Buried Alive; Get A Lawyer

Wow.

Bidder 70 is a film everyone needs to see, even if you think you’re well-informed about political issues, environmentalism, and global climate change. It’s about that guy (Tim DeChristopher) who bid on parcels in a federal mining auction (an auction later cancelled by the BLM) and wound up going to jail. And yet, how many mine owners and managers who have had people die on their watch, or the guys who have been tanking the economy on Wall Street, are in jail? Or even a little inconvenienced?

Here’s a little more: according to the film makers, Mr. DeChristopher was told by the judge during sentencing that his sentence had been worsened by his repeated exercise of his free speech (meaning: he continued to protest) between his indictment (in 2009) and his trial and sentencing (in mid-2011). Nothing like that 6th Amendment guarantee of a swift trial and the right to express ones political grievances, eh?

Again I say, wow.

Go see this film. Then get over to Peaceful Uprising and do something.

Also saw You Have The Right To An Attorney, about defense attorneys trying to serve the poor in the Bronx. Again, showing that the poor have access to a different kind of justice (ad that’s not a good thing…)