that for us. If we fail to do that, we will end up with a government that cares not at all about  "we the people" even more than is the case today. If you think things are bad now, just wait, they CAN get worse. We need to hold our elected officials to account. We need to challenge those running for office when they spout idiotic statements. We all enjoy the freedoms we have as citizens of the US, we need to take to heart, our responsibilities as citizens.
semper fi

21 comments:

Mike Whitney said...

Can someone please explain to me how Obama can be so ruffled by some crackpot in Yemen preaching jihad that he takes him out with a couple cruise missiles...BUT, then 2 guys in the US make direct threats to his personal safety AND HE DOES NOTHING???

This is why alot of people think the war on terror is a big fat fraud...because their are so many inconsistancies.

If the policy was consistant, then there'd be two smoldering holes in the ground where each of these numbskulls had been standing just minutes before.

So, what's the policy, Barack?

charlie ehlen said...

Mike,
I suppose we can say that his policy(?) is consistently inconsistent. Sorry, I could not help saying that. Just one of those days.
By the way, I agree with you 100%.

gesneri said...

"Can someone please explain to me how Obama can be so ruffled by some crackpot in Yemen preaching jihad that he takes him out with a couple cruise missiles...BUT, then 2 guys in the US make direct threats to his personal safety AND HE DOES NOTHING???"

Probably because he's not willing to use cruise missiles domestically. Just wait a couple of years--the next President will probably be willing at least to give it a try with a drone.

jfl said...

First of all, thanks a lot for publicizing these two events. I read of the second a week or more after the incident, over at consortium news, a worthy site... but I heard not at all of the first by a (US? or Kansas) Representative.

The first is 'classic' US racism, the second is neo-con, Israel firster racism - wherein Israelis replace Americans as God's chosen people, in the eyes of Americans.

' It brings to mind the garbage pulled by "saint" Ronnie of Raygun and his "welfare queens" who did not exist in any number. '

Get ready for lots more, Charlie. Newt has seen his path to power and that's his route, both classic and neo-racist rhetoric. Remember the Palestinians as the 'invented' people.

Definitely do not want to see it get any worse... been saying that for some years now... but it does. It keeps on getting worse. This is about the time the smart Jews started leaving Germany about eighty years ago.

Grace said...

Charlie, I tend to think I am news savvy, yet I hadn't even heard of either of these important incidences! You called it. Threatening the life of the President is not protected speech and we all know what would have happened if I said such a thing! I can tell you I would not be in the comfort of my home right now writing my free thoughts. They would have come for me and I would be in indefinite detention with no guarantee of a trial. Very shocking this inconsistency on the part of Govt.

Obama is racially divided. We tend to forget that part calling him black. These are among the most racially divided times ever!

My father was Jewish. I am not Jewish nor have I ever been as it is a matrilinial race of people. I, however, grew up in the Jewish culture and am very intimate with it. They are right up there with the most racist people on the Planet. Modern Israel is not the land of the chosen ones and the Bible says so. Whoever these Power Mongers are, their God may not necessarily be the same God we all think of when we think of God. Call a racist a racist I say.

One Planet. One human race.

john francis lee said...

If you're 'white trash'... you're toast.

If you're Xtian trash or Jewish trash... an apology will be sufficient.

http://articles.businessinsider.com/2010-02-20/law_review/29977646_1_social-networking-supremacists-pazienza

' Federal prosecutors charged Johnny Logan Spencer Jr. with threatening to kill the President after he posted a 16-line poem titled "The Sniper" on a neo-Nazi website.

' According to The Courier-Journal, threatening the life of the President is a felony that carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

' The case may test limitations of free speech. While the defense argues the verse is merely offensive and should be protected as art, the prosecutor says the line "DIE negro DIE" is enough to strip Spencer's speech protection. '

http://www.cafemom.com/group/99198/forums/read/12872990/Johnny_Logan_Spencer_Sentenced_To_Nearly_3_Years_In_Prison_For_Threatening_Obama_In_Poem

' A Kentucky man who acknowledged threatening President Barack Obama in a poem has been sentenced to nearly three years in prison. '


http://whitereference.blogspot.com/2010/02/johnny-logan-spencer-latest-thought.html

"THE SNIPER"

"As the tyrant enters his cross hairs the breath he takes is deep
His focus is square on the target as he begins to release
A patriot for his people he knows this shot will cost his life
But for his race and their existence it is a small sacrifice
The bullet that he has chambered is one of the purest pride
And the inspiration on the casing reads DIE negro DIE
He breathes out as he pulls the trigger releasing all his hate
And a smile appears upon his face as he seals that monkey's fate.

The bullet screams toward its mark bringing with it death
And where there was once a face there is nothing left
Two blood covered agents stare in horror and dismay
Looking down toward the ground where their president now lay
Now the screams of one old negro broad pierces thru the air
Setting off panic from every eyewitness that was there
And among all the confusion the hero calmly slips away
Laughing for he knows there will be another negro holiday

By Johnny Spencer

charlie ehlen said...

gesneri,
You might be correct in that. The next occupier of that office, no matter who it is, may not be worried much about "collateral damage".

charlie ehlen said...

O'Neal is a state of Kansas representative. Speaker of the Kansas House even. How such people rise to that level is beyond me. Racist? Now why would I even think that?

charlie ehlen said...

Grace,
It IS interesting how this government works or doesn't work. Selective enforcement is what I'd say. Some folks are more special it seems.
If one of us commoners had made such a statement, well, Gitmo is still open.

charlie ehlen said...

John,
Yes, that "poem" is racist. "another negro holiday". Wow, can't be more explicit can he?
Yes, the nasty racist crap IS going to get worse. It is about the only thing Newt has got to run with. The sad thing is he will attract a following with it.

john francis lee said...

Yeah, it's racist Charlie, but that's not illegal, or it shouldn't be. Who knows what new, unconstitutional laws they've passed since last I looked.

But it's also a threat to kill the POTUS that was left to lie for 15 months until the White House political wing decided they needed to prosecute a threat to the POTUS, to set a precedent, and then went after Johnny Logan Spencer Jr.

Neither the Speaker of the Kansas House, nor Andrew Adler, the publisher of the Atlanta Jewish Times, will be prosecuted.

The one's a Republicrat/Demoblican, the other is under the aegis of the AIPAC.

All American politicians running for office are running scared.

What we have to look forward to after the coming election are the same old/new Coward in Chief, his understudy, and 535 cowering cowards in Congress.

Unless we do something about it.

How nice it would be to see just one Congressional District organize itself and send one of its own to Occupy its own seat in Congress.

Radicle idea, eh? Actual democracy.

charlie ehlen said...

John,
I agree with you on all counts. True, neither of those fools will be prosecuted. As you point out, they are "covered" or "special" how ever one wants to cut it. They have a sort of "protected" status.
I also agree that racism is not unlawful and should not be made unlawful. One should not be a racist in my opinion. That is how my Dad taught me and it has served me well so far in life. I am friends with anybody who is willing to be friends with me. Race or any other "division" matters not.
I would like to see some minor party win at least one seat in either house of congress. When I lived in California I voted for the "Peace and Freedom" party nearly every election. I didn't care what office they ever might win, I just wanted to see them win any office. As far as I know, they have yet to do so. I left there in the spring of 2000 and stopped following politics in California.
I'll most likely vote for some "third" party again if they make the ballot here in Louisiana. It sure would be a welcome change from the two sided coin we have now. Elephant or donkey is like heads or tails on a coin flip. Big damn deal. Some "choice" that is.
Yes, I am being sarcastic about what passes as "choice" in our elections.

david g said...

Hey, Charlie, it looks as though I'm a target of the CIA and/or the FBI because my PEACE movement is about bringing down the imperial Government of the U.S. before it does even more damage to our world and its people.

If my blog suddenly stops, you'll understand what has happened.

P.S. I was going to use a Smiley but perhaps it's not a laughing matter.

john francis lee said...

Right Charlie, I didn't mention that I feel that racism is for losers... but that is what I think.

You know me... I'm always trying to think of a 'program' that, taken up by all of us, will lead to meaningful change.

My most recent answer to my most recent question, When are we gonna get serious and do what’s gotta be done to end the killing?, is this :

' Given the election laws stacked against us it is not at all likely that we can elect anyone but a duopol drone to the office of POTUS.

' The very best we can do is to have more write-in votes for non-duopols than the duopol ‘winner’ receives...

' I will never vote for another duopol – Republicrat or Demoblican – again in my life. If there’s not a third party candidate who meets my approval, I’ll write somone in. I urge every other American voter to do the same. '

As you know it is against the law(!) to write-in a candidate in your great state of Louisiana. In many, if not most, other states write-ins are simply tallied as "write-in"... just like "spoiled" ballots. So writing in a candidate for POTUS is not going to elect the one written in, even if somehow we all co-ordinated and wrote in the same someone.

But if enough of us wrote-in someone on our ballots the number of write-ins votes would exceed the number received by the 'winner' of the election, and that surely would focus all our attention on the illegitimacy of, not only the duopol "elected", but of the entire process of being handed a ballot with an 'R' and a 'D' on it, a distinction without a difference, and accorded the 'privilege' of choosing one... a burlesque of democracy.

The downside is that a duopol will be elected... but that is going to happen in any case. It makes little difference which one.

That's the easy part. The harder part, conceptually, is for us to get to work and do whatever it does take to elect real Americans, like ourselves, to the House and Senate, abd that means organizing.

But once begun organizing is not all that difficult... it's getting started from inertial rest that is difficult.

I am never going to vote for another 'R' or 'D' in my life, and I urge all Americans to join me in not doing so, in organizing on a local level to Occupy the Congressional Disticts of which we are constituents, and then of Occupying the Senate seats of our states.

If we had begun in 2004, the House would be under our Occupation by now.

So let's start now... to knock the pins out from under whichever duopol is 'elected' POTUS, and to Occupy the House over the course of the next few biennial elections.

Someone has to do it, if it's going to be done, and we're the only ones here.

charlie ehlen said...

David,
I understand my friend. All of us who speak out are no doubt targeted by some agency or other.
Your PEACE movement is needed even more. I am happy to be a part of it. War destroys all who are part of it. I know from personal experience.
I keep checking your site every day and always find good ideas there.
Stay safe my friend. We need your voice.

charlie ehlen said...

John,
You know I agree with you on this.
The last "main stream" candidate I voted for was Carter in 1980. Dad was so against "saint" Ronnie that I had to vote for Jimmy. I would never have even thought of voting for Ronnie. I did pass on voting for the party of my own choice that year though. Dad died the Saturday following the election. We used to say that Ronnie killed Dad.
This country seriously needs a viable third party.
Not so sure about Rocky Anderson. I read an article that was negative about the gang he is running with.
There really is so little difference between the Dems and the Reps that it amounts to no choice at all. Not the best way to run a republic. Makes for a fair dictatorship however.
You are correct, there is only us. We cannot rely on any of the established gangs to be of use to us. Time for us to start to remake the world as it should be. It will be a long slog and we may not live to see the end results, but it is still worth trying. We can do no less.

charlie ehlen said...

John,
Here is a link to the article on Rocky Anderson. Let me know what you think about this one.
http://dissidentvoice.org/2012/01/and-heres-the-mutiny/

john francis lee said...

Thanks for the link. There are a lot of words there, the only information seemed to be that she received literature that quoted a book by Friedman.

Counterpunch had a similiar one-liner... but they took just one line to deliver... someone other than Anderson himself was said to have turned down an offer of the place at the top of the Green Party ticket.

I joined the Justice Party as soon as I read about it. The first email I got was 8 days before the deadline for getting on the ballot in California asking me if I knew anyone who lived there and if I did could I ask them to gather about 103,000 signatures for the Justice Party over the next eight days.

They look like a mess. I like Rocky Anderson though, and I think lots of people should run for President in every election... that's more not fewer, more democracy rather than less.

I sent them my advice since they (pro forma, I'm sure) asked for it... saying that they ought to work for structural reform and that, since they had a party... since we have a party... we should put the emphasis on the lower level contests... since it looked like Rocky wasn't going to be on the ballot in California, for instance, and it's a bit of an uphill battle to win without even a chance at California.

I also asked them if they had even talked to Ralph Nader, who is the expert at getting on the ballot, or to Mike Gravel, who's been around the block a couple of times himself.

I haven't heard back from them since I asked about the report from counterpunch... was it true and if so could they explain the logic behind turning down the top spot in the Green Party ticket in favor of starting a whole new party... a half-baked party as it appears.

Haven't heard back from them since.

I don't know what's up... and yeah, it's made me question Rocky Anderson's political saavy... he's definitely on the right side of the War... he stood up when it was tough to do so and in Utah, which is redder than red... and other issues, but this run hasn't gone anywhere yet.

john francis lee said...

Google starting to censor blogs
'Blogger, the web-log service run by Internet giant Google, will begin censoring the personal posts of its users in order to comply with local laws rather than encouraging an internationally open Internet. While the company has previously allowed users of the World Wide Web to post wide-open opinions on its Blogger site, it will now allow individual jurisdictions to govern what can and can’t be posted on the Web. '

That'd be you, Charlie. Don't know that they'll censor you... but they'll have to read and 'approve' every word on your blog from now on in order to decide whether to censor it or not.

Given the number of blogs and words on blogs, that'll be a job for a 'clever' piece of software... like the kind that'll decide when to pull the trigger on a 'suspect' in the field of view of a drone's video camera when the drones proliferate beyond the point where there are (depraved) humans enough to pull the triggers and do the hits themselves.

john francis lee said...

Counterpunch had an arm's length account of an interview with Rocky yesterday or today. I went back to the source and read the interview, which includes a link to Rocky's site, which includes links to sites in all 50 states, in various states of construction.

I tried to post at Ben B Shaw's webpage in Texas... but the system wouldn't let me because my email address was already in use. Yeah, by me when I registered with the Justice Party, but the system couldn't tell... probably because it's run by a third party which seems to be in to commoditize whoever does post there. A serious mistake by the campaign, in my view.

So I sent my suggestions to Rocky and to Ben via gmail.

Gmail is another mistake on the campaign's part, in my view. Google is tightening the noose around its users necks by the day and anyone who contacts another via a gmail account is turning over their correspondence to google whether they want to or not, and to the NSA as well, should they ask for it.

I'll let you know if I hear back from either of them. Their site seems to be the center of their campaign. They'll have no money so they'll have to do what they can over the internet which is the cheapest means of communicating and organizing. I think it should be possible to run a winning campaign using internet communications exclusively... backed up, of course by actual leg work and door knocking all over the country.

I hope they can get some traction. I'll be following them over the course of the election campaign.

charlie ehlen said...

John,
You gave me much to think on, I enjoy that.
Google will do as they wish and I can do nothing about what they do. If they censor me, well, that is up to them. It looks to me that certain countries may decide that my posts are offensive so that country may block my posts with help from Google. If Google decides ALL my rants are offensive to every country, I'll need to find another host to do my rants.
To me personally, I find it a bit funny that I might be offensive to any country. Maybe I am, so far none have said so to me. Any complaint sent to Google have not been passed to me. Maybe nobody has sent a complaint. They may never inform me if they get any complaint. I have not tried to read the entire new policy statement from Google yet. As with many of those things, it gets bogged down in "leadeese" and therefore, the average person gets confused by it. My opinion is they do that on purpose. Keep the user confused and they can do as they wish.
Just call me cynical with a sarcastic streak. I do know that I can be offensive at times, but so far I don't know if that has shown in the rants here. The complaint department is off today so I will have to wait to check with them another day.