"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."
The
Walrus and The Carpenter, by Lewis Carroll
(from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1872)
I scarcely know where to begin. Like a deer frozen in the headlight
glare, I can't decide which is more important or what to do, so
I sometimes do nothing, which is in itself a choice of (in)action.
Things are happening so fast these days that the full implications
escape even us chicken littles.
The classic Lewis Carroll vignette, "The Walrus and the Carpenter,"
relates how a group of oysters went for a stroll on the beach with
the Walrus and the Carpenter and, distracted by conversation, failed
to notice until far too late how they had become dinner.
Come with me, fellow oysters, and let us talk of many things.
Ruby Ridge Redux - The Boundary County Board of Commissioners announced
this past week that they have decided to continue with their interim
appointee as their Prosecuting Attorney, at least, until the election
next year, that is.
As
many know, my name had been placed on a short list of recommended
candidates by the county's Republican Central Committee, which made
a great many nervous since I made clear my intention, if selected,
to re-indict Lon Horiuchi and reach up the chain of command ladder
as high as I could with other indictments for the murders committed
at Ruby Ridge years ago.
Though this decision almost certainly ends any official reinquiry
into the tragedy enshrouding Ruby Ridge, the lessons from those
days remain emblazoned upon the consciousness of all patriots, reinforced
by the many instances of governmental overreaching and outright
tyranny since. We will never forget.
Thought
Police - Lonny Rae's "hate crime" trial begins in seven
days in Payette County, Idaho. Lonny, you may recall, faces five
years in prison for hurling the epithet "nigger" through
the open door and down the empty hall of the building into which
a hulking black man who had just mauled his wife had disappeared.
Five years.
This is an exceptionally important First Amendment case since it
shows how the ADL's "malicious harassment" statutory language,
already adopted by over 30 states and now being pushed at the federal
level by Kennedy and company, today is being stretched to cover
pure speech cases, with no physical injury component whatsoever.
This case has the further outrageous component of a "victim"
who actually was the initial aggressor, who did inflict physical
injury upon another and who has never been charged by the Adams
County (where the incident took place) Prosecutor with anything.
Talk about having gone through the Looking Glass!
I will be preoccupied next week with finishing up preparation of
the defense of Lonny Rae's case. As usual, I am the only lawyer
on that side of the courtroom. Rest assured that, should a conviction
result, I will take this case all the way up to the Supremes. The
issue is far too important for us all, to do otherwise. Though I
never issue guarantees to clients, this is certainly a case I have
no intention of losing, however.
Christine
update - Brian and Ruth Christine are still in jail in Douglas County,
Oregon, held under the outrageous (and, in my opinion, unconstitutionally
high) bail of over a half million dollars each. They are the couple
charged with kidnapping, at gunpoint, three small children, and
fleeing the state. Problem is, the kids were their own. The state
took the kids initially on a bogus charge of child endangerment
(the "evidence" is singularly lacking in this case) and
then began to adopt them out under a new Federal program whereby
states get big bucks for this "snatch and sell" routine.
Pretrial maneuvering continues and I will have much more to say
about this case as time goes on (and we get past the Lonny Rae trial
next week).
McGuckin Trust Fund - Of the $32,000 donated by almost 700 wonderful
people throughout America, nearly $22,000 has now been refunded
at the specific request of the donors.
JoAnn
McGuckin, you may recall, refused to accept the money, claiming
that it would somehow interfere with her right to social security
benefits. I suspect it was also a part of the "advice"
she was receiving from her Public Pretender, the same one who wanted
me to pay him some of the trust fund because he wasn't paid enough
to represent her (I worked for free). He lied to the State Bar when
they asked him about that (illegal) request after I reported it,
and they said that there was no basis for disciplining him. Remind
me to have witnesses present when I deal with public defenders,
henceforth.
Of the remaining money, I spent $490 for postage and check charges
to send out the initial request for directions, then to actually
refund the money. My wife and children spent many, many hours typing
data in the computer, printing out letters, stuffing envelopes and
carrying box after box of envelopes to the post office. We have
all done this at no charge, of course.
I have learned my lesson about this sort of thing and will never
do it like this again - more on this below. The appalling debacle
surrounding the Red Cross handling of WTC donations was particularly
galling to me. The president of the Red Cross, who drew a $485,000
annual salary, lost her job because of the stated intent to use
a great deal of that money for other than that for which it was
donated - the relief of the victims' families. She should have been
imprisoned for criminal fraud, in my opinion.
So,
we have almost $10,000 left for the McGuckin children. I had hoped
that most would ask their donations be redirected to a college fund
for those kids, but felt we had to offer the money back in view
of JoAnn's intransigence. Ironically, JoAnn recently changed her
mind (she does that a lot, you know) and asked for the money after
all. The money that remains is specifically for the kids, however,
so she is out of luck. Of course, she has refused to do anything
that might be calculated to get her kids back, anyway (they continue
in foster care), so maybe this is for the best. I have unilaterally
decided to spend $1,000 of the remaining fund on clothes and presents
for the McGuckin children so that they have a nice Christmas this
year, in any event. I hope that is okay with the donors. The remaining
$9,000, I suppose, we will set up in irrevocable trust funds at
a local bank, for the benefit of the children. I'll let you know
how it finally turns out, of course.
By the way, JoAnn's public pretender, Bryce Powell, no longer represents
her. I hear he is working on a book and is expecting a large advance
from a publisher. Lessee now, he got her to edge me aside early
on. Then, she lost her kids and her home and spend an unconscionable
amount of time in jail on provably bogus charges. She didn't even
get the benefit of the trust fund I collected for her. But he gets
a book deal. As you may have noticed, I have a passing acquaintance
with the word processor, yet I have not attempted to cash in on
my relationship with this whole affair. Indeed, I have been punctilious
in my handling of the money donated. You just gotta love the American
justice system, doncha? Sigh.
PCLU - I have founded and am organizing what is known as a 501(c)3
organization, which derives from that section of the Internal Revenue
Code governing nonprofit organizations. The Patriot Civil Liberties
Union will do what I have already been doing, pro bono, only it
will enable people to make tax deductible contributions to enable
us to defend those being tyrannized by governmental and institutional
interests, with particular emphasis upon the First Amendment. I
will no longer solicit contributions to the defense of specific
cases or persons, but to the PCLU, which will use donated funds
to handle cases, pro bono, for people like JoAnn McGuckin, Lonny
Rae and Brian and Ruth Christine.
I will let you know when we have our IRS approval letter, so that
contributions thereafter are tax deductible. Should that be of no
consequence to you and you've a mind to, then we would be delighted
to receive your contributions immediately, of course. They can be
mailed to PCLU, PO Box 1255, Sagle, Idaho 83860. Or, you can still
contribute online via Paypal.com, just type "PCLU" in
the denoscription and direct it to steele@plainlawtalk.com
.
We'll get a PCLU web site up shortly.
There's so much more that I wanted to discuss with you today:
- That American kid who was caught fighting for the Taliban, and
why he is not a traitor
- The astounding revelation by Bush the Second that he watched video
of the first WTC plane crash, either as it was happening or minutes
afterward and before he went into that classroom to read to the
kiddies.
- Herr Ashcroft's statement that you are a traitor if you question
his military tribunal setup
- More evidence of Israeli involvement with the WTC disaster
- The National ID card, which is now a fait accompli, and why it
is such a travesty for us all
- The coming war on Iraq
- Why the arabs have nothing to do with the Anthrax letters
However, this is already overlong and tomorrow is another day.
-ed
