A federal judge who owes his lifetime appointment to Barack Obama today concluded that a pro-life organization whose leaders criticized a politician for supporting Obamacare for funding abortions just might be guilty of defamation – and possibly worthy of jail time.
The ruling comes from Judge Timothy S. Black in Cincinnati, who refused to dismiss a case brought by former Democratic U.S. Rep. Steve Driehaus against the Susan B. Anthony List organization, which had criticized the congressman's vote for Obamacare.
The judge, who cited Google as a source in one footnote of his ruling, said, "Upon a careful review of both of the [Congressional Research Service] memoranda cited by the parties, this court fails to identify any affirmative statement that the PPACA [Obamacare] includes taxpayer funded abortion."
Therefore, he ruled, a trial must be held to determine whether there was a defamation and whether there was malice in the statements by the SBA List, including those by its president, Marjorie Dannenfelser. The organization had issued news releases criticizing the reportedly pro-life Driehaus for voting for Obamacare and stated its objections were to the abortion funding. Driehaus sued, claiming he lost reputation and income because he was not re-elected following the criticism.
Driehaus was not re-elected in 2010, losing to former U.S. Congressman Steve Chabot. During the campaign, the Democratic Party pulled its financial support for television ads when Driehaus fell behind. According to the SBA List, Driehaus filed a criminal complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission first, under a statute that carried a penalty of jail time. He later decided to advance the defamation case instead.
"Through this criminal statute, he's even threatening me with jail time," Dannenfelser said at the time.
"In a Supreme Court case called N.Y. Times v. Sullivan, the court established special rules for the type of speech that can be considered defamatory of public figures like elected officials. In order to be defamatory, the speech must obviously be false and cause injury, but it must also be made with actual malice," the judge continued.
"That's a legal term that means that the speaker either knew the speech was false and said it anyway, or the speaker recklessly disregarded finding out whether the speech was true or false. That plainly was not the case with the SBA List. They researched Obamacare themselves, and they also read the opinions of other groups that also concluded that Obamacare provided taxpayer funds for abortion services. Yet this court found, in spite of that, and in spite of the fact that their speech is true or at least their protected opinion, that their speech might be defamatory," he said.
"This ruling means that anybody criticizing a candidate is in danger of a defamation claim," he warned.
Read more: Blast a politician? It could mean jail http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=328961#ixzz1TtkvCbSU
Another sign they're in gear for takeover soon!
ex-cia/nsa director hayden calls for a 'digital blackwater'
The man who headed the NSA and CIA under President George W. Bush suggested Friday that mercenaries were needed to deal with growing cyber threats. Gen. Michael Hayden told the Aspen Security Forum that in the near future, the Department of Defense may have to allow the creation of a "digital Blackwater."
http://cyber-space-war.blogspot.com/2011/08/ex-ciansa-director-hayden-calls-for.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+cyberspacewar+%28cyber%2Fspace\war+%E2%99%86%E2%98%80%E2%98%84+from+mediamonarchy.com%29
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