Victory for Internet Freedom of Speech

Oregon Judge Ancer Haggerty SLAPPS Self-proclaimed Guru in Landmark Victory for Internet Free Speech

New age guru Eric Pepin's attempt to silence online critics was defeated Thursday as Portland-based federal Judge Ancer Haggerty dismissed a defamation suit brought by Pepin's organization, Higher Balance Institute, against an Internet forum that had published critical comments.

Web site SOTT.net, operated by a team of international researchers, initially published pointed criticisms of Pepin's spiritual discovery techniques. After forum participants learned that Pepin had been charged, but acquitted, of having sex with a minor, the site's forum posted opinions that it was “beginning to look like” Higher Balance Institute was a "front for pedophilia" and that Pepin was a "psychopathic deviant" who was "conning the public" into "falling into confluence with psychopathic reality."

Higher Balance Institute sued for defamation, but Judge Haggerty dismissed the case under Oregon's SLAPP ("Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation") statute, which requires plaintiffs complaining of speech on public issues to establish that their case has a reasonable probability of success. The Court ruled that the statements about Pepin and his organization may have been somewhat hyperbolic, but they were opinion on a matter of public interest and protected as free speech.

Pepin, a self-proclaimed psychic and meditation guru, was charged in 2006 with sexual abuse related to an alleged encounter with an underage male employee of Higher Balance Institute. After a trial without a jury in 2007, a Washington County judge acquitted Pepin based on reasonable doubt, although the judge said he believed the acts had probably occurred.

After newspaper articles from the Oregonian about Pepin's arrest and trial were posted and commented on in the SOTT.net forum, Higher Balance sued Laura Knight-Jadczyk and several research and publishing groups she works with, including Signs of the Times (aka SOTT.net), and the Quantum Future Group. Ms. Knight-Jadczyk posted the critical comments that were at the center of the litigation.

SLAPP stands for strategic lawsuit against public participation. SLAPP statutes, which exist in several states, are intended to prevent wealthy individuals and organizations from silencing critics through expensive but meritless lawsuits. "This is just how the SLAPP law is supposed to operate," said Stephen Kaus of San Francisco's Cooper, White & Cooper LLP, who represented the defendants. "It prevented this wealthy and relatively powerful man and his company from intimidating our clients from saying what they think."

To briefly recap the core of the case, we quote from Judge Haggerty's opinion which can be read in its entirety here:

http://quantumfuturegroup.org/HBI_Case_Documents/Sott_opinion_revised.pdf:

On November 4, 2007, Knight-Jadczyk re-posted portions of The Oregonian newspaper articles concerning Pepin's arrest and acquittal and posted her own commentary which included, in part, the following: "It's really starting to look like this Eric Pepin and his Higher Balance Institute is merely a COINTELPRO and a front for pedophilia."

The court notes that plaintiff focuses its argument upon the "front for pedophilia" posting, and does not advance specific arguments regarding Knight-Jadczyk's other posting. The court has conducted an independent review of Knight-Jadcyzk's other comments and concludes that the following analysis is applicable to all of her postings.

On that same date, Knight-Jadczyk also responded to a post from another forum user who asserted that HBI serves a valid purpose to those seeking answers. Knight-Jadczyk posted, in part, the following:

Horse hockey. There is nothing there except a pathological deviant and his deviant followers conning the public. There's nothing at all about "waking up" there. For example, most meditation will do little but put you back to sleep. It's an act of self-calming and falling into confluence with the psychopathic reality.

Plaintiff's claims against Knight-Jadczyk, therefore, rely upon her assertions that "HBI is a 'front for pedophilia;' HBI is a "cointelpro" organization; HBI markets nothing more than an act of "falling into confluence with a psychopathic reality;" and HBI is "conning" the public. [...]

This court concludes that the postings by Knight-Jadczyk constitute information provided by "another content provider" under Section 230 of the CDA. Therefore, defendants SOTT, QFG, and QFS are immunized against those postings by the CDA. Because plaintiff cannot show a probability of prevailing on its claims against QFG, QFS, and SOTT, involving either the moderators' postings or Knight-Jadczyk's postings, the applicable anti-SLAPP statutes compel that the claims against these defendants are stricken. [...]

Defendant Knight-Jadczyk concedes that the CDA does not prohibit claims against her based on her own postings. Nevertheless, plaintiff cannot show a probability of succeeding on its claims against Knight-Jadczyk individually. [...]

Plaintiff maintains that Knight-Jadczyk's statements are false and defamatory. A defamatory statement is a factual assertion that subjects another to "hatred, contempt or ridicule" or tends "to diminish the esteem, respect, goodwill or confidence in which [the other] is held or to excite adverse, derogatory or unpleasant feelings or opinions against [the other]." [...]

Whether a statement is capable of a defamatory meaning is a question for the court. [...]

This court concludes that Knight-Jadczyk's statements constitute protected opinion.[...]

Finally, the court examined whether the postings were sufficiently factual to be susceptible of being proven. This examination also supports concluding that the postings constitute protected opinion. [...]

For the reasons provided, QFG's Special Motion to Strike Complaint, Knight-Jadczyk's Special Motion to Strike Complaint [28], and QFS and SOTT's Special Motion to Strike Complaint are granted. [U.S. District Court in Oregon, Case 3:08-cv-00233.)

Before ultimately ruling that the statements were Constitutionally protected opinion, and not assertions of fact, Judge Haggerty found that the organizations had immunity under the federal Communications Decency Act, which immunizes "interactive computer service" and "information content" providers from liability for statements made by third-party users. The judge dismissed plaintiff's assertion that moderators who posted allegedly defamatory statements were agents of the defendants, stating that the "moderators are unpaid volunteers who do not represent the opinions of defendants."

For the same reason that the court dismissed plaintiff's defamation claims, it also dismissed Higher Balance's false light, intentional interference with business relationships, and intentional interference with prospective economic advantage claims.

The defendants were represented by Cooper, White & Cooper LLP attorneys Stephen Kaus, Walter Hansell, Merrit Jones, and Leila Knox (www.cwclaw.com). The case was filed in U.S. District Court in Oregon, Case 3:08-cv-00233.

About Signs of The Times: SOTT.net is an independent alternative news and analysis outlet that seeks to shine a spotlight on significant events and trends that affect the entire world. SOTT.net helps bring clarity out of a sea of media spin. The site is funded entirely by donations from individuals and groups that seek to support its work. For more information visit http://www.sott.net

News, Blog, Politics, free speech, constitutional law, First Amendment, Media,

QFG and SOTT.net defend Internet First Amendment rights.

Web Site Defendant Moves to Dismiss Defamation Suit Under Anti-SLAPP Statute
QFG and SOTT.net defend Internet First Amendment rights.
SOTT.net - May 02, 2008

(PRNewsChannel) / Portland, Oregon - Quantum Future Group, Inc. ("QFG"), the only defendant that has been served in an Internet defamation suit brought by New-Age guru Eric Pepin's sales company, has forcefully challenged the merits of the case and has asked an Oregon federal judge for a dismissal and attorneys fees.

The case concerns postings on a forum hosted by SOTT.net (Signs of the Times), an Internet site devoted to news and analysis in various fields, including analyzing and exposing cults. Citing Oregon's anti-SLAPP ("Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation") statute, QFG contends that the statements about Pepin and his company, Higher Balance Institute, LLC ("HBI") are constitutionally protected. Because HBI cannot show that it probably will prevail, QFG argues, the case must be dismissed before QFG or the other defendants must spend large amounts to defend themselves.

"Without exception," the motion states, "the statements are all constitutionally protected expressions of opinion rather than verifiable assertions of fact. HBI cannot meet its burden to prove, by clear and convincing evidence, that the statements are false, let alone that Defendants knew that they were false or had serious doubts as to their truth."

The statements cited in QFG's complaint question Pepin's meditation techniques and comment on Pepin's 2007 trial on multiple sexual charges involving a 17-year-old male acolyte. The statements at issue include a November 7, 2007 comment that "It's really starting to look like this Eric Pepin and his Higher Balance Institute may be merely COINTELPRO and a front for pedophilia" and a November 4, 2007 comment by an anonymous poster that something "fishy" was going on at HBI.

QFG's motions state that the forum posts are opinion based on stated facts published on a mainstream news source and are constitutionally protected. The motion also argues that the operator of an Internet forum cannot be liable for the posts of third parties under the Communications Decency Act of 1996 ("CDA") and questions Oregon's jurisdiction over QFG, a California non-profit corporation whose primary place of business is in France.

"These are exactly the sort of statements that the First Amendment and recent statutes protect as free speech," said QFG attorney Stephen Kaus, who prepared the papers with his colleagues Walter Hansell and Merrit Jones. "People are entitled to believe in gurus such as Pepin and buy their books and courses for hundreds of dollars or more, but people are also entitled to point out their view that the techniques of telepathy and development of a sixth eye promoted by Pepin are nonsense."

Much of the dispute concerns Pepin's trial on charges of sexual misconduct with a minor. Pepin was acquitted in a court trial because the judge did not feel the charges had been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. According to the article in the Oregonian, Washington County Circuit Court Judge Steven L. Price stated that it was, " 'probable that the conduct alleged in all counts occurred,' but he wasn't convinced beyond a reasonable doubt" and "called the leader of a metaphysical Internet sales company manipulative and controlling and his testimony unbelievable, even as he acquitted him today of charges that he had sex with an underage boy."

SOTT.NET posters point out that being found "not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt" is not the same thing as being found "innocent of all charges."

The sexual charges aside, the SOTT.NET forum topic on Pepin and HBI has been the site of a lively debate on whether he is an exploiter, ever since a visitor posted an inquiry about them in 2006. Several Pepin devotees have posted fervent praise, while others have denounced him as a power-lusting cult leader who takes advantage of gullible followers.

SOTT.NET contends that it is the public's right to examine the claims of any company selling a product or service to the public and to form their own opinion as to whether it is "snake-oil" sold by con-artists or not and that those opinions may be made public for the safety of consumers.

In a previous press release, atty Walter Hansell noted: "HBI's lawsuit is a frontal assault on free speech, and on the free global flow of information and opinion on the Internet. It is a blunt force attack on the discussion of sincere opinions among people sharing common interests."

See: http://www.prnewschannel.com/absolutenm/templates/?a=423&z=4

Following the filing of the motions to dismiss on April 25th, Walter Hansell of Cooper, White & Cooper said: "The intent of this suit by HBI is to stifle free speech, but luckily the anti SLAPP statute allows us to nip the matter in the bud before the cost is out of hand."

About Signs of The Times:
SOTT.net is an independent alternative news and analysis outlet that seeks to shine a spotlight on significant events and trends that affect the entire world. SOTT.net helps bring clarity out of a sea of media spin. The site is funded entirely by donations from individuals and groups that seek to support its work. For more information visit http://www.sott.net

About Quantum Future Group:
Quantum Future Group (QFG) supports activities that bring together people to engage in and to promote the study of scientific ideas and research in all scientific and socio-cultural fields that further the deepest understanding of our world and our place within it without regard to nationality or ethnicity. QFG seeks to increase the understanding of humankind by humankind, as a whole, by sponsoring research into all the parts to see how they fit together. QFG supports documented research that is made freely and widely available to all humanity. For more information visit:http://quantumfuturegroup.org
News, Blog, Politics, Life, free speech, first amendment, defamation, higher balance institute, media

Letters From the Edge

Laura Knight-Jadczyk
sott.net
Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:41 EDT

Today I'm going to write a letter; a letter to all our readers. I'm also going to include a transcript of a very interesting letter sott.net has received from Prof. Victor Clube. I hope that these letters will change your life, your future, and mine as well.

Here at sott.net, we have been pretty busy working on our legal defense, as if you couldn't guess! I'm sure that everyone notices that we are nowhere near our goal for having enough funds to cover this expense. All of you just remember, if 1,000 people can donate $100.00 each, we are in the clear. If 2,000 people donate $50. each, we are in the clear. And certainly, with over 10,000 of you reading this site every day, we ought to be able to do that!

Just keep in mind what you would be missing if we were gone! Who else would spend days, weeks, months and even years digging down to the deepest levels of our reality to bring you reports and analyses of what is really going on? After all, it is not just a matter of the political chaos out there; there are cosmic reasons for that chaos and historical cycles demonstrate clearly that times such as these generally manifest other symptoms that we all need to be aware of. For example...

Did you catch this one? Antartica: Mysterious Meteorites Stymie Scientists Followed by this one: Meteorites may be remnants of destroyed dwarf planet ? They are both about the same meteorites and the suggestion that there was once another planet in the solar system that was destroyed at some point is something that we here at sott.net have speculated about for years now.

Speaking of missing planets, did you read this one: Mission to the Forgotten Planets? Amazing how long it takes science to catch up with "inspired utterances" isn't it?

Speaking of science "catching up," have a look at this: Utah Crater Mystery Cracked where we read:
[...]
'm thinking about turning this series into a book, (and there is so much more to write about!) but of course, if Eric Pepin prevails in his suit against me - remember, I'm named personally as a defendant - things don't look too good for that book or future books. One might even speculate that the real intent of the suit is to try to seize all my copyrights, put me so deeply into debt that anything I write ever again will be owed to someone else who will then, we suspect, bury it forever.

That IS a possibility, you know. A real one.

In short, this lawsuit isn't just about some weird guy who got ticked off because a small, obscure forum in a backwater corner of the internet, generally suppressed by google (that's a whole other story), published some criticisms of his work and way of life - criticisms based on widely known and publicized events in that life, by the way. Nope. Eric Pepin has got to know that sott.net operates on a shoestring, that there is no gold to be gotten from this source. And, considering my age and lifespan prospects, ole Eric has got to know that even if I flipped burgers until I died, he'd never get anything.

So, yeah, this is more than just an attempt to suppress Free Speech. Connect the dots, figure it out.

And if you really want to know what is going on here on the BBM, you really need to kick yourself into action and either help us out with funds or with spreading the word about this situation because, peeps, Eric Pepin, whoever is behind him, along with the U.S. legal system, could very well snuff the lighthouse.

You gotta tell me if you want to know, and you gotta do it now. Tell me with actions, not words because, at this point, only actions will save the words I have yet to write for you, for your children, for all of us.

Go here to stand up for freedom of speech.
News, Blog, Politics, Eric Pepin, Higher balance institute, Comets, near earth objects, Media, Freedom of speech, Science

Eric Pepin Sues SOTT for 4.5 Million over Forum Comments

Eric Pepin - Higher Balance Institute Sue SOTT for 4.47 Million Over SOTT Forum Comments! Laura Knight-Jadczyk
sott.net

Yesterday, as I was working on finishing up the next installment of the Comet Series of Articles, FedEx delivered a packet of mail from our corporate registered agent in the U.S. It was "Complaint and Demand for Jury Trial" filed in the State of Oregon by Eric Pepin's Higher Balance Institute, LLC. The reason? A discussion on the SOTT Forum that begins HERE.

Well, that was entertaining enough when you think about the fact that the discussion that he objects to was centered on several newspaper articles that describe his close calls with the legal system in Oregon over charges of sex abuse.The legal document I received is 10 pages long so I'm just going to summarize it here. If you want to read the whole thing (it's hilarious beyond belief!) go HERE for the pdf.....

....And now, Pepin wants to sue QFG and yours truly for talking about these articles, published in a newspaper (though they are no longer on the newspaper's website, but can be found elsewhere on the net)!!

Notice that Pepin, himself, revealed his "sex cult" practices in his own testimony. We'll be getting transcripts of the trial to publish so our readers can hear it from the horse's mouth; stay tuned for that.

Notice also that Pepin's attorney, Houze, accused the victim of bringing charges because he wanted to shake down Pepin. Well, maybe that's what gave Pepin the idea of suing me. Only thing is, he's gonna have a hard time collecting his 4.47 million because I don't own a thing and QFG rarely has more than a grand in the bank at any given time. When we have fund-raisers, the funds disappear almost instantly, repaying loans and covering basic expenses for the site and equipment.

It's also humorous that Pepin is suing QFG which only sponsors a world-wide group of independent researchers who, together, make up sott.net. QFG doesn't own sott, nor does QFG have any employees nor any official oversight of anything that the sott.net researchers say or do.

But the bottom line is this: Eric Pepin is convicted out of his own mouth of being a sexual predator. I mean, what kind of teacher of meditation says that he has sex with all his employees? And all of them young and good looking?

Nope, we aren't backing down. We firmly believe that Eric Pepin is a danger to innocent people looking for spiritual guidance. Obviously, young guys just looking for sex and money and a good time will be delighted to take his pills, listen to his tapes and attend his retreats. But the wider public who are not aware of these things in Pepin's background, that even the judge who acquitted him regretted having to do so, and that the Prosecutor of the case was also convinced that justice had NOT been done, need to be warned about this sexual predator in our midst.
News, Blog, eric pepin, cult, sexual preditor,Media,

Strange things out there in 9-11 Truth land.

Seems that one of the best researchers on the topic - Laura Knight-Jadczyk - the one who backed the now famous Pentagon Strike video that got the whole ball re-rolling according to the Washington Post, is being made the pariah of the entire 9-11
Truth Movement.

Why?

Well, because she not only appears to be a personal friend of Rich Dolan (author of UFOs and the National Security State) but also because she has zero tolerance for pathological predators and cointelpro in any disguise, even the New Agey types.

See:
http://www.cassiopaea.com/archive/most.htm
http://www.sott.net/signs/forum/viewtopic.php?id=673&p=1
http://www.sott.net/signs/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=25145#p25145

and then see:
http://truthaction.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2434&postdays=0&postorder=asc&st
art=0

All things considered, it looks like this organization "truthaction.org" is a front for Vincent Bridges and his cointelpro gang.

News, Blog, Politics, 911 truth movement, Current Affairs,Media,

Wake The World Up Campaign

How many of you have seen the movie "The Day After Tomorrow?" If you haven't, the thesis of the movie is that Global warming causes large areas of the Arctic to melt, so that the northern Atlantic ocean is diluted by large amounts of fresh water which changes the density of the water layers causing a disruption of the Thermohaline current.. This then leads to a rapid and unnatural cooling of the northern hemisphere which triggers a series of anomalies, eventually leading to a massive "global superstorm" system consisting of three gigantic hurricane-like superstorms, which suck up heat and drop the super-cold upper atmospheric air down onto the planet resulting in an "instant Ice age."

This idea is nothing new and it didn't really originate with Art Bell and Whitley Strieber. A NASA report from 2004 tells us "Andrew Marshall, a veteran Defense Department planner, recently released an unclassified report detailing how a shift in ocean currents in the near future could compromise national security."

In a 2003 report, Robert Gagosian cites "rapidly advancing evidence [from, e.g., tree rings and ice cores] that Earth's climate has shifted abruptly and dramatically in the past." For example, as the world warmed at the end of the last ice age about 13,000 years ago, melting ice sheets appear to have triggered a sudden halt in the Conveyor, throwing the world back into a 1,300 year period of ice-age-like conditions called the "Younger Dryas." It is also now known that the Gulf Stream weakened in 'Little Ice Age'

On 6 December 2005 Michael Schlesinger, a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, leading a research team, said "The shutdown of the thermohaline circulation has been characterized as a high-consequence, low-probability event. Our analysis, including the uncertainties in the problem, indicates it is a high-consequence, high-probability event." See also: Failing ocean current raises fears of mini ice age.

There is another danger that comes with Global Warming: release of huge amount of methane from the methane clathrates buried in the arctic seabed, and even from other subterranean sources as the earth struggles to shift around and balance itself. Methane can contribute to Global Warming, but it is a highly unstable gas. Mostly it just stinks and can kill. Consider a September, 2006 report Methane gas leak kills miners in Ukraine which says:

(read more on site)
News, Blog, Politics, Life, Current Affairs, Media, global warming, Science

Al Gore and the Monolithic and Ruthless Conspiracy

I've been sitting back observing the little rumbles of awakening that seem to be emerging here and there across the land. Little by little, one by one, there are voices being raised against the Fascist jack-boots that have been trampling our world into a bloody mess for the past six years. Of course, it is difficult for these voices to be heard widely enough because of the control of the media, nevertheless, some of them are managing lately to get a few words in on Prime Time. Al Gore is among the latest to check in with his book "The Assault on Reason".

It's an interesting show. It's like being at the County Fair and watching somebody trying to shoot little ducks that pop up and down as they move along a little conveyor. The Jimmy Carter duck pops up declaiming that Israel is an apartheid state and all the Zionists start shooting at him. Then, Rosie O'Donnel pops up and delights her listeners by saying that 911 was in inside job so her bosses and their bosses start shooting at her. There have been a number of others, and most of them have been taken out by the media ignoring them more than anything else. I've said it before and I'll say it again: the first order of business for any society suffering oppression that seeks to dig their way out of such a mess is to take back the media. The mass media should belong to the people and should answer only to the people. Does that sound Socialistic? Well, yeah. Fact is, Socialism seems to be a heck of a lot more democratic in many respects than the much vaunted American Capitalism which has led the U.S. into the State Corporatism trap of Soviet style Communism.

Anyway, back to Al Gore. I recently read a bit of his book that was being circulated on the net and the main thing that occurred to me as I read the excerpt was "Too bad Gore doesn't understand psychopathy." He writes:...

Continue reading at: Signs of the Times
News, Blog, Politics, Al Gore, conspiracy, Current Affairs, Psychopathy, Media,