The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is running an auction on ebay to help raise funds for the legal battle we're currently waging in Rome, Georgia. You can find the specifics at:
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZcbldf
For those interested in a full update as to what's currently going on with the prosecution of Gordon Lee, I've included the latest CBLDF press release below.
Counsel for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund have submitted four
motions to dismiss the charges against retailer Gordon Lee, owner of
Legends in Rome, GA. Last February, the Fund initiated Lee's
defense against charges resulting from accidentally distributing
Alternative Comics #2, a Free Comic Book Day book from 2004, to a
minor. The anthology includes the story "The Salon" by Nick
Bertozzi, which contains a segment depicting Picasso in the nude. The
Fund has already spent in excess of $20,000 defending this case.
Lee was charged with seven criminal counts for allegedly violating two
laws. He was charged with two counts of violating the felony of
Distribution of Material Depicting Nudity or Sexual Conduct (OCGA
§16-12-81), a law that bans the unsolicited delivery of any content
depicting nudity to any person in the state of Georgia and carries a
penalty of one to three years in prison and/or fines of up to $10,000.
One of the two counts is for handing the comic to the alleged victim,
and the other is for handing the comic to an alleged John or Jane Doe.
Lee is also charged with five counts of violating the misdemeanor of
Distribution of Material Harmful to Minors (OCGA §16-12-103). He
is charged with three discrete counts of violating the law for handing
a single copy of the comic book to the alleged victim. He is also
charged with two counts for allegedly giving the comics to John or
Jane Doe.
The motions, written by Alan Begner and Paul Cadle, CBLDF's
counsel on this case, were filed on May 2. The first motion seeks to
dismiss the John Doe counts. The second seeks to dismiss both felony
counts under the rule of lenity, which requires that when a defendant
is charged with a felony and a misdemeanor for the same conduct, the
lesser penalty must apply. The third motion seeks to dismiss the
felony counts on the grounds that Georgia's Distribution of
Material Depicting Nudity or Sexual Conduct is unconstitutional on its
face and as applied. The fourth motion seeks to dismiss the
misdemeanor counts of Distribution of Material Harmful to Minors on
the grounds that the law is unconstitutional on its face and as
applied to this case.
CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein says, "Mr. Begner and
Mr. Cadle have presented some very persuasive legal arguments in these
motions. There's no question that Gordon Lee's First
Amendment rights are being trampled upon, and so we're pleased to
have brought such an intelligent and aggressive legal team in to
defend him. We are all very optimistic that these motions will carry
significant weight as we move through the pretrial stage of this
case."
Hearings on these motions have yet to be scheduled, but are expected
to occur in the summer.
I like the little Yellow Kid drawing Spiegelman put on the poster.
I hope the motions go well. Mr. Lee, since I know that you were reading these comments the when PAD previously posted here, I'm going to assume that you're out there now. If you're reading, I'd just like to express my good hopes for you personally.
Good luck.
Unbelievable. Have the folks in Georgia no shame? I seem to remember Gordon having gone through this nonsense before a few years back.
I met Gordon back when I was drawing the Trek books at DC and Malibu and visited his store. He seemed to be a nice guy who would not be in this predicament if he were living in a civilized state of this union.
Gordon- if you're reading this, best of luck. If I can help in any way...
*** Rob Davis ***
Best of luck to Mr. Lee. Best of bad luck to the fascists who are persecuting him.
Echoing the best of luck comments for Mr. Lee. What country are we living in again?
And how come there isn't any Peter David work in the auction?
Todd Morton
#1 PAD Fan
And on a sidestep on the freedom of speech front,
some conressional idiots are after Bill Maher again...
http://www.clickondetroit.com/entertainment/4523036/detail.html
How dare Maher express an opinion that isn't government and / or right wing approved. He should know better by now.
/scarcasm off
What breaks me up is when he says he doesn't want Maher prosecuted, but instead off the air. Of course he doesn't want him prosecuted: He's done nothing actionable. Of course, doing nothing actionable and merely exercising one's right to free speech hasn't stopped the government from going after citizens before.
Let's hope Maher doesn't feel compelled to apologize for this comment as well.
PAD
This may be the best comment on the Maher thing:
"I think it borders on treason," Bachus said. "In treason, one definition is to undermine the effort or national security of our country."
I'd be interested to know in what dictionary that definition resides, because the only elements that I've been able to find which constitute "treason" are taking action to overthrow the government or providing aid and comfort to the enemy.
What the hell goes on with elected officials these days?
PAD
To Rob Davis (HI! Email me sometime!) and the rest of you that are being supportive, thanks I really do appreciate it.
Wish I could say I was surprised at this attitude. My research on similar issues of Free Speech encroachment turned up an identicle attitude...namely, that in times of war, it's OK for the government to define treason as to include any act or even words that would undermine the image or integerity of the military or country at large.
That may be an overstatement of what was legally prosecuted, but not of the sentiment. Those in power during wartime don't want to allow any negative or criticizing speech.
I think Bill Maher is off the air for a few months anyway.
Betcha this guy tries to take credit for it.
In times of war, eh?
How convienent that they just seem to keep coming up with excuses for new ones.
Fear is such as useful tool to control the little people with as you take away their rights and grab every bit of power you can when they aren't looking.
What do I smell? Oh, I think it's the scent of death of a once great nation. Oh well, it was a good run while it lasted... but every empire comes to an end sooner or later.
Hmmm. Should I move to the EU or Asia... seems a 50/50 chance on which one becomes the dominant superpower of the 21st century.
I'd be interested to know in what dictionary that definition resides
It's in the dictionary of "How DARE you question us you America-hating Godless scum!"
Mike, we made it through the fear induced repression of WWI-II. I have hope that we'll make it through this current wave.
Here's some cheery news...GA courts have ordered the removal of those "evolution is just a theory" stickers from science text books. Assuming the decision stands, it's a good sign that even in a religious-conservative state like GA, courts recognize and enforce the rule of law, not the rule of morality.
"What the hell goes on with elected officials these days?"
Pretty much the same as we find in non-elected institutions. Many newspapers here ran scathing editorials against an Independent Member of Parliament for voting against a non-confidence motion which would have brought down the federal government and forced ana election. Setting aside their huge bias against an admittedly less than squeaky-clean administration (they forget how the other guys were about as corrupt back when, too), I can see their point.
How DARE that M.P. vote according to the wishes of his constituents (who were polled time after time stating they didn't want an expensive election at this time) instead of along blind Partisan lines as with the others? Listening to the voters? What sort of precedent is THAT to set?
Yet ... he's being castigated in the Press for it. And a lot of people think the Press is right. So much for Democracy.
"Hmmm. Should I move to the EU or Asia... seems a 50/50 chance on which one becomes the dominant superpower of the 21st century."
Well, the EU has to last a bit before I'd jump on THAT bandwagon...looks like the French (!) and Dutch might not even vote for the constitution.
So I'd give the nod to Asia, though it might help if you are Asian.
Or you might want to hold off a bit and see if the Hour Of Doom is a bit further off than you think.
"Mike, we made it through the fear induced repression of WWI-II. I have hope that we'll make it through this current wave."
The difference being, those wars eventually ended. Any end in sight to the War On Terra yet?
"The difference being, those wars eventually ended. Any end in sight to the War On Terra yet?"
Uh, depends on whether you think the draft will be reinstated or not. You can't wage a war without bodies, and if recruiting continues to fall so far below target levels, eventually you have to call it quits, or force people to fight.
(I know I'm going to regret asking this) devoid of the context, please, and just looking at the sentence, ISN'T undermining national security treason? I'm not talking about speaking out, mind you, but isn't something that actually does undermine national security treason? Applying the definition to whatever it was applied to, presuming it was speech, may not actually BE treason, but the definition (minus the ambigous term "effort") is workable, isn't it?
Robbnn, The actual undermining of national security is a crime. The problem here is that the far right wing in this country currently equates ANY statement or criticism of the military, the government, or (heaven forbid) the president as undermining national security.
Alan Coil wrote:
"I think Bill Maher is off the air for a few months anyway.
Betcha this guy tries to take credit for it."
No, I really don't think he will. It's the 21st century. Everyone understands the facts of television show having a seasonal run and then being on hiatus. It would be stupid for this guy to claim his diatribe is responsible for Maher's absence. Bachus would be rightly ridiculed.
I find more and more that what passes for political discourse is believing that the guy who doesn't agree with you must be stupid. That's not a good way to approach a debate, (PAD vs MacFarlane aside). It would be better to believe that the opposition is at least as smart as you and that his political beliefs are not the result of some mental deficit.
I like Bill Maher. I think he's a modern-day Will Rogers. I always tape his show in case I miss something. I liked Politically Incorrect too. (And why isn't Harlan Ellison ever on Real Time?)
I think that he doesn't mean treason - I think he means sedition. If he's going to bring unbiased and unfair charges, I think he should do it with the proper vocabulary. There are little fascist youth out there hanging onto every syllable, and they NEED to learn proper vocabulary for when they start forging letters and writing anti-human propoganda.
No, I really don't think he will. It's the 21st century. Everyone understands the facts of television show having a seasonal run and then being on hiatus. It would be stupid for this guy to claim his diatribe is responsible for Maher's absence. Bachus would be rightly ridiculed.
Funny how the fact that Dan Rather's retirement from CBS News had been announced months before the whole memogate scandal broke didn't stop the right wing from claiming that they had driven him off the air.
Or the fact that he continued to appear on 60 Minutes II for that matter.
I think that he doesn't mean treason - I think he means sedition
I think he means treason. More people will recognize that word but few will recognize sedition. Besides, treason makes for a better sound bite & is a more terrible sounding word.
I know I'm going to regret asking this) devoid of the context, please, and just looking at the sentence, ISN'T undermining national security treason? I'm not talking about speaking out, mind you, but isn't something that actually does undermine national security treason?
But Robnn, reading the statement, can you honestly make a case that ridiculing the military's recruitment efforts is undermining national security? I would definitely agree that Maher's comments were insulting to the military and may even be offensive, but how exactly could it possibly undermine national security.
Oh wait, I forgot, any criticism of this administration "hurts our troops."
God, I miss the first amendment.
If I win the powerball tonight, I will bid on several of those.
Den, no, not at all. Maher is no more practicing treason than I am. I was responding to:
"I'd be interested to know in what dictionary that definition resides, because the only elements that I've been able to find which constitute "treason" are taking action to overthrow the government or providing aid and comfort to the enemy."
I admittedly haven't glanced at any dictionaries, but "undermining national security" IS providing aid and comfort to the enemy (not that Maher was). I think it's a passable definition, just not accurately applied.
Semantics, I'm sure, or taking the phrase too literally. Just sayin...
If providing aid to the "enemy" is against the law, than shouldn't all (medical) doctors go to jail since they promised to help patients, no matter who they were (or something like that)?
Mark Evanier's site was where I first saw mention of the Bill Maher piece. Mark has posted a link to this response from Bill Maher:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/archive/bill-maher/fruit_1561.html
Hmm... I don't know about anybody else, but to me, it doesn't look like Bill Maher's going to apologise.
-Rex Hondo-
Hmm... I don't know about anybody else, but to me, it doesn't look like Bill Maher's going to apologise.
No, it doesn't. And I, for one, see no reason why he should.
(From the article:)
But a congressman, there's someone who can actually DO SOMETHING to help our troops. In fact, a case could be made that it's a lot more treasonous for someone in his position to be wasting his time yelling at a comedian. Shouldn't he be training his outrage at such problems as troops not having enough armor? Wouldn't that ACTUALLY support our troops more? And citizens of this country who claim to support our troops should write this man and tell him GET BACK TO WORK! DO SOMETHING THAT ACTUALLY COULD MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO SOLDIERS IN IRAQ!
I find it ironic that as soon as this issue pops up, some posters here immediately use it as an excuse to bash Republicans, yet it's obvious from the story link below that the concern of violent and sexual popular culture content is a issue that quite readily crosses party lines.
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is hardly what anyone would term a conservative Democrat, either.
Many in the popular culture industry refuse to embrace self-regulation, or impose limits of any kind on material that is released for public consumption. The inevitable result is always legislation to force the issue. As I pointed out in an earlier thread, I think the "anything goes" mentality among creators is more harmful to creator freedoms than any extremist decency nut will ever be, because when such an "anything goes" creator steps over "the line" and turns the stomachs of the general populace, that's when things Really start to turn ugly.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/fun.games/05/31/video.games.ban.ap/index.html