Posted on 04/29/2010 6:32:16 AM PDT by SkyPilot
Edited on 04/29/2010 6:33:46 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
DETROIT (AP) - A federal judge challenged prosecutors Wednesday to show that nine members of a Michigan militia accused of plotting war against the government had done more than just talk and should remain locked up.
U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts heard nearly 10 hours of testimony and arguments over two days. She did not make a decision about whether the nine will remain in custody, saying only that a ruling would come soon.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.myway.com ...
Arthur Weiss, a lawyer for Thomas Piatek, 46, of Whiting, Ind., said disgust with the government as recorded by the undercover agent is similar to what's said daily by radio and TV talk-show hosts Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity.
"Millions of people" are talking about "taking our country back," Weiss said.
Sounds like the wheels are coming off of Napolitano's and Obama's little conspiracy game.
A bit of snag this early on. A case dismissed for insufficient evidence is a faux pas that is hard to live down.
As it should be.
SHOW-TRIAL STOPPER.............
I don’t recall these guys standing outside of a polling place with clubs and attempting to deny people the right to cast their vote. What is Hussein Obama’s Justice Department doing about that situation — as far as I know, that bum Holder is not going to prosecute!! Those bastards are the ones who ass should be in court!!
You may be right. It is starting to look like Napolitano should have followed the Janet Reno example in Waco. That would have eliminated any need for a pesky trial and embarrassing questions.
Unfortunately the Liberals are using Obama’s presidency as a testing ground. They’ve been using the US as a testing ground for the last 80 years. I posit that each generation has a more and more insidious form of liberalism where they learn from the mistakes of past attempts to usurp the American public.
This is one example of where Obama is failing: the judges are still upholding the Constitution. With Liberal orthodoxy, they’ll start putting more and more progressive judges in the court systems, and future Liberal administrations will have less of a problem prosecuting groups like this for simply thinking about government overthrow.
This case is like a sea sponge. The FBI was quick to prosecute on a “what if,” and they have no mens rea. We don’t yet live in a society where you can be prosecuted for thinking something, but if the Liberals continue to be allowed to flourish and influence the mind-numbed majority in this country, we’ll eventually find out what it means to be slaves.
May the judge stick tio the prinnciples of the constitutiopn. Sounds like she gave the gov prostittutors every chance to present evidence. If she is stroong, she will lower the boom and release these accused dirt poor Michigan red neck farmers.
“Mere presence where a crime may be planned is not a crime. ... How does this add up to seditious conspiracy?” Roberts said.
Waterstreet said the government is not required to show all its evidence at this early stage of the case. He referred to the words of militia leader David Stone, 44, of Clayton, Mich., who was recorded by the undercover agent while they drove to Kentucky earlier this year.
“It’s now time to strike and take our nation back so that we may be free again from tyranny. Time is up,” Waterstreet said, quoting a transcript.
Later, putting the transcript aside, the prosecutor said: “The theme is the brotherhood is the enemy - all law enforcement.”
Defense lawyers urged the judge to look at each defendant individually. Although all are charged with conspiracy, they were not always together during critical meetings cited by the government.
“’What if’ is not the standard. ... None of these words are an instruction to anyone to commit a crime,” said Stone’s attorney, William Swor, as held up a stack of transcripts.
Arthur Weiss, a lawyer for Thomas Piatek, 46, of Whiting, Ind., said disgust with the government as recorded by the undercover agent is similar to what’s said daily by radio and TV talk-show hosts Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity.
“Millions of people” are talking about “taking our country back,” Weiss said.
The judge also heard from relatives of some of the defendants who pledged to be responsible for them if they were released from jail. “
I deliberately waded right into the middle of this controversy here at FR by suggesting that there was no evidence in the indictment that any crime had been committed, much less actually planned. I think it is premature to claim vindication for my previous comments on this, but I continue to stand on every word.
I look forward to hearing from some of my good Freeper friends here who gave me unholy hell over this, especially when they consider that conversations about “taking our country back” is apparently one of the things being used to justify this whole affair.
Again, if we already have so many very real problems with Eric Holder’s Justice Department, why in the world would anyone be willing to accept what was in a ham-sandwich indictment like this was from the very beginning.
Again, you can indict a ham sandwich for having too much mustard on it, but proving in Court that the ham conspired with the cheese against the mayonnaise is a completely different matter...
Obama would like all of them thrown into the dungeon too.
When 50% of Americans are not supporting the weight of the country and it’s bloated bureaucracy, and you are supporting not only the government, but the 50% not supporting it, you can rest assured that you have already reached the pinnacle of slavery. At the moment, you are able to afford the luxury of slavery, if things continue, slavery will become more and more burdensome.
And she’s a Clinton appointee, too.
“Millions of people” are talking about “taking our country back,” Weiss said.”
And it doesn’t mean that we are all grabbing pipe bombs and camoflage and heading for the hills.
I’m slowly pulling myself off the grid. Almost out of debt and capable of surviving with very little for a few weeks. If we start planning now, the eventual result becomes more palatable.
Like the Jews in the movie Defiance, we can choose to be slaves for the hope of living in comfort or we can choose to be free and fight for our Liberty.
“Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, nor Liberty to purchase power.” - Benjamin Franklin
“and they have no mens rea.”
For those of us who are not lawyers, I offer my heartiest....HUH?
Yes, and so does the globalist elite’s insidious plan to crush the proud patriots. Remember, they are America’s enemy and the enemy of every free nation on earth.
Insane people may as well be from ... or ON ... another planet.
These people have no clue and don't care ... they'll just keep saying and doing insane things and equally insane people will justify, rationalize and publically support all this insanity.
It's stupid and insane (from a logical point of view) for a dog to chase a car and nip at wheels rolling 35/40 miles an hour. WE know that if he gets hit, he might die, but hopefully will stop chasing cars.
I'm afraid the government (which ultimatelt translates into America) needs to get hit by a car.
I’m slowly pulling myself off the grid. Almost out of debt and capable of surviving with very little for a few weeks.
Good planning, another issue to plan for is in regard to those who don’t plan well. A friend and I were discussing the next world war, and generally decided that it might start in front of empty grocery stores. Having food and water for you and yours, and a plan for those who see you as their food bank, is also important.
Insane people may as well be from ... or ON ... another planet.
These people have no clue and don't care ... they'll just keep saying and doing insane things and equally insane people will justify, rationalize and publically support all this insanity.
It's stupid and insane (from a logical point of view) for a dog to chase a car and nip at wheels rolling 35/40 miles an hour. WE know that if he gets hit, he might die, but hopefully will stop chasing cars.
I'm afraid the government (which ultimatelt translates into America) needs to get hit by a car.
Sadly, that doesn’t set me at ease. Our legislative branch is passing law and taxes that they don’t understand nor did they even draft; Our executive branch is making law where there wasn’t any through the appointment of unelected bureaucrats and agencies; and our judicial branch is full of outspoken adherents to the destruction of our Constitution!
If George Washington stepped out of his crypt tomorrow, he would march up to DC and beat the everliving shit out of every single Communist idiot up there while Ben Franklin would get on national television, degraded flesh and all, and proceed to verbally castrate every Liberal elitist snob and fascist vagabond for personally and electorally denigrating everything they held sacrosanct.
This country started to decay over 80 years ago, and we’ve ceased even trying to stop the gangrene that is government on the encroachment of our Liberties.
Even I will sit here and attest that I have no idea what Liberty truly meant to our Founders, but I’m certain that I would enjoy every minute of the fight for it if we could guarantee that the end result is a perfectly Constitutional Republic as intended by our Founders.
Unfortunately, with RINOs and weak-kneed Republicans like Marco Rubio, we’re never going to realize the change we need to put this country back on its feet. When a man or woman gets up on a stage and proclaims that the last 80 years of this country’s history and laws must be reversed, I’ll start listening. Otherwise, we are simply skipping along the same precipice overlooking a limitless crevasse into which we are haphazardly throwing our liberties for the illusion of safety under the Feds.
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