TresSugar

Anti-Islamic Documentary Distributed Free in Newspapers

LibertySugar — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:30:33 -0700

If a DVD titled Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West has fallen out of your newspaper, it's not because print media has given up on people reading. You can thank, or blame, the Clarion Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to exposing the "threat of radical Islam," which has placed the DVDs in ad sections of swing-state newspapers.

Obsession is a documentary that compares Islam to Nazism, citing similarities in hate speech, paranoia, and us-against-them mentality. Very few newspapers have refused the DVD and its accompanying ad revenue. Those that have placed it in their pages - like the New York Times - have justified it by saying that it would violate sponsors’ right to free speech if they were to reject it.

While the Clarion Fund takes credit for distributing the DVD, it does not admit to paying for it. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), saying the Clarion Fund has tried to influence the presidential election and violated its status as a tax-exempt nonprofit.

On air at Democracy Now!, Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesperson for CAIR, questioned the Clarion Fund's motives. To see what he had to say, read more.

It’s a tremendous campaign. It’s unbelievable in its magnitude. We’re talking 28 million households, plus mailings, plus automated phone that are going to people in these swing states, saying, "We just sent you a DVD. Watch it and remember it when you go into the voting booth." So it’s obvious they were trying to influence the presidential election by sending to only key swing states around the country.

And we still don’t know who’s behind this. The Clarion Fund, that claimed to distribute this, is really just a virtual organization. It appears to be a front for a group based in Israel called Aish HaTorah. They share - they shared offices, they shared personnel, and they’re refusing to say who is paying for this, that’s got to be a minimum $50 million campaign.

Do you think the Clarion Fund is trying to promote awareness for what it believes, or is there something more sinister going on?

Britain's Libel Laws Take Piss Out of Freedom of the Press?

CitizenSugar — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:45:37 -0700

Are the British aiming to squash free speech? Robert Murat, an official suspect in the Madeleine McCann case, has settled his libel case against several British newspapers for overconnecting him to her disappearance with headlines like "Sex Secret of Madeleine Suspect: Briton ‘Shared’ the Wife of Pool Cleaner at Villa." His pay out is thought to be close to $1 million. Murat lived close to location where Madeleine disappeared and was named the first formal suspect though he's denied any involvement in her disappearance last May.

Some consider the decision great.

Murat was libelled. Not once, but many times over. Scores of reports, and many headlines too, defamed him . . . he was often treated not as a suspect by papers but as a culprit . . . papers have been pushing at the boundaries of the British contempt rule for years. More is published about British crime suspects in advance of their being charged (and sometimes afterwards) than was ever the case 20 years ago. Why? Because they have got away with it.

Seems reasonable right? Accuse a guy of killing a little girl in the papers, pay a fine? Well, this free speech and freedom of the press issue doesn't stay on UK soil - British libel laws have a passport. To see how, read more.

Here's the other side of the coin:

Perhaps you don't live in England or Wales, so you think this has nothing to do with you. You're wrong. English libel law now applies to everyone on earth. Make any accusation, anywhere in the world, and if the subject can demonstrate that a single person in England or Wales has read it, you could be sued for every penny, cent, rouble, rupee, or renminbi you possess. The Internet and the global nature of publishing ensure that these medieval laws have become the most powerful extraterritorial legislation ever drafted.

Even Sens. Joe Lieberman and Arlen Specter voiced concern over the reach of the libel grab in the WSJ, saying: "Individuals with alleged connections to terrorist activity are filing libel suits and winning judgments in foreign courts against American researchers who publish on these matters."

Maybe Richard Jewel would have had something to say on the matter? Where's the line between libel and freedom of the press?

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Teacher Throws Kid's Mexican Flag in the Trash - Kid To Sue

CitizenSugar — Thu, 08 May 2008 06:00:08 -0700

Cinco de Mayo may have left more than a tequila hangover and a fridge full of leftover nachos for one teacher in Idaho. A simple act of confiscating a flag from a student might put him on the receiving end of a lawsuit from the ACLU.

The student in question said he was changing into gym clothes at his high school on Cinco de Mayo and holding the Mexican flag when his teacher told him, "Give me the flag." The student claims he asked what the problem was, and his teacher said, "'The problem is that we are in the United States and not in Mexico.' He grabbed it from me. He threw the flag in the garbage can." The trouble worsened after school when the student went to retrieve his flag - he says the teacher taunted him and refused to give it back.

The teacher remembers the event differently, to see how, and how the ACLU is getting involved, read more.

The teacher says the student was waving the flag around and that he "had to confiscate it so it wouldn't escalate any problems in class. We're worried about that stuff all the time. We always have kids saying stuff to each other, and we have a lot of fights between kids." He says he stored it in the trashcan because there was no other place to keep it.

The ACLU has contacted the student who's now considering a lawsuit against the teacher. The school superintendent said this of the incident, "We believe in nondiscriminatory practices and cultural sensitivity. We train for that and talk about that. If there is a teacher making derogatory comments we don't approve of that. We also don't approve of a student disrupting the classroom." About a third of the student body is Hispanic.

Was the teacher right? Is it easy to judge decisions well after the fact? Should the ACLU get involved, or could this be a case of being too sue happy?

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Should There Ever Be a Limit to Freedom of Speech?

CitizenSugar — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 10:00:26 -0800

It seems like our linked-up electronic world is full of tragic university shootings, devastating MySpace-fueled suicides, and this: a college website called JuicyCampus.com.

The website available on dozens of campuses, encourages anonymous threads commenting on students' sexual exploits, and features content like, "Top Ten Freshman Sluts" and "The Jews ruin this school." While students usually fall on the side of greater electronic freedom, apparently this site has gone too far. A Facebook group called "Ban JuicyCampus" has hundreds of members, and the student government at Pepperdine University voted 23-5 to ask for a ban of the site on campus. The electronic medium had real world consequences for a now-former student at Loyola Marymount, who was arrested after allegedly posting a threat of a campus shooting spree on JuicyCampus.

The popularity of this site is waning as students stop visiting in protest of its objectionable content. Is that enough? Is the best remedy for harmful speech to ignore it? Are the students of Pepperdine right to vote a limit on this kind of speech?

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Dick Cheney: Totally Pro Gay Marriage

TresSugar — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:00:00 -0700

Dick Cheney is more progressive than Barack Obama . . . at least when it comes to gay marriage. While Obama supports civil unions for gay couples (while keeping marriage between a man and a woman), Cheney is all for states granting gay couples the right to marry. He said today at the National Press Club:

"I think that freedom means freedom for everyone. As many of you know, one of my daughters is gay and it is something we have lived with for a long time in our family. I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish. Any kind of arrangement they wish."

Cheney's position offers evidence that when someone is close to a gay person, he will worry less about defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman and more about everyone having equal access to the same institutional and cultural privileges. Even when there's a presidential election to win with the help of anti-gay-marriage ballot initiatives.

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Donald Trump Lets Miss California Keep Her Crown

TresSugar — Tue, 12 May 2009 09:01:18 -0700

Stop the presses! Carrie Prejean will remain Miss California!

With the all the TV cameras pointing at him during a press conference today, Donald Trump announced that controversial Miss California will keep her crown.

Prejean's explanation that she is opposed to gay marriage, said Trump, was "honorable" and "honest," and he pointed out that President Obama gave the same answer. Bringing Obama into this is sure to give the story more time in the press (if that's possible). As for Prejean's topless photos, Trump determined that the pictures are fine, considering the Miss USA pageant is a "modern" pageant.

Prejean spoke for herself too. She was just giving her respectful opinion, she claimed, based on her upbringing, that marriage should be between a man and a woman. She argued that the attacks against her for exercising her freedom of speech undermined her constitutional rights. (Wait - don't the attacks count as free speech too?)

The still-crowned Miss California explained that she wasn't the most outspoken proponent of traditional marriage, but thanks to the media storm, she's become the most visible. Judging by the panel of experts that preceded and followed the press conference on cable TV and the crowd of reporters in attendance, it seems she's correct.

Do you think the Miss California saga has offered an important jumping off point for the gay marriage debate, or is it time to put this story to rest?
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Bush Memos Released - What's Been Hiding?

CitizenSugar — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 14:24:29 -0800

President Obama can't keep a secret. Yesterday, his administration released antiterrorism memos that claimed exceptional powers for Bush in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001. The Obama administration also revealed that the CIA destroyed about 100 videotapes of terror suspect interrogations.

In the memos the Justice Department said:

Gave the US military approval to attack apartment buildings and office complexes in the US.
Approved high-tech surveillance against US citizens.
Claimed the ability to suspend treaties unilaterally.
Said the president could take actions to combat terrorism without Congress's approval.
Claimed the the military could search and seize terror suspects in the US without warrants.
Paved the way for the suspension of First Amendment freedom-of-the-press rights if the fight against terror required it.

The final bullet point really troubles me. How can you protect freedoms by taking away freedoms? That claim, made in October 2001, was eventually revoked in October 2008, because it was too extreme. Some of the other opinions were rescinded five days before Bush left. What's your reaction to these memos?

Front Page: Cuba Is Ready to Talk With the US

TresSugar — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 08:30:18 -0700

Cuban president Raul Castro says he's ready to "discuss everything" with the US, including human rights, freedom of the press, and political prisoners. - CNN
President Obama unveiled his plan for high speed rail across the country. States will compete for funding. -San Francisco Chronicle
Ashton Kutcher beat CNN to become the first "Twitter millionaire," the first person with more than 1 million followers. - Fox News
Unlike other US presidents, Obama appears to be treating Mexico as an equal. - CNN
The only gunman caught after the Mumbai attack last November says his confession was coerced out of him. - Washington Post
A new poll shows that 75 percent of Texas would rather not secede from the United States. - Rasmussen Reports
Britain's Got Talent star Susan Boyle will not be getting a makeover. - Mirror
The only captured Somali pirate may face trial in New York for holding Captain Richard Phillips hostage. - Reuters

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Highlights From Bush's "Ultimate Exit Interview"

LibertySugar — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 13:00:56 -0800

This morning President Bush held his final official press conference, and the show was filled with memorable lines!

On America's damaged image overseas: "I disagree with this assessment that, you know, that people view America in a dim light. It may be damaged amongst some of the elite. But people still understand America stands for freedom."
On disappointments: "Abu Ghraib, obviously, was a huge disappointment, during the presidency. You know, not having weapons of mass destruction was a significant disappointment. I don't know if you want to call those mistakes or not, but they were - things didn't go according to plan, let's put it that way."
On the "Mission Accomplished" banner: "Clearly, putting 'Mission Accomplished' on an aircraft carrier was a mistake. It sent the wrong message."
On Katrina: "Don't tell me the federal response was slow when there were 30,000 people pulled off roofs right after the storm passed. . . . Could things been done better? Absolutely. But when I hear people say the federal response was slow, what are they going to say to those chopper drivers or the 30,000 who got pulled off the roof?"
On peace in the Middle East: "It's been a long time since they've had peace in the Middle East. The challenge, of course, has been to lay out the conditions so that a peaceful state can emerge. . . . Will this ever happen? I think it will. And I know we've advanced the process."
On the GOP's need to be more inclusive: "This party will come back. But the party's message has got to be that different points of view are included in the party."
On life after the presidency: "I'm a Type A personality. I just can't envision myself, you know, the big straw hat and a Hawaiian shirt sitting on some beach. . . . I wake up in Crawford on Tuesday morning - I mean, Wednesday morning, and I suspect I'll make Laura coffee."

View 5 Photos ›

To see video of the entire press conference, where thankfully no shoes were thrown, read more.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

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Gold Medal in Censorship? China Reblocks Websites

LibertySugar — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 13:00:36 -0800

Now that the Olympics are long gone, and the world has its eyes off of China, the country's government has returned to keeping an eye on what its 250 million Internet users can access. It appears China, which has the most web users in the world, only made superficial advances in freedom of the press during the games. In other words: censorship is back!

So which sites can you no longer visit in China? Chinese language versions of international sites like BBC, Voice of America, and Human Rights Watch have been rebanned, along with some Hong Kong-based sites, because they refer to Taiwan as an independent country and not part of China.

A spokesperson for China's foreign ministry said China had the right to censor material deemed illegal, just like other governments do. For example, the US criminalizes online technology that can be used to violate copyright protections.

Are you surprised the legacy of the Beijing Olympics probably won't include expanded freedom?

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