Thursday, May 20, 2010

Free Speech. Phoenix Suns ("los Suns"), Oil Spill, Euro Bailouts

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Free Speech. Phoenix Suns (”los Suns”), Oil Spill, Euro Bailouts

Published by Barry Dennis on May 18, 2010 in Opinions

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I was asked to Comment on the Phoenix Sun’s players putting Los Suns emblems on their uniforms to protest Arizona’s Illegal Immigration Law. Here is my response.

  I consider this as Protest Speech and as such an individual right, and a responsibility. That means to me that as a Citizen you exercise that right individually, outside of the audience that a corporate sponsorship provides. To me, using the visibility of a sports team is an unfair promotion of a perspective that takes advantage of the system, and certainly is not the majority view of the fans, and perhaps not the league owner’s either. 

   However, that individual’s right, as an individual, to call a Press Conference, make a poster and stand outside on the street, try to get personal interviews(but not wearing a Sun’s uniform for any of these “speeches”) is perfectly OK.

Speech is an INDIVIDUAL RIGHT AND RESPONSIBILITY. Any attempt to take advantage of stardom or notoriety is wrong. That the media collude in this is just another example of misunderstood reading of the Constitution. By giving more weight of publicity to this type of speech merely because of the fame of the person offering it, while not providing “balance” in the valuation of the importance, or lack thereof, in the content, media does a disservice to the Citizenry in general.

The Founders intended that individuals and groups have the personal right and responsibility to exercise free speech; in writing, in person, by post and otherwise. Nowhere does the Constitution provide for Corporate Free Speech that I can see. And, a corporation is an artificial “construct” of law, not even mentioned in the Constitution or Bill of Rights as a Citizen in relation to speech rights.

The Supremes were wrong in this regard.

My view  is that the Phoenix Suns players are wrong as well, and so is the team and the league for letting them. Again, with the strongest possible emphasis, Free Speech is an Individual Right and Responsibility. The Suns can and should speak individually, as Citizens; it is their right and responsibility. The second they put on a uniform to do so makes it wrong and unfair.

I might also note that the school administrator who used a girl’s sports team in a public school to make a personal political statement about Arizona’s Immigration Law was equally wrong and took advantage of her position to offer “speech’ in a way that should not be allowed.

Confusing speech rights with the advantage offered by fame and under the “color of authority” that an umbrella of corporate, governmental or institutional sponsorship may confer is just un-American…and un-Constitutional.

Image via Wikipedia

 

On the Oil spill and BP and the other players.

Boycotting BP; other punishments

There appears to be more than enough blame to go around.
From the MMS government agency, to the combination of factors, aka “perfect storm,” when things seemingly inconsequential in and of themselves cascade into a against-all-odds result.
While I absolutely believe that those responsible, even peripherally, should pay for direct and related costs, and damages if determined, as was the case with the Exxon Valdez in Alaska.
But boycotting? Not for me.
More stringent enforcement of regulations, perhaps loss of drilling rights for a period of time if such penalties were to be instituted, and other remedies to encourage more attention and “fail-safe” planning, to be sure.
But, the safety record of these companies in the Gulf seems pretty good, accidents do happen , no matter the planning.
We just need to be sure that proper safeguards are taken. We actually need more drilling, not less, for oil and gas.
We just need to provide the proper positive, and negative, incentives to be as careful and prudent as possible.On the Euro bailout and U.S. participation:Euro bail out proposalsThey have to help them out, and the U.S. is too. They only see the immediate consequences of cascading failure among the Euro countries. As for me, I would like an alternative that makes the marketplace the boss, and if some banks fail, that’s when the government nationalizes them, protects the depositors, wipes out the ownership of the errant managers and decision makes, and …wait for it…here it comes…after nationalization and new management, spins off the shares to the public, each and every citizen, who can them assist in raising capital. It’s interesting that is almost precisely how Japan handled Japan Postal, which handles almost all the savings accounts in the country, and is contemplating privatizing the postal service. Good for them. Euro countries and the U.S. should consider doing the same. Real free-markets work better when the Citizens are the primary investors. 

1 Comment

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