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1. Posted by Jack Thompson, Attorney - 5 months, 3 weeks, 3 days, 20 hours, 25 minutes ago

   Here’s info about my lawsuit against The Florida Bar as well:

   John B. Thompson, Attorney at Law
   1172 S. Dixie Hwy., Suite 111
   Coral Gables, Florida 33146
   305-666-4366
   amendmentone@comcast.net

   January 9, 2008

   The Honorable Bill McCollum
   Attorney General
   State of Florida
   The Capitol PL-01
   Tallahassee, Florida 32399 Via Fax to 850-410-1630

   Re:  Lawsuit against the State of Florida, Thompson v. Florida, Case No. 07-040982

   Dear Attorney General McCollum:

   I have had to sue the State of Florida because of the illegal, criminal acts of The Florida Bar.  Your office is defending the suit.  I think it is important that you personally understand what is going on here, and how The Florida Bar, acting outside the limits of the Florida and U.S Constitution, has managed to put at risk potentially tens of millions of dollars of Florida taxpayer funds.  I am a lifelong Republican who happens to know that the Founders understood government must be limited and must not be allowed to dictate to us what we believe and what we say, as guaranteed by the First Amendment.

   I shall not burden you with the entire legal analysis, but here is some of it, which I should like to make more fully and personally to you and/or to your senior staff at a face-to-face meeting in Tallahassee:

   The Florida Bar, in violation of Keller v. State Bar of California, 496 U.S. 1 (1990), is using Bar “discipline” to punish lawyers who have spoken the truth about certain unethical, incompetent judges.  Broward’s Sean Conway is one attorney.  I am another, but there are others as well.  This outrageous attempt by The Bar, as if it were some American Taliban, to enforce such “speech codes” also violates the clear federal ruling last year in Fieger v. Michigan Supreme Court, decided by a federal court in Michigan which declares such “speech codes” unconstitutional.

   The Bar’s outside counsel, Barry Richard of Greenberg Traurig, has lied to a federal judge in claiming in my instance that I have a right to appear before the Bar’s Board of Governors to present my constitutional issues (see Mason v. Florida Bar) while at the same time conspiring with that same Board to deny me that right to appear!  We can expect such antics from the law firm that gave our Republic Jack Abramoff.

   The Bar, which receives no funding from the state and in fact funds itself solely from coerced Bar dues, is clearly violating not only Taft-Hartley but also Florida’s right to work law found in both our constitution (Article I, Section 6) and our statutes (FSA § 447.17).  The Bar is forcing lawyers to be in this “labor organization” which otherwise would not be a labor organization, within the meaning of our state’s “right to work law,” if The Bar were not engaging in these other illegal acts outlined more fully below.

   This serious breach of the law by The Bar gives rise to a “right to work” cause of action set forth in FSA 447.17, which I have fairly asserted, which will likely result in an award of compensatory as well as punitive damages against the treasury of the State of Florida. 

   Further, The Florida Bar is seeking to punish me because of the expression of my Christian faith in violation of Florida’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, FSA 761.01.  This statute waives sovereign immunity.  The fact that this is The Bar’s motivation is not even a close call, as The Bar was formally found in 1992 to have been hassling me then for my “Christian activism” against the illegal distribution of adult entertainment to minors.  The Bar now, despite that formal finding, is seeking to destroy me for this very same religion-based activity!  But I am not the only lawyer victimized in this fashion.

2. Posted by Jack Thompson, Attorney - 5 months, 3 weeks, 3 days, 20 hours, 24 minutes ago

   In addition, The Florida Bar is violating Florida’s Anti-SLAPP Statute, FSA 768.295 to punish not just me but others for truthful criticism of The Bar and of incompetent and corrupt judges.  This Florida Anti-SLAPP Statute waives Florida’s sovereign immunity and exposes state coffers to a huge verdict on my behalf and on behalf of others similarly situated, as I have applied to the court for certification of a class for purposes of bringing a class action on behalf of other lawyers.  The Bar’s own poll of its own members a few years ago revealed that significant numbers of our own members know The Bar is acting illegally in these regards.  Former Bar President Miles McGrane conducted the poll.  A jury is not going to be impressed by efforts of the State of Florida to rebut its own poll findings.

   One specific that will outrage the jury is the fact that The Bar upped its demanded punishment of me from 90 days to 1095 days (a twelve-fold increase) for no reason other than the fact that I sought relief in federal court for The Bar’s illegal, criminal abuses.  This is bad faith on steroids by a state agency. 

   Maybe most shockingly, The Florida Bar is illegally acting like Stalin’s Soviet Union in demanding that those who oppose these abuses by The Bar be submitted to forced psychiatric examinations.  The Bar did this to me back in 1992, and the result of that was that a) I am the only officially Bar-certified sane lawyer in Florida and b) The Bar’s carrier paid me damages for this outrage.  But now The Bar is doing this again, upon the insistence of the same thugs who tried to do this through The Bar fifteen years ago.  These individuals include Bar Executive Director John Harkness and Legal Division Director John Berry. 

   They are doing this to other lawyers as well, even going so far as to steal medical records of one lawyer in violation of state law.

3. Posted by Jack Thompson, Attorney - 5 months, 3 weeks, 3 days, 20 hours, 23 minutes ago

   I appreciate more than you know your personal warning to parents several months ago about the violent video game Manhunt 2.  As you know, you did that because I was the one who got you the information about that murder simulator.  This game is being sold to children in the United States, yet is banned for sale to adults in the UK!
   The company that makes that “game” is behind The Bar’s criminal assault upon my right to warn the public about such public safety hazards.  That company even threatened me, if you can believe it, for having written you about Manhunt 2!  I have the correspondence to prove this extortion in which The Bar is heavily and criminally involved.

   The Bar has put at the vanguard of this abuse of state power two Bar Governors, one of whom has received a target letter from the Justice Department for allegedly laundering Medellin cocaine cartel money and another who says that any lawyer who does not agree with him on gay adoption is “an enemy of The Bar and outside the core values of The Bar.”

   U.S. Supreme Court Justice Douglas in Lathrop v. Donohue predicted that integrated state bars would eventually become “goose-stepping brigades” in pursuit of ideological agendas if left unchecked by the Constitution.  The Florida Bar has become just such a leftwing brigade and in that role puts our state’s treasury at risk.  This has to stop, and I am going to make it stop.

   The Florida Supreme Court, in addition to what is outlined above, is clearly violating Article II, Section 3 of the Florida Constitution by exercising executive as well as legislative functions through its “arm,” The Bar.  Further, The Florida Bar has also been illegally delegated these ultra vires executive and legislative functions in clear violation of Article V, Section 15 of the Florida Constitution.

   Finally, but not exhaustively, the Florida Supreme Court, through The Florida Bar, is in clear violation of Keller v. State Bar of California (see cite above) in illegally using Bar dues to silence any lawyer’s opposition to its bizarre “judicial independence” agenda which seeks to insulate an increasingly tyrannical judiciary from any democratic impulse whatsoever.  It is a clear violation of the law to spend Bar dues in this fashion toward this ideological end, and The Bar knows it.  Thomas Jefferson correctly noted “to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves, is sinful and tyrannical.”

   Anyone to the right politically of Karl Marx understands that the judiciary in this country has arrogated to itself the power of creating law not just interpreting it.

   This, ultimately, is what the Supreme Court and The Bar are out to protect at the expense of the rights of others and at risk to the state treasury:  They seek, through various illegal acts, including criminal acts, to superordinate the judicial branch of government above the other two branches of government in this state.  The Bar and the Supreme Court seek to run over anyone who gets in their way of doing just that.

   With all respect for you and your office, and frankly because of that respect, you must take a hard look at the state lawsuit that I have filed by me on my behalf and on behalf of and other lawyers and then make an informed decision as to whether this renegade Bar should be allowed to put at risk the considerable assets of the State of Florida.

   Toward that end, I reiterate my desire to journey to Tallahassee to meet for a few moments with you and/or your senior staff to make the case that The Bar has declared war on the constitutional right of all of our citizens, lawyers and non-lawyers alike, to participate in the public square.  There can be no truly independent judiciary if lawyers are put into a politically correct straitjacket and forced to march in “goose-stepping brigades” as Justice Douglas predicted. 

   I don’t expect the elitists at Greenberg Traurig to understand the concept of limited government, nor do I think the ACLU prigs who people the Board of Governors of The Florida Bar to stop rounding up their “enemies of The Bar.” Thugs like this cannot be reasoned with.  They can only be stopped, by all necessary and proper means.

   Please let me meet with you all.  You will be utterly shocked by the proof I have as to what is going on here on the State’s dime by a bunch of lawyers who have no respect for the rule of law.

   Regards, Jack Thompson

   Copy:  The Florida Bar

   Media

4. Posted by BIGLAW 1ST YEAR - 5 months, 3 weeks, 3 days, 17 hours, 55 minutes ago

   Why are all of my posts considered spam and Jack Thompson’s posts aren’t?

5. Posted by mike hunt - 5 months, 3 weeks, 3 days, 17 hours, 38 minutes ago

   This poor schlub needs to get a life!  You would think that there’d be enough babes down in Coral Gables this time of year to provide every lawyer with something better to do this time of the morning than type into an internet key box a bunch of hooey, but evidently not.  Women of Coral Gables, is there no one out there that might be interested in diverting the attention of this poor yutz?

6. Posted by R - 5 months, 3 weeks, 3 days, 12 hours, 19 minutes ago

   Gotta agree with the lawyer on this one. The phrase “Don’t settle for less than you deserve” isn’t a “subjective statement that can’t be factually documented” - it’s just good advice!

   Now in the state where I’m from, we have a certain corpulent lawyer touting himself in ads as “The Strong Arm.” But he also has a picture of his flaccid, rotund self in the ads so no one should assume he’s being literal.

7. Posted by AWG - 5 months, 3 weeks, 3 days, 7 hours, 13 minutes ago

   Did I read that correctly?  The representative from the Florida Bar Assn., says that Florida attorneys cannot state that they offer, “high quality legal services?” If Florida attorneys can’t offer high quality legal services, perhaps Florida citizens should seek counsel from another state!  As a member of the bar, I strive to always offer high quality legal services and any of my peers who don’t should find another line of work.  The public has the right to expect nothing less.  Perhaps the Florida Bar meant to say that the state bar cannot claim to offer high quality services?

8. Posted by JackDon'tKnowJack - 5 months, 3 weeks, 17 hours, 34 minutes ago

   Jack:

   Florida Statute 768.295(4) provides:

   (4) No governmental entity in this state shall file or cause to be filed, through its employees or agents, any lawsuit, cause of action, claim, cross-claim, or counterclaim against a person or entity without merit and solely because such person or entity has exercised the right to peacefully assemble, the right to instruct representatives, and the right to petition for redress of grievances before the various governmental entities of this state, as protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and s. 5, Art. I of the State Constitution.

   The Statute, by its plain language, only covers the rights of assembly, representative instruction, and redress of grievances. It does not apply to pure “speech” (including, case in point, criticism of judges).  The Statute is inapplicable to your case. 

   Additionally, the Fieger opnion does not hold that criticism of the bench is constitutionally protected speech. Rather, it holds that the Michigan Bar Rule at issue is unconstitutionally vague and overbroad as drafted. However, the Florida Bar Rule which you are currently charged with violating employs language entirely different from Michigan’s and, arguably, is not at all either vague or overbroad.

   I could go on, point-by-point, to pick through your drivel above, but I kinda like watching you fall victim to your own ignorance, incompetence, and ineptitude.

9. Posted by JackDon'tKnowJack - 5 months, 3 weeks, 12 hours, 58 minutes ago

   Psst, Jack:

   Florida Statute 447.17 only gives a civil remedy to those who have been discriminated against because of their membership in a labor organization. For you to have a valid 447.17 claim against anyone would require you to have membership in a labor organization. Which union are you in, Jack? Better question yet, how do you manage to come up with such complete and utter rot?