What do I love most about the American Civil Liberties Union?
If local, state or federal authorities squelched my blog now over that provocative headline, and I called Bill Newman, Western Mass ACLU Director, he would instantly do everything in his considerable power to fend off the government intrusion on my First Amendment rights, all without sending me a bill.
Just as the national chapter did in the 1971 Supreme Court case of Cohan V California.
I first met Mr. Newman back in November, 1999 when I invited him to speak at a public rally on the Town Common I organized to protest the cancellation of 'West Side Story'. To date, the People's Republic of Amherst is the only entity in history to nix the award winning play.
And in his brief presentation he said, "The way to deal with bad speech is with good speech and more of it--not censorship." Although I'm sure he did not for a moment believe 'West Side Story' actually constituted "bad speech."
So yes, I despise Cowardly Anonymous Nitwits who march under white sheets, or an organization that advocates for sex between men and boys, or protesters who picket the funeral of American military personnel with homophobic signage--but that is the price we pay for our most cherished American ideal, the Freedom of Speech. A small price indeed.
So thank God (yes, another freedom I have) for the ACLU these past 90 years!
The Springfield Republican reports
18 comments:
I really wish that the ACLU had the courage to "walk the walk" and not just be "talking the talk."
Do you have any idea how easy it is to get kicked out of UMass for saying something far milder than this?
UMass can literally shut down a newspaper with total impunity....
Do you feel that way about the anonymous posters that agree with you? You never seem to attack them.
Larry have you ever been contacted (or spoken to in person) by anyone working for the town, asking you to delete posts or tone down your "approach"? Rumor is, is that you have. Not asking you to name names, just want to know if it happened.
Thanks for your great work and caring for Amherst Larry,
SF
Kind of, but in a much more subtle way since I starting blogging 3.5 years ago.
it doesn't matter what Larry thinks or does, until he decides to really look into 911. I know he loves the popular mechanics version, and probably believes NIST
come on larry, i know you are smart, why are you denying this....more and more comes out every day about the smoking guns of 911...the govt story is so full of holes it is ridiculous people even believe it. yet there are countless police and firemen videos documenting the bombs and true story about what happened there
http://www.youtube.com/user/fairinfowar#p/c/A087E8167E35AC16/0/TOnc-lqZtlM
http://www.prisonplanet.com/video-911-firefighters-reveal-huge-explosions-before-towers-collapsed.html
larry, it takes a big man to look into the truth and change his mind...try it.
I did, about 45 years ago, when I figured out my parents were not telling me the truth about Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy.
Go away.
No journalist or free-lance writer worth a damn has taken on this claim that 9/11 was an inside job. Unlike the various second-shooter theories of the Kennedy Assassination.
Such a book written by such a writer would fly off the shelves, so there's no disincentive to do so.
But ACTV shows a documentary about it on a fairly regular basis, narrated by a ghostly female voice.
A little like spooky stories around the campfire.
Actually, I do believe Kennedy's kill shot came from the front.
Or that Roosevelt loved his navy and he would NEVER have allowed Pearl Harbor to happen on purpose.
No journalist or free-lance writer worth a damn has taken on this claim that 9/11 was an inside job.
well, i don't know what "worth a damn" means, but if you mean some mainstream author...it ain't gonna happen.
however, a quick search reveals many books about the conspiracy of 911
http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&safe=off&biw=1400&bih=937&tbs=bks:1&q=9/11&aq=f&aqi=g5g-m2&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=
here is one that debunks larry's favorite popular mechanics story....
http://books.google.com/books?id=CMZ12AxBOh8C&lpg=PP1&dq=9%2F11&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false
as for online, i mean come on! there are hundreds if not thousands of sites that debunk the "official" story....eyewitness testimony and all.
if you believe 911 was done by men in caves....well, you need to do the research
The attacks of September 11, 2001 were accomplished through an amazing orchestration of logistics and personnel. 'Crossing the Rubicon' discovers and identifies key suspects -- finding some of them in the highest echelons of American government -- by showing how they acted in concert to guarantee that the attacks produced the desired result. Crossing the Rubicon is unique not only for its case-breaking examination of 9/11, but for the breadth and depth of its world picture -- an interdisciplinary analysis of petroleum, geopolitics, narco-traffic, intelligence and militarism -- without which 9/11 cannot be understood. The US manufacturing sector has been mostly replaced by speculation on financial data whose underlying economic reality is a dark secret. Hundreds of billions of dollars in laundered drug money flow through Wall Street each year from opium and coca fields maintained by CIA-sponsored warlords and US-backed covert paramilitary violence. America's global dominance depends on a continually turning mill of guns, drugs, oil and money. Oil and natural gas -- the fuels that make economic growth possible -- are subsidised by American military force and foreign lending. In reality, 9/11 and the resulting 'War on Terror' are parts of a massive authoritarian response to an emerging economic crisis of unprecedented scale. Peak Oil -- the beginning of the end for our industrial civilisation -- is driving the elites of American power to implement unthinkably draconian measures of repression, warfare and population control. This is more than a story. It is a map of the perilous terrain through which, together and alone, we are all now making our way.
http://books.google.com/books?id=ezyLJrAu1SIC&dq=9/11&source=gbs_similarbooks_s&cad=1
And if you believe in a government that is smart, competent and efficient enough in order to coordinate all of what happened on 9/11, for whatever evil motive you ascribe to it, then you don't know government.
You need to do the research on that.
Anon 9:23 pm
An excellent job of reasoning backward through history, as if it were all planned in advance.
I'm more cynical to this extent: all of what you cite happened as a result of 9/11 was already happening and would have kept happening without it!
It's a government that's been bought and paid for for decades before 2001.
But if it makes you feel better....
"An excellent job of reasoning backward through history, as if it were all planned in advance."
that is a blurb about the book, not my words.
"And if you believe in a government that is smart, competent and efficient enough in order to coordinate all of what happened on 9/11, for whatever evil motive you ascribe to it, then you don't know government."
it is called compartmentalism...the left hand knows not what the right hand is doing. we are not talking about the schmucks on the select board or town meeting, we are talking about the richest most powerful govt in the world with the best intelligence...run by the nwo
"This myth of Dick Cheney as the evil genius is one that you guys share with the right wing.
Oh, what a brilliant mind he was!
NOT: the man was a moron. And once the historians go to town on the Bush era without the left-wing polemics, we will really learn what a moron he was."
i wish i was that dumb, id be rich.
wake up
3 words
military grade thermite
Wake up yourself.
I prefer the Jane Mayer and Michael Isikoff version of what happened here. Bush and Cheney were caught sleeping through August and into September 2001, and they never got over that. From then on, they saw what they wanted to see, heard what they wanted to hear, tortured who they wanted to torture.
They were fools, and then we as a country decided we needed some big strong men to take care of us, so we reelected those fools.
There are plenty of very wealthy, very stupid people in this country. We have an entire cable television network devoted to them.
But claiming that 911 was an inside job gives way, way too much credit to a great many people.
They were fools, and then we as a country decided we needed some big strong men to take care of us, so we reelected those fools.
who were the fools?
sorry, you don't give them enough credit...as you said, the fools got elected twice. bush was a stupid puppet, but a well connected puppet. cheney was the one with his corporation involvement tangled with the govt (fascism).
we are the definition of fascist military complex, and those fools helped further that agenda massively.
fascism....
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.
4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.
5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.
6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.
7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
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