Palin-bot sues Nevada DMV for not allowing him to display his ignorance on his license plates.

From the Daily Mail:

A Nevada man has filed suit against the state's Department of Motor Vehicles after multiple requests for personalised licence plates supporting Republican Sarah Palin were rejected.

James Linlor, of Douglas County, claims his rights were violated when the state refused to issue a series of license plates supporting the former Alaska governor, branding them 'inappropriate' in nature.

According to the claim, 'GOPALIN' was among several requests rejected, while the agency approved others including 'GO OBAMA' and 'DMOCRAT'.

According to court documents filed on Friday in U.S. District Court, Mr Linlor filed for the personalised licence plate 'GOPALIN' in 2009 and 2010. Both, he says, were rejected, reports the Las Vegas Sun.
In June, 2010, his requests for 'PALIN,' 'PALIN12' and 'PALIN16' were denied.

The DMV’s Special Plates Committee, which reviews applications, stated the applications were 'vulgar or obscene or expressing superiority of political affiliation.'

Well at this point I have to side with the Nevada DMV, I mean clearly this vanity plate choice would fall into the "vulgar or obscene" category. I guess the reason could be that last one, but nah.

After all it is not like there is a clear demonstration of bias on the part of the Nevada DMV.

I'm sorry, WHICH license plate submissions did they okay?

Mr Linlor says he later discovered the DMV had issued other politicly-motivated license plates, including 'GOGREEN,' 'DMOCRAT,' 'AL GORE,' 'KERRY,' 'EDWARDS,' 'DEAN,' 'HILLARY' and 'RONPAUL,' while requests for 'REPBLCN' and 'BUSH,' were rejected.

Testing the system, Mr Linlor said he applied for a 'GO OBAMA' plate, which was approved. 

Oh.  They actually issued an "EDWARDS" and a "RONPAUL?"

Well that sort of changes things now doesn't it?


As much as it pains me to say, I do believe this gentleman has a very definite legal point and he should in fact be allowed to put "IMBCIL," I'm sorry I mean "GOPALIN" on his license plate. As ridiculous, and ill informed as that decision might be, it does appear to be unfair to reject HIS request while allowing other Nevada residents to put THEIR political idols on the license plates which adorn their vehicles.


After all, his decision could have been much, much worse.

Prosecutors release damaging new information about militia member who plotted against Alaska law enforcement.

As I wrote just last month, Coleman Barney, one of Schaeffer Cox's buddies who helped to plot the murder of State Troopers and local judges, was able to get his bail reduced from 2 million dollars to a mere $100,000. Once that was accomplished his supporters have taken up collections to raise the money, and his legal team has been working hard to get Coleman out of jail and reintroduced back into his community. (Courtesy of the Alaska Dispatch)

Barney's defense attorney has told the court that there are good reasons to let the man go home to his work and family. The state court, in which Barney faces the most serious charges, has already agreed to it. The 36-year-old lifelong Alaskan, businessman and father of five is also a respected and active member of his church. He is stable, hard working, looks out for his family and others and "has a history of contributing to the community, not destroying it," Tim Dooley, Barney's attorney, wrote in a motion filed recently with the court. To reinforce this point Dooley included several letters of support from Barney's friends and relatives.

As you can imagine this has not gone over well with many Alaskans, nor with the federal prosecutors who put the case together against Cox and his fellow conspirators, and who have now released heretofore unknown information to paint quite a different picture of Cox than the one his defense team wants to define their client.

Prosecutors are urging the judge to not be fooled, and to help the judge make up his mind they’ve offered new details about the day of Barney's arrest and evidence found at his home and other locations.

"Coleman Barney, father of five, business owner and member of the community referenced in the defense pleadings and in letters of support, is not the same Coleman Barney who elected to arrive to an illegal arms sale wearing body armor and carrying two loaded pistols. It is not the Coleman Barney who, during this arms sale held and examined with his own hands what he thought were live hand grenades, and a pistol silencer combination. It was not the same Coleman Barney who sought to purchase tactical weapons which only exist to kill either violently, secretly, or furtively," prosecutor Stephen Skrocki wrote in a motion filed Wednesday opposing Barney"s release.

Skrocki goes on: "To this sale, Coleman Barney arrived with a similarly armed and equipped fugitive/co-conspirator whom he (and without doubt his spouse) supported and harbored for several weeks amongst his own family of small children while hatching a plan to murder state of Alaska law enforcement officers and a state court judge. To assist this fugitive/co-conspirator, Schaffer Cox, Barney secreted and left in a very public place -- a well known and popular winter festival -- a trailer he owned, loaded with tactically directed weapons of warfare -- two live grenades, grenade making components, 18 grenade shells, grenade launchers, a belt-fed Browning semi-automatic machine gun, and other militarily offensive firearms and ammunition."

"The decision to deposit this trailer in such a public place defies explanation and speaks volumes concerning character. In leaving the trailer in plain view, Barney placed the needs of his cause and his allegiance to his co-conspirator above those of who lived in his community. The risk of harm to the attendees, which included children of all ages, were very real and very significant."

You know I can't speak for all Alaskans here, but my opinion is that this guy needs to be kept locked away until after his trial, which I dearly hope earns him a life sentence in a Federal penitentiary someplace far, far away from Alaska.

By the way, through my sources I have also heard that the Feds informant in this case, William Fulton, is also understandably displeased to learn that this nutjob might be allowed out into the community, and considers that to be an extremely dangerous decision if in fact it is allowed to happen.

Cox and his buddies know full well that the case against them partially hinges on the testimony of "Drop Zone Bill" Fulton, and having Barney out on the streets trying to tie up loose ends, places him and his family in grave danger.

Attorney for Alaskan man indicted on charges of plotting to kill State Troopers and local judges gets bail reduced from two million dollars to $100,000. WTF?

Courtesy of the Fairbanks News Miner:

Attorney Tim Dooley said he planned to file documents on Wednesday asking for a federal bail review for North Pole resident Coleman Barney, who is being held without bond. If the move is successful, the 36-year-old electrician hopes he can gather enough money to get out of jail, Dooley said.

Barney convinced state Superior Court Judge David C. Stewart on Friday to drop his bail on state murder and kidnapping conspiracy charges from $2 million to $100,000.

Dooley said relatives and supporters have scraped together enough money to pay the bond.

Dozens of relatives, friends and church members sent letters to the court requesting a lower bail for Barney. His wife, Rachel, is scheduled Friday to give birth to the couple’s fifth child.

Barney remains imprisoned, however, because he also is charged with federal weapons violations.

“If it was just the state charges — which are more serious than the federal charges, I should add — he’d be out,” Dooley said.

Barney is one of five local defendants with ties to the Alaska Peacemakers Militia who are accused of concocting an elaborate plot they dubbed “241.” That effort, which was reportedly discussed during hundreds of hours of secret FBI recordings, involved a conspiracy to kill two Alaska State Troopers or state judges anytime a militia member was arrested or killed by authorities.

Prosecutors say the plot was concocted to protect Schaeffer Cox, the militia leader who was a fugitive last February for failing to appear at trial in February on misdemeanor weapons charges.

Coleman and Rachel Barney also are charged with harboring Cox as he hid from authorities.

I'm sorry but reducing this guy's bail to one-twentieth of what it was originally set is completely insane.

The guy was plotting to kill state judges and law enforcement officials, and these people want him out on the streets? The whole reason that it was set so high was to ensure he would NOT be getting out, so asking for it be reduced defeats the entire premise of setting such a high amount in the first place.

What, do they think this guy became LESS dangerous while sitting in his jail cell fuming over his incarceration and plotting his revenge?

And WHO would donate to the fund to get him out?  Did they not see what this guy was charged with?

According to the complaint, "The plan would then have the tactical teams going to the target's houses, cutting the power, shooting the inhabitants as they come out to check on their power; then the team would kick the target's residence's doors in, kill everybody inside and set the house on fire. Then the team would lay in hiding and take out the initial responding officer before moving on to the next target."

What else does he have to do to demonstrate that he is mentally unstable and a danger to his community, dress in colonial garb while carrying an automatic weapon?

Oh yeah, that's right.

What in the hell is wrong with these people?

More on the civil lawsuit against Sarah Palin, and why it has been moved to the Federal court.

Yesterday I posted about this lawsuit, and one of the questions all of us had was WHY it was moved to the Federal court instead of being left in Juneau.

One of our visitors, who is also a legal eagle, took it upon themselves to answer that questions for us and sent me a PDF of the pertinent legal paperwork.  Below is the "Notice of Removal"

And since I have it, I thought you all might be interested in getting a look at the actual complaint filed by Chip Thoma. These are public documents so they are available to all who are interested.  I am just making access a little easier.

Activist lawsuit against Sarah Palin moved to Federal court.

Courtesy of the ADN:

A civil lawsuit alleging Sarah Palin undertook a campaign to embarrass and discredit an activist in Alaska has been moved to federal court.

Palin attorney John Tiemessen did not give a reason for his removal of the matter from state court and declined comment, saying Wednesday that he can't discuss questions of rationale "because they necessarily involve legal strategy."

An attorney for activist Chip Thoma, James McGowan, said the move could be designed to try to avoid a jury trial in Juneau.

Thoma sued Palin for at least $100,000, claiming through McGowan that she'd twisted his complaints about bus traffic around the governor's mansion to make it seem he'd engaged in an unsavory campaign against the Palins.

Well isn't THAT interesting news?

I have no idea how this qualifies as a federal matter, but I do agree that if the trial had been held in Juneau that Palin would have had a SIGNIFICANT problem with jury selection.

This will be one to keep an eye on.

P.S. For those who DON'T know the story, the Reader's Digest version is that Thoma complained that tour buses visiting the Governor's mansion in Juneau were causing traffic problems and a potentially dangerous situation.

Palin responded by putting a fake lemonade stand out in front of the mansion, making Piper sit in it, and then accusing Thoma of attacking her children.

This resulted in a vicious attack from Palin's, much more modest back then, flock of Flying Monkeys who harassed Mr. Thoma mercilessly. Hence the civil lawsuit for $100,000.