Unalienable Rights

thepoliticalfreakshow:

A federal appeals court on Tuesday barred the enforcement of a controversial law that allowed for the arrest and prosecution of individuals who made audio recordings of police officers without their consent.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled that the Illinois’ Eavesdropping Act “likely violates” the First Amendment, according to the Associated Press.

“The Illinois eavesdropping statute restricts far more speech than necessary to protect legitimate privacy interests; as applied to the facts alleged here, it likely violates the First Amendment’s free speech and free-press guarantees,” the court held (PDF).

The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois challenged the law in 2010 on behalf of organizations that wished to monitor police activity to uncover misconduct.

“The Court of Appeals today reversed the trial court and ordered that the court enter a preliminary injunction enjoining States Attorney Anita Alvarez from prosecuting the ACLU and its employees for openly audio recording police officers performing their public duty,” ACLU legal director Harvey Grossman explained. “In order to make the rights of free expression and petition effective, individuals and organizations must be able to freely gather and record information about the conduct of government and their agents – especially the police.”

“Empowering individuals and organizations in this fashion will ensure additional transparency and oversight of police across the State,” he added.

The eavesdropping law makes it a crime to record “any oral communication between 2 or more persons regardless of whether one or more of the parties intended their communication to be of a private nature under circumstances justifying that expectation.” The law exempts recordings made for law enforcement purposes and recordings made for “broadcast by radio, television, or otherwise.”

However, the law prohibited anyone who wasn’t a member of the media or law enforcement from recording police officers. Last year, an Illinois man faced a felony and up to 15 years in prison for recording a traffic stop using his cell phone. The charges against him were later dropped.

“I’m in a private car on a public street and it’s a public official,” Louis Frobe told ABC7. “Why shouldn’t I be able to record what’s going on to prove my innocence?”

thepoliticalfreakshow:

Despite his 2008 call to “let Detroit go bankrupt,” presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said Monday that he would “take a lot of credit” for his impact on the U.S. automobile industry’s comeback.

During an interview with WEWS-TV in Cleveland following a campaign stop, Romney said his views helped save the industry.

“I pushed the idea of a managed bankruptcy,” Romney said. “And finally, when that was done, and help was given, the companies got back on their feet. So I’ll take a lot of credit for the fact that this industry’s come back.”

Both General Motors and Chrysler ended up taking the massive federal loans supported by both President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush. The bailout included managed bankruptcy filings for both companies. According to the federal judge who presided over Chrysler’s bankruptcy in 2009, the company would not have survived without the bailout. Ford survived without taking a government loan.

Romney’s stance on the bailouts and his infamous 2008 New York Times op-ed “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt,” have come up throughout the campaign, especially ahead of February’s primary in Michigan. In that editorial, Romney argued that a government bailout for ailing auto giants Chrysler and General Motors would do more harm than good.

“If General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye,” Romney wrote. “In a managed bankruptcy, the federal government would propel newly competitive and viable automakers, rather than seal their fate with a bailout check.”

Romney also spoke out on his opposition to the government loaning money to the industry in 2009, placing some of the blame on Bush.

“Bailout of enterprises that are in trouble, that’s not the right way to go,” Romney told CNN’s Larry King in 2009. “I know President Bush started it with the auto industry. I thought it was a mistake.”

Obama’s campaign immediately responded to Romney’s comments on Monday evening, stating that Romney was attempting to “fool” the public.

“Mitt Romney may think he can fool the American people by hiding his belief that we should ‘let Detroit go bankrupt,’ but the American people won’t let him,” Obama campaign co-chair Ted Strickland said in a statement, referencing Romney’s Times editorial. “Mitt Romney seems to think Americans will just forget the past and his very vocal and clear opposition to the successful auto rescue.”

Chrysler, now majority-owned by Italy’s Fiat, has since paid back all but $1.3 billion of its $12.5 billion government loan. According to CNN, taxpayers were $25.5 billion short on the $50 billion G.M. bailout as of February.

mohandasgandhi:

machistado:

Okay, here’s an abridged list for those of you who (I guess) don’t read the news:

• Reinstating the Patriot Act after vigorously campaigning against it
• Refusing to investigate or prosecute any of the Bush/CIA officials who ordered and committed torture -…