Free Speech? Not around the oil spill

[whitedeath Profile]

First Amendment suspended in the Gulf of Mexico as spill cover-up goes Orwellian

As CNN is now reporting, the U.S. government has issued a new rule that would make it a felony crime for any journalist, reporter, blogger or photographer to approach any oil cleanup operation, equipment or vessel in the Gulf of Mexico. Anyone caught is subject to arrest, a $40,000 fine and prosecution for a federal felony crime.


http://www.naturalnews.com/029130_Gulf_of_Mexico_censorship.html
CNN reporter Anderson Cooper says,

"A new law passed today, and back by the force of law and the threat of fines and felony charges, ... will prevent reporters and photographers from getting anywhere close to booms and oil-soaked wildlife just about any place we need to be. By now you're probably familiar with cleanup crews stiff-arming the media, private security blocking cameras, ordinary workers clamming up, some not even saying who they're working for because they're afraid of losing their jobs."

[Anuki Profile]

Obama: Oil Skimmers Can't Be Sent To Gulf Because They May Be Needed Elsewhere
WTF??

[youtube]<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/sN6ylteqK1Q&amp;hl=nl_NL&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sN6ylteqK1Q&amp;hl=nl_NL&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>[/youtube]

[Svaha Profile Website]

Great, the land of the free is not capable of handling the beam in the own eye, I wonder what the 4 th of juli is about.

[E6722maj Profile]

that stinks

[Heinousone Profile]

Actually the large Taiwanese mega skimmer arrived in the Gulf. So it would seem some are being allowed to help out finally.

[Fairymama Profile]

This makes me so angry. We need the mindset of the '60's and '70's to come back. We need reporters to be thrown in jail for reporting the news and then we need the media to cover that story. It has never been more clear that corporations own the government.
I hate the tea party but we need a movement similar to that, so that people will take to the streets, we all need to join together and bring the destruction of the planet to the forefront. Mines and damns and deep sea drilling, oil giants and corporate America need to go down in flames. We can't wait for 2012, the time is now.

[Illuminated Profile]

that you tube vid is very angering

from another bp thread:

'BP is caught lying by CNN on Corexit Dispersent use after EPA demands 75% reduction.

Incessant Tomfoolery and ongoing outrage.

Clearly they do not give a rats ass about the possible short and long term effects as long as they keep the oil under the surface of the water'

vid: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=dc1_1278131711

[whitedeath Profile]

Damn, just watched that vid. 9% drop as they claim 68%.. mother fuckers is there anyone with relatives/friends in the area who see first hand how bad things are becoming?

[Bane9907 Profile Website]

more of the same:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/06/bp-media-clampdown-journa_n_636317.html

A month ago, National Incident Commander Thad Allen issued an order granting the media "uninhibited access" to the areas affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. It was routinely and often brazenly ignored.

Thirty days later, it should be said that the order essentially has no real-world meaning at all. Here's Daniel Tencer at Raw Story:

Journalists who come too close to oil spill clean-up efforts without permission could find themselves facing a $40,000 fine and even one to five years in prison under a new rule instituted by the Coast Guard late last week.


It's a move that outraged observers have decried as an attack on First Amendment rights. And CNN's Anderson Cooper describes the new rules as making it "very easy to hide incompetence or failure."

The Coast Guard order states that "vessels must not come within 20 meters [65 feet] of booming operations, boom, or oil spill response operations under penalty of law."

But since "oil spill response operations" apparently covers much of the clean-up effort on the beaches, CNN's Anderson Cooper describes the rule as banning reporters from "anywhere we need to be."

Apparently, a "willful violation" is a Class D felony, "which carr[ies] a penalty of one to five years in prison under federal law." It sort of sounds to me like "doing the standard work of a reporter" is the sort of thing that could end up being considered a "willful violation."

Naturally, I imagine this doesn't apply to BP's own fake reporters, or their fake reporting.
Story continues below

Hat tip to Glenn Greenwald, who has much more. I'd also recommend you read Huffington Post blogger Georgiane Nienaber's recent contributions: she is one of those would-be "willful violators" of the new rule, and she tells the incredibly true story of how the Coast Guard's media liaison happens to work for the same PR company that represents BP.

Its crazy that even mainstream sites like huffpost are reporting about this and CNN, yet the people still sleep.

[whitedeath Profile]

Yep, but thinking about it . It's not that strange a step for them to take. First they start turning terms like Truthers / Free thinkers into Terrorists/criminals. Now this?
I'm not saying every paranoid thought about governments are true, but people are judged on their actions ... Obama & his government should be judged on this