The whole point of free speech is not to make ideas exempt from criticism but to expose them to it.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Go get 'em Patty-boy.

Pat Powers is all nanny-stated up again about a bill in the SoDak legislature that would require blog owners to keep logs of who posts. He's right, but, as usual, it's only an accident. His problem is that he just gets worked up about stuff that affects him. He has no principle guiding his outrage. For instance, he supports policies that regularly result in the murders of innocent people.

Nine years ago the Peruvian Air Force shot down a missionary plane, killing a woman and her baby. They did so under advisement from a CIA plane, which first told them to shoot, then tried to rescind the order. Problem was, the CIA guy only knew enough Spanish to say "Shoot," not "Stop," or "Don't Shoot."

See film of the murder here.

Son of a BITCH!!

12 comments:

larry kurtz said...

Yikes Bob!

One big difference between Pat's blog that sells advertising space therefore becomes a commercial mouthpiece.

Blogmore is in a similar vane; they edit heavily; though.

The hard part would be separating links to commercial sites and sites that do not.

These issues will have to be tested in court, that is likely imminent.

Bill Fleming said...

I really don't think there's any way the proposed legislation will fly.

Michael Sanborn said...

I cannot imagine that an attorney general will give this his blessing since it so clearly violates the free speech and free press guarantees contained in the First Amendment.

larry kurtz said...

The "torture memo" lawyer is at The Cambridge Forum; slightly off-topic but relevent.

Click on my header for the link.

Bill Fleming said...

By the way, that video is absolutely horrifying. Why is it not being shown on every news channel every day?

Thad Wasson said...

Rumor from Pierre is that the reps. want to stop defamatory speech. Maybe a anti-bullying blog bill. Example; Senator Turback-Berry is a terrible pick from Watertown, ok to blog. Senator Turback-Berry applies hair color because she is going gray and wants to give the impression she is younger than her body shows. That would be picked up by the police state and I would have to provide my name and address to the court if asked by said Senator.

Thad Wasson said...

As for the murder, when the biggest expense of a nation is military spending, you eventually find a reason to use your toys.

Taunia said...

Gee, Thad, your justification for friendly fire is astounding. Got 'em, use 'em. Sorry, 'bout that, we boys sometimes get carried away.

Better to be killed by your own, than by the other guys. Much easier to retrieve the bodies that way.

Richard said...

I don't understand why he would be against this type of legislation. He's made it clear on his blog that he keeps track of IP addresses.

Bill Fleming said...

Ok, so suppose I go on this blog and post as "Bob Ellis".

Suppose I do this from the public library in Brookings.

And suppose I report that I saw Sibby doing something unseemly with an animal, vegetable or mineral of undetermined national origin.

And suppose I offer some doctored photos by Gideon Oakes and others by Pat Powers as evidence.

So, who gets to sue me? Pat, Bob, Gid or Steve? Or all of the above? But wait, there's more! First... how would any of them ever find out who I really am?

It's a joke. They can't. They'll have to sue... um... Mike! Yeah, yeah, that's the ticket. This is Sanborn's blog. He's a reporter... he should know better.

Booga booga!

This is the dumbest controversy to hit the SD Blogosphere in years.

I tell ya.

There otta be a law.

Taunia said...

I don't quite understand. Draw me (doctored) picture.

Bill Fleming said...

Not on your tintype, Taunia. Some images are best left as they arise, fleeting past the (mostly absent) mind.