Support the “AdLLaw/Cadeflaw Initiative” by signing the petition.
S. Kendrick, AdLLaw Resolution Specialist
Category Archives: Initiatives
DEFAMATION: NO REDRESS FOR THE DEAD
When you’re alive, if someone makes false statements about you that aren’t true – and in some cases, if true but it can be proved that such statements have been made with malice – this is called defamation of character. Defamation is ugly. It has the potential not only to destroy your reputation, but your family and your livelihood, too. Quite frankly, words are akin to weapons that have the ability to make or break your life. Thankfully, those with enough money and a good, solid case, have the ability to sue for libel (if the offending words are written) or slander (if the words have been disseminated orally).
When you die, however, you lose that ability to seek redress. You may think those rights are now passed onto your family or Estate, but they’re not. Once you’re dead, anything can be written or said about you without consequences. And all it takes is the circulation of one lie to ruin your good name.
Celebrities are often subject to libel in the tabloid press. But libel and slander aren’t simply the preserve of the rich and famous. Every day, courts are dealing with the maligned reputations of ordinary individuals and/or businesses small and large. Some lose their jobs, their friends, their families, their health and well-being, all due to the effects of defamation. Some resort to legal redress, while others feel that seeking such redress will only add fuel to the fire. But the common factor is that – with enough money and stamina – celebrity or not, one can seek legal redress.
But this is not the case when you die. A lie about you may surface and spread. This time, nothing can be done about it because you’re no longer here to defend yourself, and your family can’t go after the individual(s) responsible because there are no defamation rights for the deceased. Now your good name is forever tarnished and your family has to deal with the aftermath. You may have children or a significant other who have to navigate through the mire of injustice, or the company you left behind might be wound up because nobody wants to do business with something you were associated with any more. The countless possibilities of how it might affect all those who knew and loved you are profound. These situations happen more frequently than you think.
Now, imagine if there was a law that could extend defamation protection to your family and Estate after you die….
Will you support the AdLLaw Initiative by signing the global petition and sharing with your family and friends.
Dee Pfeiffer, Professional freelance writer and editor based in the heart of the UK, MJL Trustee
Acil Leitz, Advocate
THE STAIN OF AN ACCUSATION: CAN IT EVER BE REMOVED?
Can the stain of an accusation ever be removed although the accused may have been exonerated in a court of law? Many people including myself do not think so and I’ll explain why. A rose is still considered a rose regardless of the specific names given to each class of roses. It still looks like a rose.
An accusation is a charge of wrongdoing; imputation of guilt or blame. A stain is defined as a cause of reproach; stigma; blemish. Both sounds the same to me.
Let’s talk about stains for a minute. It is possible to cover up the appearance of blood stains but is the stain really gone? I found one Reader’s digest article HERE http://www.rd.com/slideshows/how-to-remove-blood-stains/ that gives us “8 Common Items That Remove Blood Stains”. The items include vinegar, ammonia, hydrogen peroxide (work only on fresh blood stains), cola, WD-40, cornstarch, talcum powder and cold salt water.
Article also states blood stains are relatively easy to remove before they set but can be nearly impossible to wash out after 24 hours and this is the significant problem with the aftermath of a stain. From this article and perhaps many others we understand that it is possible to remove stains, especially blood, if we act quickly but the problem remains: The stain is still there although we cannot see it and it is possible for the stain to be uncovered via other means or methods.
Then we have the chemical “Luminol” used by criminal investigators at violet crime scenes in hopes of discovering blood. Much of crime scene investigation, also called criminalistics, is based on the notion that nothing vanishes without a trace. This is particularly true of violent crime victims. A murderer can dispose of the victim’s body and mop up the pools of blood, but without some heavy-duty cleaning chemicals, some evidence will remain. Tiny particles of blood will cling to most surfaces for years and years, without anyone ever knowing they’re there.
The basic idea of luminol is to reveal these traces with a light-producing chemical reaction between several chemicals and hemoglobin, an oxygen-carrying protein in the blood. The molecules break down and the atoms rearrange to form different molecules (see Microsoft Encarta: Chemical Reaction for more information on chemical reactions). In this particular reaction, the reactants (the original molecules) have more energy than the products (the resulting molecules). The molecules get rid of the extra energy in the form of visible light photons. This process, generally known as chemiluminescence, is the same phenomenon that makes fireflies and light sticks glow.
Investigators will spray a suspicious area, turn out all the lights and block the windows, and look for a bluish-green light. If there are any blood traces in the area, they will glow.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/luminol1.htm
So now we consider the ill effect of the “Stain of An Accusation”. Remember Michael Jackson, marked as a child molester, who seems to be a popular topic of conversation among admirers and skeptics. Many of his admirers are of the opinion or belief that if the accusations are ignored they will eventually disappear. I have to strongly disagree with that kind of thinking. Evil and negative thoughts are always present, though the evidence of it may remain dormant for long periods of time they are still there. Like blood stains may well go undetected to the naked eye they still exist.
Accusations of child molestation is not something to take nonchalantly and I sincerely believe it to be a stigma that will linger and Michael Jackson knew that too. An excerpt from the following people.com article: In 2003 Jackson Faced Charges He Had Molested a Child. He Was Found Not Guilty, but His Reputation Never Fully Recovered. http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20292704,00.html
Indeed he seemed to emerge from the trial a broken man, the downward spiral of his life and career only accelerating. His friend Dr. Firpo Carr says that the singer, who spent his last years often traveling abroad and raising his children, continued to be tormented by the stain the accusations had left on his reputation. “It took a great toll on him,” says Carr. “He never recovered from the trial. He never did.” As Carr tells it, Jackson’s planned comeback was not just about money but about some attempt at personal redemption. “That was part of the reason for these concerts: to prove himself again,” says Carr, “to give something great to his fans, the show of all shows, and to have the comeback of all comebacks. This was so everyone would remember him for his music, not for the scandals. He didn’t get a chance to do that. But that’s what it was about.”
“Never Recovered” is the most significant phrase in the excerpt above. That’s the after effect of the stain I speak of, the stain of a severely injured reputation that can never be repaired or removed. An accusation left unchecked causes the stain to enlarge its territory by way of ravenousness wolves. If the person being accused were living it would be up to them to address their accusers and still that may not halt the public indictments or remove the stain, but the possibility of defending oneself is greater. On the other hand what about the deceased and who will defend them? Who will speak on their behalf?
What can we use to remove that stain or to keep it from spreading further? Only the existence of an “Antidefamation Legacy Law” to first, protect and preserve the “Legacy of those Deceased” and second to protect the “Sanity of the family members or those left behind”. Why not bring about legislation which will include the deceased among those who, when defamed, can have the same legal protection as the living; by giving their family members a statute upon which to base a civil cause of action?
We, The Anti-Defamation Legacy Law Advocates, see this initiative or law as any other; a possible deterrent for most and a tool for the more serious offenders. If a person is deceased nearly anything can be said or written about them. Even the non-famous can be targets which mean that we and our loved ones are at risk.
Intentional defamation of a decedent does more than just hurt their survivor’s feelings; it can endanger their health and welfare through false public perception, judgments and actions taken. We hold dear our First Amendment rights, but there is nothing in our Constitution about bearing false witness as a legal right.
Try as we have been doing for five years now we cannot do anything about the horrible stain that has been imputed to Michael but we can help his children and family by standing together in favor of this law.
Will you support the Anti-Defamation Legacy Law (AdLLaw) Initiative by signing the petition and contacting your two United States Senators and the President? https://antidefamationlegacylawadvocates.org/
http://www.exploreforensics.co.uk/detecting-evidence-after-bleaching.html
http://www.freestockimages.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/coffee-stain-texture.jpg
http://www.freestockimages.org/2010/10/03/free-stock-images-part-36-coffee-stain-textures/
“Alone we’re just an “Echo” in the mountains but TOGETHER we are the “Mountains”. Support the AdLLaw Initiative today.
Please support the #AdLLawInitiative by signing the petition AdLLaw Petition
MJ Brookins, AdLLaw Admin
March 7, 2015
Here Comes A Thief (AdLLaw VideoBlog)
CadeFlawResSpec S. Kendrick, a.k.a. Dial Dancer
Published on Feb 24, 2015
Direct links:
The Petition with goal spelled out: http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/prot…
Find your Senators & Contact them: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact…
Contact President: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/wri…
Share with family & friends:
Ask them to endorse the Initiative so it may become a law.
Help us educate about the unjust legal loophole which may affect you when it comes to your deceased loved one or yourself once you are gone.
THE TIME IS NOW FOR ADLLAW/CADELAW TO BE SIGNED INTO LAW
More and more the public is calling for the reigning in of intrusive police practices and tabloid news that constantly abuses the right to a free press and infringes on people’s privacy rights. During his lifetime, Michael Jackson endured extraordinary invasions of his privacy as a public figure, as well as slander and defamation of his character, to which he protested vigorously. Nor was it not long after his death on June 25, 2009, that the media started in on his family, especially his underage children. And while there is at least the possibility of legal remedy for the living, heretofore there has been none to protect the rights of the surviving family of the deceased. That is why CADELAW is a bill whose time has come.
In her 2010 book, Outrageous Invasions: Celebrities’ Private Lives, Media, and the Law, UConn law professor Robin D. Barnes devotes Chapter 10, “John Lennon and Michael Jackson: The Influence of the Superstar,” to discussing how because of the popularity bestowed by the media and fans on John Lennon and Michael Jackson, the two men became targets of deliberate attempts by governments to neutralize their cultural and political impact. Lennon’s youngest son, Sean, told the New Yorker magazine in 1998 that his father was considered a threat because of his influence: “If he had ever said bomb the White House tomorrow, there would’ve been 10,000 people who would have done it. Pacifists revolutionaries are historically killed by the government.” Barnes reports that “government impotency in relation to the potentially unbounded influence of the superstar,” means clandestine methods and tactics are to shape the “tone and tenor of public discourse.”
The case of Lennon, according to Barnes, leads to understanding how an “equally powerful superstar,” Michael Jackson was also considered a monumental threat to disrupting the status quo. Michael’s 1998, “Man in the Mirror” (written by Siedah Garrett with Glen Ballard), along with the revolutionary social and political message in the lyrics and in the images used in the short film that went along with it “put the world on notice,” according to Barnes.
But in the summer of 1994, when a confidential report of accusations of child molestation was leaked to Hard Copy tabloid reporter Diane Dimond from the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services, the ensuing media persecution began its relentless quest for ratings by using rumor and scandal. Already marginalized for his eccentricities, Michael was objectified, dehumanized, and finally demonized as the press cashed in. For example, Barnes cites Los Angeles criminal defense attorney, Tom Mesereau’s comments that tabloid huckster Nancy Grace’s coverage of the trial held in 2005 “was sub-moronic . . . [and that] she tried to spin a verdict through a lot of emotional innuendo that was just buffoonery.”
Barnes asserts that while trying to prove there was an “actual conspiracy to imprison Jackson” was elusive, the case could be made for Jackson being a convenient scapegoat to deflect heat off the Catholic Church because of the concurrent sexual abuse allegations against clergy of the Archdiocese of Boston. The massive investigation of the Catholic Church went on for several years before Jackson was again falsely accused and his Neverland ranch raided by 70 County Sheriff’s and members of Tom Sneddon’s District Attorney’s Office. All this to control Michael’s rising political influence.
From 1994 until he died, Michael endured relentless persecution from the media. Barnes asserts that while the U.S. Constitution grants free speech and freedom of the press, the Supreme Court fails to enforce the laws that require prerequisites to the proper exercise of those freedoms and the protection of constitutional rights. She notes that the media defends slander and defamation by asserting that the statements they make are true for the most part. False statements also get a pass as simply being reported or quoted, most often from anonymous, so-called inside sources.
Still, Michael is gone now and supposedly what the media writes or broadcasts can no longer hurt him. Obviously not, but it can and does hurt his young children, as well as other family members who share his name. For that reason, our representatives should be introduced to CADELAW and asked to vote to pass it to protect the rights of the family of the deceased.
Article written and submitted by: Sherry Walker Bryant
Sherry Walker Bryant is a doctoral student at Ball State University in Muncie Indiana. She is designing an educational series called “Teaching Michael Jackson” to share her research and writing a book on Jackson’s worldwide charismatic influence.
Direct links:
The Petition with goal spelled out: http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/prot…
Find your Senators & Contact them: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact…
Contact President: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/wri…
Share with family & friends:
Ask them to endorse the Initiative so it may become a law.
Help us educate about the unjust legal loophole which may affect you when it comes to your deceased loved one or yourself once you are gone.
Video Credit: CadeFlawResSpec/Sharon Kendrick – a.k.a. Dial Dancer
Renfield Has Nothing On Me
Hello, I am a grave robber. I come from a long, proud and dishonorable line. I am very proud of each of my ancestors.
The most renown was my uncle Renfield. He was in the employ of Doctor Frankenstein, before he took his last position with a Count Dracula.
Unlike Uncle Renfield, I do not steal the bodies, to create monsters. I steal a decedent’s legacy through vilification, using slander to get the same results. But hold on, I am not common, like the gossips or rumor mill workers, although I will use their services later.
The old bones I dig up for my creations are verbal. Sometimes I get a piece or a whole of it right. But if I cannot I will take a verbal tibia, fibula or brain that belongs to someone else to construct falsehoods. And when none of those work, I fashion the piece needed. I am pleased to say I am very, very good at that kind of work; it is what I specialize in.
The works suits me well since there no pesky laws to watch out for. The best part is neither my employer nor the people who read my creations will care if I “fashioned” the story. Truth be told some prefer it that way.
Just as with many of my ancestors, my name and work will live on long after the person or the truth has been forgotten.
I am a grave robber but unlike my ancestors, or their monster masters. I am the monster and the master.
Hello I am grave robber, I steal from the dead and Renfield has nothing on me.
Hello I am a defamer of the dead. I steal from the dead and Renfield has nothing on me.
Hello I am Defamer the grave robber, I steal from the dead and Uncle Renfield has nothing on me.
Support the AdLLaw Initiative
Video
An Invitation – AdLLaw
An Invitation to join the AdLLaw Initiative to attain worldwide support and to bring awareness to this important law which; will protect and preserve the legacies of the deceased.
Petition: http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/protect-the-legacy-of
Special Instructions:
Only one signature per person please. If you reside in the USA please invite the US President and both of your US House Senators via email or postal letter.
International Guest: You may invite the US President.
If you decide to invite elected officials to join you please be sure to inform them “you support the AdLLaw Initiative and have signed the Petition and you wish them to do the same.”
U.S. Senators Website Contact the two U.S. Senators in your state
Thank You,
The AdLLaw Advocates
Category
Nonprofits & Activism
License
Standard YouTube License
What’s So Special About The AdLLaw Initiative and Petition?
AdLLaw is the Anti-Defamation Legacy Law Initiative for the United States of America. The proposed initiative was conceived early 2010 after a group of people grew tired of witnessing the day to day defamation of Michael Jackson beginning the night of his death. The group began to see it was not only famous decedents who were being defamed and their legacies damaged. Originally it was known as CadeFlaw and was meant just for the State of California. In the summer of 2013 the California Initiative was expanded to include all of the USA. The proposed law was drafted by the California Judicial Counsel, but it is written so it could fit in with each State’s slander laws for the living.
The Initiative is meant for the family, successors or estate administrators of defamed decedents, whether they are known the world over or their world is their home town. The wording of the Initiative is tailored so it offers family, successors or estate administrators of defamed decedents the same opportunities to bring about a defamation civil suit as if the defamed was available to do so themselves.
Like any law AdLLaw must fit in without violating existing laws. This is why the current draft is so important, because the lawyers understood the greatest challenge in presenting an anti-defamation initiative to a State Senate was protecting the 1st Amendment.
The intent of this proposed law is to be a deterrent to defamation of the deceased and when necessary a tool used for the worst of offenders. There are people who drive recklessly without regard to the safety of others. If there was a law which said they would go to prison if their driving causes an accident which harms someone a mile away that will be enough for some to stop. This makes the law a deterrent. Then there are those who must be held responsible for their actions when they knowingly cause harm and will not stop. Although, there is generally no criminal charges associated with slander, for many the financial penalties can be what it takes for them to stop or recant their defamation. This is when the law can be a tool.
As stated earlier, AdLLaw will not fix or stop every piece of slander or libel done to the deceased as more than it does for the living, but something is better than nothing. Giving people a chance to use this as a deterrent is better than depending upon the ethics and moral conscious of slanderers. It is better than hoping people who do not have a vested interest in the personal legacy of the decedent will take care of the problem.
This is not the first time there was an attempt to get an anti-defamation for the deceased law passed. In 1987 an Initiative made it up to the New York State Senate. Due to lobbying by media agencies such as People magazine it was allowed to sit around and finally die. This Initiative will face lobbying groups by the Media. It is up to us to insure it neither dies nor is it ignored.
If you have not already signed the AdLLaw Global Petition please do so, but only once. If you previously signed the CadeFlaw Petition please sign the below Global Petition. It can only be counted if you use your real information. After signing the Petition US persons please send a letter or email to the two Senators who represent your State in Washington DC and send an email or letter to the President. Tell them you support this Imitative and would like for them to do the same. Pass this on to family and friends urging them to do the same.
The life and legacy of the decease lies in the memory of the living.
Submitted by: S. Kendrick – a.k.a. Dial Dancer
Anti-Defamation Legacy Law Advocates – AdLLaw Initiative
WE are asking the U.S. Senate to adopt and support The Anti-Defamation Legacy Law Initiative (AdLLaw) (pronounced Ad-Law). The Initiative’s goal is simple. It is meant to bring about legislation which will include the deceased among those who, when defamed, can have the same legal protection by giving their family a statute upon which to base a civil cause of action. We see this law as any other; a possible deterrent for most and a tool for the more serious offenders.
Originally we thought to start with California. The California Courts Judicial Council created a draft Initiative. Although, prepared for California, the language of the document clearly states our intention. A MoveOn.Org petition has been created, hoping to show our political leaders this is something the people wish to see happen. We hope it will make deciding to adopt or support the proposed legislation a bipartisan effort.
There is a long list of decedents who have been egregiously defamed throughout history. Trayvon Martin and Michael Jackson are but the latest victims of defamation. Trayvon’s character is determined by gold teeth caps, a hoodie, his age and ethnicity. His legacy becomes a death made mockery for profit and agenda using a shooting range target and garment created for ridicule, and ratings by way of a death scene photo.
We are all familiar with the level of unfair media attention heaped upon Michael Jackson in the past; there is no need to reiterate it here. Journalists hid behind freedom of speech in an attempt to destroy Michael Jackson for entertainment and profit. Michael Jackson devoted his life to demonstrating love. He encouraged us to change the world. There is no better way to honor Michael than to make positive changes wherever we can. One of the ways we can make an important difference is to work for a law to be passed that makes it illegal to defame the dead.
The freedom of speech is a right that we all enjoy in the United States, and to lose any part of that freedom would be a travesty. However, with freedom comes responsibility. Each of us has a duty to be honest, fair, and balanced in what we say. Journalists, those from whom the masses get their information, should he held to an even higher standard. It is ugly enough to attack someone while they are here, but to continue to promote old lies, innuendo, and hate once they can no longer speak for themselves is reprehensible.
It is because of these men such as Trayvon Martin and Michael Jackson that we decided to turn this into a National effort, finding the longer it is delayed the worse the situation becomes. We believe the AdLLaw Initiative is important. We hold dear our First Amendment rights, but there is nothing in our Constitution about slander being a right or an acceptable example to set for our children.
We were working to have California Civil Code §§ 44-48 revise the definition of who can be defamed to include “a natural person whether living or dead”. An initiative measure was been written by the Judicial Counsel (Initiative: Libel or Slander: Decedents – #1212737).
The proposed statutory written for the Anti-Defamation Legacy Law Advocates by the California Legislative Counsel on July 13, 2012
Diane F. Boyer-Vine, Legislative Counsel
By: Aliza Rachel Kaliski, Deputy Legislative Counsel
The proposed statutory:
SECTION 1. Section 44 of the Civil Code is amended to read:
44. (a) Defamation is effected by either of the following:
(a)
(1) Libel.
(b)
(2) Slander.
(b) (1) Defamation of a person may occur whether that person is living or deceased.
(2) An action for defamation of a deceased person may be brought by any individual who would be entitled to succeed to any portion of the deceased person’s estate that passes under Chapter I (commencing with Section 6400) of Part 2 of Division 6 of the Probate Code, or its successor. A defamation action shall not be brought for defamation of a deceased person occurring more than 70 years after the death of the person.
SEC. 2. This measure may be amended to further its purposes by a statute, passed in each house of the Legislature by rollcall vote entered in the journal, two-thirds of the membership concurring, and signed by the Govemor.
AdLLaw Initiative Petition to U.S. Senate and President
Posted by: The Ant-Defamation Legacy Law Advocates
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