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Wednesday, August 18, 2004

OK, Mr. Bloomberg, One More Time
Posted by Jill | 8:28 PM
=deep breath=

OK, Mayor Bloomberg, are you ready? Let's go through this one more time:

AMENDMENT I. 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


What part of "the RIGHT of the people peaceably to assemble" doesn't the mayor understand?

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, already under fire for his tough stance against anti-GOP protest groups, yesterday suggested that First Amendment rights of free speech and free assembly are "privileges" that could be lost if abused.

Bloomberg, speaking to Republican National Convention volunteers in Manhattan, was trying to downplay concerns that protesters will disrupt this month's convention - when he began articulating a broader constitutional vision.

"People who avail themselves of the opportunity to express themselves ... they will not abuse that privilege," he said at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. "Because if we start to abuse our privileges, then we lose them, and nobody wants that."


Excuse me, but there is a difference between a right and a privilege. A right is something intrinsic, a privilege is something bestowed. The RIGHT to protest is made perfectly clear in the United States Constitution, which however tattered and torn it is after three and a half years of the Bush Administration, is still the law of the land. It is NOT a "privilege" to be bestowed on us by Mayor Bloomberg or anyone else.

Are there responsibilities that go with rights? Absolutely. Yes, protesters have the RESPONSIBILITY to not shoot themselves in the foot by inciting or committing violence. But we have the ABSOLUTELY RIGHT to be heard, and be heard we will.
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