First Amendment violations hurt us all

[midnight]

Whatever one thinks about the Occupy movement, or about a bunch of noisy young people blocking traffic in places they shouldn't, the arrest of a journalist covering news is very troubling. Disconcerting, in a creepy, police-state sort of way.
Journal Sentinel editor Martin Kaiser said the photographer did not ignore any commands from the officers. "She was clearly not part of the protest," Kaiser said. "... Her arrest was completely uncalled for and violates the First Amendment."
In this era of protests aplenty — with Madison having a well-earned reputation as a hyper-hot-spot for protests — it's good to remember the First Amendment and what it does for us, with "us" meaning our community and not simply the news media.
Gene Policinski of the First Amendment Center put it this way when writing about the arrest of a reporter in Nashville, Tenn., at an earlier Occupy event: "So when police improperly arrest a journalist who simply is reporting at a scene, they do more than violate one person's rights — they attack our collective, constitutional right to know from a free and independent source what our government is doing so that we may hold it accountable."


Read more: http://host.madison.com/news/opinion/editorial/article_f0175410-0673-11e1-ba6e-001cc4c002e0.html#ixzz1cnXxTkLz

[spin]

1. The First Amendment to our Constitution is number one for a very good reason ...

it's the most important guarantee to all the rest of our rights.

[midnight]

2. Another reason to allow our vets the right to protest OWS without being

put into the hospital... You would think our police force would value that right for these people who put their lives on the line for our Country.... But that said everyone is entitled to these rights and they need to be protected more so than our banks...

[PETRUS]

3. It's not the first time.

The Bill of Rights has been ignored and circumvented to an alarming degree, particular in the last 10 years.