For years now I have been calling most of our elected representatives cowards……I know that may seem a bit harsh…..but I have my reasons…..and yes, I still think that they are huge cowards……no matter which side of the aisle they choose to sit……..
To begin with…they are incapable of working together to find solutions to our mounting problems……then some of the Repubs were charging people money to ask them questions in a townhall…in an attempt to try and cutback on the anger that could be captured on film…..
Captured on film? There is more along those lines also…..I found this article on Politicususa.com
One of the ways that unpopular House Republicans have been trying to dodge the wrath of their angry constituents during the August recess is to not allow filming at their town halls. Last week, Rep. Steve Chabot of Ohio directed on duty police officers to confiscate the cameras of citizens who tried to film his responses at a recent town hall. Chabot justified this behavior as necessary for the protection of his constituents, but a Federal Court ruling on Friday makes it clear that the Republicans who engaging in this behavior are violating the First Amendment rights of their constituents.
The case brought before the court involved a man in Boston who was arrested for filming the police with his cell phone while they were making a separate arrest of a young man in public. The man who did the filming with his cell phone filed suit alleging that his First and Fourth Amendment rights had been violated. The district court ruled in favor of the person who filmed the arrest, and the state appealed.
It seems that these twits only appreciate and feel they have to follow only the parts of the Constitution that they agree with…..you know their fav…the 2nd amendment……so they are AFRAID to answer questions from their constituents and feel just find violating rights of the people….the same rights that they bitch about continuously…
Here is the judge’s ruling….
It is firmly established that the First Amendment’s aegis extends further than the text’s proscription on laws “abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press,” and encompasses a range of conduct related to the gathering and dissemination of information.
As the Supreme Court has observed, “the First Amendment goes beyond protection of the press and the self-expression of individuals to prohibit government from limiting the stock of information from which members of the public may draw.” First Nat’l Bank v. Bellotti, 435 U.S. 765, 783 (1978); see also Stanley v. Georgia, 394 U.S. 557, 564 (1969) (“It is . . .well established that the Constitution protects the right to receive information and ideas.”). An important corollary to this interest in protecting the stock of public information is that “[t]here is an undoubted right to gather news ‘from any source by means within the law.’” Houchins v. KQED, Inc., 438 U.S. 1, 11 (1978) (quoting Branzburg v. Hayes, 408 U.S. 665, 681-82 (1972)).
The filming of government officials engaged in their duties in a public place, including police officers performing their responsibilities, fits comfortably within these principles. Gathering information about government officials in a form that can readily be disseminated to others serves a cardinal First Amendment interest in protecting and promoting “the free discussion of governmental affairs.” Mills v. Alabama, 384 U.S. 214, 218 (1966).
Moreover, as the Court has noted, “[f]reedom of expression has particular significance with respect to government because ‘[i]t is here that the state has a special incentive to repress opposition and often wields a more effective power of suppression.’” First Nat’l Bank, 435 U.S. at 777 n.11 (alteration in original) (quoting Thomas Emerson, Toward a General Theory of the First Amendment 9 (1966)).
Mark it or print it….if you have an unpleasant experience at your elected official’s townhall….just throw the ruling in their face….for you see….they are COWARDS!
First..Politicususa is a great site that I discovered just this summer. Both you and him have posted on what I was going to post on today damn it 😉 .
I read a U of Pittsburg law review blog called Jurist.org that you might want to check out, as its a great reference source and sends out a nightly email on recent court rulings/cases that most of us lefties are interested in. They did a piece on the ruling you and Politicususa cite, which was the one I was going to use.
I hope this new ruling takes the wind out of these fuckers sails. They are cardboard cowboys who can’t stand up to scrutiny and it pisses me off that these jerkwads can’t even suffer the consequences of their actions without resorting to these methods to keep the lid on the fact that their ‘policies’ are going over like lead balloons w/their constituents.
Dusty, it is the great minds think alike….LOL
Like I said….COWARDS!
Oh, and good morning sweetcheeks! 😉
Morning! OK, I am confused…I have one with a gravatar and one not…….I am soooo confused! LOL
used two of my three email addys..all have different gravatars m’dear. Evidently gravatar thinks two of them are rated x or some shit.
Of course they see nothing wrong w/the smoking cat..go figure. 😉
Ya gotta love it, right?
Actually, its a pain in the ass..as I love my current gravatar but so many sites have the permission set at “G” that it won’t show up. 🙁
I like it……a kitty with attitude…..!
This seems to be a larger pattern of behavior among the tea party favorites. Some of the freshmen are not even having town hall meetings for one reason or another.
They seem to have this entitlement attitude that they should be exempt from tough questions. Take Bachmann for example, there have been report where her handlers have been roughing up mainstream journalists who dared to try to ask her questions but allowed local reporters who ask softball questions.
Of course, if a Democrat dares to do the same thing, such as what happened during the town hall during the health care debate, they get vilified. Unfortunately, sheep don’t tend to question their master’s behavior.
Hi Terrant……like I said they are cowards! If they do not make the news then the message is easier to manipulate……look at the debates….softball questions, at least so far…..we may have a better one on the 7th wne Politico hosts the group…but we will have to see…..I am not expecting too much.
People always want proof…..how is this from Eric Cantor……..http://www.politicususa.com/en/eric-cantor-kicks-jobless-townhall Like I say…….COWARDS!
What a disgusting Corporatist Pig. This should be front page news. I told you I love Politicususa..and it’s for stuff like that.
Thanks, I will do a post on it. 😉
Dusty…I agree it is a great site….and you are welcome….glad to help…….
See who the politicians real work for…….http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2011-08-30/House-freshmen-push-bills-that-benefit-big-donors/50196680/1 Remember YOU elected these people and I use the term loosely…..
Total cowards. Charging to ask questions is just reprehensible. They’re supposed to work for us. Yeah they didn’t get that memo.
I still say we pay them piece work….in other words….if they do not pass a bill then they get NO pay…..they need to get back to running the country…..did you know they are off every other week……or that they work only about 4 days a week, at most?
Are we still assuming that after the Citizens United decision?
Thjat one ruling has been the scariest of all the SCOTUS decisions…….