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Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
— The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

Danny Burns, Mark Scibilia-Carver, Ellen Grady, Todd Saddler, and Chris Tate are scheduled to appear in Stueben County Court this Friday December seventh at 9:00 AM with their attorney Ray Schlather, concerning the appeal of their recent trial and conviction. Four of the five were recently sentenced to three hundred dollar fines and community service. The remaining defendant, Mark Scibilia-Carver was sentenced to thirty days in jail and has since been released pending appeal on his own recognizance after serving two days.

Background:

On Monday August 6, 2007 Danny Burns, Mark Carver, Ellen Grady, Todd Saddler and Chris Tate “occupied” the Bath, NY office of Congressman Randy Kuhl, a Republican and ardent and unrelenting supporter of President Bush and the “war on terror.” The aforementioned quintet delivered approximately three thousand petitions to Congressman Kuhl’s office, petitions asking him to make a public declaration that he would not vote for any additional funding for the war in Iraq. The activists had hoped to dialogue with the Congressman in person and waited in his office for over five hours. At the end of the business day Kuhl’s office manager requested that the five leave the premises but they declined citing the Constitution, International law and a moral obligation to stay and address this issue with the Congressman. The Bath police were summoned and lost little time before arresting the activists and charging them with a misdemeanor count of criminal trespass.

Here is Chris Tate’s personal statement regarding this issue:
I believe that we have sufficient grounds for appeal under the first amendment for access to our elected officials and that the prosecutor in this case, Travis Barry, aggressively mis-charged our group, sometimes known as the Buell Street Five. I feel that this overly aggressive prosecution and conviction to be a characterization of a systemic problem that stems from the very top of our judicial system, and therefore it warrants appeal, if only to ensure that others that might follow in our foot steps are treated fairly.

The appropriate charge, as upheld in the People vs. Moore, should have been violation trespass, and had the authorities appropriately upheld the law of the State of New York, this matter would have been disposed of long ago, at minimal monetary expense to all. As it is, we feel that every step in the appeal will continue to shine light on Rep. Kuhl’s ardent and unrelenting support for this war. In this past session he once again voted to keep the troops in Iraq instead of bringing them home safe. Kuhl continues to support the power of the Bush Veto , though a majority of Congress now opposed him .

We should continue to make peace with the Iraqi people, as we have recently done with some of the Sunni Militias, and immediately begin a safe and steady withdrawal of all of our military forces. Bush has made it perfectly clear that the only way this will happen is if Congress refuses his request for additional funding. I strongly encourage Rep Kuhl to vote against any renewal of war funding except for the explicit purpose of a safe fast track withdrawal of all of our troops on a set time table.

The Bush rhetoric that the surge is working is yet another lie, a complete mischaracterization of the reality in Iraq. The recent alliances negotiated with the Sunni Militias and the the order by Muqtada al-Sadr for his militias to stand down has more to do with the relative drop in violence than any troop build up. Put simply, giving Iraq back to the Iraqis is what is working. “Relative” means early 2006 levels or 575 attacks a week. To characterize this as success is setting the bar extremely low. Our troops and innocent Iraqis are still dyeing at alarming rates.

To paraphrase Noam Chomsky - “You can try to rationalize from within a framework of lunacy, but there are no good outcomes. To have attacked, invaded, and occupied Iraq was a complete act of lunacy. The only option is withdrawal.”

To equate support of the troops with the funding of the war is a Republican lie. If you want to support the troops, then encourage Rep. Kuhl to bring them home safely. To believe that we can somehow remain as occupiers to police and create a democracy, after the vast crimes against humanity we have committed, is ludicrous.

I call on all Patriotic Americans stand up and take responsibility for the unconscionable actions of George Bush and the neo-con agenda of his administration. Please join us in our support of our brave fighting forces and bring them home safe. They have served faithfully under untenable circumstances and deserve to be home with their families. They deserve a better President.

thanks,

Chris Tate

Technorati Tags: Congressman Randy Kuhl, war on terror, Buell Street Five, People vs. Moore, Bush Veto, Sunni Militias, Muqtada al-Sadr, Noam Chomsky, neo-con

Filed under: Politics on December 6th, 2007