Judge Rules: "It's OK To Give Police The Finger"

By Torsten Ove, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Memo to cops everywhere: You can't cite someone for giving you the finger.

That's essentially what a federal judge ruled yesterday when he said a city police sergeant was wrong to cite a Regent Square man for flipping him off in traffic three years ago.

U.S. District Judge David Cercone granted summary judgment to David Hackbart, who said in a federal suit that Sgt. Brian Elledge violated his constitutional rights by issuing him a citation in 2006.

"Elledge's response to Hackbart's exercise of his First Amendment right was to initiate a traffic stop and issue a citation for disorderly conduct," the judge wrote. "Clearly, Elledge's conduct was an adverse action in response to Hackbart flipping him off."

The case will now proceed to trial in U.S. District Court on the underlying claim that the city doesn't adequately train its officers to know when they're violating someone's rights.

The Supreme Court has consistently ruled that giving someone the finger, even a police officer, is protected free speech.

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What is your state's Freedom Index?

By Paul ValoneCharlotte Gun Rights Examiner

Some say we live in a “free society.” Others say we are marching toward communism. How free are you really? In a study from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, political science professors William P. Ruger and Jason Sorens decided to find out.

“Freedom In The 50 States: An Index of Personal and Economic Freedom” measures a number of variables beyond the usual economic measures, including, “measures of social and personal freedoms such as peaceable citizens’ rights to educate their own children, own and carry firearms, and be free from unreasonable search and seizure.” And why did the authors decide to study personal freedom?

“In our view, individuals should be allowed to dispose of their lives, liberties, and property as they see fit, so long as they do not infringe on the rights of others.”

Ruger and Sorens do acknowledge that different people see freedom differently, and publish raw data with an invitation for readers to construct their own personal freedom rankings by going to: http://www.statepolicyindex.com/

“We would also argue that freedom … can be threatened as much by the weakness of the state as by overbearing state intervention. Individuals are less free the more they have reason to fear private assaults and depredations, and a useful government punishes private aggression vigorously. However, we focus on threats to individual liberty originating in the state. Therefore, we do not code the effectiveness of state governments in punishing rights violations. For instance, we do not include measures of the efficacy of state police and courts or of violent and property crime rates. Thus, our “freedom index” does not capture all aspects of freedom.”

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Congress Wants WiFi Owners To Keep Log Files For 2 Years...

Me thinks I can "protect" my own child from the internet and don't need nor want anymore spying by big brother on my child or myself!
Peace,
soul

by Mike Masnick - Similar ideas have been proposed before, but new bills have been proposed in both the House and the Senate that require anyone offering internet connectivity to retain log files for two years. There's no good reason for this, of course. It's been shown that such data retention laws actually make it more difficult to track down the information you need while being expensive. But, of course, the politicians are claiming this is "to protect the children." Of course. They even have come up with a silly acronym so that the title of the bill (Internet Stopping Adults Facilitating the Exploitation of Today's Youth Act) spells out "Internet SAFETY Act." Of course, that's a load of crap, because this bill has little to do with protecting children, and won't do much, if anything to actually protect children.
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Texas Teacher Suspended for being a "Liberal" and an Atheist

Mr. Richard Mullens WAS a school teacher in Brookeland Tx - an incredibly "Conservative" area of Texas, and only 16 miles up the road from Jasper Tx. the scene of several incidents of racial violence and murder. Mr. Mullens was suspended as a teacher after a witch hunt based solely on his religious and political beliefs.

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Civil rights group to Obama: Release secret Bush memos

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is calling on the Justice Department to release Bush administration documentation pertaining to torture, surveillance and other controversial national security policies.

The civil rights watchdog sent a letter today to the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, the same office that provided legal advice to the White House under George W. Bush.

The secret memos were essentially the legal foundation for many of the Bush adminstration's questionable practices, says the ACLU in a news release received by Raw Story.

The Bush White House vigorously fought the release of such revealing (some would say, damning) documentation in the interests, it insisted, of protecting national security and other factors.

The ACLU's filing of the Freedom of Information Act request follows President Obama's recent directive to minimize federal secrecy and "usher in a new era of open government."The request is seen as a test of the freshly inaugurated president's transparency policy. "The ACLU now sees a new opening," writes Marisa Taylor of McClatchy Newspapers.

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Israeli FM Questioned by Press Club - Microphones Were cut

Physical Properties of White Phosphorous (9) - 22.92 KB

Security guards stood tensely in front of the press podium while Livni answered strident questions from reporters from Al-Jazeera and other Middle East news organizations, CNN and NBC.

One reporter was physically removed from the microphone when he charged Livni was a terrorist.

A moderator from the National Press Club, where the event was held, tried to cut off another reporter who read at length from a Human Rights Watch report detailing the killing and ‘murder’ of Palestinian children.

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The Men Have Families to Support

 

The Men Have Families to Support

By Ann Telnaes
From the Cartoonist Group.

The Men Have Families to Support

Technorati Tags: Ann Telnaes,opinion,political cartoons,political satire,equal rights,equal pay

Russian opposition attempts to rally in Moscow - leader held

There is no freedom in Russia anymore. It's the USSR all over again...
MOSCOW – Police thwarted a banned anti-Kremlin protest in central Moscow on Sunday, seizing dozens of demonstrators and shoving them into trucks.
Organizers said 130 people were detained around the capital but police put the number at 90. The opposition movement headed by fierce Kremlin critic and former chess champion Garry Kasparov said the co-leader of the group was one of those seized.
The Other Russia movement organized the protest, in defiance of a ban, to draw attention to Russia's economic troubles and to protest Kremlin plans to extend the presidential term from four years to six. Critics say the constitutional change as part of a retreat from democracy and is aimed at strengthening the grip of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his allies.
News broadcasts on the main television networks made no mention of the Moscow crackdown or of protests in St. Petersburg and Vladivostok.Kasparov and other prominent liberals have just launched a new anti-Kremlin movement called Solidarity in a bid to unite Russia's liberal forces and encourage a popular revolution similar to those in Ukraine and Georgia.
Kasparov had vowed to carry out Sunday's protest although authorities had denied permission for it.
Before the scheduled start, hundreds of officers guarded Triumph Square, which was ringed by police trucks and metal barriers.
Police roughly grabbed protesters who tried to enter the square, dragging at least 25 people into waiting trucks.
Police also seized Other Russia co-leader Eduard Limonov along with a handful of bodyguards as they walked toward the square. They were bundled into police vehicles.
Kasparov and a group of supporters decided to avoid police by marching in a different location, then set off for a third site after finding another strong police presence, spokeswoman Marina Litvinovich said.
Dozens of protesters gathered at the third site and marched about a kilometer (half a mile) along a major street, shouting slogans such as "Russia without Putin!" before they dispersed.Kasparov traveled by car and the march was over when he arrived, Litvinovich said.

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Prop. 8 protesters the same as terrorists?

 

"...there is a real, unbroken line between the jihadist savagery in Mumbai and the hedonistic, irresponsible, blindly selfish goals and tactics of our homegrown sexual jihadists."
                  - Pat Boone, December 6, 2008

Last week, a full-page New York
Times ad equated protesters for
equality with a "violent mob."

Now, Pat Boone is calling Prop. 8
opponents "sexual jihadists."

 

Country singer and right-wing pundit Pat Boone has written a column equating the movement against Prop. 8 to the terrorists who tortured and murdered hundreds in Mumbai.

I am not kidding. This is a new low in anti-gay rhetoric.

Boone and his buddies continue to stir up fear, even if they have to lie. It's exactly how they passed the California marriage ban.

We need your help to stop the radical right from painting a movement about love and dignity as violent and radical. We need your support to stay strong, smart, and nimble, to combat these growing attacks with the simple truth: all we want is equality.

Make a donation to HRC on behalf of Pat Boone. Your gift helps HRC combat these lies – and sends the message that our call for equality cannot be silenced.

We'll even send Mr. Boone a note with your first name and gift amount to let him know you've donated in his name.

It's time to say enough to the deception and false ads that defeated marriage equality in three states and banned gay couples from adopting in Arkansas; enough to the attempts to equate peaceful protest with "jihadist savagery"; enough to the lies used to block federal hate crimes laws and workplace protections.

In the face of lies like this, there's only one thing to do: Demand the Truth – and that's exactly what we will be doing in the coming year. HRC will:

• Respond quickly and forcefully to the lies and intimidation with media outreach and grassroots mobilization, as part of an ongoing "Demand the Truth" campaign;
• Organize hundreds of thousands of activists to pass the Matthew Shepard Act and combat the inevitable misleading campaign that will be waged against us;
• Work with religious leaders to encourage LGBT people to come out in their faith communities and create venues for the voices of tolerance and love;
• Continue the march for marriage equality and relationship recognition, especially in key states where new doors are opening right now, including New York, Vermont, New Mexico, New Jersey, and Iowa; and
• Work with the Obama administration to undo years of White House anti-LGBT hostility.

To really go toe to toe with the mouthpieces of bigotry like Pat Boone, we're going to need your support.

If, every time they tell another lie, run another deceptive ad or use more fear-mongering to try and win votes and recruit new members, we respond by strengthening our movement for equality, eventually they'll realize they're hurting themselves more than they're hurting us.

But it only works if we all stand up.

Join us in demanding the truth, by making a gift in Pat Boone's name today!

What's perhaps most disturbing about Boone's rhetoric – painting LGBT people as a threat to society – is that it leads to the very real hate violence directed against LGBT people every day.

We can't stop the Pat Boones of our world from speaking their ugly lies, but together we can make sure that there's a political cost associated with this kind of hateful speech.

Warmly,

Joe Solmonese
President

 

Technorati Tags: Prop 8,proposition 8,gay marriage,glbt,human rights,marriage rights,marriage

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

In 1948, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) for all people and all nations. In the UDHR, the United Nations stated in clear and simple terms rights that belong equally to every person. These rights belong to you. Familiarize yourself with them. Help to promote and defend them.

Adopted by UN General Assembly Resolution 217A (III) of 10 December 1948

 

WHEREAS recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

 

WHEREAS disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

 

WHEREAS it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,

 

WHEREAS it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,

 

WHEREAS the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

 

WHEREAS Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in cooperation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,

 

WHEREAS a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,

 

Now, therefore, the General Assembly Proclaims

 

THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

 

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

 

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

 

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

 

No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

 

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

 

Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

 

All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of the Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

 

Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

 

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

 

Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

 

Everyone charged with a penal offense has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defense.

 

No one shall be held guilty of any penal offense on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offense, under national or international law, at the time it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offense was committed.

 

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honor and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

 

Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.

 

Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

 

Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.

 

This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

 

Everyone has the right to a nationality.

 

No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

 

Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.

 

Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.

 

The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

 

Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.

 

No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

 

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

 

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression: this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

 

Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

 

No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

 

Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.

 

Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.

 

The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

 

Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co- operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

 

Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.

 

Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.

 

Everyone who works has the right to just and favorable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.

 

Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

 

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

 

Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

 

Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

 

Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

 

Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

 

Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

 

Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

 

Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

 

Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

 

Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.

 

In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.

 

These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

 

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Technorati Tags: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,human rights,freedom,activism,Amnesty International

Poll: Support for gay marriage skyrocketing

Americans find civil unions for gays and lesbians more palatable than full-fledged marriage. Fifty-five percent of respondents favored legally sanctioned unions or partnerships, while only 39 percent supported marriage rights. Both figures are notably higher than in 2004, when 40 percent backed the former and 33 percent approved the later.

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Poll: Less than half say US has liberty and justice for all

A new poll from Rasmussen Reports indicates that although Americans strongly support the saying of the Pledge of Allegience, less than half of them believe that "the United States is truly the land of liberty and justice for all." Just 46% said they would agree with that statement, while 42% disagreed.

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Maddow Fails to Question Huckabee On His Anti-Gay Remarks

by Ali Frick, Think Progress
When contacted by ThinkProgress, Rachel Maddow explained her reasons for avoiding the subject of gay rights with Huckabee.
Since Prop. 8's passage in California, which revoked same-sex couples' right to marry, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow has been a powerful outspoken advocate of the rights of gay citizens. "The amendment does not just prohibit gay rights. It takes away rights previously enjoyed," she said. She has also called the vote a "rebuke to the incumbent rights of gay couples." Watch a mashup:



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The list of the Governments that have persecuted journalists

by Glenn Greenwald - The Washington Post hails those reporters who face grave danger from the Taliban and the Governments of Cuba, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and the U.S.
The Washington Post Editorial Page today hails the courage of six journalists who have faced down persecution and grave danger in their line of work and who, consequently, are this week receiving the International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists:

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Gay Marriage Legalized in Nepal

The Nepalese Supreme Court on Monday delivered full judgment regarding a ground-breaking verdict it had announced last year, recognising sexual minorities, who were among the most oppressed in conservative, patriarchal Nepali society, as being born such and entitled to all the rights and remedies all other Nepali citizens enjoyed.

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Wanda Sykes Rallies Against H8: 'I'm Proud to Be Gay'

From the Las Vegas Prop 8 protest.



"I am very proud. I am proud to be a woman, I'm proud to be a black woman, and I'm proud to be gay. And I love you all. Now let's go get our damn equal rights!"—Wanda Sykes, coming out at the Las Vegas Prop 8 protest and announcing she and her wife were married in California in October.

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How Obama Can Save the Middle Class on Meet the Bloggers

SEIU's Anna Burger on the importance of the Employee Free Choice Act.
Fortune 500 CEOs make an average of $6,153 an hour, while the majority of workers in our country earn an hourly federal minimum wage of only $6.55. Fortunately, this ridiculous gap can be closed with Barack Obama as President and Democratic majorities in both the House and Senate, and it all starts with the The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). EFCA tops the progressive agenda for unions because it could effectively restore the middle class in our country, and yet this vital piece of legislation still faces challenges from anti-union businesses like Wal-Mart.
Today on Meet the Bloggers, join Anna Burger, secretary-treasurer of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and chair of the international labor federation Change to Win, as we discuss EFCA's passage during Obama's first 100 Days. Burger will talk with show host Cenk Uygur and blogger Todd Beeton (MyDD) about how EFCA can revitalize our nation's middle class. Also on the show will be Satyam Khanna (Think Progress) to talk about Lieberman Must Go.

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Del Martin, Lesbian Rights Pioneer Dead 1924-2008 (Photos)

Lesbian rights pioneer Del Martin dies at 87Del Martin (right) and Phyllis Lyon embrace after their 2004 wedding at City Hall.

Del Martin, a lesbian rights pioneer who recently wed her partner, Phyllis Lyon in one of the first same-sex marriages in San Francisco, died today at the age of 87 on August 27, 2008.

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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Tomorrow is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Day. His famous speech, I Have a Dream, still rings true today because we are not free...no one in this country is free. Watch his passionate speech below or read the transcripts of it I found at The US Constitution Online. We need a leader like Dr. King to help us today. I wonder if anyone will watch this and feel as inspired as I do every single time I watch it?

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love, 1963

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963

Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

Martin Luther King Jr., December 11, 1964

Quote Details: Martin Luther King Jr.: Nothing in all the... - The Quotations Page

Technorati tags: Martin Luther King Jr, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Martin Luther King Day, quotes, quotations

Free Speech: The Great India Debate

**a must read post on freedom of speech, censorship, and fanatical reactions...

"Free speech, censorship, and the fanatical reactions - during last few years, these co-related issues have been spread by the interested junta quite aggressively over the entire country and even the whole word, in general. There have been three parties involved, to be precise, which have shown a great deal of enthusiasm."

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