(This deserves front page real estate. Not everyone may agree with all aspects of Rosemarie’s diary, but most will appreciate that this is symptomatic of a greater problem in Vermont that arises out of the very quality that most of us love about the state: it’s extreme intimacy. Unfortunately, that intimacy has a dark side in the form of cronyism, conflicts of interest and plain bad manners toward those who create ripples in the local pond. – promoted by Sue Prent)
Pulling the Plug on the First Amendment
During the September 23 meeting of the Bennington Select Board an order was given to pull the plug. Given the order, CAT-TV immediately obeyed. Video and audio of the live broadcast suddenly disappeared from thousands of television screens. This occurred during an enthusiastic discussion between a citizen and a member of the Select Board.
In complete disclosure, I am a fan of CAT-TV. Community television is one of Bennington’s most important assets. CAT-TV is the stronghold of the First Amendment in Bennington. This is especially important in a State where the First Amendment has been quietly under attack for years. CAT-TV should never be silenced – not even for a few minutes.
Evidence of the erosion of free speech is often seen during election time. Photos of Dennis Steele being arrested are available on the Internet. Steele was a candidate for governor. He was arrested because he wanted to participate in a political debate. Another candidate, Peter Diamondstone, was arrested at the Vermont Law School. He also wanted to participate in a debate.
When a book is banned by a library, or when a candidate is not allowed to participate in a debate it is often ‘under the radar’. Citizens are never told. Libraries do not post lists of books they ban. People do not know, what they don’t know. These are the unknown unknowns. If more citizens knew that their Constitutional rights have been compromised, they would react.
Newspapers and other privately owned companies have the legal right to publish or not publish anything they want. Public tax supported schools and libraries have a higher obligation to honor free speech – especially political speech.
The banning of political books by a public tax supported library is a violation of the First Amendment. Legal experts and Constitutional lawyers can game the system by arguing that the Amendment only restricts the federal government. That can be debated, but the spirit of the First Amendment is very clear. It should be honored.
Instead of pulling the plug on CAT-TV, the plug should be pulled on the funding of any organization or library that suppresses free speech or prohibits the right to read. The chipping away at the First Amendment has a chilling effect on the democratic process and discourages citizen participation.
How ironic, this most recent attack on the First Amendment occurred during Banned Book Week.
Rosemarie Jackowski
*****
Absolutely right & complete outrage. Every day we are reminded we are fast becoming “subjects” of local, state & federal government and agencies.
Wasn’t it because they did not have party status?
http://www.benningtonbanner.co…
In Hardwick when our public access station was started by the venerable Lew Shattuck in 2006 the Town Manager at first expressed trepidation that the Select Board meetings were to be recorded and broadcast. He expressed concern that townspeople would be intimidated by the presence of cameras and not feel free to speak freely. Almost the first meeting that HCTV covered concerned an easement the town needed for sewer repairs and the landowners were notorious for their profanity-laden tirades at the select board. These folks took one look at the cameras and behaved themselves and spoke politely to the board. The Town Manager said afterward that he really liked the presence of cameras.
I am surprised that the CAT-TV operator so meekly complied with the order. I suspect that it was a volunteer and not a staff member. Had I been recording that meeting I would have flat out refused. I would have cited the Open Meeting law and the First Amendment and stated that no Select Board member or Town Manager has the authority to overturn those laws and rights, and that at a public meeting they have no expectation to the right of privacy. They certainly can not demand censorship for any reason. Would they order the local news reporter to leave the room? Would that reporter comply? The public access TV station is no different.
I am so sick of people bitching about their first amendment rights. I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that everyone is afraid of losing their job, getting pulled over by an asshole cop, or having their car vandalized more than their first amendment right. The first amendment should state, you have the right to hide.
This is a 2011 legacy I can’t afford to have my legacy keyed, you have the right to hide My inspection sticker is out I can’t afford to attract attention, you have the right to hide. I just don’t want to get into it with Doug, you have the right to hide. (Sorry this is sounding like Bill Hicks) If Richard saw this, he would fire me on the spot, you have the right to hide.
It cost $50 to make 100 bumper stickers. Yes I am asking you to be creative. I don’t need 300 words I don’t need more than 20. I’m going to go out on another limb here and say that if you are getting your news from this site you can afford 50 f–king dollars.
I’m not saying Jill Stein would have won (I made stickers on my printer that said “I never thought I would miss Bush Vote Jill Stein 2012”). What I’m saying is she didn’t have f–cking to make these stickers. And me. It was fun sticking them around Montpelier at 9pm the day before the election. If you’re someone who believes Nader cost someone an election you should not be voting. I voted for him and I was living in f–king Texas. Voting is not the problem. YOU ARE!!!! Keep in the vote.
Here’s a free bee, (because I am not trying to cash in, the message is more important) I’ve been making T-shirts. You can throw it on any shirt with a printer and transfer paper. (I would hope you are not so idealistic that you would choose style over content, or worse, practicality over content) With a printer and transfer paper, I looked up bacteriophage. Wikipedia had a picture of this. It seemed to fit the Monanto logo (both being orange). I did a little photo shop, and the next week I was explaining to people that a bacteriophage was not necessarily a bad thing it’s more of a question mark.. I might be wrong, but I’d rather be on the side of people who are guessing than the people who are wrong.
Please choose the streets rather than the house.
The comment above by Sue Prent is exactly the point. That there was a blackout in one small Vermont town is not really important. If the blackout was caused by a power outage, no one would care.
The important point is that government, at all levels, local, state, and federal is out of control. Another important point is that elected officials believe that they have the authority to ‘control’ what citizens know about their government. We need to do something to convince them that citizens have the right to information… and also the right to participate in government. The plug was pulled in Bennington as a way of silencing a citizen. This is a on-going problem in a town where the public tax supported library bans certain political books. Local politics and cronyism rule many Vermont towns.
This started a long time ago. During the Truman Administration the Black Budget was authorized. Not one informed vote has been cast since then. Think about that. We can’t fix the world, but we can fix Vermont.
I would like to thank everyone on Wall Street for not extraditing me to be tortured. Thank you Lockheed Martin, Koch Industries, The Feds, Bank of America., and all the great people at the NSA. I am ready to conform.
I remember a public hearing held by the Bennington Selectboard in 1999 on a proposed natural gas power plant and pipeline project. The gas salesmen were there, and so were a lot of members of the public. It was filmed by the local access television station and broadcast live.
The majority of the program was the pitch by the gas salesmen.
Members of the public asked if I could speak. The chair said no. The reason was probably because I was not a resident of Bennington, but I was not making the request, Bennington residents were.
The TV coverage ended at 9.
After the cameras were turned off, the public again asked if I could speak, and this time the request was granted. No cameras were running.
I recall that I had prepared remarks that I tossed and spoke off the cuff. By that time the public was steaming because of the way the meeting had been run.
The member of the public involved in this latest incident is Mike Bethel, who has been trying to get better transparency in Bennington’s school and town governments for more than a decade. He is persistent and has made a lot of enemies because of his efforts. Whether you like Mike or not, kudos to him for keeping up his efforts at shining some sunshine on what is happening in Bennington.
There is a way all of you can help. Please take a minute to post a comment on MWC. This is a Canadian site that does NOT censor.
Some of the comments below are so good that they should be shared with the world.
I wrote an expanded international version of this article and it is up on MWC now.
http://mwcnews.net/focus/polit…
From the ACLU website….
“Censorship, the suppression of words, images, or ideas that are “offensive,” happens whenever some people succeed in imposing their personal political or moral values on others. Censorship can be carried out by the government as well as private pressure groups. Once you allow the government to censor someone else, you cede to it the power to censor you, or something you like. Censorship is like poison gas: a powerful weapon that can harm you when the wind shifts. Censorship by the government is unconstitutional because freedom of speech is protected in the First Amendment, and is guaranteed to all Americans.”