Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : I Will Continue to Continue, to Pretend.... -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sully- who wrote (23267)	10/17/2006 6:44:07 PM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 35834

Jihadi lawyer doesn't get enough jail time Power Line I met up with Lynne Stewart at the national convention of the National Lawyers Guild in Minneapolis in October 2003 and wrote about it in "Face to face with Lynne Stewart" (linked below). Stewart was under indictment at the time and used the National Lawyers Guild forum to berate John Ashcroft for having the temerity to indict her for assisting Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman ("the blind sheikh") issue instructions to his terrorist minions. In Minneapolis, as I recall, Stewart invoked the dark night of fascism in response to her indictment. The assistance she rendered the blind sheikh was not only criminal in itself, but also in violation of her promise to the government not to abuse her access to him as his attorney. Stewart's terrorist-related crimes were premeditated and cold-blooded. She lied about her crimes and she faced up to thirty years in prison on the convictions. Unfortunately, as John notes below, Judge John Koeltl sentenced Stewart to only twenty-eight months. Judge Koeltl's rationale for leniency was in part that there was "no evidence that any victim was in fact harmed" as a result of Stewart's crimes. I guess he thinks we need to see some bodies before we get riled about terrorism. Andrew McCarthy was the Assistant U.S. Attorney who successfully led the prosecution of the blind sheikh. Today at NRO he reflects on sentencing day with relevant background. Last winter in the Middle East Quarterly Sharon Chadha did a good job of telling Stewart's story in "Lynne Stewart, jihadi lawyer." It is a story that illustrates the weird convergence between radical Islam and the radical left, united in their hatred of the United States. Below John describes the jihadi movement as being lavishly funded. Last year at NRO Byron York had the scoop on one source of the funding in Stewart's case in "Stewart's Soros funded defense" (all linked below). PAUL adds: Guess which president appointed Judge Koeltl. Hint: it wasn't Jimmy Carter. powerlineblog.com frontpagemag.com iht.com article.nationalreview.com meforum.org nationalreview.com

To: Sully- who wrote (23267)	10/18/2006 1:18:54 PM
From: Brumar89	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 35834

Lynn Stewart is sickening evidence leftists are treasonous scum. And the liberal judge shows why America needs a conservative President and Republican controlled Senate so we don't get more Koeltl's. "It is no exaggeration to say that Ms. Stewart performed a public service, not only to the court but to the nation," intoned Koeltl. ..... Abdel-Rahman, a k a "the blind sheik," led the group that bombed the World Trade Center in 1993, killing six. He was then convicted of conspiring to destroy the U.N. headquarters, the George Washington Bridge and the Lincoln and Holland tunnels. Though she claimed she was only acting as a zealous defender, Stewart wasn't convicted of offering legal advice. A jury - after 13 long days of deliberations, following six months of testimony - found that she had smuggled into prison a message to Rahman from terrorist Rifa'l Ahman Tara. The message asked the sheik to support renewed Islamic violence in Egypt. Then she smuggled back out a coded dispatch that led to the dissolution of a cease-fire between Abdel-Rahman's Islamic Group and the Egyptian government. How many innocent people were "harmed" - that is, killed - as a result of that collaboration can only be guessed. Apparently, Egyptians don't count as "victims" in Judge Koeltl's eyes. ..... On the witness stand, however, Stewart made clear that when it came to Abdel-Rahman and his murderous thugs, she was not just a legal mouthpiece - she was a zealous supporter. "I believe that entrenched institutions will not be changed except by violence," she boasted. "I believe in the politics that lead to violence being exerted by people on their own behalf."

To: Sully- who wrote (23267)	10/18/2006 11:14:14 PM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 35834

Why are these people applauding? Power Line Reader Brian Horey writes: <<< Even more astounding than the trivial 28-month sentence Lynne Stewart received for abetting a convicted terrorist in his efforts to spread still more hate and death around the world, was the resounding ovation she received on the courthouse steps after the sentencing. One can only wonder at the thinking that led a group of presumed fellow New Yorkers to laud a woman who saw fit to assist a group of people that would rain death and destruction throughout the city if given the chance. One would think that, at the very least, their own sense of self-preservation would override their instinct to cheer a hero of the Left in this instance. In another time when humility and decency were still seen as virtues, Lynne Stewart would have been left to slink off around the corner of the courthouse in shame after sounding a note of contrition for this crime against her fellow citizens. Instead, New Yorkers who are endangered by her warped and reckless notion of "client service" are left with their mouths agape at this spectacle of celebration by people who appear utterly blind to the threat represented by the terrorists Lynne Stewart saw fit to aid. This disquieting and shameful episode can be viewed at the link below. The misplaced priorities so clearly on display on the courthouse steps are a perfect example of why liberals have so little credibility on security. Brian T. Horey >>> powerlineblog.com wnbc.com

To: Sully- who wrote (23267)	10/20/2006 3:38:24 PM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 35834

Democrats stood outside the White House shouting "Torture is a crime!" and "Bush is the terrorist!" Yep, these are the people who claim they're going to keep us all safe, America. Everybody good with that? O.J. trials for terrorists By Ann Coulter Townhall.com Columnist Wednesday, October 18, 2006 The Democrats claim they want to treat terrorism as a criminal law problem, but when we give them an American citizen convicted of aiding terrorists -- as happened this week -- a Democrat judge gives her a slap on the wrist. Or he was going to give her a wrist slap until someone told him that wrist-slapping was banned under the Geneva Conventions, so he let the wrist off with a warning. Last year, a New York jury found Lynne Stewart guilty of helping her former client, Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, communicate with his Egyptian-based group of murderous terrorists, appropriately known as "the Islamic Group." The blind sheik needed to instruct his followers to abandon a truce and resume murdering innocents, but he couldn't get the message through because, by sheer coincidence, he was in prison for conspiring to murder innocents here in America by plotting the first World Trade Center bombing. So Stewart and a "translator" met with her former client in prison and took his messages for transmission to his followers in Egypt. With the full constitutional protections Democrats want for terrorists in Guantanamo, Stewart was convicted by a New York jury last year. This week, Judge John Koeltl -- appointed to the bench by President Bill Clinton in 1994 -- spurned the prosecution's request for a 30-year sentence and gave Stewart 28 months for being a terrorist's mule. Now she'll clog up the criminal justice system with endless appeals for the next several years -- using procedures that liberals also want for Guantanamo detainees. At Stewart's sentencing, the judge noted that the defendant's actions had not resulted in any deaths. I'll have to remember that in case I'm ever on trial for attempted murder. "Hey, your honor, did I mention that the guy lived? Yeah, the darn gun jammed on me. Go figure, huh?" In rejecting a 30-year sentence in favor of a 28-month sentence, the judge commended Stewart for her "public service, not only to her clients, but to the nation" for representing members of the Black Panthers and the Weather Underground. In a sane world, that would have justified a longer sentence, not a shorter one. If only Democrats could turn the entire war on terrorism over to the courts, they could release terrorists and terrorist sympathizers with wild abandon -- and Nancy Pelosi or Hillary Clinton would never have to take a position. When Americans are allowed to vote, a fireman's vote counts as much as George Soros' vote. But if liberals can just get terrorists into the judicial system, a Clinton-appointed judge can rule on a defense funded by George Soros -- precisely what happened in Stewart's case. Note that even in liberal New York City, average citizens on the jury voted to convict Stewart, despite her Soros-funded defense. Democrats run apparently sane candidates for office, like James Webb in Virginia and Bob Casey in Pennsylvania, who can puff up their chests and pretend they want to pursue terrorists -- while carping about any and all military action in the terrorists' general direction. Instead, let's turn terrorists over to courts full of Clinton and Carter judges! Democratic candidates get to look tough, and the terrorists go scot-free. It would be frightening enough to treat terrorism as a criminal law problem if it were Republicans saying it. But these are Democrats. Their idea of a major criminal case is Tom DeLay's campaign treasurer accidentally depositing a campaign contribution into a checking account rather than a savings account. By contrast, terrorists imprisoned in Guantanamo for trying to kill Americans must be treated as innocent little lambs. Oh, to be there when Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman is exonerated due to previously unavailable "DNA evidence"! After President Bush signed a law this week providing for military tribunals for terrorists being held at Guantanamo and prohibiting their torture, Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin said, "We will look back on this day as a stain on our nation's history." (Note to Democrats: It's still too soon to use "stain" as a metaphor for a White House brouhaha.) Democrats stood outside the White House shouting "Torture is a crime!" and "Bush is the terrorist!" Yep, these are the people who claim they're going to keep us all safe, America. Everybody good with that? Gen. George Washington tried Major John Andre, Benedict Arnold's British co-conspirator, by military tribunal and ordered Andre hanged within 10 days of his capture. Nazi saboteurs, including an American citizen, captured on U.S. soil during World War II were tried in secret by military commission and promptly executed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Nuremberg trials were a form of military tribunal. But Democrats think military tribunals aren't good enough for the terrorists plotting to kill Americans today. Liberals are going to make the terrorists love us! What better way to start than with criminal trials in front of judges like John Koeltl? Ann Coulter is the legal correspondent for Human Events and author of Godless: The Church of Liberalism . townhall.com