Blue Crab Boulevard

Apropos Rich’s Post

Rich posted about Martin Lewis' post over at the HuffnPuff advocating a military coup against the President of the United States. I have taken the precaution of saving every, single word on what is absolutely going to be consigned to the memory hole as soon as the HuffnPuff management realizes that they have allowed what is probably a violation of Federal law to occur on their site. (I am not going to spend gobs of time looking this up, but advocating the armed overthrow of the President is, I'm pretty sure, severely frowned on in the Code of Federal Regulations.)

There are, frankly, quite a few reasonable people trying to point out that Martin Lewis has a severe case of rectal-cranial impaction going on. He is stoutly defending his call to arms for the overthrow of the government. I'm actually surprised by that given the usual nature of the chorus line over there. Martin Lewis' biography states the following:

Starting his career as a protégé of fabled Beatles publicist Derek Taylor – he has had a storied 36-year history as a journalist, columnist, writer, humorist, monologist, comedic performer, radio host, TV host, TV correspondent, Master of Ceremonies, producer (of movies, TV, radio, DVDs, stage shows and record albums), talent manager, record company owner, independent film distributor, film-festival curator, political commentator, pioneering organizer of benefit events, human rights activist – and as an award-winning publicity & marketing strategist. He is also a noted raconteur and Bon Vivant!

So we can state with some authority that the man cannot hold a job. My guess is that the HuffnPuff will find his services are no longer required soon, also. Unless they enjoy visiting with the Secret Service.

UPDATE: Ok, this one is officially going asymptotic. The blogosphere is going completely nuts on this one. Others: Wake up America, Daily Pundit, QandO, Say Anything, The Moderate Voice, Hot Air, The American Mind, A Second Hand Conjecture, Captain Ed, J's Cafe Nette, Patterico, Prairie Pundit, Rusted Sky, Old Controller, Sister Toldjah, NewsBusters, California Yankee, STACLU,

UPDATE: Clayton Craymer did the heavy lifting (and cites the USC, not the CFR – I'm used to the latter from my years in the utility industry – sorry.)

So what has Martin Lewis done? See 18 USC 2385:

Whoever knowingly or willfully advocates, abets, advises, or teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or the government of any State, Territory, District or Possession thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein, by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government; or

Whoever, with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any such government, prints, publishes, edits, issues, circulates,sells, distributes, or publicly displays any written or printed matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity,desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence, or attempts to do so; or

Whoever organizes or helps or attempts to organize any society, group, or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the overthrow or destruction of any such government by force or violence; or becomes or is a member of, or affiliates with, any such society, group, or assembly of persons, knowing the purposes thereof -

Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty 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.

Next up: Martin Lewis, Live at Club Fed.

Blogosphere, Insanity, Left Wing | Gaius August 25, 2007

By Jeanette, August 25, 2007 @ 5:34 pm

At our blog we try to point out views from both sides of the political spectrum, sometimes having some big arguments and then staying friends.

Our one liberal blogger sometimes quotes from HuffPo and I have just posted that from now on any links to that blog will have the entire post removed as soon as I see it.

They have also been removed from our Liberal Reads Blogroll.
By Gaius, August 25, 2007 @ 5:39 pm

HuffPo has a real problem here. Let’s see if they are smart enough to can this guy publicly.
By Rich Horton, August 25, 2007 @ 6:35 pm

Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!

I KNEW there was a reason I should have had the HuffPo in my blogroll.

Is it too late to add them so I can unceremoniously remove them later tonight?
By Gaius, August 25, 2007 @ 6:44 pm

Well, you could photoshop their logo……
By Bleepless, August 25, 2007 @ 7:32 pm

The only problem is, that statute is the Smith Act. The Warren court decided, in about l961, that advocacy is protected. All that is outlawed is incitement. “As long as there is time for speech to rebut speech” the First Amendment applies. I do wonder what the present court would decide but, until they change it, we are stuck with one more of the Earl of Warren’s commandments.
By Gaius, August 25, 2007 @ 7:36 pm

Oh Heck. Guess I better cancel the souvenir Club Fed party glasses.
By Mwalimu Daudi, August 25, 2007 @ 7:57 pm

I would be surprised if calls for a military coup stay confined to the kook fringe of the Left (O.K. – that is redundant, I know). Example: 9-11 “Trutherism” is slowly going mainstream.

How about John Edwards promising to look into the charges surrounding 9-11?

How about Robert “I am not a conspiracy theorist but…” Fisk?

Furthermore, the crackpot notion that Bush stole both the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections is by now Inerrant Holy Scripture among the Nutroots, so why should the save-democracy-by-military-coup insanity not gain traction as well? Remember â€“ the kooks truly believe that they are the mainstream!

Gaius, you may remember Gary Sick and his “October surprise” conspiracy theory. He was the ex-Carter administration official who claimed that in 1980 the Reagan-Bush campaign conspired with the Iranian government to keep the American hostages and bring about Carter’s defeat. That one (in the pre-Internet days) was kicked around for over a decade. No telling the shelf life of this latest round of Far Left conspiracy theory lunacy and â€œdemocraticâ€ solutions.
By daveinboca, August 25, 2007 @ 9:02 pm

I polluted my screen by going to this Lewis dude’s site. Turns out he is a perfidious Brit who has a bio showing he was publicist for 36 years, but has a photo showing him at 25. This fraud is a flasher, running across the Diag in his birthday suit, as they did back in Ann Arbor. Needs the attention or he’ll shrivel like a tranny of the WWoftheWest in Dorothy-land.

Of course this is treason, but since when did that stop the Democrats from formulating their agendas?