!st Amendment: a privilage that can be lost if abused

[dmr]

And here I thought it was a right! Silly me ...

Mayor suggests free assembly a 'privilege'

By Glenn Thrush
Staff Writer

August 16, 2004, 10:14 PM EDT

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, already under fire for his tough stance against anti-GOP protest groups, Monday suggested that First Amendment rights of free speech and free assembly are "privileges" that could be lost if abused.

Bloomberg, speaking to Republican National Convention volunteers in Manhattan, was trying to downplay concerns that protesters will disrupt this month's convention -- when he began articulating a broader constitutional vision.

"People who avail themselves of the opportunity to express themselves ... they will not abuse that privilege," he said at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. "Because if we start to abuse our privileges, then we lose them, and nobody wants that."

more ...

Meanwhile, back at the Police Precinct ... the cops are getting antsy too over a taste of the First Amendment Zone. They've been pestering and protesting the mayor for a pay raise; wherever Bloomberg goes, off-duty cops go. They've always been able to get within 20 feet of him. Not anymore!

- snip -

"We're offending the mayor, and now we're being forced into pens," said Walter Liddy, a Patrolmen's Benevolent Association official who led the protest.

http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/brooklyn/nyc-prot0817,0,3590821.story?coll=nyc-manheadlines-brooklyn

[Caution]

1. weird...I've never heard of the Bill of Priveleges.

[NewHampshireDem]

2. Maybe in 20 years the Iraqis can come and liberate us

:shrug:

[TheRovingGourmet]

3. That's cause they didn't learn you nothing in school.

Early printing was not an exact science and certain combinations of characters quite often caused the ink to "bleed" over the typeset, resulting in a blurry word. This is what happened to what we used to know as the Bill of Rights. Using X-rays, lasers, and good old Republican know-how, it was determined that the word rights was actually the word privileges. New copies of the Constitution will have this error fixed and will be available to the public free of charge.

[Rich Hunt]

8. my gad

Dude needs to get a dictionary and look up 'privilege'.

How can an idiot like this be mayor?

[H2O Man]

13. Great response!

Thanks .... that was perfect!!!!

[Dogmudgeon]

4. Republicans/Conservatives HATE Rights

To them, everything is a privilege.

Ever read The Bill of No Rights? It's a famous right-wing screed that has been making the rounds for about 30 years.

To the Conservatives, a "Right" is nothing more than Big Gummint telling the poor, beleagured business owner or preacher that he can't establish his own private little empire under the protection of the American flag. So it's no surprise that Bloomberg would parrot that theme.

--bkl

[dmr]

6. Is this what you're talking about?

I can't express how relieved I am to know I'm on the left ...

:crazy:
Bill of No Rights

by William Lewis Napper

We, the sensible of the United States, in an attempt to help everyone get along, restore some semblance of justice, avoid any more riots, keep our nation safe, promote positive behavior, and secure the blessings of debt-free liberty to ourselves and our great-great-great grandchildren, hereby try one more time to ordain and establish some common-sense guidelines for the terminally whiny, guilt-ridden, delusional, and other liberal, commie, pinko bedwetters.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that a whole lot of people were confused by the Bill of Rights and are so dim that they require a Bill of No Rights.

More ...

http://www.sc.ca.lp.org/scl/9702-rights.html

[Brian_Expat]

10. Someone should send that to Dubya

He might like:

You do not have the right to demand that our children risk their lives in foreign wars to soothe your aching conscience. We hate oppressive governments and won't lift a finger to stop you from going to fight if you'd like. However, we do not enjoy parenting the entire world and do not want to spend so much of our time battling each and every little tyrant who has a military uniform and a funny hat.

Something tells me the freeper who wrote that isn't too opposed to the war in Iraq.

Do as we SAY, not as we DO! And sometimes not even that! :eyes:

[Dogmudgeon]

12. Very likely

It's been attributed to at least five right-wing pundits and two comedians as far as I have seen (Gingrich, Napper, Buckley, Leo, O'Rourke; Carlin and Cosby; and I'm sure I missed a few). Scopes.com might have more, but I haven't looked it up.

There may also be a few versions of it floating around. It's kind of like the "Why I Admire Ebenezer Scrooge" crap that was making the rounds of the Libertarian Right about ten years ago.

--bkl

[realisticphish]

5. AAAAAAAAAAA

*runs toward wall, hits head repeatedly*
:wtf:
this is by far the most disgusting thing ive read for a long time


:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[MisterP]

7. Bloomberg always was a few plumbing fixtures short of a hardware departmnt

then there was Giuliani's little empire.
Jerry Seinfeld for mayor!

[drscm]

9. "There ought to be limits to freedom," the little *fuhrer said. Bloomberg

is merely explaining what our glorious god-given leader meant.

[TheSickEmpire]

11. He's warning the activists

not to plan on receiving the key to the city. He's got other plans for them!

I'm glad they included the cops in this article, maybe there will be a little sympathy from some them when the protesters arrive. Now they know how it feels to be penned in a First Amendment Zone.

Or maybe he's trying to tell the cops to stop with the bullying protests, cuz he ain't gonna budge!

He's got a lot of balls to come right out and say exactly what is on his mind.

When's he up for re-election?