Amendment I (United States Constitution)
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
In 1644 John Milton argued against government censorship of ideas. He theorized that if ideas were given free and uninhibited license, then people would be smart enough to tell the good from the bad.
Since BP shares the same homeland as John Milton, that may be why they have strong-armed the United States government into sanctioning censorship of their Gulf Coast oil spill. If the truth were allowed to be shown, people might be moved into action. Action that would hurt BP, and ultimately hurt our politicians in power.
If you have not heard the background on the new censorship mandate issued by the Coast Guard, then read the article from Raw Story, or watch the video clip below of Anderson Cooper on CNN. Basically the Coast Guard, with the blessing of Thad Allen, issued a new edict that no one could be within 65 feet of oil booms or any other oil operations throughout the Gulf Coast. So instead of the “uninhibited access” that Admiral Allen claimed to support in an ABC interview, our government now intends on restricting media access to the point of irrelevance. As Anderson Cooper states on his show, which aired on the ironic date of July 4th, the media have effectively been eliminated from covering the true impact of BP’s oil spill.
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And what is the punishment of violating the Coast Guard’s edict? It’s a felony so you could serve five years in prison and/or pay $40,000 in fines. Wow!
So where did our government get the authority to eliminate free speech? How can they restrict the airspace over BP’s oil spill? Who is our government actually working for?
I think the answer is obvious. Here in America, July 4th, 2010, we can officially state that our government has been infiltrated and overtaken by a foreign occupying force: BP. How else can you explain the willingness of our Commander-in-Chief to roll over and strip U.S. citizens of their First Amendment rights?
Thomas Jefferson insisted on including a list of guaranteed rights that would be inalienable for every citizen of the United States. The very first is quoted at the top of this page. Do you think that the residents of the Gulf Coast are being granted those rights? What about the rest of the “small people” that BP would like to crush? What about our rights?
We need to act. People need to pool resources and come together in a common force. We need to give economic viability and freedom to our fellow citizens in the Gulf Coast. We need to demand substantial and truly fair reparations from BP for the damages caused by their oil spill. And we need to vote the rascals out. Our politicians are showing their true colors. We need to vanquish their ability to damage our country by using the only weapon in our arsenal – our vote. We may be “small” BP, but together we can take out your friends in Washington.
Coast Guard bans reporters from oil cleanup sites | Raw Story.
