This is what stupid looks like:
Posted on 07/28/2011 12:37:01 AM PDT by Hunton Peck
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A sentencing hearing turned into a rally supporting an environmental activist who has become an antihero after disrupting a government auction of oil and gas leases near two national parks in Utah.
Protesters gathered around the courthouse and dozens were arrested Tuesday as Tim DeChristopher launched into a lengthy address urging others fight climate change by taking similar steps of civil disobedience.
But U.S. District Judge Dee Benson said there was no excuse for the 29-year-old former wilderness guide's blatant disrespect for the rule of law.
Benson sentenced DeChristopher to two years in prison on Tuesday, making him the first person to be prosecuted for failing to make good on bids at a lease auction of Utah public lands. He ran up bids on 13 parcels totaling more than 22,000 acres near Arches and Canyonlands national parks in 2008.
"My intent both at the time of the auction and now was to expose, embarrass and hold accountable the oil and gas industry, to the point that it cut into their $100 billion profits," DeChristopher told Benson.
DeChristopher said he would accept whatever punishment Benson imposed, but added that time in prison would not silence him or change his viewpoint.
"You have authority over my life, but not my principles. Those are mine," DeChristopher said. "I'll continue to confront the system that threatens our future."
DeChristopher also said that in a world where corporations have so much influence over government he believed that civil disobedience might be the only way to make change.
"This is what hope looks like from now on. This is what patriotism looks like. This is what love looks like," he said.
A courtroom packed with DeChristopher supporters broke into applause when he finished speaking to the judge.
(Excerpt) Read more at centurylink.net ...
This is a leftist getting put down. These arn't Tea Party people judges and corporations getting their way. You can probably count on the idea he is getting in the way of big corporate funders of the Democratic Party who have Democrate investors behind them.
This is a leftist getting put down. These arn't Tea Party people judges and corporations getting their way. You can probably count on the idea he is getting in the way of big corporate funders of the Democratic Party who have Democrate investors behind them.
This guy, and the rest of his totalitarian followers are just terrorists. Nothing more. Nothing less.
By the way. He’s not just driving up the price for the fat cats. He’s making it harder for the average people,(which happens to include the people this guy claims to speak for), to be able to afford to keep harsh nature from making their life nasty, brutish, and short. And they call themselves progressive?
And all this based upon a lie.
Al, you must be so proud of your children.
Methinks this little 29 y/o has been munching too many of those magic mushrooms in the forests. Fruitcake!!
This is what stupid looks like:
Can we just skip ahead to the part where he gets eaten by the bears?
Confiscate every cent he makes for the rest of his miserable life to make him pay up for his bid.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.