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Topic Review (Newest First)
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| Dec 1st, 2003 10:17 AM | |
| mburbank |
This story doesn't answer key questions. 1.) Did the ship eventually enter American waters? 2.) If so, are they being prosecuted? 3.) What has become of the illegal cargo? 4.) At the time of the original arraignment, did the justice department have information that the ship was indeed carrying illegal cargo, and if not, why did they go ahead with the original indictment? 5.) Who assigned this case priority? |
| Nov 29th, 2003 11:33 AM | |
| Zhukov |
Greenpeace are scamming me out of $20 a month, straight from my bankacount. You have to ring up and explain why you are greedy if you want them to stop. 
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| Nov 27th, 2003 11:18 PM | |
| ranxer |
yea man, don't buck the system. its all about controlling the perceptions of what hapens to those who speak out. fear. blurring the lines with even trumped up charges has its effect. ashcrofts following a whitchburner tactic way too often for me. |
| Nov 27th, 2003 10:11 PM | |
| AChimp |
[img]http://members.shaw.ca/achimp/******breadman.jpg[/img] This thread needs to lighten up. |
| Nov 27th, 2003 09:30 PM | |
| Baalzamon |
Ok, help me out here... I'm confused but I think what that just said was : 1. this company is directly breaking a law. 2. The justice system is doing nothing about it. 3. The Justice system is pressing charges against these people for speaking out about this lawbreaking in a peaceful manner. that cant be true so can someone please tell me I read that wrong. |
| Nov 27th, 2003 02:12 PM | |
| KevinTheOmnivore |
Ashcroft vs. Greenpeace http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breakin...5754-5901r.htm Horrock: Ashcroft vs. Greenpeace By Nicholas M. Horrock UPI Chief White House Correspondent WASHINGTON, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- On April 12, 2002, two Greenpeace activists in inflatable boats approached the APL Jade, a cargo ship that was bringing mahogany into Miami in "violation of United States and international law" and climbed abroad carrying a sign that said: "President Bush, Stop Illegal Logging." Mahogany is the wood of choice from everything from furniture to fancy yacht decks. It became so popular that loggers stripped Brazil's rainforest among other logging locations for this valuable wood. Slowly environmentalists were able to protect these giant forests, which mean so much to the ecology of the world, getting Brazil among other nations to ban logging (Greenpeace did that) and to get trade banned by international law. Greenpeace has worked with the White House on its logging fight and with several other governments. President Bush was onboard with the logging ban, only a few months before he told an audience at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration about his commitment to enforce the law. But here was a vessel heading for Miami, some 3 to 5 miles off the coast, carrying illegal wood. Two experienced "climbers," Hillary Hosta and Scott Anderson, went out to board the ship. Greenpeace and other groups train their "climbers" up in the Canadian forests. And certainly Hosta was experienced, one glance at Google will show that she's dangled off New York office buildings and towering forests to protest environmental abuse. The boarding of the APL Jade was, even the government has admitted, a peaceful act. The two climbers grabbed onto ladders, swung themselves aboard and posted the sign. As these acts, it ended with little fanfare. The group was detained, went to court on April 15 and the individuals were sentenced to time served. Only July 18, quite surprisingly, Marcos Daniel Jimenez, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, announced that a federal grand jury had indicted Greenpeace Inc. "with boarding a vessel before its arrival in port and the conspiracy to do so." Jimenez, incidentally, was chosen for his post, many Miami lawyers think, because he was on the team that handled Bush's election battle in Miami and his brother, Frank, is a key aide to Jeb Bush, Florida's governor and Bush's brother. The U.S. conspiracy statute is one of the federal government's most dangerous. No matter how trivial the ultimate offense, the conspiracy makes it a significant crime and it allows the prosecutor to use as evidence the most innocent acts, "overt acts," as steps in the alleged crime. (The indictment listed the renting of one of the boats and the credit card used. Jimenez congratulated the FBI for its work.) Nevertheless, for the conspiracy statute to be used, there has to have been an alleged crime. In this case, presumably at Attorney General John Ashcroft's direction, Jimenez found an 1872 U.S. statute, prohibiting "sailor-mongering," the luring of sailors with liquor and prostitutes from their ships, to charge Greenpeace under. Greenpeace has countered that the indictment is vague and the law prosecutors dug up imprecise. The laws says "whoever, not being in the United States service, and not being duly authorized by law for that purpose, goes on board any vessel about to arrive at the place of her destination, before her actual arrival, and before she has been completely moored, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both." The statute certainly sounds like the vessel is about to land, not at least three miles at sea or maybe five or six. More troubling perhaps is where Jimenez and the FBI, Coast Guard and other agencies find the time for the case, considering they sit on one of the hottest smuggling ports in America. The Miami Herald noted "that this indictment is a puzzlement ... there seems to be no point to it beyond vindictiveness toward a group that riles the administration. Is this the best use of federal law-enforcement sources? Is it selective prosecution?" Former Vice President Albert Gore may have it right. At a meeting of a Democratic political group moveon.org event, Gore said "they have even taken steps that to be clearly aimed at stifling dissent," calling the prosecution "highly disturbing." Greenpeace was first indicted in a charge that claimed the cargo on the APL Jade was not illegal, but the DOJ later amended the indictment. "The Justice Department today forced Greenpeace back into court to be arraigned a second time on the exact same charges ... the government has now abandoned its claim that Greenpeace was wrong about the presence of contraband mahogany wood on the ship," Greenpeace said. It said "we hope the government will soon admit that not one just sentence in its indictment but the entire prosecution is invalid." Not too likely. If Ashcroft and company win, Greenpeace will lose its tax-exempt status and have to report activities to the Justice Department. ### |
