Monday, December 03, 2007

HR 1955: Reason to declare independence, by Virginia Simson

Still under construction .. but getting going on it.


This morning I awoke after publishing a copy of the Declaration of Independence on this blog.


All I could think was how appropriate my title had been. By merely reading it, by posting it here on my blog, I have been become GUILTY OF TERRORISM in the minds of the vast majority sitting in the United States House of Representatives.

Rather than follow the rule of law, the elected members of Congress are attempting to redefine the definition of a terrorist without consulting the citizens who elect them.

In my PARTICULAR case, as I am not in possession of a United States passport and have had my passport denied to me although I am a United States citizen convicted of nothing and yet I cannot vote.

I have attempted many times to have my grievances aired. I have been given support by fellow citizens previously. Those petitions were submitted to a United States Senator in public. In these instances, these petitions have been refused. One petition I submitted objecting to the treatment I received at the hands of the Immigration and Naturalization Service was signed by 8,000 persons and it was not received by my duly-elected representatives.

I have been forced to take up residence in a foreign country and subjected to numerous hearings in which I was compelled to show persecution. In the first legitimate hearing, which took two and one half years to have heard, it was found that indeed I had been persecuted and I was issued a UN refugee certificate at the commencement of that fair, and impartial, hearing.

During the course of that hearing, I broke down and ceased all psychological, mental and emotional functioning when questioned about how I felt about my removal from America, the changes of returning to my "country of origin." Only at that point in time did my distress over the state of America become obvious to me. I had been incensed, now I became how distressed I really was about the wrongs done to me and the robbery to which I been told to endure.

And that also made it clear to me, that despite the obvious stress and humiliation I felt over the state of affairs I was facing, I still loved America and my home state of Minnesota. These were not mind controlled or programmed states of love; I truly loved my country. But it was obvious to me that I could never return to the United States until such time as I felt a sense of trust and safety that I would not be oppressed and not represented by government officials SWORN TO UPHOLD THE CONSTITUTION of the UNITED STATES.

Since I am denied the comfort and security of a local elected representative, I have appealed widely, lengthily and concerns to other members of Congress - including, but not limited to Nancy Pelosi, the current Speaker of the House of Representatives as I have no idea of where else to appeal. I have informed Rep. Dennis Kucinich's office of my current state of affairs. His office seems at least to file my concerns. Not one elected Minnesota Congressional Representative will hear my concerns and I have no way to go directly to their offices and make complaint: it would be unsafe for me to do that.

At the time of my refugee hearing which took place here in Toronto, I had appealed to my duly-elected representative of the US House of Representatives, the elected representatives of Minnesota in the United States Senate, The House Judiciary Committee, The United States Senate, The President of the United States, the Vice President of the United States, The United States Attorney General, The United States State Department, The United States Solicitor General's office. I also personally appealed to the office of Hillary Clinton and the the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare on behalf of my son who was a minor child. I also made complaints to the Governor and Attorney General of the State of Minnesota which referred me to various departments of the State government. Despite my appeals, a private members' bill was quashed in the US Senate that would have allowed my to keep my family intact and allow me to pursue legal remedies after my abuse.

I did omit appealing to the local government of Bloomington, Minnesota where criminal acts of violence of were used against me, I was held and detained unlawfully and threats were made to harm my children if I did not admit my husband was a drug trafficker. Neither my husband nor myself have ever dealt a narcotic. And in actual fact, the only drug related offense he had was the theft of a prescription pad for which he did ninety days in prison in a UK for forgery. He had been fully pardoned, which in the legalese of the United Kingdom is known as having his record expunged. At time of the attacks and my unlawful detention, he was supporting me who had been determined to be a disabled American citizen and my minor son, was gainfully and lawfully employed and kept us both off the public welfare rolls. We possessed no alcohol and no firearms and belonged to no groups advocating the overthrow of the United States government. We were perhaps a family that appeared to be outside the "normal" family, but we were a functioning and productive family unit nonetheless, paying taxes, voting and contributing to our community on a very busy basis through 4-H clubs and helping out individuals in various 12-step groups. I was in school full-time training to be either ethics officer OR an art therapist (such funding from the State of Minnesota), and my son was enrolled in a school for the arts.

But my rights were seriously infringed by the Immigration and Naturalization Service as my husband was deported without due process of law. A list of all laws broken by United States Immigration officials under Minnesota statutes as regards their treatment of me and my sons was furnished to me by the Attorney General of Minnesota's office But I was told that no legal remedies were available to me to pursue a claim of criminal conduct but that perhaps SOME DAY this would fall under the purview of The Family Protection Act. Such purview has never taken place, and recent events - such as the House passage of HR 1955 -- makes it increasingly doubtful that this will ever take place during my lifetime or perhaps even the lifetime of my son.

My Constitutional guarantees as a law-abiding United States citizen had been violated in what has turned out to be a situation whereas no legal remedies are available. They have all been exhausted in one incident of rejection after another. There has been a continual failure on the part of United States officials to uphold the Constitution of the United States to guarantee my rights as a United States citizen.

I have written time after time on the infringements of my rights, being ever aware of my legal responsibilities as a citizen to stay within the law.

I have been ignored by the press although certain supposedly free and independent sources of information in America are highly aware of the conditions that lead to my complaints and petitions - including the New York Times. Despite the outcome of my refugee hearing and the issuance of my refugee certificate (and my son and husband's), they refuse to report this in their paper. The story of the outcome of my hearing was front page news was covered in every single major paper in the Commonwealth, including papers in Australia and New Zealand. This story of my landmark decision was commented on by the UK Home Office and the United Kingdom's consulate. A legal opinion on my case was printed in the Ottawa citizen. Even the papers in my home state of Minnesota refused to report this news, as it became illustrative of the workings of Senator Paul Wellstone's office to represent his constituents when confronting the power of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

My complaints against the government of the United States government are about my oppression by its official and not about the treatment of my husband who was a foreign national who was denied citizenship and landing, although he was denied legal process. My complaints are about the treatment that my son and I have received as United States lawful citizens.

My family came to North America prior to the Revolutionary war, as they carried complaints against their treatment at the hands of the British government. And although aggrieved, they fought on the side of the English in that war, feeling, I suppose to be good and worthy subjects of the King and to the English Parliament. During the course of having my complaints heard, the District Director made a public statement that I "should return to the United Kingdom."

My family, was however, given the protection of an independent and new country when a Constitution was drawn up. My family has lived in the United States of America since that time, following the rules of the government. I was taught to follow the rule of law and if I objected to resolve my conflicts with them in a lawful manner, which I have done. But it is of to no avail.

I can neither get the satisfaction of having my complaints heard, having my correspondence received and responded to in a timely or lawful fashion such that such correspondence can be used in a court of law, I have been forced to use the Freedom of Information Act to acquire files attesting to my abuse at the hands of government authorities although I committed no criminal acts only to find that such files had been tampered with and certain key documents removed as to what exactly transpired during the times of my appointments with United States officials, I have been subjected to having letters written by the United States to Canadian officials saying how they sorry they were I was dumped at their doorstep and that they refused to protect the interests of my son, also an American citizen. All the points I am attesting to have been recorded in a court of law and my son and I were deemed to be, by a recognized international judicial body to be "persecuted" and at risk if were to be returned to the United States.

Subsequently, the Canadian government petitioned to have a judicial review of my "case". This was following a visit by President William Clinton to Ottawa to "play golf", as reported on the national television news. This was assertion was considered to be highly amusing to the Canadian legal profession which subsequently awarded me $5,000 to hire an attorney to go to the Federal Court of Canada to pursue the next legal remedy.

My judicial review sided with the government of Canada. My case was refinanced by the attorneys in Ontario and I appealed. That appeal was quashed by the judge who had made the determination that the RULE OF FACT took precedence over the RULE OF LAW.

While this decision has been the founding premise of refugee law in Canada since that time, it exhausted my legal remedies. So a second refugee hearing was held.

By that time, we had been given "aliases", the hospital visitations for exhaustion and traumatic reactions had tripled. My son was hospitalized for a period of six months and this story ran on the CBC for a record eight minutes on the CBC news, the filming being done on hospital grounds. The next chapter in this horrible tale is that my son's psychiatrist, paid for by the province of Ontario was attacked in the public press by the government of Canada, a story which ran in the Toronto Star.

During the course of this sad tale, a petition was made by the Canadian prosecutor to have Immigration Canada process a claim for Humane Compassionate Relief via Canadian Immigration, as he became aware that no one was acting on responsibly in any government with regards to the treatment of my son. Upon referral, the Canadian Immigration office in my case sued the Canadian government for his protection on at least two occasions.

Due to the change in the law after my Federal Court case decision, without our presence at the hearing, Alex Neve, now President of Amnesty International, presided. There were not two Board Members overhearing this case so there was no chance for dissenting opinion. It was declared under RULE OF FACT that the United States is not a country of persecution. I beg to differ as do literally thousands of my fellow countrymen who have been forced into exile, forced to serve in unlawful wars of aggression, other victims of the so-called War of Drugs (under which the War Measures Act applies), wives and children of Iraqi and Gulf War veterans who have been subjected to the effects of depleted uranium weapons and the veterans themselves, those who have had their property confiscated under questionable tax laws without due process, environmentalists who have watched the devastation of public lands under successive administrations and the attempts of George W. Bush to sell such public lands to foreign business concerns, and forced to pay taxes to fund an army of aggression that annihilates people and conducts torture while violating the Geneva Convention and all forms of human decency.

I have watched in horror as I watch my nation of origin devolve in a country of war criminals and collaborators during my exile.

Torture has become the order of the day. Genocide the tactic of control and those who object have become increasingly tagged as terrorists.

I can only ask that other persons who are as outraged as I am by this piece of legislation catalog their grievances with the government of the United States (the entire government-King George, Queen Hillary, and those who would fund and continue the funding of their activities that work against the interests of The People and are clearly in violation of the Geneva Conventions and in the category of WAR CRIMES set out by the International Criminal Court and The Hague.

Even the books I have bought online can be cause to have me declared a terrorist.

The U.S. Department of State defines "terrorism" to be
"premeditated politically-motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience.

The United Nations produced this definition in 1992:
"An anxiety-inspiring method of repeated violent action, employed by (semi-) clandestine individual, group or state actors, for idiosyncratic, criminal or political reasons, whereby-in contrast to assassination-the direct targets of violence are not the main targets."
While my reputation as a person has been maligned continuously by the United States government (and although I was deemed sane enough to get landed status in Canada, I might point out), I am aghast that now I am to be labeled as a TERRORIST, as well as being indictable on TREASON and SEDITION charges under the High Crimes and Misdemeanors of the US Uniform Code of Law, I think this is taking it too far.

I am left no choice by my conscience but to declare my independence from America and ask that my fellow citizens help me catalog a full list of grievances with their elected officials even thought I am forced to reside in a foreign country. While my son and I think of ourselves as full Canadians and are very grateful that they continue to let us live here, I am sadden to think that he will never be able to return to his native country without the thoughtful and helpful intervention of concerned peoples in the United States unless I can convince other persons that legal remedy must be found.

House Resolution 1955 has cleared the House of Representatives. It is a most dastardly, complex and politically, socially and spiritually damaging form of legislation to have ever been undertaken in United States history, surpassing such repressive legislation that was passed during Joseph McCarthy's reign in Congress.

And while this blog post is too long, and may seem rambling and incoherent it is sincere in its attempt to define what I see as a most despicable circumstance. It is a sincere attempt to find others who are similarly FED UP and want to declare their independence based on a series of genuine wrongs done the American people as it appears all attempts at removal of Nancy Pelosi who is blocking impeachment will be thwarted by those who similarly disenfranchised, lack legal remedy and are woefully watching the destruction of our nation. The stonewalling of Ms. Pelosi, Henry Waxman, John Conyers and other Congressional leaders of impeachment proceedings as well as the inability of the states to implement the RULE OF LAW has gone for too long.

On behalf of myself and my son, I ask that before this legislation is done by the Senate, you write me with your grievances so that we can catalog them all as soon it will be no longer be a viable option: H.R. 1955 sees to THAT.

I cannot support something that will become another form of torture that is being condoned by the current Attorney General of the United States, Michael Mukasey. For that is what this bill truly is. A torture psychiatrist from Chile, who escaped the clutches of her country's repressive regime, told me that I had been tortured enough already. She told the United Nations and Alex Neve the same.

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