ABC-TV Nightline on "sovereign citizens"

[ashlynne39]

I dislike the word "paper terrorism" as used to described the common tactic of sov'runs of filing voluminous, nonsensical pleadings.

Properly defined, terrorism is the use or threat of violence against non-combatants (i.e., people who are neither military nor police) in order to effect social, political or economic change. Calling the filing of gibberish in a court "paper terrorism" diminishes both the nature and the victims of true terrorism.

P.S. Contrary to the leftwing cliche', one man's terrorist is NOT another man's freedom fighter. A true fighter for freedom would not intentionally murder and maim non-combatants. George Washington didn't send guys over to England to set bombs in civilian areas of London, for example.

P.P.S. The Nightline piece estimated there are about 300,000 sov'runs in America. In a nation of over 300 million, that (less than 1 in 1000) is not exactly an epidemic number. Except for murderous thugs like the Kanes, sov'runs are typically nuisances. I don't see them as a major threat to the integrity of the Republic.

I tend to think paper terrorism is a good descripter. No, that aspect of it isn't violent or equivilant to bombings or killings. But, good and innocent people have their lives, financially and personally, altered . . .to some extent destroyed, by these liens and lawsuits. I don't think the severity of what they do should be downplayed at all.

[Judge Roy Bean]

I have to agree with LawDog on this one - this kind of thing is not terrorism; terrorism is designed to impact the lives and activities of not just the victims themselves but the people of a country or sect.

It's a catchy, talking-heads kind of thing that helps viewership/readership because everyone is tuned to the word nowadays, but few people in this country are altering the way they live or what they do on a daily basis because a handful of prosecutors and judges are being hit with looney legal machinations.

There are answers to the problem, including requiring judiciary (magistrate) approval of liens over a certain amount against prosecutors, law-enforcement authorities and members of the judiciary. Doofus walks in, hands the clerk the lien paperwork and quickly finds himself assigned to a hearing date instead of having the lien filed. Best part is, he's attempted to commit a crime in many jurisdictions. If he's currently under indictment I would have him arrested on the spot.

[fortinbras]

I'm not clear on how this thread wandered so far from Sov'runs.

But, the John Birch Society, of all people, has come out against the Sov'run Citizen Movement:

http://thenewamerican.com/usnews/consti ... -attention

Hey, when even other extremists say that the Sov'runs are nuts .....

[Pottapaug1938]

There's a difference between being an extremist in defense of liberty and an extremist in support of anarchy.

I don't know that I'd call the Birchers "extremists in the defense of liberty", since I can think of a few liberties of mine which they would happily restrict; but I'll take the Birchers over the sovruns any day.