A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy or perhaps both. ~James Madison (Fourth President of the United States):
If this kind of tyranny is to be avoided, we must begin without delay to educate ourselves and our children for freedom and self-government. Such an education for freedom should be ... first of all in facts and in values — the facts of individual diversity and genetic uniqueness and the values of freedom, tolerance and mutual charity, which are the ethical corollaries of these facts.
When conservative Robert Bork was nominated to the court in 1987, all aspects of his life were examined, even his video rentals. A leaked list of his videos included nothing sexually explicit and many classics, such as Alfred Hitchcock's "North by Northwest" and Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane." Among the surprises: Federico Fellini's "8½." Bork also rented "The Star Chamber," a film about a secret society imposing vigilante justice. Bork's nomination was rejected, but it left legacies such as the term "Borked," based on the nominee's rough treatment, as well as a federal law banning disclosure of video rentals.
Henry Louis Gates' Contempt Of Cop Emptywheel - At tonight's nationally televised press conference, a reporter asked President Obama a question about the July 16 arrest of famed Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates. Obama set off...
Contempt of Cop' by William Norman Grigg - The police are to the government as the edge is to the knife, insists sociologist David Bayley, who apparently couldn't explain why the typical...
Welcome to America Now step inside the jail cell - The audio exchange in this video was apparently recorded at the U.S. Canada border after a Canadian displayed contempt-of-cop towards the American law enforcement officer asking questions.
Contemptible police tactics - Cops raid the home of a licensed medical marijuana provider in Washington, handcuff the fourteen year old son and put a gun to his head, and search the nineteen year old daughter and take the contents of her mickey-mouse wallet.
How To Survive Traffic Stops in America, Submit, Instantly! - What the cops want is immediate obedience and submission. Many cops are ex-military and view the civilian motorists of America about like they viewed the hapless peasants of Iraq and Afghanistan, that is, with contempt, not as fellow citizens deserving of civility and respect. It is a possibly lethal mistake to do anything other than submit, instantly and obey! Or be ready to shoot first. But aim high.
