The Securing the Protection of our Enduring and Established Constitutional Heritage or SPEECH Act, passed by both the House and Senate and awaiting President Obama’s signature, prevents lawsuits brought against American writers in foreign courts from limiting free speech in America. “It protects authors, journalists, and publishers by preventing U.S. federal courts from acknowledging or enforcing a judgment in a foreign libel suit that goes against the First Amendment... The bill also empowers authors and publishers to clear their names by showing that a foreign judgment is not in line with American law, even when the foreign plaintiff has not tried to enforce the judgment in the United States.”
The Epoch Times
August 5, 2010
By Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld
Washington, D.C.
A bill to protect authors, journalists, and publishers from “libel tourism” recently passed both houses of Congress. The bill, known as the SPEECH Act, prevents lawsuits brought against American writers in foreign courts from limiting free speech in America. The Securing the Protection of our Enduring and Established Constitutional Heritage or SPEECH Act passed the Senate and House in July.
Libel tourism refers to bringing a defamation lawsuit in a foreign country that is unrelated to the published material and where protection of free speech is weaker than in the United States. The goal is usually to silence or intimidate the journalist or author. Recent defamation lawsuits in the U.K. and Canada brought against American authors spurred legislators to take action.
Director of the American Center for Democracy Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, who documents and publishes terrorist organization’s funding sources, has been campaigning for protection from the judgments of foreign courts. After she exposed how Saudi billionaire Khalid bin Mahfouz funded al-Qaeda, Hamas, and other terrorist organizations in her 2003 book "Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed and How to Stop It," Mahfouz sued her for libel in London.
Iran's Post Bank - International Connections and U.S. Relationships
The U.S. Treasury designated Post Bank of Iran as having ties to Bank Sepah. Both banks are provided financial services to Iran’s ballistic missile program. Post Bank of Iran has provided millions of dollars to North Korean weapons manufacturers as well.
On Wednesday, June 16, 2010, the U.S. Treasury Department officially designated Post Bank of Iran for “providing financial services to, and acting on behalf of, Bank Sepah”. Both financial institutions are now designated under Executive Order (EO) 13382. Post Bank reportedly facilitated business on behalf of Bank Sepah for Iran's defense industries and overseas beneficiaries. Originally Bank Sepah was designated for providing financial services to Iran's missile industry, including two entities linked to Iran's ballistic missile program. Bank Sepah was also subsequently designated by the United Nations in March 2007 under UNSCR 1747.
Specifically, Post Bank is accused of facilitating millions of dollars between an Iranian-based ‘Hong Kong Electronics’ which provided support to designated North Korean entities, including Tanchon Commerical Bank (designated under EO 13382 and UNSCR 1717) and a weapons proliferator, Korea Mining Development Corporation (designated under EO 13382)
According to the prestigious London headquartered global database Bankers’ Almanac, owned by the Reed business information group, Post Bank reportedly maintains eight correspondent banking relationships. These include banks located in countries that are strong allies of the United States. Correspondent banks provide financial services, such as access to foreign currencies and markets, to other banking institutions when they do not have a physical presence in any given location.
Success: LA passes a bill which provides that no foreign law shall be applied here if it violates a right guaranteed by the American Constitution. This law will insure that the U.S. Constitution will not be subjugated to Shariah Law. This was in response to a child custody case in a Maryland court, which deferred to Shariah Law. Under Shariah Law, fathers have custody over mothers, and more rights in general, in a court of law.
NOLA.com
April 28, 2010
By James Gill
Baton Rouge, LA
Within minutes Monday a legislative committee repudiated both Islamic and British law.
Neither, perhaps, represents an immediate threat to justice in Louisiana, but it was not entirely an alarmist and xenophobic stunt when the committee approved two bills by Rep. Ernest Wooton, R-Belle Chase. Mostly, but not entirely.
One of Wooton's bills, which provides that no foreign law shall be applied here if it violates a right guaranteed by the American Constitution, is by any rational measure superfluous. But it is not unknown for immigrant litigants to invoke the tenets of Sharia to which, the committee was told, the Maryland courts deferred in a child custody case.
Fighting USG Shariah Finance: The AIG Credit Facility Trust Is Illegal
The lawsuit brought by US Marine Kevin Murray against the US Treasury and Timothy Geithner questioning whether the AIG taxpayer bailout violates the establishment clause (the U.S. govt is prohibited from owning a religious business) is moving full speed ahead! All efforts by the U.S. government to stop the lawsuit (and there have been many) have been dismissed time and time again by the judge who believes there is a real case here. Now, the lawyers bringing the suit have discovered that our own U.S. government illegally transferred bailout money to AIG through an illegal trust. While this does NOT address the issue of Shariah, it will likely ensure that this lawsuit will continue on, with more press coverage and eventual discovery that Shariah is not just a religion but a political movement whose mission is to overtake our country and replace our U.S. Constitution with Shariah Law.
The federal government is opposing a Michigan man's request to take the deposition of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in a lawsuit that challenges the bailout of American International Group Inc.
A lawsuit was filed in 2008 on religious grounds, claiming the government should not have bailed out AIG because the insurance giant sold financial products specifically tailored to Islamic principles.
The lawsuit says AIG sells Takaful insurance, which is based on communal assistance that has been accepted by some Islamist religious officials.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Mona Majzoub is scheduled to hear arguments Feb. 8.
In May, U.S. District Judge Lawrence Zatkoff denied a request to dismiss the lawsuit at an early stage, saying the case raises questions about whether the government is promoting religion.
CAIR Admitted Fundraising for Convicted Terror Group
CAIR has admitted to raising money for The Holyland Foundation, a Shariah charity that was indicted for funding Hamas. In the wake of September 11, CAIR used its website to ostensibly raise funds for victims of the attack on the World Trade Center, including fire fighters. The money was being sent instead to The Holyland Foundation, creating more victims of terror. The check above is payable from the Holyland to CAIR in 1994, as they helped give them a head start in operations costs. CAIR, in turn, raised funds for the terror charity.
While the Council on American-Islamic Relations has contended its designation by federal prosecutors as an unindicted co-conspirator in a major terror-finance case is unjustified, the group has admitted in a legal brief it solicited donations in the wake of the 9/11 attacks for the Holy Land Foundation, the convicted American fundraising arm for the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas.
The admission – a previously unnoticed declaration in talk-radio host Michael Savage's lawsuit against CAIR – was attached to a brief filed this week in the Muslim group's suit against a father and son who carried out a six-month undercover investigation in which they obtained 12,000 pages of incriminating documents and made secret audio and video recordings. Lawyers for P. David Gaubatz and Chris Gaubatz filed a motion to dismiss the case this week that contends CAIR has no claim because it does not legally exist.
Gaubatz lawyer Daniel Horowitz, who also represented Savage, attached a copy of CAIR's admission with the filing of his motion this week.
