Since I was a little boy, I have had a dream of visiting Sainte-Mère-Église. First known to me through the great World War II movie The Longest Day, I became even more fascinated with the city as I read more and more military history. Finally, at 50, I had my chance and visited the lovely town with my family — jabbering non-stop about dates, times, and people in the battle. It was everything that I wanted it to be. The locals love Americans and they have left a life-sized mannequin hanging from the church where John Steele once dangled.
Continue reading “The Turleys Land At Normandy: Sainte-Mère-Église”
Author: jonathanturley
Submitted by Gene Howington, Guest Blogger
Police in Renton, Washington are seeking an unknown cartoonist for cyberstalking. To that end, officials have obtained a search warrant from a local judge to discover the identity of the anonymous cartoonist. The alleged crime this cartoonist committed? Posting cartoons online parodying the Renton Police Department and referring to real life internal affairs incidents at the Renton PD in the dialog. It is important to note that neither is the Renton Police Department named nor are the real names of any people attached to the Renton Police Department are used in the cartoons linked posted by KIRO TV. The videos are not in a format that can be embedded in WordPress, but the Jail Parody and the Locker Room Parody can both be seen at KIRO TV’s website.
Parody is protected free speech in many cases, but the case law is unclear in providing bright line definitions of what does and what doesn’t qualify as parody. This often leads to detailed case by case examination of claims. When the parody involves copyrighted materials, there are guidelines and tests to apply in determining if the parody is legitimate. Generally speaking, there are two lines of defense involving parody: the free speech defense based in Constitutional law and the fair use defense based in copyright law. As these parodies do not involve copyrighted materials, the fair use defense is not relevant here. The free speech defense is another matter. As a matter of Constitutional law, parody is protected free speech. Is the Renton Police Department attempting to use a criminal statute to persecute a critic engaging in critical parody and repress the cartoonist’s 1st Amendment Free Speech rights? Some think that’s exactly what they are doing.
Continue reading “Police Seek To Prosecute Persecute Unknown Cartoonist”
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
I’ve been gathering information for a couple of weeks for a post about ALEC—the American Legislative Exchange Council—an organization that I had never heard of until earlier this year when I was doing research for some of my previous Turley Blawg posts. I wanted to write up an extensive and cohesive post for you—but I’ll be on my way to the hospital shortly. My daughter is due to deliver my first grandchild—and she wants me with her for the momentous event. I thought I’d provide you with excerpts from a few articles, videos, and links to a number of other articles about ALEC, a behind the scenes organization that helps corporations provide state legislators with model legislation at meetings and conferences that the legislators take back to their states.
Recently, The Nation—in collaboration with the Center for Media and Democracy—did a series of investigative reports and developed a website called ALEC Exposed, which has a wealth of information about ALEC.
From John Nichols’s introduction to the ALEC Exposed reports in The Nation:
Founded in 1973 by Paul Weyrich and other conservative activists frustrated by recent electoral setbacks, ALEC is a critical arm of the right-wing network of policy shops that, with infusions of corporate cash, has evolved to shape American politics. Inspired by Milton Friedman’s call for conservatives to “develop alternatives to existing policies [and] keep them alive and available,” ALEC’s model legislation reflects long-term goals: downsizing government, removing regulations on corporations and making it harder to hold the economically and politically powerful to account. Corporate donors retain veto power over the language, which is developed by the secretive task forces. The task forces cover issues from education to health policy. ALEC’s priorities for the 2011 session included bills to privatize education, break unions, deregulate major industries, pass voter ID laws and more. In states across the country they succeeded, with stacks of new laws signed by GOP governors like Ohio’s John Kasich and Wisconsin’s Scott Walker, both ALEC alums.
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
A trooper with the Maine State Police clocked a red Pontiac doing 71 MPH in a 45 MPH zone. As the trooper was making a turn to pursue the Pontiac, a motorcycle passed him. After a brief pursuit the trooper lost sight of the Pontiac and arrived at a fork in the road. After proceeding a brief distance and not seeing the Pontiac, the trooper returned to the fork and saw the motorcycle, operated by Ronald A. LaPlante.
Continue reading “Information-Seeking Stop Was Unconstitutional”
From Honfleur, we were finally able to launch our much anticipated landings at Normandy. As a military history nut, this has been a dream of mine for many years. We started with two of the airborne landings on June 5th and then proceeded to Omaha beach.
Continue reading “The Turleys Land At Normandy: Pegasus Bridge”
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
Skylar Capo, an 11-year-old aspiring veterinarian in Fredericksburg Virginia, rescued a baby woodpecker from the jaws of the family cat in her Dad’s backyard. Her mother, Alison Capo, agreed to take the baby woodpecker home to make sure it was safe and uninjured. On the way home, they stopped by Lowe’s and took the caged bird inside to keep it out of the heat of their car.
Continue reading “Girl Saves Baby Woodpecker – Mom Gets Fined $535”
After leaving Mont St. Michel, we drove to Normandy and the incredible port city of Honfleur. As a history nut, I always wanted to visit Honfleur but I was not prepared for its beauty. We booked two nights at Le Cheval Blanc hotel right windows on two sides looking out over the small harbor and old section. The kids were immediately enchanted by the town.
Continue reading “Day 16: Honfleur”
Submitted By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
The wrath from the right has been scortching ever since VP Joe Biden commented that certain freshman tea party congressmen were acting “like terrorists” in negotiations to raise the debt ceiling. There was equally no love lost when John McClain commented that the tea party freshman were acting as “deceivers” and their ideas were “bizarro.”
Contributed by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger
My wife sent this video to me. It brought me tears and inspiration of hope for life and for humanity.I hope that it moves you as well.
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
Xiaotingia zhengi is the name of a 155 million-year-old fossil found in China and described in the latest issue of Nature. It’s a chicken-sized, feathered beast similar to Archaeopteryx. This new fossil provides us with a more detailed picture of bird evolution.
Most people approaching Mont Saint-Michel from miles away suddenly gasp when the massive monastery comes into view — perched on the top of a mountain in the middle of sandy flats. It is one of the world’s most beautiful and inspiring sights. Visiting Mont Saint-Michel easily surpassed all of my expectations — built up over many years. It is a testament to the creativity and brilliance of man. Everyone should put this on their bucket list for a visit.
Continue reading “Day 14: Mont Saint-Michel”
Submitted by Gene Howington, Guest Blogger
UPDATED: It is the position of the American Psychological Association that homosexuality is not a choice or a mental illness, but rather a normal variant of sexual orientation for a certain percentage of society. They came to this stand based upon scientific research that showed no connection between homosexuality and psychopathology. In addition to considering homosexuality a normally occurring human behavior, the APA does not support therapies to change sexual orientation and points out that there is no reliable science to suggest such therapies are effective. The APA also issued a resolution opposing discriminatory legislation and initiatives aimed at LGBT people.
In addition, geneticists have also found a link between genes and sexual orientation. While the ongoing studies have not been definitive is establishing genetics as the sole determining factor in human sexual orientation, they do indicate that both genes and environmental factors do play a role in determining sexual orientation. This comports with the research upon which the APA used to set their policies.
The stance of the country’s most recognized psychological professional association and the psychological, sociological and genetic research goes right to the heart of what’s going on in Anoka, Minnesota. Suicide, like sexual orientation, has environmental components influencing the behavior. Research has shown that ambient temperature and duration of sunlight are the dominant environmental influences on suicide, but that social cohesion, socioeconomic status, and social support are also important influences. The situation in Anoka involves students, teachers, school policies, religiously based politics and the suicides and attempted suicides of teenagers. It is not a pretty story.
Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger
The 2010 elections which gave the Republican Party the majority in the House of Representatives was seen as the elevation of a “Grassroots Movement”, composed of the spontaneously combusted wrath of ordinary citizens fed up with a bloated government. It was indeed a seminal moment for those people who disdained taxation, government handouts in entitlements, and the seeming waste of our tax dollars. The initial angry explosion was a reaction to the proposal and passage of the Health Care Bill. Rallies were organized, town hall meetings disrupted and a “hit list” of both Republican and Democratic members of Congress circulated.
The initial mainstream media reaction to this nascent movement was one of disdain, particularly because it was seen as an “out of the Beltway movement”, thus not to be taken seriously. However, this changed in a large part led by FOX News and copied by its “wannabe” CNN. Led by these Cable outlets, thirsting for sensation to fill their 24/7 news maws, all media began to follow suit, not wanting to be left behind. I find it interesting though that as late as April 22, 2010, Politico, hardly a left wing outlet, noted that unwarranted attention and media frenzy had begun, elevating the status of this purported movement: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0410/36185.html It is ironic that this article, while laying out the irrational amount of attention given to the Tea Party, at its end discounts the effect the movement would have on the election. Its authors certainly were not prescient.
Lost in the tumult of media exaggeration and sensationalism was the fact that this was not at all a grass roots movement of average Americans, but a crafty example of political manipulation laid out in tandem with the compliance of Rupert Murdoch’s news network’s assault upon all things they deem liberal. The prime mover in this is Richard “Dick” Armey, a former Texas Republican Congressman, House Majority Leader, and major senior lobbyist at a worldwide lobbying firm. Armey created the mythology of a grass roots movement, guided its progress, arranged, and then paid for its “spontaneous” events.
Continue reading “Tea Party and the Myth of a Grassroots Movement”
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
It appears that Americans for Prosperity, a group co-founded by the Koch Brothers, may be involved in voter shenanigans in Wisconsin. According to David Catanese at Politico, AFP “is sending absentee ballots to Democrats in at least two Wisconsin state Senate recall districts with instructions to return the paperwork after the election date.” Think Progress has reported that the AFP mailer isn’t actually a ballot but a “form letter that looks like a normal absentee ballot application.” The Absentee Ballot Processing Center that is printed on the last page of the AFP mailer is actually registered to a right-wing advocacy group called Wisconsin Family Action PAC—and not to an actual processing center or election board.
Eric Kleefeld of Talking Points Memo reported that an organization called Wisconsin Right to Life had previously used that same address (Absentee Ballot Application Processing Center, P.O. Box 1327, Madison WI 53701-1327) “for absentee ballot application letters and phone calls that were sent out shortly before the July 12 Democratic primaries, but after the official deadlines for the applications.”
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
Newt Gingrich has what appears to be an insurmountable lead over his Republican rivals in the number of followers on Twitter. Gingrich has an amazing 1,325,903 followers whereas Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann haven’t even cracked 100,000. Gingrich complained that the elite media are ignoring his Twitter army.
There’s just one problem, most of his prodigious following is fake.