It's certainly been an interesting day here at CasablancaPA. We made so many new friends! Since last night, the number of followers on our Twitter feed has more than quadrupled (and counting!), and traffic on this li'l ol' blog increased almost seven-fold.
Thanks to all our new tech-savvy friends, we learned the term for this phenomenon is the Streisand Effect.
Tom Corbett's obsession with CasablancaPA is nothing new. More than a year ago, his minions prodded Tribune-Review columnist Eric Heyl into idle speculation about the identity of the bloggers.
A few months later, he insinuated to the Associated Press not only that he knew the identity of at least one blogger, but that said blogger was "making stuff up." (Slander!)
But for all his bluster, it appears that he is not as sure as he wants us all to think he is, and wanted to go into court on Friday with solid proof (which he doesn't have) that someone's been blogging mean things about him, and someone should serve a long jail term because of it.
Seriously. They said that. That someone should serve a "a sentence far stiffer" than his convictions warrant because he's "used an anonymous blog" to "malign the prosecution." Or, at least, they think he has. A prosecutor in the United States of America asserts that someone should serve time because the prosecutor thinks (but doesn't know for sure) that someone is maligning the prosecutor.
(Speaking of maligning a prosecutor, check out these Tweets!)
Anyway, a million thanks to all our new Tweeps. We love you! Our favorite Tweet of the day, from the stalwart Grabngo: "I'm Spartacus."
You rock!
Thanks for trying to keep PA government honest and transparent!
ReplyDeleteBest of luck to you on the "force Twiter to expose your identity" thing.
So much for 1st ammendment rights!
It's OK for some, but not for all?
"'Lil ol' blog?" Hell, this is one of the most important media in Pennsylvania today.
ReplyDeleteCorbett is going on the Radio and talking about his Campaign, Himself, and his plans if elected Governor.
ReplyDeleteThese Radio Stations play commercials to make money and when Tom Corbett a State Employee paid by the taxpayers does it during the day when he is using state resources for pecuniary gain and that is a conflict of interests.
Corbett is actually not working for the people but benefiting by taking in kind contribution from a Private Radio Owned Radio Station that does not reimburse the State Tax Coffers for Corbett promoting himself on State Time.
When a Government employee makes money for a Private Owned Radio Station and reaches millions of voters while supposedly working on state he has committed a felony by campaigning on state for private promotional gain for a Private Entity and his Campiagn for Governor.
Private Newspapers, Radio, and Communications companies using Satte Employees is not a public service during an election year, it is a Conflict of Interest evrytime Corbett promotes himself that way.
Keep focused don't worry about the subpoena. All of your new followers are well adware but there are bigger issues than a illegal subpoena, lets hear about them.
ReplyDeleteSubpoena seeks IDs of Corbett's Twitter critics:
ReplyDeleteBy Mike Wereschagin
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Attorney General and Republican gubernatorial nominee Tom Corbett declined comment Wednesday on a subpoena sent to the social networking site Twitter to obtain the identities of two people who have been critical of him.
"I can't comment on that right now. ... It's a grand jury matter," Corbett said at Allegheny County Airport in West Mifflin, a day after winning the GOP nomination......
In response to an e-mail inquiry, one of the blog authors directed comments to Vic Walczak, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania. Walczak said it is too early to say whether the ACLU will challenge the subpoena, and a lot of information -- including why why the subpoena was issued -- remains unclear.
But "what we've seen has made our First Amendment antenna quiver," Walczak said. "Any subpoena seeking the identity of critics of public officials raises the specter of political retaliation. People in this country have a right to criticize government officials, and to do so anonymously."
LINK:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/state/s_682014.html
Did you notice that all this has come about and develop into a National story when Corbett Depositions in the Kimment Case?
ReplyDeleteThe questions asked in the Corbett Depositions has come about showing how much Corbett does not know about the Office of Attorney General??
Corbett had many recollection problems and Corbett awarding No Contract Bids to Private Collections Agencies that kept state money paying no interests for years is being revealed???
This practice was allowed by Corbett's OAG for years according to fired OAG Senior Attorney Kimment that has sued Corbett in Federal Court objecting to Corbett's OAG practices????
Now that Corbett has to answer questions under oath all of a sudden Corbett has memory problem?????
Now Corbett and Official Attorney General State Paid Prosecutors wants to hunt down those posting about what is in those Depositions using State Resources on State Time??????
Corbett OAG just stepped into it by trying to investigate free speech and Corbett Campaign may actually backfire on him now!
"And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth.
ReplyDelete'Who controls the past' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past."
- George Orwell, 1984, Book 1, Chapter 3
"Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought?...
ReplyDeleteHas it ever occurred to your, Winston, that by the year 2050, at the very latest, not a single human being will be alive who could understand such a conversation as we are having now?...
The whole climate of thought will be different.
In fact, there will be no thought, as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking—not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness."
- George Orwell, 1984, Book 1, Chapter 5
I can understand why AG Corbett is seeking to end CasablancaPA by using threats and intimidation hidden under a Secret Grand Jury Agenda.
ReplyDeleteCorbett is someone seeking to become all powerful just like Big Brother.
Corbett wants to see everything; even what you or anyone is thinking and preventing people from learning from this, by easily happening, into believing in our government too much.
Especially crafted Grand Jury Presentments by OAG Attorney’s secret writings later proven to be mistaken in their content on so many charges that reasonable jurors refused to accept once confronted with the full truth.
Yet, 3 small charges found guilty makes all others forget how many could not be proven as the truth.
So, lets string up the people that stand up and try to reveal the whole truth.
Now-a-days too many media reporters, average voters, and non-interested citizens are believing in the government, in particular, way too much.
We are just now seeing the results of those events, by the loss of freedoms in the name of security or protection against others they call corrupt.
Fascism, Communism and Socialism never had complete control over everyone's thoughts that is how they fell: through the so-called corrupt political opponents, traitors and spies.
No one can truly have complete control over another human being, we are, by nature, born competitive and born to lead.
If you take this away, we will spend our whole lives trying to get that freedom back: AT ALL COST!
Now comes Corbettism and it is time to stand up to this kind of tyranny and the shot at Concord has been the subpoena by Corbett’s Thought Police in the disguise of seeking justice, when they use injustice, misinformation, and seek to follow you on the Internet as their weapon.
If they can go after and silence CasablancaPA they come for YOU!
It is clear here, the speech at issue is core political speech, and the prosecuting authority that is investigating the speech for possible violations of the law is the prosecutor for the same level of government as the officials who have been criticized.
ReplyDeleteThe level of cooperation and coordination between Corbett’s Political Campaign Interests along with the Republican Party Interests combined with Corbett’s Investigative Bias Interests is sufficient that citizens might well be suspicious that an Attorney General who receives routine endorsements from Republican Political Leaders and Republican Judges that to date are not investigated after 4 years could be only too willing to aid an investigation into citizens’ dissidents who object to that cozy relationship.
Attorney General Corbett should not be permitted to rely on generalized dangers of disclosure and vague reasons for requesting such information before a secret Grand Jury.
ReplyDeleteAttorney General Corbett has yet to provide any such particularized showing.
Rather, Attorney General Corbett also has a vested political interest in against potential embarrassment once the public learns that it is seeking to compel the identification of anonymous political critics under the disguise of secret Grand Jury Hearings.
This subpoena involves gross and unclear attacks on the core political speech, which is at the heart of the First Amendment’s protections, and that the speech is critical of public and party officials in the very jurisdiction the Attorney general is running for Governor to protect himself from any criticisms.
This speech serves and increases the importance of notice as a protection against improper use of prosecutorial authority.
The Philadelphia Aurora kept on publishing even after its publishers, Benjamin Franklin's grandson, Benjamin Franklin Bache and William Duane were arrested under the illegal Sedition Acts for criticizing President John Adams. The book is a worthy read and one finds that history often repeats and parallels yesterday, despite laws that have been thoroughly discredited.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/American-Aurora-Democratic-Republican-Suppressed-Beginnings/dp/0312194374
The American Aurora is a lengthy and arduous read, but it uses the original newspaper articles of the time to educate readers about the nations history and how the Federalist party came to destroy itself by its own hand.
For anyone interested in events of today and how they relate to the present, the book is truly enlightening. The book itself primarily contains actual newspaper events from the three Philadelphia papers of the day: The Philadelphia Aurora, the Porcupine and the American Gazette and in that respect is historically accurate - you will never see the Founding Fathers the same way once you read this book. See this link for a short discussion that only hints at what the book covers.
http://americancreation.blogspot.com/2010/04/sedition-and-end-of-americas-first.html
For students of Pennsylvania history, the book is essential reading.
Just because you have an anonymous blog does not make you immune to the laws of libel.
ReplyDeleteHas someone accused this blog of libel?
ReplyDeleteI don't live in PA but I have to say many bloggers today are doing the type of journalism we no longer have in what I think is corporate-controlled mainstream media. So I'm following you on twitter to support your right to free speech, even if it tells unflattering truths about politicians.
ReplyDeleteThere blog has broken no law. For those who seem stuck on the whole "libel" and "slander" issue, even if that were true, the Attorney General can't use a criminal grand jury to investigate it. The subpoenas were issued to investigate a crime. Now, based on a pre-sentencing report for Brett Cott, it looks like Corbett was using his grand jury powers to discover information about Cott to put in the pre-sentencing report. Again, highly inappropriate if not illegal. Corbett has a bunch to answer for on this.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...Just because you have an anonymous blog does not make you immune to the laws of libel. May 20, 2010 7:50 AM
ReplyDeleteIt sure does when truth can be shown as a complete defense against libel.
Tom Corbett and his OAG Prosecutors are Public Figures that have misused their office going only after those they choose, Attorney Code of Discipline, and are hiding now when confronted with one of their own Career Deputy Attorney Generals exposing Corbett's corruption on Collection Agencies No Bid Contract in return for Political Support!
Everything above can be proven if these Prosecutors are brought under oath and they cannot sue for Libel, because it is true.
The Corbett Depositions in the Kimment Case are proving what Corbett has been doing, why, and how he refuses to answers questions due to memory claims.
First they only went after Democratic Law Makers and Staff, then one lone Republican, and refused to investigate Republican Judges, Senators, and Corbett Contributors.
The truth is coming out and Corbett is trying to stop it and his OAG Prosecutors once brought under investigation will lawyer up and turn on each other’s if investigated by a Special Counsel appointed by the Governor.
Governor Rendell has to man up NOW!
Anonymous said...Keep focused don't worry about the subpoena. All of your new followers are well adware but there are bigger issues than a illegal subpoena, lets hear about them. May 20, 2010 2:33 AM
ReplyDeletePost more on the Kimment Case being deposed that Corbett cannot run away from and put up the Kimment Complaint telling everyone how Corbett's OAG operates the office for political gain on the campaigns not justice.
Once this comes out, Corbett will have to answer the Stetler Motion and Questions the Republican Judge has been protecting Corbett to date.
When the full truth starts to come out each Prosecutor Krastek, Blessington, Constanzo, Fina and the rests will have to answer on how their own investigations were based on campaign motives not justice.
The big rumors under the Green dome is Tood Eachus and Dwight Evans are about to be indicted to take the heat off of Corbett over his mismanangemnet of Collection Agencies contributors with No Bid Contracts as outlined in the Kimment Case.
ReplyDeleteCorbett needs boost now that TwitterGate is upon him.
NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE MAY LEAD TO AN INVESTIGATION ON CORBETTGATE!
ReplyDeleteTwitter Fighting Pennsylvania Subpoena Seeking Names of 2 Tweeters;
By JOHN SCHWARTZ
Published: May 20, 2010
Sign in to Recommend
Twitter
Sign In to E-Mail
Pennsylvania’s attorney general is demanding that Twitter unmask two of its users, a move that civil liberties groups say violates free speech.
Times Topic: TwitterA grand jury subpoena issued on May 6 ordered Twitter to disclose the identities of “casablancapa” and “bfbarbie,” two users who criticized the Pennsylvania attorney general, Tom Corbett.
The subpoena was quickly attacked by advocacy groups.
“Anonymous speech is a longstanding American right,” said Paul Alan Levy of the Public Citizen Litigation Group, a Washington organization that has defended anonymous commenters who have been sued by companies and politicians.
The group is working with the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania on the case;
Witold Walczak, legal director for the A.C.L.U. of Pennsylvania, said in a statement that “any subpoena seeking to unmask the identity of anonymous critics raises the specter of political retaliation.”
Twitter users rallied to defend the two in angry bursts, including “Twitter! Fight the Power!” and in all caps, “Tom Corbett, you should never be in any public office; ur 2 thin-skinned!”
Twitter, the site that limits posts to 140 characters, has not complied with the subpoena.
“We protect and do not disclose user information except in limited circumstances,” Timothy Yip, legal counsel for the company, said in a statement.
A spokesman for Mr. Corbett, Kevin Harley, said the subpoena had nothing to do with the criticism of the attorney general.
“There are many other Web sites and bloggers who are critical of Attorney General Corbett,” he said.
“When you’re the attorney general and you do the right thing, you sometimes make people unhappy.”
He said the subpoena was related to a criminal case concerning Brett Cott, a former political aide convicted in a political scandal known as Bonusgate.
That long-running investigation caused by Corbett inaction against Republican Senators concerns bonuses paid to legislative staff members and whether they were illegally related to political campaign work.
Mr. Cott’s sentencing hearing is set for Friday.
Eugene Volokh, a professor of law at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that if Mr. Cott turned out to be one of the commenters, and if the online comments were at odds with a claim of contrition at sentencing, the messages could potentially affect the severity of his punishment and make the subpoena harder to challenge.
On Thursday, “bfbarbie” posted a message that Mr. Corbett was “an evil man.” “Casablancapa” wrote, “Cannot thank all you crazy Tweeps enough for the encouragement — mad props to @aclupa.”
Don't forget! June 1st is "Everybody Draw Tom Corbett Day"!
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't matter who is commenting on the website - it is Still - Free Speech.
ReplyDeleteThat blog raises great questions - why didn't Corbett indict Orie - for campaign/legislative misuse of taxpayer paid state resources/computers, etc.?
oh wait - Orie is a PA Republican - and Corbett really only went after State Dems for misuse.
Corbett is a partisan hack - abusing use of his office as State AG - for republican political purposes. This just proves it more.
TWITTER AMERICAN REVOLUTION ALERT AND CALL TO FREEDOM!
ReplyDeleteWE NEED A BRETT COTT DEFENSE FUND ADDRESS AND PHONE NUMBER.
TWITTERS EVERYWHERE WE NEED TO SET UP A BRETT COTT DEFENSE FUND SO WE CAN RAISE MILLIONS TO HIRE THE BEST AND BRIGHTEST ATTORNEY'S IN THE WORLD TO DEFEND AND FREE BRETT COTT FROM THE ABUSES OF LAW ENFORCEMENT BEING USED FOR HIGHER OFFICE.
JUST ONE DOLLAR SENT TO THE DEFENSE FUND, PREFERABLY BY CHECK, TO ACCOUNT FOR IT, AS A SHOW OF SUPPORT, OR CASH ASKING FOR A RECEIPT, CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
THE ONE THING IN AMERICA WHEN YOU HAVE MONEY YOU CAN PROPERLY DEFEND YOURSELF.
THE MONEY WILL GO TO HIRING FORMER PROSECUTORS AND TOP INVESTIGATORS THAT CAN RESEARCH THE ABUSES OF THE PENNSYLVANIA OAG AND THEIR PROSECUTORS AND CORBETT.
LAW STUDENTS THAT CAN VOLUNTEER THEIR TIME WITH LAW PROFESSORS TO POINT OUT THE ABUSES OF THE PENNSYLVANIA GRAND JURY SYSTEM UNDER TOM CORBETT.
PUBLIC EDUCATIONAL CAMPAIGNS OF WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF YOU DARE SPEAK OUT TO DEFEND YOURSELF ON TWITTER OR BLOGS.
PLEASE I AM NOT RELATED TO BRETT COTT AND DO NOT AGREE WITH EVERYTHING HE BELIEVES OR SAYS, BUT HIS IMPRISONMENT BY CORBETT OAG AND SENTENCE BY JUDGE LEWIS NEEDS TO CHALLENGED AND ONLY MONEY CAN DO IT.
MILLIONS CAN BE RAISED TO STOP THIS KIND OF ABUSE, PLEASE CASABLANCAPA SET UP A CASBLANCAPA DEFENSE FUND.
ONE GROWING PYRAMID OF PROUD TWITTERS PUTTING JUST $1 DOLLAR INTO THE MAIL CAN SEND A BETTER MESSAGE ALONG WITH MILLION OF MESSENGERS AND BRING WORLD ATTENTION TO CORBETT ABUSES OF POWER.
BRETT COTT AND HIS LAWYER CANNOT SPEAK, TWIT, OR DEFEND HIMSELF, SINCE HE IS IN PRISON, BUT WE ALL CAN, BY JUST SENDING $1 DOLLAR!