V.A. Nurse Accused of Sedition After Publishing Letter Critical of Bush on Katrina

mesue

Free speech it's something no matter what your politicals or religious views are we should all agree on, safeguarding everyone in this country, the right to free speech. Honestly I don't find myself in agreement with a lot of you here but I would never want to see the day when any of you did not have the right to say what you want to. Below is excerpt of the story, the whole article does include an interview with the nurse. This stuff is moved sometimes moved into the archives so if you can't find the story let me know, right now the link is working ok.


http://www.democracynow.org/article....6/03/02/148237

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tngirl

I am all for freedom of speech, but this one sentence is enough to instigate an investigation. Calling for others to use FORCE to remove a government is the same as calling for a Coupe, which is sedition. It runs along the lines that if someone makes a statement saying they are going to KILL the President...it is a threat.

I am sure this lady did not literally mean exactly what she said, she should have chosen her words better. I am sure she was upset and just did not think what her words of anger would bring.

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stresseater

websters Yep....sounds like they got it right to me.

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**** The views and opinions stated by kids=stress are simply that. Views and opinions. They are not meant to slam anyone else or their views.To anyone whom I may have offended by this expression of my humble opinion, I hereby recognized and appologized to you publically.

Jolie Rouge

Did you know that if you just say, write, email or otherwise communicate the words : "I am going to kill the President" ( or words that imply a dircet threat ) you can be arrested. PERIOD. The Secret Service don't play around.

There have been MANY articles, letters, postings, ect "critical of Bush on Katrina" ( and Brown and Blanco, and Nagin and ... the list goes on ) but not everyone advocated the use of force to remove the Administration ( although many have advocated the use of force to remove various body parts from Brown ).


Has she been arrested? Lost her job ? Audited by the IRS ?

In these days - they have to check out everything that is remotely suspicious.

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Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

Jolie Rouge

hit the link

..... And even though there was no adverse employment action against Laura, there's a chilling effect of free speech.

AMY GOODMAN: Laura, when did you start hearing the word "sedition" being thrown around?

LAURA BERG: Well, so I had been reported to the F.B.I., as is the report I had, again. I -- my computer was taken. And I decided I really did need to write a memo to the director and to Mr. Hooker and ask on what basis had these actions been taken. And I received a memo back from Mr. Hooker.

AMY GOODMAN: And now, Mr. Hooker is Mel Hooker, chief of human resources?

LAURA BERG: Who is still in his position, by the way.

AMY GOODMAN: In Veterans’ Affairs. And Mary Dowling, the director?

LAURA BERG: Mm-hmm. But they also said, let’s see --

LARRY KRONEN: That's the first we heard the term “sedition” being used.

LAURA BERG: Right. Exactly.

LARRY KRONEN: In the memo that they wrote in response to Laura's memo on November 9, they wrote the excerpt, which you quoted, that they have, bound by law, to investigate and pursue any act which potentially represents sedition. And at that point it was just over the top.

LAURA BERG: Exactly.

AMY GOODMAN: What does “sedition” mean?

LARRY KRONEN: It’s basically taking -- advocating the forceful, violent overthrow of the government.

AMY GOODMAN: And what penalty do you face?

LARRY KRONEN: Years in jail.

AMY GOODMAN: So, where does this go from here? Your senator has taken this up. Senator Bingaman?

LAURA BERG: Yes, and I do want to say when I wrote this letter, I sent it to Senator Bingaman, and I sent it to Senator Domenici, as well as to The Alibi. And so, he has written to the secretary of the Veteran Affairs, again, saying that he would like -- he would like an investigation, you know, and he would like some retraining of V.A. employees. I think have you that in front of you. You can actually -- we are asking for a public apology. We -- you know, we really want the V.A. to be able to say this is wrong, what we did. And we would like the rest of the federal employees to hear that across the country.

AMY GOODMAN: Let me read again from the memo of November 9 from the Chief of Human Resources Management Service. “In your letter to the editor of the weekly Alibi,” the memo says, “you declared yourself a V.A. nurse and publicly declared the government, which employs you, to have tragically misplaced priorities and criminal negligence and advocated ‘act forcefully to remove a government administration playing games of smoke and mirrors and vicious deceit.’ The agency is bound by law to investigate and pursue any act, which potentially represents sedition. You are reminded that government equipment is just that, and the government may apprehend, investigate use or permit the use of such at its discretion and direction. Signed, Mel Hooker, Chief of Human Resources Management Service. “ Your response to this letter, saying -- to investigate you for sedition?

LAURA BERG: Amy, I did not sign away my First Amendment rights as a citizen, you know, by choosing to serve in the federal government and choosing to serve veterans and care for people that have been wounded like this, you know. And this letter sounds like something from a totalitarian regime, you know, that we are supposedly going in and share our democracy. This is way out of line. This was way out line. I have a right to speak my opinion. I have a right to say I'm a V.A. nurse. I do not speak for the V.A. I speak as a public citizen. And I -- you know, we have to -- I thank Larry, I thank the attorneys and the support across the country, because we really need to speak out about this. This is really, really frightening.

AMY GOODMAN: Is there a next step you will be taking?

LARRY KRONEN: Right now, we are waiting. We put in a Freedom of Information request to the F.B.I. We are waiting for a response from that.

AMY GOODMAN: And that request is to find out what?

LARRY KRONEN: What information they have about Laura, about her computer, about this incident. We did receive the quickest response from the V.A. to our Freedom of Information Act, and they didn't have any extra information that we didn't already have that we got in their response. So right now, we are waiting to see what response we have from the F.B.I. Of course, we still stand. We are asking for a public apology. And we join Senator Bingaman in asking for a policy directive, letting the V.A. and the V.A. officials in the administration across the country, but especially here in Albuquerque, that the First Amendment still exists here in the country and to cease these intimidation.

AMY GOODMAN: Are you concerned about speaking out today and this first time in this national broadcast, Laura Berg?

LAURA BERG: Yes, I am, Amy. And, you know, as I say, subsequent to these memos, I have had a personal discussion with Mary Dowling, and she has said --

AMY GOODMAN: And again, her position with the V.A.?

LARRY KRONEN: She is my director at the Albuquerque V.A. And she said, you know, you may express your opinion, but we prefer that you do not say you are a V.A. nurse. And so, I am saying I am a V.A. nurse. And some of my fire in writing this letter about Katrina in Iraq is from my experience as a V.A. nurse. I'm stepping -- I'm stepping, you know, off the edge here, and I do feel that there is some jeopardy to me and my position. But at this point it’s more important for me to say this. You know, and if I have to risk my job, the V.A. is going to lose an excellent commission, you know, that does not bring politics into the workplace, you know, and is a very caring person. And this country, you know, will lose many, many dedicated, caring people, you know, if this continues. And, I mean, we are going to lose a lot more than that. We are going to lose a whole lot.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to thank you very much for being with us. Laura Berg, V.A. nurse here in Albuquerque, thanks for joining us. And thank you very much, Larry Kronen, of the Albuquerque American Civil Liberties Union. And the transcript of today's show, of course, posted on our website. You can watch it, audio stream it at DemocracyNow.org. And we will continue to follow up and find out what does happen. And I thank you very much for having the courage to join us on Democracy Now!

http://www.democracynow.org/print.pl...6/03/02/148237

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Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

mesue

http://www.democracynow.org/print.pl...6/03/02/148237

Jolie this nurse did not say she wanted anyone to kill the President, nor did she say she wanted to kill him. What she said was clear but the means to bring about what she wanted was not stated. It could've meant impeachment, not once did this woman advocate the use of violence. If you read the first quote you would see that the sedition act was repealed in 1921 probably because it violates freedom of speech.

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Ignorance is bliss but the question is can we afford it?

Bliss

This is where Laura Berg screwed up...

"act forcefully to remove a government administration playing games of smoke and mirrors and vicious deceit."


When it comes to the Governement, words like; "forceful, kill, harm, & ect." are not taken lightly. Although, Laura Berg may have meant impeachment, it wasn't taken that way.

Everyone's entitled to free speech, to a point. One must think before opening their mouths. Your mouth can get you in a world of trouble.

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mesue

Since you said you never bother reading any links I post, let me restate that the sedition act was repealed in 1921. Its is no longer a law that one can even be charged with breaking.

Freedom of speech is supposed to give you or me or Laura Berg the right to say or write anything we want without fear of prosecution. Though I voted for Clinton if you had said or written this letter about him, I might not have liked what you had to say about the guy I voted for, but I would have defintely recognized your right to say it. Your rights of freedom of speech are just as much at stake and in jeopardy here as Laura Berg's are.

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Ignorance is bliss but the question is can we afford it?

Bliss

No, it doesn't Ma'am. Freedom of Speech does not necessarily mean the right to say whatever you want. Read up on the def. of Freedom of speech and you will understand it does not imply "we" have the right to say whatever we damn well please.

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Reiten Sie nie schneller, als Ihre Engel fliegen können.

tngirl

http://www.dangerouscitizen.com/Articles/525.aspx

CURRENT LAW

TITLE 18 - CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
PART I - CRIMES
CHAPTER 115 - TREASON, SEDITION,
AND SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES




Sec. 2388. Activities affecting armed forces during war

(a) Whoever, when the United States is at war, willfully makes or conveys false reports or false statements with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the military or naval forces of the United States or to promote the success of its enemies; or

Whoever, when the United States is at war, willfully causes or attempts to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty, in the military or naval forces of the United States, or willfully obstructs the recruiting or enlistment service of the United States, to the injury of the service or the United States, or attempts to do so--

Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.
(b) If two or more persons conspire to violate subsection (a) of this section and one or more such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each of the parties to such conspiracy shall be punished as provided in said subsection (a).

(c) Whoever harbors or conceals any person who he knows, or has reasonable grounds to believe or suspect, has committed, or is about to commit, an offense under this section, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.

(d) This section shall apply within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the United States, and on the high seas, as well as within the United States.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

mesue, here is the current law. The Sedition Act of 1918 was repealed, but it was not thrown out. The law was just made more specific. It was repealed because it was too "broad". It is still illegal to openly threaten the government.

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Njean31

i think you're right. if we could say anything we would like to anyone at anytime i sure would have like to tell that cop to go blank himself when he gave me a ticket for speeding on my way to a dying hospice patients house.

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