I have made the point literally for years that conservatives will mobilize in large numbers to counter a Westboro Baptist Church action, but won't say a word about Code Pinko and the "anti-war" (actually, anti-American) actions by the Left. That is my beef with them on this. The Supreme Court was right to rule in Westboro's favor, and will be right until they rule against the anti-war types and slam them down.
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There are key differences between Westboro and the Code Pinkos (and certain movements around certain GOP Presidential candidates). Westboro takes advantage of soldiers' deaths, but Code Pinko actually causes those deaths with their sedition and undermining of the war effort. Conservatives' priorities are misplaced--before helping a given family avoid some emotional pain, they should have all military families avoid the pain at all by countering those causing the soldiers to die in the first place. I for years did countering operations against the anti-war types. But I never did--and until conservatives change their attitudes, never will--counter Westboro. Westboro is engaging in First Amendment activity regarding a non-military domestic issue--namely, our laws and culture with regard to homosexuality. I may abhor their actions, but they have the right to do it. Code Pinko-types, on the other hand, are actively and intentionally giving aid and comfort to the enemies of the United States, and are in fact enemies themselves. They have no First Amendment right to what they do. Government authority should shut those organizations down, but let Westboro do their thing. And let the counters to Westboro do their thing.
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18 USC § 2387 - Activities affecting armed forces generally: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2387
(a)Whoever, with intent to interfere with, impair, or influence the loyalty, morale, or discipline of the military or naval forces of the United States:
(1)advises, counsels, urges, or in any manner causes or attempts to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty by any member of the military or naval forces of the United States; or
(2)distributes or attempts to distribute any written or printed matter which advises, counsels, or urges insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty by any member of the military or naval forces of the United States—
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.
(b)For the purposes of this section, the term "military or naval forces of the United States" includes the Army of the United States, the Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Navy Reserve, Marine Corps Reserve, and Coast Guard Reserve of the United States; and, when any merchant vessel is commissioned in the Navy or is in the service of the Army or the Navy, includes the master, officers, and crew of such vessel.
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18 USC § 2388 - Activities affecting armed forces during war: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2388
(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).
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Treason Lite
By: Henry Mark Holzer
FrontPageMagazine.com Thursday, November 07, 2002
FrontPageMagazine.com Thursday, November 07, 2002
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There is another federal statute – which I call "Treason Lite" – that makes it a crime to conspire to "levy war against the United States." That's what the Portland Six were charged with. That statute is Title 18, United States Code, Section 2384. The pertinent part provides: If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them . . . they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.
While Section 2384 stops short of a constitutionally based charge of treason, its use against the Portland Six may represent the government's movement toward treason indictments in appropriate cases (which this one probably isn't, because of the difficulty of proving "aid and comfort").
For the moment, then, "Treason Lite" will have to do. And it will do very nicely because it is even easier to prove than constitutional treason. No overt act giving aid and comfort, no two-witness proof, is necessary to convict. To prove a federal conspiracy the government need only prove an agreement between at least two people to commit a federal crime, and that any one of them performed an act – even a perfectly legal act – in furtherance of that agreement.
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18 USC § 2384 - Seditious conspiracy: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2384
If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.
