Daily Archives: June 9, 2012

Freedom of speech is simply taken too far, when two men can stand in front of the post office in downtown Ojai, brandishing American flags surrounding two images of President Obama with a Hitler mustache.

An image of Adolf Hitler represents the essence of evil and violence. Their actions are theatric, idiotic and certainly affect the minds of all around them with fear and hate mongering.This behavior not only creates tremendous anger in me, but gives prudence in young minds to disrespectful and callous behavior in a world where already too few show love, compassion and deeper sensitivity to our fellows.

I don't care if you hate Obama and loved George W. Bush, the job of the president is difficult. The president has to keep peace and protect us from evils never imagined in the past.Can anyone with a mind in this day be blind enough to create yet more division in this country by associating president Obama with one of the biggest mass murderers in history?

I say there must be moderation in freedom of speech. Would the men holding the signs want their children to experience or see such hate mongering? Do you want your children to be subject to those images in public?

What world will a child create, once exposed to the disrespect his elders demonstrate before him/her? Common sense apparently has little meaning to some. Perhaps the freedom of speech amendment needs an amendment.

- Jonn Howell,

Ojai,

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Free speech, poor taste

The Jefferson Area Tea Party has accused Charlottesville officials of engaging in free speech discrimination by giving unequal treatment to political groups that hold rallies in public parks.

In a Friday news release, the JATP said its outrageous that a conservative group had to pay hundreds of dollars to hold a one-hour rally Friday in Jackson Park, while Occupy Charlottesville activists received waivers while camping for a month and a half in Lee Park.

Those waivers were granted as a result of theprofessed political kinship by the all-Democrat City Council with theOccupy Charlottesville activists, the JATP release stated.

The Tea Party warned that fee requirements can stifle free speech for political groups who cant afford to pay.

We believe such costs should not be required for First Amendment activities, the release said. But if they are, then they should be equally applied without regard to the politics or the message of the applicant organization.

The Tea Party claims that a group known as Stand Up for Religious Freedom, formed in opposition to federal contraception mandates, had to front more than $600 in fees, deposits and insurance coverage in order to hold its rally.

City Parks and Recreation Director Brian Daly said the city charged SURF a $25 application fee and a $250 security deposit.

The deposit will be returned to the group on Monday, Daly said, adding that the group will simply incur a net fee of $25.

Harold Koenig, who helped organize the SURF rally, said the group also had to pay $332.32 to a private insurance company to indemnify the city up to $1 million, which he said was required by Charlottesville.

Koenig said the fees seem entirely reasonable, but they should be equally applied.

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Area tea party accuses city of 'free speech discrimination'

Free speech is under fire. Online thugs are targeting bloggers (mostly conservative, but not all) who have dared to expose a convicted bomber and perjuring vexatious litigant who is now enjoying a comfy life as a liberally subsidized social justice operative. Where do your elected representatives stand on this threat to our founding principles?

On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-GA, bravely stepped forward to press this vital issue. In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, Chambliss decried the harassing and frightening actions of Internet menaces who recently have gone after several conservative new media citizen journalists and activists.

GOP Rep. Kenny Marchant of Texas added his voice, telling Holder in a statement that he is very afraid of the potential chilling effects that these reported actions may have in silencing individuals who would otherwise be inclined to exercise their Constitutional right to free speech. And the American Center for Law and Justice, a leading conservative free speech public interest law firm, announced it was providing legal representation to the National Bloggers Club a new media association that has provided support and raised funds for targets of this coordinated harassment. (Full disclosure: I volunteer on the National Bloggers Club board of directors.)

The ACLJ described the importance of the case very simply: Free speech is under attack.

Chambliss and Marchant called specific attention to one terrifying tactic against these bloggers: SWAT-ting. These hoaxes occur when a perpetrator contacts local police to report a violent incident at a targets home. Callers disguise their true identities and locations in order to provoke a potentially deadly SWAT/police response descending upon the targets homes.

As online conservatives and now ABC News have reported, recent SWAT-ting victims include New Jersey-based Mike Stack, a blogger and Twitter user targeted last summer after helping to expose disgraced former N.Y. Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiners shady social media activities; California blogger Patrick Frey, a deputy district attorney at Los Angeles County District Attorneys Office who recently posted a bone-chilling account and audio of his summer 2011 SWAT-ting on his blog, Patterico.com; and CNN contributor and RedState.com managing editor Erick Erickson, whose Georgia home was targeted by a faker claiming an accidental shooting there late last month.

A common thread among these and other online targets: They all have published web links, commentary or investigative pieces related to Brett Kimberlin, the infamous Speedway Bomber. In 1978, Kimberlin was sentenced to more than 50 years in federal prison for drug dealing, impersonating a federal officer and a bombing spree in Speedway, Ind.

Investigative journalist/researcher Mandy Nagy, who blogs for the late Andrew Breitbarts Internet media powerhouse, Breitbart.com, dared to chronicle Kimberlins lucrative business and political ventures over the past two years. Kimberlin has a large hand in two well-funded outfits, Velvet Revolution and the Justice Through Music Project, that have received funding from the likes of George Soros Tides Foundation and left-wing activist and singer Barbra Streisand. The charitable groups have viciously attacked prominent conservative individuals and groups, including Breitbart, investigative journalist James OKeefe and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

After providing brief pro bono legal services to a liberal blogger who refused to whitewash Kimberlins past, conservative blogger and lawyer Aaron Walker lost his job. His employer was terrified by the thought of Kimberlin bombing his office and also fired Walkers wife.

National Bloggers Club President Ali Akbar was targeted for spearheading charity efforts for Kimberlin targets; stalkers publicized his mothers home, and Texas authorities are now investigating. Another conservative blogger who had the audacity to report on Walkers plight, Robert Stacy McCain, was forced to move out of his home last month after Kimberlin phoned his wifes employer and intimidated his family.

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Malkin: Free speech put at risk as bloggers harassed, subjected to SWAT-ting