Greg Roach's Berkshires Blog
Monday, February 18, 2008
  We don't need no stinkin' rights....
There are any number of Constitutional rights being diminished by the various branches of government at any given time. In the 21st century the more egregious erosions are fundamentals like Habeas Corpus, Due Process, etc, etc....

While some of these issues are far more troubling than others, sometimes it is the smaller stuff that really bothers me. Take this one for example:
A controversial website that allows whistle-blowers to anonymously post government and corporate documents has been taken offline in the US.

Wikileaks.org, as it is known, was cut off from the internet following a California court ruling, the site says.

The case was brought by a Swiss bank after "several hundred" documents were posted about its offshore activities
Hmmm. Sound suspicious, but maybe the judge had grounds to order this, maybe, or...
However, the main site was taken offline after the court ordered that Dynadot, which controls the site's domain name, should remove all traces of wikileaks from its servers.

The court also ordered that Dynadot should "prevent the domain name from resolving to the wikileaks.org website or any other website or server other than a blank park page, until further order of this Court."
Oh, wait, this isn't a restraining order, it is summary judgment effectively killing the site...
The case was brought by lawyers working for the Swiss banking group Julius Baer. It concerned several documents posted on the site which allegedly reveal that the bank was involved with money laundering and tax evasion.

The documents were allegedly posted by Rudolf Elmer, former vice president of the bank's Cayman Island's operation.
NOW I get it. A really really rich group of folks doesn't want to be embarrassed by being called tax cheats. But this is America, right? No judge would summarily toss freedom of the press and freedom of speech at the behest of some European bankers in one fell swoop, would he? Guess again:
Wikileaks says it was not represented at the hearing because it was "given only hours notice" via e-mail.

A document signed by Judge Jeffery White, who presided over the case, ordered Dynadot to follow six court orders.

As well as removing all records of the site form its servers, the hosting and domain name firm was ordered to produce "all prior or previous administrative and account records and data for the wikileaks.org domain name and account".

The order also demanded that details of the site's registrant, contacts, payment records and "IP addresses and associated data used by any person...who accessed the account for the domain name" to be handed over.
Wait a second. Judge White killed the entire site, with millions of documents, so the European Bankers could go on a fishing expedition to expose their critics? WTF?

What kills me is that unless the BBC is way off base, this case doesn't even begin to pass the smell test. The judge is obviously and transparently violating some of the elemental core protections of the first amendment. And to make matters worse, as of right now, only the British and the tech geek media seem to have noticed.

Welcome to the future, folks. If corporations can't buy 100% of the of press to control the message, I guess our legal system will be their Plan B.

UPDATE: Just so you know what you're missing, here is a cached version of the front page. Glimpse at it now 'cause it will disappear soon, too.

UPDATE II: I see Drudge has linked to the BBC story, and since many in a lapdog press use his site as an assignment editor, this might, yet, get some play. Will the Rupert Mudochs and Mickey Mouses of the world allow a detailed examination of "legal" money laundering?
 
Comments:
What I am trying to figure out is how a United States judge has the authority to order a site taken down without just cause? I thought that malice and untruthfulness had to be proven? It is obvious that the judge has been bought and paid for by the banks. I knew of this site, and there has been an ongoing fight by the "dirty deed doers" to get it taken down. If I were Dynadot I would just go offshore and thank the bankers for all the free publicity, that would surely piss um off! If we actually had all the information as to what is really going on behind our backs I guarantee there would be a revolution in this country that would make the French Revolution look like a birthday party. Wake up people you are being screwed and not even being offered a smoke afterwords!
 
The scary part is that this move doesn't even shock me. I would expect the judge to be paid off, I wouldn't expect the media to even cover it, and I am quite sure nothing will come of it. And this is what we want to bring to Iraq, the only difference between the countries, for now at least, is that we pretend to give a trial before we kill someone.

Southview the problem with the revolution idea is, what do we change to? We are supposed to be the best government in the world, a change for the better would require a type of government as yet unknown. Vivo la Canada!!
 
da snoop.....I have an idea! Lets do away with the king and the aristocrats start a democracy?
 
A democracy where all people are equal and have equal rights and equal voting power and pay same percentage of income to taxes?
 
And binding referendums and lawmakers are only the purveyors of the pro/con of issues and the people directly vote on laws to be enacted, and gifts of money and influence by lobbyist are outlawed, and politicians that lie to get elected are sent to a real jail, and "WE THE PEOPLE" do truely rule!
 
So if all people have equal rights then gay people would have the same rights a hetrosexuals? Like, say, the right to get legally married?
 
da snoop.....NO, there is no president for queers to be given equal status as normal citizens. They are a sub culture of deviates that are protected from psychical harm by law, but do not measure up to the standards of normalcy under the "LAWS OF NATURE" being that their lifestyle is contrary to the proposition of heterosexuals. We afford them protection as we protect all mentally deficient people but they don't qualify for equal treatment.
 
So "We the People" is really "We the Hetrosexual People".

What standards of normalcy and Laws of Nature are homosexuals contradicting? I believe at various times in history both blacks and women were considered to be "mentally deficient" and not capable handling the dealings of the world. Yet the Democrats are about to choice one of the two groups for their choice of will be leader of this nation.
 
Yes, you are correct.

da snoop you are chasing your tail on this one. Their causes are not the same and you can't lump queers in with the same aspirations of equality by Blacks and Woman.
 
Why
 
da snoop.....We have hijacked Greg's blog by getting away from the subject, we are bad!
Sorry Greg!
It would suffice to just say that "QUEERDUM" is the manifestation of a bunch of mental deficient malcontents that are trying to force their perverted lifestyle into the realm of normal accepted social activity by calming they are special but at the same time normal!
 
I thought those were republicans?
 
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