tagged w/ First Amendment
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Ummm...to me this seems like a 1st amendment violation...
By Susannah Bryan and Rachel Hatzipanagos | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
July 15, 2008
COOPER CITY - Dare to wear an Obama or McCain campaign pin to a Cooper City meeting and you might get hit with a $75 fine.
That's if city leaders embrace an ordinance that would outlaw wearing buttons or clothing with a political message at city events held on public property. Political signs and literature, profane language and boisterous behavior also would be banned under the plan the commission is expected to discuss tonight.
Commissioner John Sims said on Monday he is pushing the proposal as a way to restore polite behavior at the city's notoriously raucous public meetings. "You've got to hit people where it hurts, in their pocket," he said, explaining that a $75 fine would discourage rowdiness.
Sims' proposal comes two months after the commission approved a resolution that discourages verbal attacks during public meetings. At the time, the commission said the measure was an attempt to bring civility to City Hall. Sims, the target of a failed recall effort earlier this year, said the current rules don't go far enough.
Longtime resident Gladys Wilson railed against Sim's new plan. "I have a First Amendment right to wear a pin, a necklace, a pair of earrings, whatever I want to wear," she said. "It's just ridiculous what's going on."
Mayor Debbie Eisinger doubts such a measure would be legal.
"On public property, I don't think that you can stop someone from campaigning or taking some political activity," she said.
City Attorney David Wolpin said former City Clerk Susan Bernard drafted the proposed ordinance at Sims' request without consulting him. Wolpin declined to discuss the proposal, saying he planned to share his legal opinion with commissioners tonight.
Bob Jarvis, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University, said the proposed law is "clearly unconstitutional" and goes too far in prohibiting free speech.
But Marc Rohr, also a law professor at NSU, said the city's elected leaders have the right to limit free speech, including campaign buttons, during public meetings. "There are certain settings in which government entities can control the forum," Rohr said.
Earlier this year, some residents targeted Sims, saying they wanted him removed from office for a now-defunct blog registered to him that posted anti-Semitic statements about the mayor. Sims has said he had nothing to do with the postings.
Sims said local campaigns were the main target of his new proposal, but added he has no problem banning Obama or McCain campaign buttons.
"The meetings should not give a venue for people to express their political views," he said. "My attempt is to limit political grandstanding inside City Hall."
Diane Sori, an outspoken critic of City Hall, said she plans to speak out against the measure.
"This is not how freedom of speech works in the United States," she said.
Commissioner Lisa Mallozzi said Sims' plan goes too far.
"I don't think this would be passed. If it does I'll be dumbfounded," Mallozzi said.
Walt Jolliff, a Sims supporter, compared some City Commission meetings to a "Salem witch hunt."
While critics say the new rule would trample on free speech, Jolliff doesn't share those concerns.
"You have to start some place," he said.
Ummm...to me this seems like a 1st amendment violation...
By Susannah Bryan and... more
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The video shows former librarian Carol Kreck being thrown out of a John McCain "town hall" meeting before she even got inside. The meeting was supposed to be an open and free exchange of ideas, but Kreck's small sign which simply said McCain = Bush was enough to earn her a ticket and a court date.
Kreck's story has made the rounds on the internet, but as this blogger tells us, it is not an isolated incident. Much like Bush saw too it that he only spoke in front of and took questions from people already on his side, McCain is making sure to stifle dissent.
You can read the full post here: http://stonecipher.typepad.com/the_stonecipher_report/2008/07/mccain-hates-th.htmlThe video shows former librarian Carol Kreck being thrown out of a John McCain... more
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ANP takes a humorous look at the grand achievement of the Newseum - a multi-million dollar shrine to the news industry brought to you by today's corporate media titans. Despite all the money, the curators might have failed on one key question: What is news?ANP takes a humorous look at the grand achievement of the Newseum - a multi-million... more
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3 years ago
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The American Civil Liberties Union filed a landmark lawsuit today to stop the government from conducting surveillance under a new wiretapping law that gives the Bush administration virtually unchecked power to intercept Americans' international e-mails and telephone calls. The case was filed on behalf of a broad coalition of attorneys and human rights, labor, legal and media organizations whose ability to perform their work - which relies on confidential communications - will be greatly compromised by the new law.
The FISA Amendments Act of 2008, passed by Congress on Wednesday and signed by President Bush today, not only legalizes the secret warrantless surveillance program the president approved in late 2001, it gives the government new spying powers, including the power to conduct dragnet surveillance of Americans' international communications.
"Spying on Americans without warrants or judicial approval is an abuse of government power - and that's exactly what this law allows. The ACLU will not sit by and let this evisceration of the Fourth Amendment go unchallenged," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "Electronic surveillance must be conducted in a constitutional manner that affords the greatest possible protection for individual privacy and free speech rights. The new wiretapping law fails to provide fundamental safeguards that the Constitution unambiguously requires."
In today's legal challenge, the ACLU argues that the new spying law violates Americans' rights to free speech and privacy under the First and Fourth Amendments to the Constitution. The new law permits the government to conduct intrusive surveillance without ever telling a court who it intends to spy on, what phone lines and email addresses it intends to monitor, where its surveillance targets are located, why it's conducting the surveillance or whether it suspects any party to the communication of wrongdoing.
(End of excerpt)
Full story at link by the American Civil Liberties UnionThe American Civil Liberties Union filed a landmark lawsuit today to stop the... more
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The Texas Supreme Court on Friday threw out a jury award over injuries a 17-year-old girl suffered in an exorcism conducted by members of her old church, ruling that the case unconstitutionally entangled the court in religious matters.
Laura Schubert testified in 2002 that she was cut and bruised and later experienced hallucinations after the church members' actions in 1996, when she was 17. Schubert said she was pinned to the floor for hours and received carpet burns during the exorcism, the Austin American-Statesman reported. She also said the incident led her to mutilate herself and attempt suicide. She eventually sought psychiatric help.
But the church's attorneys had told jurors that her psychological problems were caused by traumatic events she witnessed with her missionary parents in Africa. The church contended she "freaked out" about following her father's life as a missionary and was acting out to gain attention.
Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson, in a dissenting opinion, stated "The First Amendment guards religious liberty; it does not sanction intentional abuse in religion's name."
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday threw out a jury award over injuries a 17-year-old... more
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PHILADELPHIA -- Police said Thursday a local security guard is facing charges after posting a video on YouTube that they said included a demonstration on how to kill a Philadelphia police officer.
NBC 10 News reported that the man, who is shown apparently wielding a gun, said, "I promote violence in Philly."
In the 1:18 video that appeared on YouTube a few weeks ago, authorities said the man, identified as 44-year-old Andre Moore, shows his audience how to use a gun to kill police -- in fact, authorities added, he said he rejoices when a Philadelphia police officer is killed.
"I can't stand the 18th District," police said Moore said on the video. "That's why I rejoice whenever they shoot a cop in Philadelphia 'cause I hate them."
Sources told NBC 10 News that thanks to a tip, a special task force with the attorney general's office found Moore in his West Philadelphia apartment and arrested him on Thursday.
Investigators also said the tape is a form of aggravated assault, adding that he is corrupting the morals of a minor because his 12-year-old son is the one who shot this video.
A woman who identified herself as Moore's wife declined to comment, NBC 10 News reported.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey called the video disturbing.
"It's sad when people do things like that -- it's very unfortunate," he said. "My understanding is a minor was filming it, which is a tragedy in and of itself, so we'll see what happens in court."
In addition to aggravated assault and corrupting the morals of a minor, Moore also faces charges of making terroristic threats and harassment.PHILADELPHIA -- Police said Thursday a local security guard is facing charges after... more
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The producers of Ben Stein's movie, "Expelled," have won an important victory for fair use. Fair Use is a doctrine in U.S. copyright law that carves out some exceptions to the exclusivity of copyright in certain areas. In this case, the film, in which Stein makes an argument for intelligent design, used a 15 second clip of John Lennon's song, "Imagine." Yoko Ono, Lennon's widow and the rights holder of Lennon's musical catalog, sued the filmmakers saying they did not have her permission to use the song.
A District Court judge ruled against Ono, saying that, because the filmmakers were using the song clip in the contest of criticism, the use was covered under the fair use doctrine.
This is a great victory for those of us who believe that copyright holders in the U.S. (in the vast majority of cases, giant corporations and bazillionaires, like Ono) have been going on a drunken bender of litigation against perfectly legitimate uses of their copyrighted works and, in the process, trampling both fair use and the First Amendment underfoot.
(Regardless of how you might feel about I.D., this is a big win for intellectual freedom and free speech.)The producers of Ben Stein's movie, "Expelled," have won an important... more
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Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier - Could censoring High-School publications be breeding a generation that make better cheerleaders than journalists?Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier - Could censoring High-School publications be... more
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Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting's founder Jeff Cohen knows about bias in news sourcing firsthand. He weighs in on the latest revelations by the New York Times about the Pentagon's program to groom retired military as analysts for the networks in the selling of the invasion of Iraq.
"Except for the brazenness and scope of the Pentagon spin program, I wasn’t shocked by the recent New York Times report exposing how the Pentagon junketed and coached the retired military brass into being “message-force multipliers” and “surrogates” for Donald Rumsfeld’s lethal propaganda.
The biggest villain here is not Rumsfeld or the Pentagon. It’s the TV networks. In the land of the First Amendment, it was their choice to shut down debate and journalism.
No government agency forced MSNBC to repeatedly feature the hawkish generals unopposed. Or fire Phil Donahue. Or smear weapons expert Scott Ritter. Or blacklist former attorney general Ramsey Clark. It was top NBC/MSNBC execs, not the Feds, who imposed a quota system on the Donahue staff requiring two pro-war guests if we booked one anti-war advocate — affirmative action for hawks.
I’m all for a Congressional investigation into the Pentagon’s Iraq propaganda operation — which included an active-duty general exhorting ex-military-turned-paid-pundits that “the strategic target remains our population.”
But I’m also for keeping the focus and onus on CNN, FOX, NBC, ABC, CBS, even NPR — who were partners in the Pentagon’s mission of “information dominance.” And for us to see that American TV news remains so corrupt today that it has hardly mentioned the Times story on the Pentagon’s pundits, which was based on 8,000 pages of internal Pentagon documents acquired by a successful Times lawsuit."
It should be noted that PBS has broken the network blackout on the story on it's daily show Newshour with Jim Lehrer.Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting's founder Jeff Cohen knows about bias in news... more
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This video that explains why discrimination on the Internet is a problem and will continue to be as long as net neutrality rules are not enforced.This video that explains why discrimination on the Internet is a problem and will... more
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SavetheInternet.com Coalition is more than a million people who have banded together with thousands of non-profit organizations, businesses and bloggers to protect Internet freedom.
The Coalition believes that the Internet is a crucial engine for economic growth and free speech. They are working together to urge Congress to preserve Network Neutrality, the First Amendment of the Internet, which ensures that the Internet remains open to new ideas, innovation and progress.
SavetheInternet.com Coalition is more than a million people who have banded together... more
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Glad to hear Al Gore's joining the conversation; "Accuracy, Privacy and the World Wide Web: The First Amendment and the Internet" is an important topic that needs to be discussed today.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore will be joined March 27 by speakers including journalist John Seigenthaler, Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales, author Cass Sunstein and The New York Times' Jonathan Landman at a local event on free speech and the Internet.
"Accuracy, Privacy and the World Wide Web: The First Amendment and the Internet" will be held at Middle Tennessee State University.
The free daylong event, sponsored by MTSU's John Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies, will be held in the Keathley University Center Theater beginning at 9:45 a.m. Seigenthaler is chairman emeritus of The Tennessean.
For more information, call 898-5150 or e-mail bkeel@mtsu.edu.
Glad to hear Al Gore's joining the conversation; "Accuracy, Privacy and the... more
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"The image in question is a news photo of two U.S. soldiers walking away from the camera with a hooded detainee between them."
"Not permitting us to use an image of a hooded man that comes from a documentary photograph is censorship, pure and simple," said producer, writer and director Alex Gibney."The image in question is a news photo of two U.S. soldiers walking away from the... more
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Another example of history showing how far we have let our country fall.
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There goes the first amendment... They are slowly taking apart the Constitution piecemeal.
Excerpt:
The end of Free Speech in America has arrived at our doorstep. It's a new law called the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act, and it is worded in a clever way that could allow the U.S. government to arrest and incarcerate any individual who speaks out against the Bush Administration, the war on Iraq, the Department of Homeland Security or any government agency (including the FDA). The law has already passed the House on a traitorous vote of 405 to 6, and it is now being considered in the Senate where a vote is imminent. All over the internet, intelligent people who care about freedom are speaking out against this extremely dangerous law.There goes the first amendment... They are slowly taking apart the Constitution... more
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http://www.opencongress.org/bill/110-h1955/show
Something else you won't see in the "mainstream media" while they distract Americans now with more Natalie Holloway stories and what Britney Spears did for Thanksgiving, as if I give a damn. This bill is sweeping in its vagueness regarding how it will and can be enforced and is something we should be crying out loudly against. Will environmental groups now be branded as "homegrown terrorists?" When are the hearings going to start in branding Americans subversives now for opposing this "war" or wanting a cleaner planet? Rep Harmon should be ashamed of herself for this bill. It does absolutely nothing to fight "terrorism" but everything to strip an already bare Democracy of the last vestiges of freedom of speech we thought we had. I will state this, however: No piece of paper is going to stop me from expressing my views or standing up for what I believe in because this bill is not only the antithesis of all Americans have died for to preserve this nation, it is an embarrassment to Democrats. To think a Democrat would even think of this is appalling. I can then only presume that Thomas Jefferson, and those who stood up to the first King George would have also been considered, "homegrown terrorists." Seems like we are going backward instead of forward. And pay very close attention to it regarding the Internet and the subtle language used in criminalizing free speech here.http://www.opencongress.org/bill/110-h1955/show
Something else you won't see... more
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Project Censored gives a list of the top 25 stories you didn't hear about this year, that you really should have. Heading the list, the truth about habeas corpus. Not denied to a few; denied to everyone.Project Censored gives a list of the top 25 stories you didn't hear about this... more
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There are two questions here: is income tax moral and constitutional? and is what the Feds are trying to do with this web site constitutional? It is kind of a slippery slope because what these companies were attempting to do is teach people how to break the law, but is it just civil disobedience?There are two questions here: is income tax moral and constitutional? and is what the... more
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NoShow
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When I pass preachers on the street I never really pay attention but I think the First Amendment is something worth protecting.When I pass preachers on the street I never really pay attention but I think the First... more
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