Tea Party Congressman Wants to Censor Newspapers

Diana Hignutt said:

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/tea-party-allen-west-censorship-media/I'm just going keep posting about our ongoing and impending loss of rights until somebody makes me stop.

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These are the guys who are always going on about the Constitution, aren't they?

Torgo said:

These are the guys who are always going on about the Constitution, aren't they?

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Yes, but the majority of them don't seem to know much about it.

Wasn't one of the people who got elected in trouble beforehand for saying she didn't know separation of church and state was in the Constitution? Or am I remembering wrong?

I do remember being appalled numerous times throughout the election when I'd see someone on one hand stating that the Constitution was king, and on the other saying things that were completely in contradiction with it.

That was Christine O'Donnell. She also claimed to be a "Constitutional scholar" or something like that, even though her academic credentials turned out to be lies.

Thankfully, she didn't get elected.

I love it when writers quote sources verbatim to make them sound dumb. I think it's warranted in this case, but it's effective technique.

Last night I was watching a news program that featured these remarks.
I read Rep.-elect Allen West's posted text as his recorded words were played. One thing caught my ear, and I'm wondering if he meant censure rather than censor and the transcriber got it wrong?
Try reading the text with a word substitute.

"...And I think that we also should be censuring the American news agencies which enabled him to do this and also supported him and applauding him for the efforts. So that's kind of aiding and abetting of a serious crime."

Now before anyone lights up the oil in which to boil me, let me say, I think West is a crank. I believe he's stupid (deliberately ignorant) and thus a danger to the republic. Maybe he won't get re-elected.
C

citymouse said:

I read Rep.-elect Allen West's posted text as his recorded words were played. One thing caught my ear, and I'm wondering if he meant censure rather than censor and the transcriber got it wrong?
Try reading the text with a word substitute.

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That's exactly what I thought. And he might not even know the difference between the words.

I would guess he wants the papers held accountable and punished, which is a censorship of sorts because of the chilling effect on reporting that produces, but I doubt he meant the traditional pre-publication approval by government censoring.

Still a douche.

Is anybody here surprised at something like this coming from these pretenders? I can guarantee most of them (those who like to call themselves Tea Party activists) hold views on many things far more repressive than this statement indicates.

Ummm....if they want to preserve the Constitution what about right to freedom of speech, right to freedom of press.

This just further proves that the Teapartyers are a crazy bunch of Glenn Beck following loonies who don't know what the fuck they are talking about.

News organizations have a right to publish secret government documents? Somehow, I don't think that's correct... and I don't think it matters if the documents were already out there or not. If I get a great deal on a car stereo and it turns out that it's stolen, I can be charged with a crime. If I KNEW the stereo was stolen, the severity of the crime is increased. News agencies need to be responsible stewards of information. I don't think the New York Times and other agencies that helped to publicize the Wikileaks info dump were acting responsibly.

Of course this is all going on at the same time as Rev. Al is running around trying to force the FCC to remove Rush Limbaugh from the airwaves. I don't think either side of the ideological divide is respectful of speech rights these days.

Torrance said:

Of course this is all going on at the same time as Rev. Al is running around trying to force the FCC to remove Rush Limbaugh from the airwaves.

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Red herring alert.

I'll venture that nobody here is going to defend Al Sharpton trying to force the FCC to remove anything from the airwaves. If that's actually what he's doing; I haven't stumbled across that story, but for the purpose of this comment I'll assume it's correct.

I think that the press receiving leaked information is very important in most democracies. I also think that they have a huge responsibility with that that I'm not sure most of them are fit for anymore

It's a tough one.

I'm for using public opinion to bully the press into getting less sensational and more intelligent (educated, actually) so that we can make the best choices with our freedoms.

I do still want those freedoms, yes!!

Re: WikiLeaks top secret email infor being published by the mainstream press AFTER it had already been leaked by Wikileaks............



I had a "cube buddy" chit chat one day about 10 years ago when I was working for a huge company. And by that I mean, I was in my half of our shared cubical, and she was in hers. I was doing my work, and she was doing hers. We had our backs to each other, but we got our work done and managed to chat during work.

She was a law school graduate by the way.

I said to her one day while I had my back to her and I was shuffling papers: "I don't believe we should use any of the medical information that was gleaned from the Nazi Holocost medical experiments. I think the information should be destroyed in tribute to the Jews and other concentration camp victims who died becasue of those attrocities."

She said, also with her back to me and also shuffling papers: "I have no problem with anyone using that medical information."

I was shocked. So shocked that I stopped shufflig papers and turned to her and asked "Why?"

She said, not stopping her paper shuffling and only somewhat glancing over her sholder: "It's already been gotten. So use it and move on."




.

Torrance said:

News organizations have a right to publish secret government documents? Somehow, I don't think that's correct... and I don't think it matters if the documents were already out there or not.

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By following that logic, you're accepting that the government has the right to proclaim anything secret, and no journalist, paper, or website has the right to let people know what's in them.

Papers that prove the government has been lying to its own citizens are automatically going to be classified -- if the information gets out it surely will harm the gov's reputation -- people might even begin to question the truth of subsequent official announcements. Without the press acting as watchdog, we effectively have a secret government.

I doubt that's really the scenario you want -- I haven't noticed a great deal of trust in the government running through your previous posts.

And remember, some called for the prosecution of Daniel Ellsberg, for treason, for releasing the Pentagon Papers.

blacbird said:

Is anybody here surprised at something like this coming from these pretenders? I can guarantee most of them (those who like to call themselves Tea Party activists) hold views on many things far more repressive than this statement indicates.

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Well, some of them want to bring back the requirement of having to be a property owner to vote.