Vice News: Information Liberation Prosecutions

2013_schwartz_manning_assangePosted hours ago to Vice News was an article connecting the zealous prosecutions of Aaron Schwartz and Bradley Manning. John Cornyn, a US senator from Texas authored a letter to current US attorney general Eric Holder inquiring as to whether Schwartz’s FOIA requests related to Manning’s treatment were a motivating factor for his own prosecution. See DJ Pangburn’s article Aaron Swartz and Bradley Manning: How the US Government Contains Those Who Would Free Information.

When Swartz walked into the MIT server room to liberate millions of academic papers (freeing knowledge in the process), he was unwittingly opening the door to his very own cell alongside Manning. One need not be in a tiny room to feel the walls closing in. The law does a great job of that—the shadow of America’s boot heel spreading all around, snuffing out the light. Defendants are forced to deal: plead guilty and serve a short sentence, or fight the system and serve much more time. Justice indeed.

Open Letter to Steve Vaillancourt

Some people, including you, have claimed that I’m “not libertarian” because I called for the censure of a State Representative who stated that she wishes to restrict freedoms in an attempt to target a specific group of people. You called this a “witch hunt to deny free speech to a duly elected representative.” You don’t specify how a censure denies anyone’s free speech. Censure is defined as, to “express severe disapproval of (someone or something), typically in a formal statement.” When a legislative body censures someone, they are formally expressing disapproval of a statement or action of an elected official. There is no removal of that person’s freedom of speech, simply a formal statement that the body disapproves of what was said. Impeachment is “a formal document charging a public official with misconduct in office.” Again, nothing about removing free speech in that definition either! [NH RSA’s do not define either term, so I am using the definitions from Google] (more…)

NH House Discussion on the Petition to Censure and/or Impeach Cynthia Chase

On January 30, 2013 the NH House of Representatives discussed the petition against Cynthia Chase. Representative George Lambert motions the House to hear the Petition for Redress against Cynthia Chase. Speaker Norelli rules that out of order, Lambert objects citing Part 1 Article 31 & 32 of the NH Constitution. Rep’s Vaillancourt & Richardson speak in favor of upholding the Chair’s ruling. (more…)

Petition Against Cynthia Chase is Filed Away

Despite the fact that Part 1 Article 32 recognizes the right of the people to “give instructions to their representatives… by way of petition…” AND Part 1 Article 31 states, “The legislature shall assemble for the redress of public grievances…” The NH House of Representatives failed to act on the petition that called for the censure and impeachment of Rep. Cynthia Chase.
Speaker of the House Terie Norelli ruled that since no member of the House had sponsored the petition, no one could make a motion on it. Rep. Gary Richardson told the Union Leader (more…)