What are the Limits on Freedom of Speech?

I ask this question after I see the following story:

Republican Councilman Paul Smith, of Sterling Heights, Michigan, has found himself at the center of controversy after video of him holding a sign that depicted President Obama's head on a spike surfaced after being recorded at a Tea Party rally more than three years ago in April 2009. He also had other signs that included Nancy Pelosi with bullet holes in her head, and a noose around the neck of former Michigan Governor, Jennifer Granholm.

Shocking?  Not anymore.  Frankly, I'm not really surprised by what Republican representatives in our government do anymore.  Has this crossed the line or protected speech?  I'm not sure.  When it comes to the President, the supreme court ruling is clear.

Federal statute [prohibits] “any threat to take the life of or to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States.” ...but [not] mere “political hyperbole.”

Are his signs "hyperbole"?  While the secret service is investigating this, has he broken the law?    It appears the its possibly not the case.  In the supreme court case NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co:

“emotionally charged rhetoric . . . did not transcend the bounds of protected speech set forth in Brandenburg. . . . An advocate must be free to stimulate his audience with spontaneous and emotional appeals for unity and action in a common cause. When such appeals do not incite lawless action, they must be regarded as protected speech.

So it seems that violent rhetoric is not illegal unless violent action results from it.  At least from the previous ruling.  But to throw another wrench into these decisions, the ninth circuit court made the following ruling in Planned Parenthood v. American Coalition of Life Activists:

The Ninth Circuit concluded that a “true threat” is “a statement which, in the entire context and under all the circumstances, a reasonable person would foresee would be interpreted by those to whom the statement is communicated as a serious expression of intent to inflict bodily harm upon that person.”⁹⁹⁵ “It is not necessary that the defendant intend to, or be able to carry out his threat; the only intent requirement for a true threat is that the defendant intentionally or knowingly communicate the threat.”99

So that's nice and complicated.  I still don't really know if what this Republican councilman said is illegal.  In the context of this situation, it is important to note, that yet again, this is a Republican, right winger carrying out this type of threat.  Once again, it's the tea party using extreme language as the norm.

 These are your Republican representatives folks.  These are the people who claim they are the victims:

Smith went on to say that the city council is like a "fraternity", and that "I'm not welcome to the club."

 Yea, that's because you're a freaking idiot.  You did this three years ago and got caught now.  Suddenly you're the victim. *sigh*

PEACE

Why We Stand Up Against Intolerance

Over the course of American history, a group of Americans has always stood up to intolerance.  Whether it was against African Americans, women, immigrants, homosexuals, or others, we have stood up and made our voices heard against the seemingly unbreakable wall of intolerance.

Why?

Consider these famous words from Robert Kennedy.

“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

We stand up against intolerance because we hold true the values of equality, fairness, opportunity, and freedom.  We stand up against intolerance because it has no place in a democracy; no place in this great American experiment.  We stand up against intolerance because we value treating others as we wish to see ourselves treated.

But mostly we stand up against intolerance because we know that, historically, it is a juggernaut of a force.  It takes tiny acts of courage and belief to collectively break away and erode the juggernaut.
Because with each action we take, we give somebody else that hope that they can share in the same values that our country and so many other democracies around the world are founded upon.  Going back to our birth:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

PEACE

The Trayvon Martin "Lynching"

Make no doubt about it, Trayvon Martin's murder (let's stop calling it a "death") was a lynching.  Once lynching's went out of fashion because they were "frowned upon", folks had to find a nicer, cleaner way to kill blacks.  You can't really call a lynching a "self-defense".  You can't really defend a lynching and say it was an "accident".  But the intention is the same.  Kill the black man or woman, publicly murder the black child, and intimidate an entire neighborhood or population; instilling fear is the goal, guided by racist motivations, desire to have power, and desire to have control.

Trayvon Martin was defenseless.  He was a child murdered by an adult.  The adult decided Trayvon was "suspicious" and hunted him down, motivated by the fact that "those assholes always get away with it."  Then he murdered Trayvon in public when all he was guilty of was walking while black.

He may not have been hung up in a tree, but he was essentially lynched.  No surprise knowing Florida's history of lynching blacks.

Anna Brown, a homeless woman from St. Louis, was also "lynched".  

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Anna Brown was homeless and had so much pain in her legs that she couldn’t walk.

When Brown, 29, refused to leave the emergency room at St. Mary’s Health Center in Richmond Heights, Mo., a suburb near inner St. Louis, the police thought she was on drugs and arrested her for trespassing. She’d already been examined, and a doctor said she was healthy enough to go to jail.

The police carried her into a jail cell by her arms and ankles, her body slackened. There were a couple of beds in the cell, but they left her on the concrete floor. A couple of officers stood by the door as she writhed and moaned, and then they walked away. “They thought she was a drug seeker,” an officer said later.

She had stopped moving within 15 minutes and was pronounced dead a short time later.

 The hospital claims they "acted appropriately".  It was much easier to think that she was a drug dealer, a hooker, or just trying to game the system; those sneaky blacks.  Easier to just take her to jail, ignore her, and then let her die.  How safe would you feel going to the hospital, knowing that others of your community would end up dead there?

But what about the police?  They wouldn't lynch a black man or woman, would they?  Often times, it was the police who were the ones arresting "suspects"... I mean "assholes"... who were suspected of committing crimes against whites.  Wouldn't want them to get away with it.  Justice by lynching; justice by ignoring them health care.  This was a murder, plain and simple.

Kenneth Chamberlain, a 68 year old marine veteran, was also "lynched", this time by the police in his own home.

Kenneth Chamberlain Junior has called for the prosecution of the officers who killed his father. After the meeting, he criticized police for refusing to release the name of the officer who fired the fatal shots. The police had responded to a false alarm from Chamberlain’s medical alert pendant. The officers broke down Chamberlain’s door, tasered him, and then shot him dead. 

Kenneth Chamberlain, Jr.: "You hear him asking them why are they doing this to him. He says, ’I’m a 68-year-old man with a heart condition. Why are you doing this to me? I know what you’re going to do: you’re going to come in here, and you’re going to kill me.’ You also hear him pleading with the officers again, over and over. And at one point, that’s when the expletive is used by one of the police officers." 

Amy Goodman: "What did they say?" 

Kenneth Chamberlain, Jr.: "Where they say, 'I don’t give a F.' And then they use the N-word. And then, as I said, ultimately, they bust down the door."

A 68 year old man, shot to death in his own apartment.  They may not have strung him up in public, but they sure as hell made his death public.  They decided his heart condition, combined with his being black, was enough reason to kill him, all the while using racial slurs.  And again, this murder, this assassination, was carried out by the police.

**********

With Barack Obama being elected president, and with the civil rights movement in our past, apparently we are in a post race world (*cough* bullshit *cough*).  Racism is alive and kicking its ugly head in violent, frightening ways.

And we want to talk about how American's aren't racist anymore since they elected a Black president?  We want to talk about how racism is dead?  How about the dead Trayvon Martin?  Anna Brown?  Kenneth Chamberlain?

They may not have been hung by a mob, but the end results were the same.  And the mob is defending George Zimmerman; the mob is defending the hospital staff; the mob is defending the police.

A new century, and the same old tired shit.

Bobby Rush Takes a Stand

Today on the floor of Congress, Bobby Rush was escorted out of the session for wearing a hoodie.  Congress has rules of decor in which hats are prohibited, and apparently that includes wearing a hoodie.

Take a stand against racial profiling.  Take a stand in support of Trayvon Martin.

PEACE

Be Very Afraid

What do the current Republicans have that they are running for?
What policies do they have which they are in support?

Or are they simply running against something?

The party that wants to kill government?
The party that wants to end women's rights?
The party that wants to kill voter's rights?
The party that wants to hand the keys of our country to the wealthy corporations?
The party that wants everybody to be afraid of black people?


Are they now officially the party of fear?


Apparently so...



Be afraid!  In just two years, this country will turn into some dystopian, awful, post apocalyptic hell hole.  And it will all be because of that big, scary, Kenyan usurper, Muslim president.

Don't you see?  Being black is bad.  Shit, being half black is bad.  Being Muslim is bad.  Even being a fake Muslim is bad!  He stole the presidency, just so he could ruin this country with his failed policies.

It's SCARY.

Meanwhile, the rest of America wants to know.  Hey Republicans, what are you doing about jobs?  What are you doing about the environment?  What are you going to do about our failing transportation system?

Or are you just going to focus on taking away a woman's rights to her body?  Is that the solution to everything right now?

Oh I forgot, the solution to the country's problems is to be AFRAID.

PEACE


p.s.  Bonus points if you can point out the very very subtle subliminal messaging in the Rick Santorum advertisement.

Last source was a fake

I learned my lesson.  I will check my sources a little closer in the future.  Although I will say that it is a fine piece of extremely believable satire.

http://www.freewoodpost.com/disclaimer/

Mitt Romney Can Relate to Black People

Old story, but I just found out about it.  I think this is sad and funny at the same time.  Looks like the Southern Strategy is alive and well, blow the dog whistle for racist, conservative, white voters.  They'll come to your side every time.

While addressing a crowd in Alabama during the primary there, he made the following comments.

I understand how difficult it can be for an African-American in today’s society. In fact, I can relate to black people very well indeed. My ancestors once owned slaves, and it is in my lineage to work closely with the black community. However, just because they were freed over a century ago doesn’t mean they can now be freeloaders. They need to be told to work hard, and the incentives just aren’t there for them anymore. When I’m president I plan to work closely with the black community to bring a sense of pride and work ethic back into view for them. 

Don't let anybody tell you this is a "Romney" moment or that this happened on accident.  This was on purpose. Its a strategy meant to woo old school, racist white voters.  To anybody else with any sensibility, the comments are asinine, absurd, and racist as hell.

PEACE