some notes on the First Amendment
Recently there was an uproar near Salem OR over an Adopt-A-Road sign reading "American Nazi Party". And who said theyare not capable of nice things? What i like about the article is the unsubtle mention that if the signs are destroyed, the sponsoring organization must pay to have them replaced (the initial two signs were put up at a taxpayer expense of $500). At any rate, the party's right to have their name on a sign and to adopt a road is protected by the First Amendment.
Speaking of the First Amendment, i am reminded that recently the Treasury Dept.'s Office of Foreign Assets Control changed regulations that will allow publishers to print work by writers from nations like Iran and Cuba (PEN American Center press release). This was precipitated by a lawsuit because Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian author & human rights activist, was unable to publish her work in the US because of her Iranian citizenship.
In related issues, it is disturbing to find that ignorance of & indifference toward what makes up free society is on the rise here in the US. One of my favorite lines from any song is from the Modern Lovers' "Modern World" when Jonathan Richman sneers,"The modern world is not so bad...not like the students say." But Richman was trying to give life back to the soul-sucking politicizing of fun that ran rampant with the stereotype & in the life of the socially conscious student; i am sure he would have acknowledged that this world weariness was not born of ignorance but of knowing some of the suppressed but glaring facts of the cultural climate of the early 1970s (and many of the same folks are back in power right now in fact). But today students don't seem to know very much of anything that is not mediated by television and the mall. Now, students say that the First Amendment is not a big deal.
Moving along...in keeping with the current administration's desire & need to keep its nose & fingers in the world's business (which, mind you, is not all that bad a thing; but just imagine the difference between a friend who is concerned, well-meaning& helpful to a friend who crosses the line into nosy, bothersome & coercive...we all have known folks like this so just use your imagination and you get the idea), the White House has been pressuring Qatar, an important MidEast ally, to sell Al-Jazeera because its broadcasts have sometimes been "inflammatory, misleading and occasionally false, especially on Iraq."(see the NY Times article) As Tim Grieve of Salon.com so joyfully points out (The White House vs. Al-Jazeera), the same may be said of the Bush administration and of the FOX News network. While Al-Jazeera certainly reports things that might be inaccurate (as do all news organizations), they are still one of the most, if not the most, credible news organizations from the Middle East. To seek to eliminate dissenting opinions abroad is unconscionable (it would cause an uproar here if theadministration had actively tried to suppress CBS and other news outlets), especially in light of Bush's claim of being a"compassionate conservative" and of "planting the flag of liberty" for all the world to see. If Bush and the administration indeed seeks to show the world that it is listening and cares about what others have to say, then one has to wonder how eliminating a foreign press aids that cause. And all this coming from an administration that pays pundits to disseminate its values & programs (for example), some of which are incorrect &/or unethical. Freedom of the press has often been a tricky game but this ongoing trickery has got to be checked.
On Freedom of Press and Culture: An Interview with Noam Chomsky
Some of the restrictions on freedom of expression have been collected in the Patriot Act. This leads me to ask you to call your Senators and ask them to vote against the approval of Alberto Gonzales for Attorney General. And let them know thatthey should not be afraid about being seen as anti-Hispanic because (a) alot of Hispanics are against his nomination and (b) despite our growing demographic, unfortunately a great many Hispanics don't pay much attention to the news or vote; what they should be afraid of is the continuing disregard for the Geneva Convention, human rights and other important issues pertaining to the American interests domestically and abroad. Here is the PFAW's Statement of Opposition to the Confirmation of Alberto Gonzales to the Office of Attorney General of the United States.
Speaking of the First Amendment, i am reminded that recently the Treasury Dept.'s Office of Foreign Assets Control changed regulations that will allow publishers to print work by writers from nations like Iran and Cuba (PEN American Center press release). This was precipitated by a lawsuit because Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian author & human rights activist, was unable to publish her work in the US because of her Iranian citizenship.
In related issues, it is disturbing to find that ignorance of & indifference toward what makes up free society is on the rise here in the US. One of my favorite lines from any song is from the Modern Lovers' "Modern World" when Jonathan Richman sneers,"The modern world is not so bad...not like the students say." But Richman was trying to give life back to the soul-sucking politicizing of fun that ran rampant with the stereotype & in the life of the socially conscious student; i am sure he would have acknowledged that this world weariness was not born of ignorance but of knowing some of the suppressed but glaring facts of the cultural climate of the early 1970s (and many of the same folks are back in power right now in fact). But today students don't seem to know very much of anything that is not mediated by television and the mall. Now, students say that the First Amendment is not a big deal.
Moving along...in keeping with the current administration's desire & need to keep its nose & fingers in the world's business (which, mind you, is not all that bad a thing; but just imagine the difference between a friend who is concerned, well-meaning& helpful to a friend who crosses the line into nosy, bothersome & coercive...we all have known folks like this so just use your imagination and you get the idea), the White House has been pressuring Qatar, an important MidEast ally, to sell Al-Jazeera because its broadcasts have sometimes been "inflammatory, misleading and occasionally false, especially on Iraq."(see the NY Times article) As Tim Grieve of Salon.com so joyfully points out (The White House vs. Al-Jazeera), the same may be said of the Bush administration and of the FOX News network. While Al-Jazeera certainly reports things that might be inaccurate (as do all news organizations), they are still one of the most, if not the most, credible news organizations from the Middle East. To seek to eliminate dissenting opinions abroad is unconscionable (it would cause an uproar here if theadministration had actively tried to suppress CBS and other news outlets), especially in light of Bush's claim of being a"compassionate conservative" and of "planting the flag of liberty" for all the world to see. If Bush and the administration indeed seeks to show the world that it is listening and cares about what others have to say, then one has to wonder how eliminating a foreign press aids that cause. And all this coming from an administration that pays pundits to disseminate its values & programs (for example), some of which are incorrect &/or unethical. Freedom of the press has often been a tricky game but this ongoing trickery has got to be checked.
On Freedom of Press and Culture: An Interview with Noam Chomsky
Some of the restrictions on freedom of expression have been collected in the Patriot Act. This leads me to ask you to call your Senators and ask them to vote against the approval of Alberto Gonzales for Attorney General. And let them know thatthey should not be afraid about being seen as anti-Hispanic because (a) alot of Hispanics are against his nomination and (b) despite our growing demographic, unfortunately a great many Hispanics don't pay much attention to the news or vote; what they should be afraid of is the continuing disregard for the Geneva Convention, human rights and other important issues pertaining to the American interests domestically and abroad. Here is the PFAW's Statement of Opposition to the Confirmation of Alberto Gonzales to the Office of Attorney General of the United States.
posted by Ismael Ricardo Archbold at 2/01/2005 11:59:00 AM
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