An earlier post on the bill extending protection from those who want to protest near reproductive health clinics raises the question of the extent, limits and consequences of the First Amendment.

It seems to me that any "freedom of" something necessarily includes a "freedom from" the same thing. For example, I can print anything I want, but you don't have to read it. My "freedom of the press" includes your "freedom from the press;" otherwise that "freedom" is a chimera.

When it comes to reproductive health clinics, the freedom people have to protest some of the services they provide must end when it interferes with the freedom those who would avail themselves of the services have to get to the clinics. Unfortunately, all too often the protesters impinge on the freedom of women to go to the clinics, which is why this bill was not only good, but necessary.  read more »

From the Brooklyn Paper via Albany Project comes a disturbing piece of news: apparently, four New York City residents have been arrested in Beijing for protesting against the Chinese occupation of Tibet.

The Chinese, who are hoping that their efficient oversight of the Beijing Games will wipe away memories of Tiananmen Square, have arrested one of Williamsburg’s best-known multi-media artists after discovering that he planned to project a pro-Tibet message on a building in the Chinese capital.

Artist James Powderly has been in a Chinese jail since Aug. 19 — though the official charges are unknown.[...]

Though Powderly was apprehended alone, he traveled to Beijing to collaborate with five activists from the group Students for a Free Tibet — including Brooklynites Samantha Corbin, Jacob Blumenfeld, and Lauren Valle — who were arrested later that day after unfurling a light-up “Free Tibet” banner in front of the famed “Bird’s Nest” stadium, the student organization said.

The whereabouts of Powderly and his American compatriots remain unclear. A spokesman from Beijing’s Municipal Publicity Security Bureau refused to comment on Powderly’s arrest, according to the Associated Press.

Bad things happen to people who wind up in the jails of authoritarian regimes. Please act today to start bringing pressure on China to free its prisoners. Call China's representatives here in the United States, and the Department of State to act quickly to get our citizens released.

Chinese Embassy, Washington: (202) 328-2500
Chinese Consulate General, New York: (212) 244-9456
United States Department of State, Washington: (202) 647-4000  read more »

Location

I’ve been thinking, again, about the troubling, persistent problem of race and gender prejudice in art, literature and life. It arose, for me, in the context of a novel by mid-Victorian Anthony Trollope, whose dark comedy of greed and corruption –“The Way We Live Now” (For Trollopians manqués click here for a Project Guttenberg etext; if you don’t know about Project Guttenberg click there anyway and find out) I am now reading.  read more »

Okay, here I am plugging the efforts of a relative. Okay, a distant relative. Really distant. My great-grandfather was the brother of the great-grandfather of a man named Henry Garfinkel, better known to the world as Henry Rollins, one time lead singer of Black Flag. Yes, THAT Henry Rollins. But even if Henry Rollins wasn't a distant cousin of mine, I'd eagerly plug his show. My wife and I caught about a half dozen episodes of the Henry Rollins Show on IFC last year and we loved it. RABIDLY biting satire combined with some pretty interesting interviews and some musical guests who ranged from a bit too avant guarde for my tastes to damned good rock. Of course my favorite musical guest was his last episode of the season where his own Henry Rollins Band was the musical "guest."

Henry Rollins isn't just a punker. He is a very angry, pretty smart man. He sometimes seems a little out of his league when he is interviewing people, but this is scarcely noticeable most of the time. His monologues can be mesmerizing, like with his shaggy dog story of his trip on the Trans-Siberian Railway with intestinal disorders and axe-wielding train attendents. His bitter hatred of Bush would be dear to the hearts of many here, though those who want to see all of us get along happily and merrily petting eachother's puppies despite the disgusting and disturbing Republican attempts to demolish our democracy in a frenzy of pseudo-patriotic war-profiteering over the bodies of our dead soldiers may be disappointed by the harsh, ass-kicking sarcasm of Henry Rollins' wit. But for those who are horrified and even a bit terrified by the direct assault the Halliburton Republicans are making on our democracy will LOVE Henry Rollins' commentary.  read more »

From the New York Times:

Lawyers for the city, responding to a request to unseal records of police surveillance leading up to the 2004 Republican convention in New York, say that the documents should remain secret because the news media will “fixate upon and sensationalize them,” hurting the city’s ability to defend itself in lawsuits over mass arrests.

Yeah, well; the City could have considered that before spying on a Martin Luther King Rally endorsed by sitting members of the City Council. One would think this would have been obvious at the time.

It gets better.  read more »