April 22, 2011, - 7:00 pm
WTF?!: Dearbornistan Jury Requires Terry Jones to Pay “Peace Bond” to Hold Protest; Bond is $1; Jones Refuses to Pay, Arrested!
It’s official. We’ve lost America. A Dearbornistan jury just found (at about 6:42 p.m.) that Pastor Terry Jones must pay a “peace bond” of thousands of dollars in order to hold his planned protest in front of the Islamic Center of America mosque in Dearbornistan. But District Court Judge Mark Somers charged Jones only $1 in bond, which he’s refused to pay, and has now been arrested and put in jail. Huh? I told you Jones wanted to be a martyr. But he shouldn’t even have to pay $1. Free speech is free, thus the adjective in front of the word, “speech.”
As I write this, it is just over two hours AFTER the time that Jones was to hold his protest, but, instead, he’s been on trial for prior speech and future speech in one of the most unconstitutional trials I’ve ever seen (I watched much of it on live feed broadcast over the net). The protest was to take place at 5:00 p.m. Eastern, today, and now that won’t happen, as the judge, Judge Mark Somers, just returned to set the amount of the bond. He set it at $1, which Jones refused to pay, so he’s been arrested and put in jail. The whole thing is one humongous outrage.
Jones had said he would come back and hold his protest, originally planned for today, next week. And, again, it’s clear to me, he just wants to be a martyr. Neither he nor a colleague from his church who was also on trial today wanted to poll the individual members of the jury. The judge repeatedly offered them to preserve several objections for appeal, appeals they likely would have won, ultimately. But they declined each time. They didn’t want to win this. They just wanted to be martyrs, and it sets a bad precedent for the rest of us. And with their refusal to pay even the $1 bond, that’s clear, even if it is out of principle. Still, they shouldn’t have been required to pay one red cent. And the fact they were arrested for refusing to pay is an outrage. I wish I could represent them, but alas, the Jewish Sabbath is about to start for me.
Regardless of the small amount of bond the judge imposed, it’s a very sad day in America that there was a trial at all, and more so, that a jury said you have to pay for the privilege of exercising your First Amendment speech rights if you burn a Koran. Say good-bye to our freedoms, slowly but surely. Free speech is no longer free, even if a judge says you only have to pay $1.
Tags: $1, $1 bond, arrested, bond, Dearborn, Dearbornistan, First Amendment, Free Speech, Islam, Islamic Center of America, Judge Mark Somers, jury, Mark Somers, martyr, martyrs, Muslim, Pastor Terry Jones, peace bond, sharia, Terry Jones, Terry Jones arrested, unConstitutional, Verdict
On the Sabbath, you are allowed to break it to save a life. Does representing Jones apply to that rule? Free speech doesn’t call one dollar. I like what he did.
jewishinfidel on April 22, 2011 at 7:15 pm