Posted on 08/06/2010 9:21:06 AM PDT by Mobile Vulgus
Well, folks, this is bound to happen more and more as time rolls onward in this New Media world of ours. A blogger is in trouble with local Ohio officials who are trying to Shut him down using a badly applied campaign finance law all because he has been critical of county officials on his blog. That's right, a county board is trying to silence the free political speech of a local Ohio blogger because he is critical of them.
The Geauga County Board of Elections has filed charges against the owner of the Geauga Constitutional Council blog, independent blogger Ed Corsi. The Board claims that Corsi's pseudonymously published blog violates O.R.C. 3517.20(A)(2), a code meant to assure that political campaign publications, signs, and handouts have their source transparently identified.
The reason the Board is going after Corsi is because he publishes on his blog critical assessments and lists of local officials that he calls "R.I.N.O.S." Board officials feel that because he does not affix his name to his blog posts he is violating the transparency rules.
However, Corsi is just an independent blogger and is not a paid operative of any party or campaign and all his blogging expenses are paid for with his own funds. The 1851 Center for Constitutional Law and the Rutherford Institute, non-profit legal advocacy firms, filed arguments with the OEC on behalf of Corsi saying that the Board of Elections overreached the application of the law in this case....
Read the rest at Publiusforum.com...
It's only there to protect pornography!
And titty dancers, and flag burners! What kind of moron would ever think our founding fathers would have wanted political criticism protected?
Hey Yoda, there have been remedies against slander since the beginning of the Republic. You will note though that the local officials didn't go after the blogger for slander, probably because the truth is an absolute defense to a slander claim.
What is needed is a Yoda. Sorry there is no such person on earth.
Do you believe we are doing wise things in America?
We argue about the trifles and “swallow the camel”. MO
__________________________________________________________
“Matthew 23:24 (King James Version)
24.
Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.”
___________________________________________________________
God help us in our day, in Jesus name, amen
Dude, the First Amendment doesn't have a THING to do with political speech. It's only there to protect pornography!LOL. Seems like it, right!?
Ohio Ping
FREE SPEECH ISNT FREE ACCORDING TO WISCONSIN
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2566195/posts?page=1
Below is a COPY & PASTE of the entire article-LVD
Well, folks, this is bound to happen more and more as time rolls onward in this New Media world of ours. A blogger is in trouble with local Ohio officials who are trying to Shut him down using a badly applied campaign finance law all because he has been critical of county officials on his blog. Thats right, a county board is trying to silence the free political speech of a local Ohio blogger because he is critical of them.
The Geauga County Board of Elections has filed charges against the owner of the Geauga Constitutional Council blog, independent blogger Ed Corsi. The Board claims that Corsis pseudonymously published blog violates O.R.C. 3517.20(A)(2), a code meant to assure that political campaign publications, signs, and handouts have their source transparently identified.
The reason the Board is going after Corsi is because he publishes on his blog critical assessments and lists of local officials that he calls R.I.N.O.S. Board officials feel that because he does not affix his name to his blog posts he is violating the transparency rules.
However, Corsi is just an independent blogger and is not a paid operative of any party or campaign and all his blogging expenses are paid for with his own funds. The 1851 Center for Constitutional Law and the Rutherford Institute, non-profit legal advocacy firms, filed arguments with the OEC on behalf of Corsi saying that the Board of Elections overreached the application of the law in this case.
This case has the potential to severally limit free speech in Ohio, said 1851 Center Executive Director Maurice Thompson. Should independent bloggers in Ohio be subject to registration, political disclosure laws, and fines simply because they discuss Ohio politics, and are critical of certain politicians? The Constitution says otherwise.
When applied to Corsis activities, the law violates the First Amendment right to anonymous political speech, said Thompson. It places an impermissible prior restraint on core political speech. And, it applies an overbroad regulation and/or prohibition on political speech that is not express advocacy.
Clearly the Board is reaching in this case. This code is meant to make sure that politicians dont get the unrevealed assistance of secret financial backers in elections and is not meant to quash the free speech of lone citizens like Corsi that have a blog and want to spout off about local politics.
But as time moves on we will begin to see more of this sort of stuff all across the country as government officials everywhere eye ways to shut down bloggers that are critical of them putting First Amendment rights are at risk.
It should be pointed out that political speech was the very sort of free speech that the founders of this country were talking about when they crafted the First Amendment. The founders did not envision that people could just say any old thing they wanted on any subject, but they did mean to make sure that citizens of this county could indulge any political speech they wanted. That is what was meant by free speech.
You see, in the founders terms speech was traditionally that of the English Parliament, not the people. So when the founders created the free speech clause they meant to safeguard the free political speech of the nation. It was only later that free speech began to be applied to all other arenas of public life.
Anyway, another one of the reasons we will see these sort of legal challenges mount is because the law is nearly silent about bloggers. The phenomenon is so new that the law has not caught up with it. There are very, very few cases and precedents set for the law to have determined what a blogger is and how he fits into the legal scheme of things. So, as governments try out their iron-jack-booted power to quash bloggers, the law has to catch up to the whole concept of blogging and free political speech on the Internet.
Look for more of these sorts of cases, folks. And dont ignore them because they will eventually come to govern what we do here! It is just another potential lost freedom if we dont pay attention.
I always thought Geauga sounded like someone tossing his cookies.
They write the law vaguely, in order to be able to cast a wide net.
The time is here. All the old laws are falling away. The idea of a thing being black or white, right or wrong, good and bad are gone.
All that is left is the vagueness of their law, selectively applied under fascism.
The time is here to choose. Are we “sunshine patriots?”
All that stands between the original Constitution meaning and the leftist "living, breathing, document" now is one conservative SC justice.
Ultimately, these vague laws limiting real freedom would be stricken down in a sane world.....
.....We are one SC Justice away from insanity.
The County was named for the Indian (**possibly Iroquois?) word meaning “raccoon”.
GOP_Lady, can you assist with **this?
Geauga is racoon. What Native American language though, i do not know.
Geauga is raccoon. What Native American language though, i do not know.
It's only there to protect pornography!
You've got it backwards. If it protects pr0n, then it certainly protects political speech. But if it doesn't protect porn, then political speech is next.
I never even heard of this county before did they just move in a bunch of liberals from california and create a county ?
I did a wiki look ....
Geauga County (pronounced /dʒiˈɑːɡə/ jee-AH-gə) is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States. As of 2000, the population was 90,895. It is named for a Native American word meaning "raccoon". The county seat is Chardon[2].[3] In 2008, Forbes Magazine ranked Geauga County as the fourth best place in America to raise a family.[4]
Thats just to funny i don't care who you are Raccoon BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I envision the county seat with a bunch of black masks on chewing on sushi and trying to climb trees to get away from the dogs .....Bwahahahahaha
That's funny..!
I never heard of Geauga county either until I moved from Pittsburgh to the Cleveland area at the beginning of my engineering career, (CLE had more engineering opportunities).
I did not find out Geauga was a native American word for Raccoon until the mid 80's. Guess back in the 1700's raccoons were tasty critters when roasted over the open fire..?
But Geauga county does produce the best maple syrup I have ever tasted, so there is some sweetness associated with "Geauga".
Hmmm... maple flavored raccoon, hmmmmm, yummy! < /humor >
One fact that some don't know, with the raccoon being a nocturnal animal, we usually see them late evening or early morning, but if you see them in the day, stay away!! They could be very ill or possibly even rabid and they can exhibit aggressive behavior toward humans. You should call the local game warden and they will trap the animal and test them. If they are not ill they will be released back into the wild ..
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