Denver Police Go Chinese on Press, Arrest Reporter

(Hat tip to Sibby!)

Denver police arrested ABC producer Asa Eslocker yesterday as he and a camera crew gathered footage for a report on wealthy donors and the Democratic party. The Brown Palace Hotel, where Democratic Senators were meeting with top donors, called the cops to complain about those darn reporters outside, and the cops came thundering in to break up those dangerous First Amendment devotés.

Evidently in Denver, standing on a sidewalk taking pictures is "trespass, interference, and failure to follow a lawful order."



Push a reporter into the street, grab him by the throat... that's China, not America. The Denver police should be ashamed of themselves.

Free Speech Follies: No 'Bama at the Pump, No Protests at DNC

Free speech forever! Here are some morning notes on the First Amendment:

Gas Pump Ad Company Nixes Obama Ads: Senator Barack Obama was working on some campaign ads to place on gas pump TVs. (People, you're filling your car with an explosive substance. Not the best time to be watching TV.) The ad would have mentioned Obama's plans for giving folks a $1,000 energy rebate funded by a tax on Big Oil's profits (just one of numerous planks in his energy policy, right alongside that common sense stuff about properly inflating your tires and tuning your engine—but oh, that's personal responsibility, and Republicans hate that).

But Gas Station TV, the Michigan company working to bring us video distraction at the pump, has nixed bringing Obama's message to their "captive audiences." "We avoid politics in general," said CEO David Leider. Especially when those politics tell voters that Obama will look for ways to lower gas consumption... which of course would mean less time motorists would spend in front of Gas Station TV's ad portals.

Not a violation of the First Amendment, but a good example of how corporations control the message whenever they can.

Protests Penned in at Denver Convention: A little closer to a weakening of the First Amendment is U.S. District judge Marcia Krieger's ruling that the U.S. Secret Service and City of Denver can restrict protestors to fenced-in areas during the Democratic National Convention. The judge admits the government is infringing on free speech rights, but alas, security comes first.

Oh well. We weren't sending any bloggers who might protest anything in Denver anyway.

Nix Free Speech by Nixing Camping: Denver is also making free speech more expensive by forbidding visitors from camping in city parks. Some youthful activists had hoped to bring 50,000 protestors to the city to make their voices heard during the convention. They had hoped they could set up camp in the parks. Now the city says if they want to come to Denver, they have to get a room... and given that the convention has had the city overbooked for months, that means the activists would have to spring for rooms in Boulder, Colorado Springs, or other long drives away. Sometimes the powers that be don't have to slap a gag on anyone; they just raise the price of free speech so that only folks who can afford the Hilton have the chance to speak.