Freedom of speech – Use it or lose itWhen they took away the 4th Amendment,
we were quiet,
because we didn’t deal drugs.When they took away the 6th Amendment,
we were quiet,
because we were innocent.When they took away the 2nd Amendment,
we were quiet,
because we don’t own guns.

Now they have taking away the 1st Amendment,
and very soon,
if we continue to be quiet,
we will have no choice,
but to be continue to be quiet.

Texas: City Councilman Arrested for Opposing Red Light Cameras
Duncanville, Texas mayor silences anti-camera councilman by having him arrested.The mayor of Duncanville, Texas had a member of the city council arrested last Tuesday for speaking out against the use of red light cameras during an official meeting. The incident took place during the discussion of whether the city should spend $59,000 to make street repairs. Mayor David Green recognized Councilman Paul Ford to speak on the contract item.”Thank you,” Ford said. “I want to let you know that earlier this evening during briefing, Mayor Green threatened me that if he told me to stop talking and I didn’t, he’d have me arrested, and I want to let you know what I told Mayor Green.”Green became outraged and shouted, “Mr Ford, you are out of order. You are not recognized Mr Ford. You need to cease right now.”

While Green yelled, Ford continued his brief statement without stopping.

“Unlike those thousands of people who are getting red light camera tickets, I will have the opportunity for a jury trial. It will be a jury of my peers and I will confidently put my fate in their hands. And now I’m going to discuss agenda item number three. I will vote against it, and here’s why.”

Before he had a chance to explain that the city could find the money for those necessary street repairs by cutting the city manager’s salary from $179,000 to $160,000 and reducing payments to local chambers of commerce by $40,000, Police Chief Robert Brown grabbed Ford. Ford repeated several times the statement: “Chief Brown, I will not leave voluntarily, but if you believe I am violating the law by discussing this agenda item, I will submit to arrest.”

Brown did not respond. Mayor Green had the audio of the city council video tape turned off as Brown dragged the councilman out of the chamber. Ford ended up hospitalized from injuries sustained during the arrest.

Ford’s comments referenced an earlier, private briefing of city council members where the mayor complained that Ford had attempted to “take control” of past meetings. To stop this, Green announced that he would instruct the city manager to remove any council member who disrupted a meeting. Over the past few council sessions, Ford raised the mayor’s ire by insisting that the city code be amended to allow motorists the option of a jury trial when contesting red light camera citations and by his pointing out that only five percent of the 43,955 red light camera tickets issued in the city went to motorists accused of the straight-through violations most consider to be “red light running.”

“I’m not the one who brought the red light camera scandal to Duncanville,” Ford responded at the private meeting. “I’m the one who brought it to light, but I’m not the one who imposed it on us… I recognize that there probably is no city employee in this room who will stand up to you guys… Unlike those people who are getting red light camera citations, I will have an opportunity for a jury trial when you arrest me for whatever it is that you’ve discussed, whether it’s disrupting a public meeting or disorderly conduct. I will have a jury trial, and it will be a jury of my peers, not yours. In other words, people who are not getting money from this city. And I will with conscience place my fate in their hands.”

Mayor Green’s expulsion of an elected member of the city council violated standard rules of procedure. Under Robert’s Rules of Order, the binding code of conduct for most municipal organizations, Green would not have any authority to have Ford removed for making off-topic comments that lasted less than thirty seconds. The use of force to remove a member is considered an extreme measure and a last resort.

“Although the chair has no authority to impose a penalty or to order an offending member removed from the hall, the assembly has that power,” the Rules state.

Under this set of procedures, a mayor would first have issued a warning to an unruly member and, if ignored, put the question of what to do about it to the entire city council. A majority vote would be required to have a sitting member removed from the chambers after that member is given an opportunity to speak in his own defense. Under Duncanville’s city charter (2.15), only the full council can change the rules of procedure, not the mayor acting alone.

Ford has been released from the hospital but the mayor had a warrant issued for his arrest. Ford announced yesterday his intention to turn himself in. Since March, Ford has attempted to gather 1300 signatures to create a referendum on the red light camera program in Duncanville.

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"It also gives us a very special, secret pleasure to see 

how unaware the people around us are of what is really happening to them."
-- Adolf Hitler

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"If a politician isn't perfectly comfortable with the
 idea of his average constituent, any man, woman, or
 responsible child, walking into a hardware store
 and paying cash -- for any rifle, shotgun, handgun,
 machinegun, anything -- without producing ID or
 signing one scrap of paper, he isn't your friend no
 matter what he tells you."
 -L. Neil Smith

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"Of course the people don't want war. 

But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, 

and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, 

a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, 

or a communist dictatorship. 

Voice or no voice, 

the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. 

That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, 

and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger."
-- Hermann Goering at the Nuremberg trials.

 

 

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"It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country from the
government."
--Thomas Paine 'The Rights of Man' c.1792

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 "Thought control is a copyright of totalitarianism, and we
have no claim to it. It is not the function of our govern-
ment to keep the citizen from falling into error, it is the
function of the citizen to keep the government from falling
into error."
- Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954)

=======================
http://www.quotedb.com/quotes/2283
"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."
-- Thomas Jefferson
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Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandies cautioned in Olmstead v. United States (1928) that:
"Experience should teach us to be most on our
guard to protect liberty when the Government's purposes are
beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel
invasions of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest
dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachments by men of
zeal, well-meaning but without understanding."
------------------------------------
Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death
Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775.
No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the House. But different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen if, entertaining as I do opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony. The questing before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.
Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.
I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the House. Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us: they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne! In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free-- if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending--if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained--we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us!
They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable--and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.
It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace-- but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

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"As formerly we suffered from crimes, so now we suffer from laws"
Tacitus, Cornelius
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Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else.
Theodore Roosevelt
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Patriotism does not mean support of your government.
Patriotism does means support of your liberties.
Patriotism only means support of your government;
in exactly those instances,
where your government supports your liberties.
John Perna
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Quote Thomas Paine The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot
Back in 1778, Thomas Paine warned Americans about false
patriots who wave the flag on sunny days, but fail to uphold
liberty in stormy weather:
"These are the times that try
men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot
will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their
country; but he that stands now, deserves the love and
thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily
conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the
harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."
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http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/g/georgewash146839.html
How soon we forget history... Government is not reason. Government is not eloquence. It is force. And, like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.
George Washington
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"Truth will ultimately prevail where pains is taken to bring it to light."
—George Washington
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http://www.quotedb.com/quotes/2948
"Ideas are far more powerful than guns. We don't let our people have guns. Why should we let them have ideas?"
-- Joseph Stalin
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"Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority.
It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the
people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who
mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good
masters, but they mean to be masters." -- Daniel Webster
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"God grants liberty only to those who love it,and are always ready to guard and defend it."DANIEL WEBSTER, Speech, June 3, 1834

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The reason that the US doesn't have a Gestapo is that the 

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http://www.arches.uga.edu/~jpetrie/TJ.html
"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; 

when the government fears the people, there is liberty. "
Jefferson
http://www.freerepublic.com/~2ndamendmentdefender/
Thomas Paine made a similar statement:
"When the people fear the government, you have tyranny. 

When the government fears the people, you have freedom."

 -- Thomas Paine

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"Thought control is a copyright of totalitarianism, and we
have no claim to it. It is not the function of our govern-
ment to keep the citizen from falling into error, it is the
function of the citizen to keep the government from falling
into error."
- Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954)
http://ca.geocities.com/quotationoftheday/index.html
"It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country from the
government."
--Thomas Paine 'The Rights of Man' c.1792
"The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."
-- Hermann Goering at the Nuremberg trials.
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None are spared when freedom fails.
The best men rot in filthy jails.
And those who cried Appease! Appease!
Are hanged by those they tried to please.
Anonymous
  "The evils of tyranny are rarely seen but by him who resists it." --John Hay, 1872