A U.S. Appeals Court has ruled in favor of Westboro Baptist Church—the people who express the love of God by picketing funerals of gays and soldiers—in a lawsuit, as detailed here. The court ruled that however repellent the views of Westboro and its leader, Fred Phelps, it was still covered by the First Amendment.
I’m in favor of this, overall, though I’m surprised at the Court’s decision a piece one of the protesters posted online claiming that the soldier’s parents taught him “to defy his creator,” “raised him from the devil” and “taught him that God was a liar.” This would seem to fall into the slander category—the court’s argument it was just a hysterical hate-filled rant that couldn’t be taken as a serious statement of fact is one I’d disagree with (hysterical yes, but from these people I see no reason to think it’s an exaggeration of their views).
Still, better to err on the side of more speech than less. Even when the speakers are scum.
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Archive for September, 2009
Defending the rights of vile people
September 30th, 2009, 4:28 pm by fshermanAnd the right-wing fringe gets more alarming still
September 30th, 2009, 10:28 am by fshermanPundit John Perry on Newsmax:
” There is a remote, although gaining, possibility America’s military will intervene as a last resort to resolve the “Obama problem.” Don’t dismiss it as unrealistic.
America isn’t the Third World. If a military coup does occur here it will be civilized. That it has never happened doesn’t mean it wont. Describing what may be afoot is not to advocate it.
[...]
Will the day come when patriotic general and flag officers sit down with the president, or with those who control him, and work out the national equivalent of a “family intervention,” with some form of limited, shared responsibility?
Imagine a bloodless coup to restore and defend the Constitution through an interim administration that would do the serious business of governing and defending the nation. Skilled, military-trained, nation-builders would replace accountability-challenged, radical-left commissars. Having bonded with his twin teleprompters, the president would be detailed for ceremonial speech-making.”
Boy, the right wing sure got over it’s conviction that even criticizing the president during wartime is a bad thing, didn’t it?
And no, there’s no such thing as a ‘civilized’ military coup–unless by civilized you mean everyone’s too terrified of being killed to speak out. And history shows that promises to overthrow an elected leader to restore some nation’s Constitution are lies.
Fortunately, I find the prospect of America’s military betraying their oath to their country and the whole civilian-command concept much less likely than Perry does.
Something I hate
September 29th, 2009, 3:29 pm by fshermanThese new expanding advertising images on Web sites that block your view until you click to turn them off. They’re annoying, even knowing Web advertising is what greases the wheels for so much good stuff.
The Obama is a Nazi analogy
September 29th, 2009, 1:05 pm by fshermanDoonesbury responds better than I could here.
Astonishing!
September 28th, 2009, 8:52 am by fshermanI went out for a morning walk this weekend and actually discovered a set of sprinklers that focused their spray entirely on the grass and not on the sidewalk I was going across! I was beginning some unknown defect in sprinkler design made that impossible.
Ron Hart, wrong again
September 25th, 2009, 2:04 pm by fshermanHart: “He wants to give to certain of his lazier constituents the fruits of the labor of the more industrious. Controlling the 51 percent he gives to by taking from the other 49 percent is the tightrope he and David Axelrod are walking in hopes of winning again in 2012.”
This is Hart’s favorite line: Everyone on the receiving end of a government benefit is a lazy shiftless bum (and a Democrat) whereas everyone who works hard like he does is a Republican.
Speaking as a reporter/columnist/writer, there are plenty of poor people who work a lot harder than either me or Hart do.
I’ve worked retail and it’s way more exhausting than writing (back and legs mostly). I’ve known people who worked a lot harder: Jobs that kept them on their feet longer, involved lifting heavy work, put in hours and hours because their pay was so low they didn’t have a choice … The fact that some of them don’t make enough to afford health insurance hardly makes them “lazy.”
And for that matter, wouldn’t all Hart’s cronies in Goldman/Sachs be just as hooked up–if not more–to the government teat? Hart’s always condemned the government for the big bailout but he’s surprisingly careful not to point out that a large chunk of the financial industry is now in the 51 percent that leaches off the productive workers. In fairness, it would take a whole lot of courage to bite the hand that feeds him, so perhaps I shouldn’t blame him.
I get the impression from some of Hart’s Ayn Rand columns that he sees himself as one of those John Galts who could stop the world if they withdrew their amazing talents and creative energy. The fact is, we could do without Hart a lot easier than we could do without, say, garbagemen (note: I’m also more dispensible than garbagemen).
Next: “This president is on a torrid pace to make us forget how often Bush was misguided and how bad Carter could have been, had Reagan not beaten him in 1980. Someone needs to identify the next Reagan by 2011 — preferably a candidate who does not wander off down the Appalachian Trail or who can “see Russia from her house.””
Wow, funny how Hart thought she was so wonderful during the campaign, and gushed about how sad it was she wouldn’t be in the White House. Of course, it won’t hurt the Republicans to criticize her now, so why not (if she does run again, I’ll be curious to see if Hart’s tone changes back).
And why in the name of sanity would we need another Reagan? The president who:
•Left us with a record budget deficit.
•Gave us a runaway military budget including the Star Wars military defense boondoggle and a multimillion dollar military fraud case (orchestrated by one of his cabinet members).
•Who had more of his administration indicted than any president before or after?
•Who appointed an attorney general who claimed the Bill of Rights wasn’t important because innocent people are never suspected, arrested or charged.
•Who supported and armed Saddam Hussein, pushed to keep Ferdinand Marcos in office when his own country wanted him out (and voted him out) and backed South Africa’s apartheid government?
•Who hiked taxes on the poor and cut them on the rich?
Reagan did have a couple of stunning successes–his tax reforms simplified the tax code greatly (even if it promptly got recomplicated again) and he negotiated with Russia at a time many right-wingers were screaming about “appeasement” (the more things change …). Even so, the difference between Bush and Reagan (budget deficits, runaway military spending, support for authoritarian government, etc.) was a matter of degree.
So in that sense, we already found another Reagan–and look how that turned out.
Preventive detention update
September 25th, 2009, 11:34 am by fshermanMy column this week discussed Obama’s plans to ask Congress for a legal authorization for preventive detention. Now Glenn Greenwald reports that Obama has opted instead to claim the powers Bush asserted to do it without a special law (though with slightly different rationale).
Greenwald’s conclusion is that this is a very small victory, but a victory, preferable to having the concept of preventive detention built into our law.
The threat of Iran has always been imminent
September 25th, 2009, 11:28 am by fshermanA good article by Gary Sick shows how the government has been predicting Iran’s becoming a nuclear power within three to five years since 1992. Something to keep in mind when our government tells us we can’t endure the threat a moment longer.
Umm, no
September 25th, 2009, 11:26 am by fshermanWalter Williams’ column arguing that capitalism is preferable to Communism wouldn’t have annoyed me except, as usual, faced with any suggestion capitalism isn’t perfect, he ducks and weaves.
Case in point: In explaining why the poor are better off under capitalism, he argues that someone who’s poor in America “whether he has health insurance or not, he is able to obtain medical care when needed.”
Sure. Because E/Rs have to provide it if someone shows up sick. This is wildly expensive and also a very poor way to deal with things like diabetes and heart disease, which are much easier to manage it treated before they get to the emergency point. It’s an inefficient, clumsy way to get medical care, and hugely expensive if you don’t have insurance (been there, done that); and frankly the “socialized” medicine practiced in other countries would seem a better alternative.
Then Williams goes on to explain that our country’s problems “can be laid at the feet of Congress and the White House”—for example, “banks didn’t mind making risky loans and Wall Street buyers didn’t mind buying those repackaged loans because they assumed they would be guaranteed by the federal government … Under a capitalist system, financial institutions would not have been intimidated or encouraged into making risky loans.”
In the first place, even if that were true, wouldn’t the banks be at least as much at fault? It’s not as if the government used Jedi mind tricks.
And in reality, we have multiple first-hand accounts, tape-recorded conversations and records that show that it was indeed capitalism—i.e., an intense desire to make money—that led to some of the meltdown. People who approved lots of dubious loans, knowing they’d get bigger bonuses and better performance reviews. Or that they’d be gone by the time the bill came due.
Apparently admitting that sort of thing isn’t acceptable in Williams’ universe.
Drainage on Country Club Drive
September 21st, 2009, 7:38 pm by fshermanKisela: “We’ve had a longstanding drainage issue … we resolved the bulk of it by repairing a crushed pipe but we do need to do some additional work.” No extra budgeting, it’s reallocating money within the capital improvements budget ($9,000 from the Destin Elementary School restroom project).
Unanimous.
Next: Renewing city’s medical insurance plan with the current provider. The increase would be 16 percent; the next best offer is double that increase. “This keeps our health insurance at the current level from a benefit standpoint.”
Seevers: So we’re not passing the increase to the employees?
Kisela: No, this is the city’s share–employees still pay theirs. But it keeps the benefit package the same–the alternative would eliminate the increase and hit the employees with higher out of pocket expenses.
Seevers: Move to approve.
Unanimous.
Next: Vote on dental, vision, disability and life insurance. Some discussion.
Unanimous.
City Manager Comments: Groundbreaking for Scenic 98 will be on Nov. 16. Groundbreaking for Mountain Drive will be Oct. 5 in St. Andrews’ church.
Comments from the audience: None. Adjourned!
