Grand Old Pummeling in the LEO (JD Sparks Vs. KY)

If you all haven't heard about this yet, definitely check it out. Here are the links:

http://www.leoweekly.com/news/grand-old-pummeling

http://fatlip.leoweekly.com/ (great video)

Personally I find the whole situation to be despicable, and I really hope their case is successful. Any censorship of the press is bad, but neanderthal brutality against a journalist is the worst kind.

Also, apparently JD Sparks (the guy who assaulted the LEO journalist if you haven't read it yet) has a facebook group, JD Sparks For Kentucky. (There are only four members, but it sounds like he wants to run a political campaign at some point.)

I've started a counter group/medium for awareness about press censorship called JD Sparks Vs. Kentucky. (Really, if you watch the video it's obvious that this guy is a loose cannon. Who knows who he might assault next?) I'd really like to surpass his count of four members with at least 5 people who care about freedom of the press. Join if you're interested.

[Robin Garr]

Just joined, Paul, pushing you up to 7. Excellent work! This guy seems like a real bozo.

[Robin Garr]

For registered Facebook users, this link should take you to Paul's group page, I think ... Facebook links are still a mystery to me ...

http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=86489836500

Oh, wow. . .watching that video totally made me want to do bad things.

Go Paul!!! I have not only joined, I also posted a link on my profile page and will encourage as many people as possible to join.

Thanks for the link Robin. I usually don't even mess with them because I find them to be fickle, but yours works perfectly.

Kudos to the LEO reporters for remaining a gentleman and professional throughout the ordeal. Mr. Sparks came off as a real nutcase.

Lots of lather being whipped up over Mr. Sparks behavior in the aforementioned video and the First Amendment....we need to be clear, however, that his actions (as childish and repugnant as most of us seem to think they were) do NOT constitute a First Amendment violation -- regardless whether he was acting on his own initiative or at the behest of evil, GOP masters (cue, "Imperial March" from The Empire Strikes Back).

Seriously though, US Supreme Court decisions have consistently maintained that alleged First Amendment violations must eminate from an action by the State, or some entity acting on behalf of the State...similar conduct by private individuals (like our Mr. Sparks) are probably not actionable as Constitutional violations, but the Assault 4th Degree and Menacing charges (coupled the possibility of filing some civil action - e.g., common law battery) are more on-target.

I guess my biggest problem is that the GOP has a fundraiser and sometime during that event someone (the LEO reporter) gets roughed up, manhandled, and pushed to the floor and NO ONE stood up and said, "Wait a minute. What's going on here?" Everyone just stood around and watched. Regardless of political sides, just looking at it from a humanitarian point of view, how is that something to be proud of? What's the old quote..."The only way for evil to succeed is for good men to stand around and do nothing." What does that say for that roomful of people?

Yeah I know that they don't constitute any sort of constitutional violation, which is why I was careful not to mention it here at all. There's already a furor, with people insisting that their constitutional rights have been impinged upon, and I didn't want to add to it. (Sadly, many of those people probably have never even read the Constitution.)

I only mentioned it in passing in the Facebook group because I wanted it to take a broader stance on press censorship. This was in part so it wasn't solely antagonistic to Mr. Sparks, which hopefully will prevent any action by Facebook if he should complain. (Which I'm sure he will if he ever finds it.)

Lots of lather being whipped up over Mr. Sparks behavior in the aforementioned video and the First Amendment....we need to be clear, however, that his actions (as childish and repugnant as most of us seem to think they were) do NOT constitute a First Amendment violation -- regardless whether he was acting on his own initiative or at the behest of evil, GOP masters (cue, "Imperial March" from The Empire Strikes Back).

Seriously though, US Supreme Court decisions have consistently maintained that alleged First Amendment violations must eminate from an action by the State, or some entity acting on behalf of the State...similar conduct by private individuals (like our Mr. Sparks) are probably not actionable as Constitutional violations, but the Assault 4th Degree and Menacing charges (coupled the possibility of filing some civil action - e.g., common law battery) are more on-target.