Free Speech Blogburst — D-Day: Operation #BrettKimberlin

A long time ago, and far, far away, I lived with my parents. I would often hear them discussing various people in the neighborhood – the guy who could fix anything, the man who worked at the newspaper, the widowed lady and her kids…and the guy who loved to sue anyone if, for ANY reason, he was somehow offended, whether by their words or their deeds.

It’s not really an uncommon trait – for many people, the Court is their greatest weapon against those who insult or injure them, whether the insult or injury is fancied or real.

Along comes the internet, with a seemingly endless supply of characters, opinions, information – factual and otherwise, and opportunities for…well, just about anything. Web Logs became blogs, and anyone with an opinion and a computer became the 21st Century’s version of Letters To The Editor that my dad and a certain neighbor lady exchanged in the pages of the local newspaper. I started this blog after reading a few blogs that were recommended by friends, or that I stumbled across somehow – you can find some of my inspirations in the blogroll at the top of this page. I am a firm believer in the First Amendment, but I try to use some discretion and blog as if My Little Grandma and G-d were looking over my shoulder. I’m not generally violent, and I’m learning to refine my vocabulary away from cussing.

NOT everyone is like me. I know, I know, hard to believe, but it’s true.

Why do some folks feel this need to use the legal system as their personal instrument of vengeance? I don’t know. But it seems Brett Kimberlin uses it often, and has done so for many many years.

Now, I realize that jailhouse lawyers exist, and that filing suits and motions and petitions to the Courts is an attempt to control a system over which he has no power whatsoever. But this is a very long list, beginning with appeals on his original sentencing on the conviction for “making, possessing, and maliciously destroying property by means of an explosive,” and continuing until at least 2003, according to the list I attempted to read and understand.

It has also been reported that Kimberlin claimed to have sold Dan Quayle pot in college, an allegation that came up during the presidential campaign in 1988. I guess that was in the days before Mr. Clinton made a few hits on a joint acceptable in a candidate. Of course, the Big Boys in the GOP might feel strongly about one of their own smoking a doobie and then some prisoner mouthing off about it, and Kimberlin sued the Department of Justice for their strong-arm tactics in depriving him of whatever right he thinks they deprived him of…in prison. Funny, that…the Department of Justice (cough) and the campaign were unnerved by the inmate’s allegations, obviously.

Mr. Kimberlin has now been associated with some of my online blogger friends…and not in a good way. The guy likes to flap his yap, that’s for sure (as if all those court filings didn’t warn me of that). You can find links to their coverage of this topic at my post from Monday.

Mr. Kimberlin is a convicted domestic terrorist. He was convicted of setting off bombs, one of which severely injured and crippled a man…who later committed suicide. There was speculation that the bombs were meant to provide cover for a murder. Kimberlin seems to be a master at manipulation of the legal system. He and his friends are Democrat operatives – are they now involved in the same kind of shenanigans allegedly used against Kimberlin himself? Only difference I see is, the blogosphere HAS a Right to Free Speech, as much or more than any convicted incarcerated felon. He and his peers have succeeded at making a blogger or two nervous. Kimberlin is certainly not adverse to violence and he and his friends are not above using intimidation. But there are a lot of us who truly believe in this Country and her Constitution, and who will speak out against the hate and lies spread about each other, nervous or not. We believe the First Amendment applies to EVERYONE. We also believe that those who prey on others should pay.

And we don’t like bullies.

Poster via www.Gadsden.info: ‘Victory Ours on King’s Mountain – South Carolina – October 7, 1780.’

WOLVERINES!

Tuesday night means The Delivery

 

With your host, Jimmie Bise, Jr, of The Sundries Shack (see Blogroll, above) and @jimmiebjr on Twitter.

National Day of Prayer

Yes, we KHAN!

The football team here in Jacksonville was sold last year at the end of the season. The owner is a naturalized citizen who came to the United States as a teenager. He went to school, worked hard, and built his own corporation. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the EPITOME of the American Dream – the new owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars – Shahid Khan.

This Thursday, the National Football League will kick off its 77th annual draft. By Saturday, 253 young men will be on their way to achieving their version of the American Dream. But there is one man for whom this year’s draft may be even more special. Jacksonville Jaguar’s new owner Shahid Kahn will spend his first draft inside the situation room as he continues to fulfill his own American Dream.

A native of Pakistan, Kahn came to the United States in the winter of 1967 with nothing but an acceptance letter from the University of Illinois. He found lodging at a local YMCA for $2 per night. In an interview with Forbes, Kahn explains his motivation for coming to the United States.

When asked what experiences motivated him to come to America, Kahn said, “I heard the streets were paved with gold. I found that to be true.”

On his second day, Kahn accepted his first job as a dish washer. He made $1.20 per hour. Looking back on his first job, Kahn recalls his thoughts:
“My God, what a country. I’m making more money than 99.9 percent of the people in Pakistan. This can’t get any better. Then I began engineering school, which was hard. And I would be saying, you know, if I can make this kind of money without a degree, why should I even be going to engineering school?”

Please read the rest at The Foundry! And

GO, JAGUARS!

John Stossel: Vulture Capitalism

The real evil bankers are the government cronies, like those at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They took our money by force, our taxes, then paid themselves fat salaries and promised us that none of our money was at risk. And then they squandered more than $100 billion, betting that housing prices would always rise and few people would default.

I resent them and their backers in government.

Good column, John, thanks!

John Stossel: Vulture Capitalism.

It’s Primary Day in Florida!

I registered as NPA (No Party Affiliation) after the last election – yes, I have now UN-registered from BOTH major parties in U.S. politics. That being the case, I’m not allowed to vote in the Florida primary. I knew that, and I don’t feel the least bit bad about it. Duffy voted early, and I agreed with his choice. MY choice is to say I’ll support whichever nominee is chosen…unless it’s Ron Paul. While I agree heartily with most of his ideas on domestic policy, his suggested foreign policies – and words from his past – make me mighty skittish. So, y’all just get on with it, eh?

Would you like to listen to the song that was in my head when I woke up this morning? SURE you would!

Another favorite with a beautiful message for Primary Day:

It’s another beautiful winter day in NEFL, gotta get me some coffee – thanks for stopping by!

Is anyone happy right now with all of this?

I stopped by the friendly confines of The Camp Of The Saints tonight. Bob is such a gracious and charming host. His post from this morning referencing a certain Ted Leonsis was so well done, I could just link to it and you’d have a great read in store. However, when I left a comment, I realized it was MUCH more than a comment, and I’ve decided to make it a blog post of my own.

I continue to be gobsmacked (How can you not LOVE that word?) at the writers who are this generation’s excuse for “reporters” and “columnists.” Here are these supposedly intelligent, been-to-the-right-schools, wear-the-right-clothes, eat-at-the-right-places, live-in-the-right-neighborhood, dweebs who STILL don’t get it! 

Hey, Ted, you Elitist Nincompoop! Barry is a socialist, on the order of…lemme see here, what name might you recognize…oh yeah – LENIN or MARX!!! He doesn’t just hang around radicals (cuz so do I), he hangs around VIOLENT radicals who have proven willing to KILL OTHER AMERICANS to advance their agenda! He was raised by WHITE people in Hawai’i and I’d bet has never experienced racism in his whole pampered life!  Have YOU seen a university transcript? Have you heard from anyone who knew him as a student, as a young working man…as an ex-boyfriend? He became a politician – in Chicago! He sucks the teat of Affirmative Action, crawls into bed with union thugs, and then spits in the faces of those who build the businesses, pay the taxes and lay down their lives for the Country that nurtured his arrogant, ungrateful soul.

You can’t talk him down off his rhetoric, Ted – NO ONE can do that, because he’s doing exactly as he pleases, and – I believe, most of the time – is getting precisely the results he imagined. He said he would transform America, and by God he’s done that, with a willing or not-quite-contrary-enough Congress, Cabinet Secretaries, Czars, and like-minded departmental bureaucrats who believe in that same transformation. 

Unlike Bob Belvedere, I don’t believe Ted and his brethren are stupid. I think many of them are willfully blind, too afraid of seeing the consequences of their short-sightedness to ever turn around. First they supported The Current Occupant because it was a change from the war-lovers of the previous administration. Now, when they’ve seen some of the results of that promised change, they’re terrified…because The Government WILL come after them. Maybe not first, but in time, they know the tide will turn…

There are two quotes running through my head – I bet I’m not the first to think them appropriate:

“There are none so blind as those who will not see. The most deluded people are those who choose to ignore what they already know.”

~English proverb

“Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.”

~Martin Niemöller

Maybe the backlash against some of Barry’s bullsh*t has surprised him. I hope the rise of the Tea Party has him unsettled and uncertain. I want him and all his minions and partners in crime thrown off-kilter.  

Just remember – rabid animals are most dangerous when they’re backed into a corner,

WOLVERINES!

(Tip of my cap to Bob at TCOTS!)

Send Washington a message! (UPDATE below)

I’d vote for Herman Cain in a New York minute. I was astounded at his win in the Florida straw poll, not because I didn’t have any hope for him, but because…I didn’t have any faith in the people who vote in these things.

Florida has been a key state in presidential elections the last what, four elections? Two of the last three for absolutely sure. So am I being egotistical to think this shows more the way of the world than the Iowa straw poll not long ago? Trying to be sensible…and I don’t trust the ‘reporting’ from these things anyway, I try to make my own decisions, based on the often biased and limited information I find.

Over at The Daley Gator, there’s a link to the Herman Cain For President website.

Bob Belvedere at The Camp of the Saints has a terrific roundup of news and views.

Jimmie Bise , Jr gives a good run-down of weekend political happenings at The Sundries Shack.

The American Spectator has a good article up by Robert Stacy McCain. He writes better than I, so you ought to go read it.

And, at Business Insider, some inside poop on the Cain Campaign…wow…

UPDATE: I always did like Dennis Miller – yes, even on Monday Night Football – but I like him better now!

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Look at the time! I better get busy! Lovely Monday morning here in NEFL. We got a real good soaking rain yesterday, but it was after some time at Mayport with the ol man, and after he grilled us some lovely NY strips…we were pretty much settled in for the evening, watching the cat chase his new toy – a toy fish tied to fishing line, then looped over the back of the rocking chair. I think it wore him out, cuz I’m pretty sure he slept ALL NIGHT!

Have a fine Monday, and thanks so much for stopping by!

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Perhaps we should not be so shocked by

the success of someone who worked so hard

to put himself at the intersection of preparation and opportunity. 

R.S.McCain,

on Herman Cain’s win in the Florida straw poll

Vive le Second Amendment!

Over at The Daley Gator, I find this FABulous story about our Governor here in Florida, standing up to the petty little tyrants who hate guns and people who prefer to own and carry guns. Much as I’d prefer to live on the western plains, this makes it more ok to live here.

The Orlando Sentinel reported on the changes now underway that:

“Orange County employees have started removing ‘no firearms’ signs at county parks, and soon they’ll probably black out the same words on brochures. In Groveland, leaders recently erased from the books an ordinance that banned firing a gun into the air….in Boca Raton, the “no guns allowed” sign has come down at City Hall. In Lake County, commissioners recently deleted a provision in an ordinance that would have banned firearms on public lands, including its parks.”

The new law will make for consistent, state-wide rules for guns, including those with concealed carry permits. It will not affect rules already in place at the state level for firearms, the Orlando Sentinel points out, which include making it illegal to ‘fire into buildings, cars, across streets and in public places, except for self-defense.‘ The new law won’t really expand gun rights so much as it will greatly clarify legal firearms possession, transport, and use- eliminating inevitable confusion for law enforcement and citizens alike.

What is certain is this- Governor Rick Scott has sent a clear message that the right to bear arms enshrined in the 2nd amendment to the Constitution is not a parking regulation or a picnic permit to be issued, denied, or changed at the whim of any middling bureaucrat.

Fiscal responsibility – at the STATE level!

Handsome Hubby sent me this link last night. I’d read Lileks‘ remark a few weeks back that there is no recession in Fargo, and we’d talked about it a bit, so he knows it’s something on my mind, especially in light of the economic mess Florida is in.

At least a dozen states ended fiscal 2011 with surpluses. Indiana reported one of the largest, with an extra $1.2 billion in its accounts. Gov. Mitch Daniels, a Republican, on Friday authorized bonus payments of up to $1,000 for state employees. An employee who “meets expectations” will get $500, those who “exceed expectations” will receive $750 and “outstanding workers” will see an extra $1,000 in their August paychecks.

And speaking of Florida, Governor Scott came through NAS a couple weeks back to let Those Who Serve know he’s done a little bit to show that Florida thanks them for their Service:

Florida Gov. Rick Scott made a quick meet-and-greet stop at the NAS Jax headquarters of the Navy Marine Corps Relief Society (NMCRS) July 5 to raise awareness of bills he recently signed that benefit military members and to thank them for their service to the nation.
The new bills include:
• H.B. 95 which will give a lifetime of free entrance to service members, including officers and firefighters, their spouses and parents to all of Florida’s 160 state parks.

Read the rest at Jax Air News.

I have something else in mind to post, but running out of time this morning, so it’ll wait till this evening. Y’all have a fine day, and thanks for stopping by!