About 18 months ago everybody’s favourite Ex-Canadian Human Rights Commission employee Richard Warman launched one of his many, as in very many, SLAPP suits against yours truly for, among other dastardly deeds, linking to the “far-right web site http://www.steynonline.com/“. Sheesh everybody knows Mark Steyn is controversial.
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Warman is also suing for comments made by multiple readers. In one instance for the heinous crime of calling him a “Bully”. We all know what this SLAPP suit is really all about. Warman is using every lawfare tactic he can to prevent a discussion in the public interest of Section 13 (1) and the CHRC. A discussion in which he must feature prominently.
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Warman is suing me for $500,000.00 Dollars. A ridiculous amount for an equally ridiculous lawsuit. Nonetheless even nuisance suits such as this must be defended against. To date legal fees have run me about 10K. I’ve covered that from my own pocket. I am now asking for your help. I know times are hard for many of us but if every reader who visited daily were to contribute 5 or 10 dollars then that would go a long way to helping all of us out.
This is your fight too, well except for the lawyer stuff anyway 😉
To help, either go to his site and click the PayPal ‘Feed-the-Kitty’ button, e-mail an internet banking transfer to blazingcatfur@gmail.com or send a cheque to:
“Christopher Ashby in Trust”
Attn: Blazingcatfur defence fund
Suite 1013
8 King Street East
Toronto ON M5C 1B5
This is a blogger’s nightmare: an anonymous, uninformative letter tells you ‘somebody’ complained about ‘something’ on your blog, so your provider froze it and locked you out….
No info on what the offending material was…
No means to remove it…
It’s a blogging version of that creek and lack of paddles…
Luckily, Binks is back!
Read about his struggle – and the still ongoing battle others are engaged in. It is informative. There are whole companies ‘out there’ making a living by harassing bloggers…
(FYI – This is why most bloggers start out anonymously. Unlike journalists, we do not have any employer to shield us from harassment, lawfare, or worse. Only after a blogger develops a regular readership and the online support network that goes with it do we dare reveal our real-life names.)
First of all, I would like to thank this soldier – both for what he is doing for all of us in Afghanistan, putting himself in danger tto keep us and our kids are safe, and for taking time to write to Dalton McGuinty’s EA and asking for an explanation of how ‘freedom of speech and assembly’ became ‘privileges’.
Now, to explain…
There has been a series of recent protests against Dalton McGuinty, the Premier of Ontario, organized by two Ottawa taxpayers, Debbie Jodoin and Shirley Mosley. Ms. Jodoin is so upset with Mr. McGuinty’s policies, she has decided to seek a nomination for the Conservative Party to run against Mr. McGuinty, in his riding, during next year’s Provincial election.
The protests have attracted some attention – and Mr. McGuinty’s ‘office’ began subtle intimidation tactics against the demonstration organizers, especially Ms. Jodoin. This culminated in a letter Mr. McGuinty’s Exacutive Assistant, John Fraser, had written and emailed to Ms. Jodoin.
Not only did Mr. Fraser see fit to email it to Ms. Jodoin at work, he also emailed it to each and every one of her co-workers – and her boss. In the email, Mr. Fraser admonishes Ms. Jodoin not to forget to obey the laws…. Yeah, employer’s just LOVE to get emails addressed to their employees which imply that without a ‘friendly reminder’ from the office of the Premier, this employee could not be counted on to obey the law of the land!
If the intimidation were not enough, Mr. Fraser’s letter (officially sent as coming from the Premier’s office) also included the following phrase:
“I think we can agree that free speech and the right to assemble are both a privilege and a cornerstone of our democracy.”
With Ms. Jodoin’s permission, I posted the full letter, along with the context (Mr. Fraser thought it necessary to come up to Ms. Jodoin just prior to the demonstration and ensure she agrees to follow the laws – the Ottawa Police were there in force, and even brought along a paddy-vagon…you know, just in case!)
Well, a few other blogs picked up on this, thanks to a great deal to MooseAnd Squirrel, BlazingCatfur and all the rest of the bloggers who picked up the story. The story made it around the world. Yesterday, BlazingCatfur posted a letter which a soldier, serving in Afghanistan as a member of Canadian Armed Forces, had sent to Mr. Fraser in response to the Jodoin letter.
He writes:
“One can not even imagine the sheer delight, as I try in many ways to convey to my troops that free speech and the right to assemble are a privilege.”
Read the full letter here.
And, if I ever have the honour to shake this person’s hand, the beverages will be on me!
Let’s get this straight, once and for all: INDIVIDUALS have rights – groups do not!
Each and every individual within any and every group has rights.
The group – as a whole – does not.
This is a fundamental distinction.
We must NEVER permit anyone to ‘fudge’ or sweep this distinction away.
If we do, if we permit a group of 10 people, 100 people, a million people, to have rights different from simply the rights of the individuals who make up the group, make no mistake about it: we are endorsing a tyranny of the majority, which is not substantially different from simple ‘mob rule’!
Coming up on the anniversary of the 11/09 attacks on the Twin Towers in New York, some obscure priest in the US has announced that he’ll burn the Koran as his expression of freedom of religion.
This has generated huge publicity all over the world – quite out of proportion to the act itself.
Now, don’t get me wrong: I do not like book-burnings. It is too Jesuit-like… (Except that the Jesuits would traditionally shut the whole family, including the kids, in the house in which they found books, before burning the whole structure down. To the best of my knowledge, this preacher does not plan to burn any people – just paper on which some words are printed.)
“every religion has the right to expect that its sacred books, places of worship and symbols will be respected and protected”
OH, NO, IT DOESN’T!!!
No ‘religion’ has ‘rights’!
Only individuals have rights!
And YOUR right to religious freedom stops where MY actions begin!
Let’s stop paying lip service to faux rights.
Let’s stop cowering in fear of reprisal for exercising our fundamental rights and freedoms!
I urge each and every one of you to take some ‘holy book’ – does not matter which one, as long as it is considered ‘holy’ by someone… or, even better, one of each of them – and burn them. At least in effigy…
Not because you disrespect them.
But because you have the right to do so!
Because our fundamental rights and freedoms are above any creed or faith or doctorine!
If you don’t use it – you WILL loose it.
Freedom is to important for such a gamble. Don’t loose it – USE IT!
Each and every law, by-law and rule WILL eventually be stretched way beyond its intended purpose – so much so, its intended purpose may be completely obscured or even lost. (I like to call that Xanthippa’s first law of human dynamics.)
And, it is to be expected – this is part of human nature.
As long as we are trying to just sort of get along, we talk and argue, win some and loose some, but, usually, over the long time, things usually even out. Not all people are nice and fair – but, the vast majority of humans are at least somewhat empathetic and when they are ‘getting along’ with each other, one-on-one, most of the time, most people will be mostly fair.
That is how communities are built. And if there is one thing we, humans, do, it is building communities!
This all changes once we get ‘rules’ and ‘laws’ written down.
Why?
Because now, it is no longer about ‘getting along with other people’. Now it is about ‘maximizing advantages’.
Being survivors, we humans are excellent at ‘maximizing advantages’!
It’s one of our survivor skills – it’s one of the traits which makes us, humans, such a successful species.
Just as we are likely to be ‘fair’ when dealing with other individuals, we are certainly going to try our best to ‘maximize our advantage’ when dealing with ‘external circumstances’.
And make no mistakes about it: once something is codified into a rule or a law, it becomes an abstract thing. It is no longer about ‘getting along with another person’ – it becomes an external limiting factor to be defeated. Deep within our psyches, these are very different concepts and it is not surprising that we do not treat them similarly.
(Just consider the changes in the ‘driving culture’ as towns in Europe are removing all traffic signs and signals – rule-based behaviour was replaced by social behaviour, leading to fewer accidents.)
This is why it is essential that before we make a rule or pass a law or by-law, we examine all possible ways it could be abused in – it is certain that, eventually, it will be.
This includes copyright laws.
Like traffic laws, copyright laws affect just about everyone – so it is important to get it right.
At ‘The Propagandist’, Walker Morrow points out how these poorly thought-out copyright laws are being abused by a predatory company, stifling the flow of information – all for a monetary gain.
If that weren’t enough, here is a piece by Thunderf00t about a Viacom, ordering its employees to go down to Kinkos to upload Viacom copyrighted videos onto YouTube – then suing YouTube for copyright violation…
Perhaps we need a to re-think our whole approach to copyright laws, like those towns in Europe changed their approach to traffic management!
The August 28th protest in front of Premier Dalton McGuinty’s office drew quite a crowd – as well as relatively heavy police presence.
At the first protest, held July 17th (photos here), there were 2 squad cars, with 2 cops each.
At the second protest, which was not held at Dalton’s McGuinty’s constituency office but at Bob Chiarelli’s (he is the Ontario Government’s Minister of Communications), there was no visible police presence at all. (Photos/write-up are here and here.)
At this third protest, the police were highly visible. Like at the first one, there were 2 squad cars with 2 officers each. However, in addition to these, there was also a paddy-wagon – just in case any protesters did not obey the rules and regulations….
Perhaps the presence of the paddy-wagon was anticipated, because this crowd is so very disruptive and destructive…. Leaving the last protest, I actually saw one of the protesters stop and pick up pieces of trash (an old pop-can, I think) which he saw on the ground on his way back to his car – oh, yes, these people are a menace to a neighbourhood!
Suzanne, from BigBlueWave, was at the protest and kindly sent me a link to the video she took of Debbie Jodoin speaking about the intimidation:
Permit me to put this into context:
Imagine that the Prime Minster’s Executive Assistant took it upon himself to send an email to your work – yourself, your co-workers and your employer(!), directed to you, advising you to remember the parking bylaws on your street…and even admonishing you to to ‘be mindful of your neighbours and their inconvenience, if you park in a way that might inconvenience them!
Then, that same Exacutive Assistant from the Prime Minister’s office went door-to-door, talking to your neighbours, asking them if you and your parking habits are inconveniencing them.
And to top it off, when you got home, imagine that there were a couple of cops – with a paddy-wagon ready to drag you off in, watching all your moves, where you parked, how you parked, how long you parked for….
Would that not be intimidating?
Well, Dalton McGuinty and his EA have about as much jurisdiction over this protest as the Prime Minister and his EA have over parking bylaws: neither the leader of the Provincial Government nor the leader of the Federal Government have any jurisdiction over municipal bylaws!
They are not responsible for them to be enforced – and it is certainly not their place to ‘remind’ law-abiding citizens to be good little slaves and obey them!
If the above comparison does not demonstrate just how intimidating this action is, think about it in these terms:
WHEN is it not intimidating for a political leader (or his EA, with the official ‘from the office of’ thingy) to send your employer an email in which he admonishes you not to break the law?
And that does not even address the content of the letter…which demands that we all agree that our unalienable right to free speech is a ‘privilege’!
But, I have already ranted on that…
One more thing: the ‘request’ from ‘above’ was that we do not go on the road (duh!), or the lane in front of the mall, or any of the sidewalks – because that would ‘block traffic’ and interfere with the businesses livelihood. In other words, we were to stand on the ‘lawn’.
Do you know what the ‘lawn’ at Dalton McGuinty’s office is composed of?
100% RAGWEED!
He bloody told us to go stand in ragweed! (I still have the blisters on my feet to prove it – oh, and this picture of the ‘lawn’.)
Because, this is how much the businesses were ‘blocked’ and ‘inconvenienced’ by the protesters:
I actually went into that little corner store to buy a bottle of water – it was hot! The lady at the cash did not bother to get off the phone while serving me….and made it a point NOT to meet my eyes. I am an Aspie – and rather aware of these things (as they are not ‘natural’ to me and I do not want to give offense – so I try WAY harder at them than most people – she had to work very hard indeed to avoid meeting my eyes). But, she made up for it in rude brusqueness, tossing my change onto the counter contemptuously and turning her back to me.
If this is how they treat their paying customers, no wonder this business is not seeing much traffic.
At least the water was nice!
As you see – people tried their best not to stand on the pavement.
Shirley Mosley
Nick Vandergragt spoke well and pationately:
He pointed out how wonderful and tolerant a country we live in – even though this is a protest against Premier McGuinty and his policies, the young man sent from his office to monitor and record us was given the best, front-row spot and could record unmolested: and so it SHOULD be!
That is what our veterans like Bert fought for!
But, Mr. Vandergragt had a very important point: the problem with the McGuinty Government (or, as some people call it, the McGuilty Gang) and their ilk is not just the individual scandals – it is their whole mindset t hat is deeply flawed! And, put into practice, their ideas are destructive beyond imagination!
I concur.
Perhaps you would like to ear the words of Bert, a 94-year-old veteran who tells it like it is (as recorded by VideoManOttawa):
The cops remained vigilant:
But the firefighters driving by gave us a thumbs up! (I do not use the term ‘firefighter’ because I am politically correct, but because to me ‘fireman’ will always be someone who burns books – blame Ray Bradbury!)
VideoManOttawa was there with his trusty video camera and he has posted the videos on YouTube. They are here, here, here, here, here,here, here,also here and here (including speeches by the municipal election candidates), here (Nick Vandergragt), here,here, and here.
This is an email sent by Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty’s EA to Debbie Jodoin, one of the organizers of the Ottawa anti-Eco-Tax (Eco-fees) protests. Not only was it sent to her, but also to all her co-workers and her employer…
From: Fraser_John <jfraser@liberal.ola.org>
To: Clarke, Rob – M.P.
Cc: Clarke, Rob – Assistant 1; Clarke, Rob – Assistant 2; Clarke, Rob – Assistant 3
Sent: Fri Aug 27 15:12:22 2010
Subject: Attention Debbie Jodoin – My apologies if anyone receives this email in error.
Ms. Jodoin ,
It has been brought to my attention that you are organizing a rally/protest outside our constituency office tomorrow. I think we can agree that free speech and the right to assemble are both a privilege and a cornerstone of our democracy. I am sending you this note to ensure you aware of the concerns of our neighbours.
As the organizer of the rally/protest I am sure that you have made arrangements to ensure a safe event for everyone involved. I do want to encourage you and the citizens participating in your rally/protest to have respect for our neighbours at the Kilborn Plaza. Our neighbours are small business owners who depend on parking and easy access for their customers, many of whom are seniors.
Out of respect for our neighbours, I would ask that you urge the participants to:
Avoid using the parking directly in the lane directly in front of the store fronts. There is parking on the side and back of the mall that is easily accessed.
Understand the mall’s businesses depend on a smooth flow on both the sidewalk and lane directly in front of the stores.
Ensure that the entrances to the mall are not blocked so the mall’s customers can have easy access to parking.
Thank you in advance for your consideration.
John Fraser
Executive Assistant
Office of Dalton McGuinty, MPP
Yes, the official communication from Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty states, clearly and unequivocally – and expect us to agree – that:
I think we can agree that free speech and the right to assemble are both a privilege and a cornerstone of our democracy.
No, Mr. Fraser!
No, Mr. McGuinty!
WE WILL NEVER PERMIT YOU TO TREAT OUR FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AS ‘PRIVILEGES’!
Saturday, August 28th 2010, there was a rally in front of Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty’s constituency office in Ottawa to protest the crushing tax burden, the illegal eco-taxes (which the McGuinty’s Liberals have partially pulled and are re-thinking, finding another way to impose them which could not be as blatantly unconstitutional). The pictures from this protest are here and here (coming).
This is the third protest in the series organized by Debbie Jodoin and Shirley Mosely – two feisty ladies who are simply fed up with the contempt with which the Ontario government is treating us, Ontarians. In fact, Debbie Jodoin is so fed up, she has decided to seek the nomination by the Conservative Party of Ontario to run against Premier Dalton McGuinty ( in his riding) during the next Provincial election!
Debbie and Shirley have taken out all the proper permits for each and every one of the three demonstrations (and I expect the pattern to follow for the next protest, which will be held at Jim Watson’s office on September 18th, 12 noon to 2 p.m.). There was no problem at either of the first two protest rallies – with the police (who had a presence at the first protest, 2 squad cars with 2 cops each – watching and making sure we did not block traffic or break any other rules, but who were absolutely invisible at the second protest – the one where an MPP and the media cameras were present) or with the businesses.
At this third protest rally, there was a police presence. Not only were there 2 squad cars (with two cops apiece), there was also a police paddy-wagon!
I suppose all of us regular citizens protesting the illegal taxation the McGuinty Liberals are imposing on us are likely to be in need of being dragged off by the police!
But, that is not all.
Debbie Jodoin – and each and every one of her co-workers, including her employer – received an intimidating letter in the vein of the A. Houle letter to Ann Coulter before her speech at Ottawa University!
In a private email to me, Debbie Jodoin has described (she was in a rush – she is going out of town on a business trip) the concerns leading up to the protest:
“It was Dalton EA that sent the email message . Point is we had our first ECO TAX rally there a few weeks back with 500 people and the police and businesses there had no complaints . Point is we always get a city permit and they have the instructions on it and I will send it to you via email as well.
One business even let us use his washroom! I took it upon myself to phone this gentleman and thank him and once again ask for use of his washroom and perhaps give him 25 dollars for some electricity to run our sound systemThe gentleman had no problem that I believe was on a Tuesday with the call coming from my workplace on my lunch hour.
On Friday morning this business owner phoned my work and told the staff that we could use his washrooms but could not use any power as he did not want to get involved in this.In this ! one now asks why would he say that, until I recieved the email that was sent to me and all my co-workers at our place or work to give me instructions on how to behave there etc through his email.
So now the scenario fits ..Mr Fraser the EA took it upon himself to speak to all these businesses or I should assume he did to ask them how concerned they were about another rally gearing up outside their business and stirred the pot . This is typical of Dalton and the gang.
Brendan McGuinty was not there …the first Rally DAVID McGuinty sat in his car and watched the rally ..then they had David Suzki write and article on how wrong we are to fight the ECO TAX.. 2nd rally at Chiarelli’s office we had a call the friday before from a MP ;s office in the same bldg of Chiarellies that was being called and asked us to show respect to the businesses in the mall and not to block there business.And then whamo we get this phone call and email from McGunity’s office.”
So, what was in this email? The email that was sent to Debbie Jodoin, each and every one of her co-workers as well as her employer?
Here is the full wording of the email:
From: Fraser_John <jfraser@liberal.ola.org>
To: Clarke, Rob – M.P.
Cc: Clarke, Rob – Assistant 1; Clarke, Rob – Assistant 2; Clarke, Rob – Assistant 3
Sent: Fri Aug 27 15:12:22 2010
Subject: Attention Debbie Jodoin – My apologies if anyone receives this email in error.
Ms. Jodoin ,
It has been brought to my attention that you are organizing a rally/protest outside our constituency office tomorrow. I think we can agree that free speech and the right to assemble are both a privilege and a cornerstone of our democracy. I am sending you this note to ensure you aware of the concerns of our neighbours.
As the organizer of the rally/protest I am sure that you have made arrangements to ensure a safe event for everyone involved. I do want to encourage you and the citizens participating in your rally/protest to have respect for our neighbours at the Kilborn Plaza. Our neighbours are small business owners who depend on parking and easy access for their customers, many of whom are seniors.
Out of respect for our neighbours, I would ask that you urge the participants to:
Avoid using the parking directly in the lane directly in front of the store fronts. There is parking on the side and back of the mall that is easily accessed.
Understand the mall’s businesses depend on a smooth flow on both the sidewalk and lane directly in front of the stores.
Ensure that the entrances to the mall are not blocked so the mall’s customers can have easy access to parking.
Thank you in advance for your consideration.John Fraser
Executive Assistant
Office of Dalton McGuinty, MPP
All the rules and conditions that the protesters have to abide by are listed on the City of Ottawa permit, which Debbie had taken out for the protest. Therefore, she is quite familiar with them.
So, why should Dalton McGuinty’s EA take it upon himself to remind her of these?
This is between Ms. Jodoin and the City of Ottawa – who granted her the permit. The Provincial government has absolutely no jurisdiction in this. Yet, Dalton McGuinty’s EA had taken it upon himself to remind Ms. Jodoin (who is about to challenge Mr. McGuinty for his seat) as well as her employer and her co-workers of all this!
Add to this the fact that one of the merchants in the strip mall actually felt intimidated enough to not want to ‘get involved in this’ – and you will begin to get a picture how these crooks work!
Just prior to the protest, this video captures an exchange between Ms. Jodoin and a man whom I presume to be Mr. Fraser:
But, perhaps THE most important phrase in that letter is:
“I think we can agree that free speech and the right to assemble are both a privilege …”
No, Mr. Fraser, we cannot agree that freedom of speech and the right to assemble are both a privilege!
NOT AT ALL!
These are fundamental rights and freedoms, inherent to each human being and so recognized in our Constitution!
Freedom of speech and freedom of assembly ARE NOT PRIVILEGES!
The very fact that you think so – and that you seem to expect that we will agree – shows to us the depth of depravity that the McGuintyLiberal government has sunk to!
Debbie Jodoin, one of the two powerhouses behind this protest, had quite an announcement: She is so angry, she will seek the Conservative nomination to run AGAINST Dalton McGuinty in the next provincial election!
There is more: Dalton McGuinty is aware that she is seeking the nomination to run against him in his riding. Perhaps this is unrelated, perhaps not…but, Dalton McGuinty’s EA had sent Ms. Jodoin an email one day before the protest – and to her place of employment, none the less – attempting to intimidate her!
Also, Dalton McGuinty’s lackey clearly stated in the email that ‘freedom of speech’ is a PRIVILEGE she ought not abuse!!! I’ll be making a separate post dedicated to this email, including its full text as soon as I can get it written up.
Shirley Mosley reminded us that three of Dalton McGuinty’s most trusted Ministers are now seeking office in Municipal elections….and that unlike the Ottawa race, Torontonians are not buying ‘Diaper-head’ Slitherman’s bullcrap:
Bart, a WWII veteran who’s coming up to 95 years of age – and who does not like the way the McGuinty Gang are treating Ontario seniors.
Following his speech, Debbie thanked him, all our veterans – and all our members of the Armed Forces. They have always fought for our rights and freedoms – it is about time we backed them up!
Sharon, from CFRA, also had a few thoughts about the McGuinty gang… And, she took the local MPP’s to task for not showing up: this was an abdication of their responsibilities! The crowd agreed with her wholeheartedly!
Nick Vandergragt was an awesome speaker!
He, too thanked all our vets and the brave men and women of our armed forces: he gets it! He truly does! More on his message later…
Even though the provincial politicians did not show up – shame on them all – many of the candidates for Ottawa municipal elections were present.
Even Harper MacKay was there, pressing licking flesh:
There is so much more to come in part 2.
(If you’d like to receive a higher resolution version of any of the photos – or some other photos taken at the protest today, please, comment on it and I’ll be happy to email them to you.)
I admit, I am a little overwhelmed by all that has been happening.
And, I will try very, very hard to put down what happened, as best as I can with my very very limited legal background (which consists solely of watching ‘Jurisprudence’ on TV whenever I can). But, most of it will not come tonight.
As those of you who read my blog on and off, I have some long term health issues. These last two days have seen me more up and about than I have been in months, and I admit that I am exhausted. Yeah, I know, I am a wimp….
Still, I really don’t want to try to give an exhaustive report while I am not in a serene state of mind.
I will only offer the briefest of observations… (well, brief for my standards!)
Mr. Levant appeared more patient today. Now, I don’t know how Mr. Levant felt – he didn’t tell me. But, it seemed to me that he had moved past the exasperation (not completely, and with a few re-lapses, of course, but he seemed less ‘overall’ exasperated ‘much’ of the time – perhaps because he was not having to explain over and over and over how his ‘sainted father’ felt bullied by Mr. Vigna’s representative(s) trespassing on his (the father’s, not Mr. Ezra Levant’s) property for reasons Mr. Vigna claims are legitimate) and, if you can believe it, I think Mr. Levant actually pitied Mr. Vigna.
Mr. Levant’ lawyer sounded every bit as good as I had hoped for, from having watched his demeanor yesterday. I have to admit, I really like him – he has a way of understating things that permits the listener to draw his own conclusion without ‘beating him/her over the head with it’ (if you know what I mean), but which is ‘louder than shouting’…
Mr. Vigna continued in a manner similar to the one I observed yesterday. Much of the time (when standing up) he would rest his hands on the desk and lean forward in a bullishly aggressive manner (at least, it looked so from my point of view). At one point the judge requested him (and it almost seemed to me that the judge was a little exasperated at having to do so) to not lean so far forward because he was so close to the microphone, it was interfering with the microphone’s proper function.
(Aside: I think Mr. Vigna was using one of the new super-awesome Sharpie pens – guaranteed not to bleed through to the next page. There are two types of this new pen – the ‘click’ type and the ‘cap’ type. To the best of my observations, Mr. Vigna was using the ‘cap’ type, blue, if I am not mistaken. I rather like these ones, and used the same kind (Sharpie, cap-type, blue ink) to record my notes from today between the first break and the lunch break (approximately 12:20 and 13:00 hours… I always switch pens and ink colours between breaks…. These ‘cap’ type Sharpie pens come in black, blue, red, green and purple – but, as far as I know, you can only get the purple and green ones if you buy a multi-pack. The GTEC-C4 pen multi-packs include the same colours – but also add orange, which the Sharpie ‘cap’-type multipack does not have.)
At other times, when Mr. Vigna was not leaning against the desk, he seemed (in my layman’s eyes) to have had difficulty containing his ‘energy’ – or, in other vernacular, one could say he seemed to have had ‘too much sharp chi’, if you will.
He kept shifting his weight from one foot to the other. Even in between ‘weight shifts’, he kind of bobbed up and down on the balls of his feet. In addition, he kept making small little nervous movements with his hands. And, yes, he did pull his pants up a few times – but aside from a few little glances he threw Richard Warman who sat in on part of the morning proceedings (and one glare at me that started by looking over his left shoulder, than turning about 345 degrees and finishing the glare over his right shoulder), he did not seem to pay much attention to the audience.
While I’m on the topic of ‘audience’…
When I wrote my initial observations on the ‘Warman vs Free Dominion’ appeal hearing (yeah, I know – I never DID finish my write up….I’m still thinking over some bits of it, especially the broader implications of the Irwing case), I noted that there was a pretty young blond woman with awesome shoes in the audience who looked like she had had a tooth ache, She arrived just after things would get under way and leave just before the breaks, preventing me from saying ‘hi’ and complimenting her on her shoes (I like shoes almost as much as I like pens).
Well, that same young woman was in the audience yesterday. You’ll be relieved – she no longer looked like she had a tooth ache. That made me feel glad for her. I would not have noticed her, because she sat behind me, except that her manner of arrival and departure jogged my highly imperfect memory.
And while I’m on the topic of the audience…
At just about 10 am, Mr. Richard Warman walked in and sat down in the front row in front of me. During this time, Mr. Vigna was cross-examining Mr. Levant, and they just happened to be talking about the part of the suit where Mr. Vigna believes his reputation was damaged by Mr. Levant’s claim that he (Mr. Vigna) ‘had access to’ a neo-nazi website.
Now, here, I have got to be careful in how I word things…. This was one of those things ‘under dispute’ and at the heart of the lawsuit – and I freely admit, I am not trained in the legal profession. So, please, do take this as a lay person’s highly imperfect impressions and observations and nothing more.
The issue which was discussed was what Mr. Levant had written regarding the ‘Jadewar’ membership in a neo-nazi site, and its role in ‘stuff’. And, I do not want to get into the ‘nitty gritty details’ of the case while I am tired and before I have had a chance to think it through.
Still, it is a fact that Mr. Levant specifically said under cross examination that he believed Mr. Vigna was much better a person than to join a neo-nazi group/party/site/whatever. He (Mr. Levant) did not believe Mr. Vigna WAS a neo-nazi at all, All he (Mr. Levant) wrote and asserted (and, I presume, still believes to be true, based on the sources he cited) was that Mr. Vigna ‘had access to’ it – as in, was aware of and could, if he so wanted, have looked up the password or found some other means (like asking Mr. Dean Stacey) to access it (because the information and password were contained ‘in the files’ which he, Mr. Vigna, presumably had access to – at least, that is my highly imperfect understanding of the testimony).
On several occasions, Mr. Levant said he did not think Mr. Vigna himself was a neo-nazi, like ‘Richard Warman’ or ‘like that man there’ – while he indicated Mr. Warman….
Xanthippa's Chamberpot 