so perfect …. Best 45 seconds you will ever spend
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/will020212.php3?printer_friendly
Feb 2, 2012/ 9 Shevat, 5772
How states are restricting political speech nationwide
By George Will
FOUNTAIN HILLS, Ariz. ---Dina Galassini does not seem to pose a threat to Arizona's civic integrity. But the government of this desert community believes that you cannot be too careful. And state law empowers local governments to be vigilant against the lurking danger that political speech might occur before the speakers notify the government and comply with all the speech rules.
Last October, Galassini became annoyed — like many Ron Paul supporters, she is easily annoyed by government — about the city's plan to augment its spending with a $29.6 million bond issue, to be voted on by mail by Nov. 8. On Oct. 6, she sent e-mails to 23 friends and acquaintances, urging them to write letters to newspapers and join her in two demonstrations against the bond measure. On Oct. 12, before she could organize the demonstrations, she received a stern letter from the town clerk: "I would strongly encourage you to cease any campaign-related activities until the requirements of the law have been met."
State law — this is the state of John McCain, apostle of political purification through the regulation of political speech — says that anytime two or more people work together to influence a vote on a ballot measure, they instantly become a "political committee." This transformation triggers various requirements — registering with the government, filing forms, establishing a bank account for the "committee" even if it has raised no money and does not intend to. This must be done before members of this fictitious "committee" may speak.
Galassini wrote to ask the clerk if it would be permissible for her to e-mail the 23 persons telling them the demonstrations were canceled — she got no response — and told the clerk, "This is all so confusing to me." Confusion and inconvenience — Galassini could have made an appointment for tutoring by the clerk's office concerning permissible speech — are probably intended consequences of laws designed to burden political speech that is potentially inconvenient for government. Galassini gave up trying to influence the vote.
The Supreme Court, in its splendid 2010 Citizens United decision, said that laws requiring licenses or other official permission to speak "function as the equivalent of prior restraint by giving the (government) power analogous to licensing laws implemented in 16th- and 17th-century England, laws and governmental practices of the sort that the First Amendment was drawn to prohibit." Paul Avelar of the Institute for Justice, the nation's only libertarian public-interest law firm, which is helping Galassini contest the constitutionality of Arizona's law, says that such niggling nuisances are proliferating nationwide.
A Florida law requires disclosure, including the name and address of the contributor, of any contribution, no matter how small — a penny for your thoughts? Report it — to a political committee. A Washington state law is notably protective of the political class: There must be litigation before a campaign to recall a public official can start, and lawyers are essentially forbidden from volunteering their help with that litigation. In Mississippi, anyone can put up his or her own Web page about a ballot issue, but the Web page designer must disclose the time he or she took to do it. And anyone who spends more than $200 on political speech — say, a small ad in a local newspaper — is required to give the government monthly reports about his or her political activity.
Such pettifogging laws reflect, aside from the joy governments derive from bossing people around, the current rage for regulating political speech lest . . . what? Campaign regulations usually focus on money, supposedly to prevent quid pro quo corruption or the appearance thereof pertaining to candidates. But many laws cover activities involving ballot measures, which suggests that, for reformers, limiting political speech is itself the goal. Hence their obsession with political money, most of which funds the dissemination of speech.
Nationally, political hygienists are regretting their inadvertent creations, this year's super PACs, entities run by supporters of presidential candidates but forbidden to "coordinate" with the candidates. Super PACs are spending money that the reformers, by imposing low limits on contributions to candidates and parties, have diverted away from campaigns that otherwise could be held directly accountable for, and judged in terms of, the speech they finance. We hear, yet again, the reformers' cry: "There is too much money in politics." This year, the presidential campaigns combined may spend almost $2 billion, which is almost as much as Americans will, in a few weeks, spend on Easter candy.
Just leaving the Senate floor now, but I wanted you to be the first to
know that the Senate successfully passed the STOCK Act.
Thanks for your support – wouldn't have happened without the
outpouring of support from people like you.
Thanks,
Kirsten
Sent from my iPhone
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
--
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He talked of the importance of "living by the principle that we are
our brother's keeper, caring for the poor and those in need." He
added, "But for me as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus'
teaching that 'for unto whom much is given, much shall be required.'
It mirrors the Islamic belief that those who've been blessed have an
obligation to use those blessings to help others, or the Jewish
doctrine of moderation and consideration for others."
---
Do you think the government is be 'obligated' to feed the poor,
provide housing and health care ... because their religious doctrine
says we should?
a prime example of why we must keep religion out of the government.
let'em fund their own charities w/o our tax dollars.
--
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Who Will They Fire Next?
Today, the Republican presidential campaign became an even bigger
circus as the nation's premiere birther, Donald Trump, stepped into
the ring to endorse another person with a self-professed love of
firing people: Mitt Romney. Before he decided to endorse him, however,
Donald Trump said a few things about Romney that were pretty spot on.
ThinkProgress' Alex Seitz-Wald has the rundown:
– Trump told Daily Beast columnist Meghan McCain that Romney is "going
to lose" because he can't connect with voters. "No, he's going to
lose. He doesn't resonate, you know? Or he would have won last time,
in all fairness to your father! He was scheduled to win last time, and
he didn't because your father outdid him. You understand. I watched
[Romney] make a speech, and it was all these little trivial
statements."
– Trump told CNN that Romney killed jobs at Bain Capital. "Mitt Romney
is basically a small business guy." "He walked away with some money
from a very good company that he didn't create. He worked there, he
didn't create. He would buy companies, he'd close companies, he'd get
rid of jobs."
– Trump slammed Romney's record as governor on ABC. "If you look at
his record as governor, it wasn't totally stellar. His job production
was not great at all. In fact, it was the third worst in the nation.
There are some pretty negative things with respect to Mitt Romney,
which frankly he's going to have to overcome."
– Trump chided Romney's $10,000 bet. "I don't talk about how rich I
am. Other people do. I don't want to talk about how rich I am."
– When Romney turned down Trump's debate, Trump was not happy. "I was
particularly surprised with Mitt Romney because he wants my
endorsement very badly."
And when the two met at the Trump Tower in September, Romney snuck out
to avoid a photo-op and both were conspicuously tepid in their praise
for each other afterward. "It was a nice meeting," Trump told the New
York Daily News.
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.
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Five surgeons are discussing who were the best patients on whom to operate.
The first surgeon says, 'I like to see Accountants on my operating table, because when you open them up, everything inside is numbered.'
The second responds, 'Yeah, but you should try Electricians! Everything inside them is colour-coded.'
The third surgeon says, 'No, I really think Librarians are the best; everything inside them is in alphabetical order.'
The fourth surgeon chimes in, 'You know I like Construction Workers. Those guys always understand when you have a few parts left over at the end, and when the job takes longer than you said it would.'
But the fifth surgeon shut them all up when he observed, 'You're all wrong. Politicians are the easiest to operate on. There's no guts, no heart, no balls, no brains, and no spine, and there are only two moving parts - the mouth and the arsehole - and they are interchangeable'.
The current plight of the Costa Concordia reminds one of a comment made by Winston Churchill.
After his retirement he was cruising the Mediterranean on an Italian cruise liner and some Italian journalists asked why an ex British Prime Minister should choose an Italian ship.
"There are three things I like about being on an Italian cruise ship" said Churchill.
"First, their cuisine is unsurpassed.
Second, their service is superb.
And then, in time of emergency, there is none of this nonsense about women and children first".
A group of bikers were riding when they saw a woman about to jump off a bridge, so they stopped. The leader, a big burly man, gets off his bike and says, "What are you doing?"
"I'm going to commit suicide," she says.
While he didn't want to appear insensitive, he didn't want to miss an opportunity either, so he asked... "Well, before you jump, why don't you give me a kiss?"
So she does... And it was a long, deep, lingering kiss.
After she's finished, the biker says, "Wow! That was the best kiss I've ever had! That's a real talent you are wasting. You could be famous. Why in the world would you want to commit suicide?" "My parents don't like me dressing up like a girl........".
The authorities think she may have been pushed.
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| I'm glad I don't own a boat! ...............
Graphic Picture of Boating Accident - Just Seconds Before the Owner Dies
Be Well and Laugh Often...Yea
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Twelve Italian priests were about to be ordained.
The final test was for them to line up in a straight row,
totally nude, in a garden while a sexy, beautiful, big breasted, nude
model danced before them.
Each priest had a small bell attached to his weenie, and they were
told that anyone whose bell rang when she danced in front of them
would not be ordained because he had not reached a state of spiritual purity.
The beautiful model danced before the first candidate with no reaction.
She proceeded down the line with the same response from all the priests
until she got to the final priest, Carlos.
Poor Carlos. As she danced, his bell began to ring so loudly that it flew off,
clattering across the ground and laid to rest in nearby foliage.
Embarrassed, Carlos quickly scrambled to where the bell came to rest.
He bent over to pick it up...
and all the other bells started to ring!
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