Some People Are Free to Speak, Others Should Not Be?

This is another in a series of blogposts where I state at the outset:

Talk Wisdom reports...you decide.

FINALLY a journalist is discussing the fact that the Larry Sinclair National Press Club News Conference" that was held on Thursday, June 18th 2008 was, for the most part, ignored and not reported by the MSM.

There is a lot of suspicion surrounding the attempt to block Larry Sinclair's National Press Club Conference. The deafening silence of the MSM after the fact is quite disturbing. I sincerely hope that the reason for the MSM silence is because there is a gathering of evidence going on behind the scenes in order to fact check Sinclair's allegations.

I have questions.

If this were about John McCain, what do you think that the liberal media would have done with it?

If the man's allegations are false, then why would anyone want to hush it up? Prove that they are false!!

Back in 2004, the MSM ran with the FALSE allegations against President Bush re: the National Guard fiasco. They didn't bother to check the facts or to see if the allegations were REALLY true before they broad casted it all over the news wires.

Why?

Because the MSM hates Bush! Always has, and probably always will.

Now, we have the "darling" of the MSM in Barack Obama. No matter WHAT the man has done in the past, no matter WHICH questionable and downright awful characters that he has had associations with, no matter HOW much he flip flops on issues, he's treated with kid gloves!

What's even more disturbing is that no matter HOW MANY inquiring minds there are that think that it is so odd that questions about the murder of Donald Young and two other members of Obama's former church are being asked and not answered - WHY does the MSM turn a blind eye to it all?

If this happened at John McCain's church, what do you think that the media would do with it?

Look at the hatred and angst spewed by the MSM at McCain just because John Hagee - a pastor that simply endorsed him, (but was not his personal mentor or pastor like Rev. Wright was to Obama) - said something (that was misconstrued as anti-Semitic, btw) that got the leftists and MSM all up in arms? Did you notice how far the vetting of that situation went?

Ask yourself these questions.

1. Isn't it strange that Obama didn't bother to attend Donald Young's funeral? Supposedly, they had been "friends" for 15 years!!

2. Isn't it odd that a paltry $1,000.00 reward for the killer of Donald was offered by the Trinity Church? Yet, Rev. Wrong, who has a multi-million dollar mansion plus a bank account that could feed hundreds of thousands of starving children around the world can only put up that cheap $1000.00 "reward" for the capture of the killer?

3. Doesn't sound to me like they really want the perpetrator captured...does it?

4. Does it even sound like they want the investigation carried forward?

I'm just asking questions...

Something is TERRIBLY WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE PEOPLE!!

I'm not afraid to speak out about it - either.

Here are links to what happened at the News Conference. There is a transcript link and a video link. I suggest that you watch the video - then make your own decision regarding Sinclair's allegations.

BTW, the Youtube video out there eliminates some of the most important parts of the conference. The link I have shared here is the complete conference video.

Transcript of the Conference at Citizen Wells

Press Conference Video

Now, on to the article:

Is 1st Amendment on life support?

This article and subject matter is far to important to ignore. Here's a copy of the entire article:

Commentary by Sylvia A. Smith
Washington editor
WASHINGTON – After a week of relentless e-mails and phone calls from people who were outraged at the prospect of a guy scheduling a press conference to make allegations about Barack Obama, I’m not sure extreme CPR could resuscitate the idea of free speech in some Americans’ minds.

The message they sent was that the guy is a crackpot and a felon and therefore should be prevented from speaking.

Let me fill you in on what happened.

As you might know, I’m the president of the National Press Club this year. The Press Club is a major venue for newsmaking in Washington. We invite lots of interesting, provocative and newsy people to speak here.

But we also rent our meeting rooms to people and groups. They might have a private event (a wedding reception or a conference limited to their own members). Or they might rent space to conduct a press conference.

When that happens, the NPC functions essentially as a conference center.

A couple of weeks ago, one of our meeting rooms was reserved by a customer for a press conference. As it turned out, Larry Sinclair wanted to say he had done illegal things with Obama.

There’s lots of stuff going on in Washington that competes for journalists’ time and attention. The likelihood of much media coverage for this fellow was pretty low because of the outlandishness of his claims and (if anyone had done a Google search on him) his dicey background.

But then a few blogs got wind of the event. They huffed and they puffed that Obama was being unfairly attacked. They detailed Sinclair’s allegations. They stoked their readers to try to force the National Press Club to silence him.

The messages were along the lines of: “How can you allow a criminal to speak?” “Please deny Mr. Larry Sinclair the opportunity to lie to the public.” “Can anyone just buy media coverage?”

Hundreds of phone calls and e-mails poured in to my NPC office from people who saw Sinclair’s rental agreement as evidence that the national media condoned his allegations.

Had Sinclair paid a PR firm $150,000, he wouldn’t have gotten nearly this much attention.

“It’s dumbfounding,” one caller said about the idea that the NPC would allow someone “to make an outlandish statement.”

I don’t for a minute think the people who called shouldn’t have. But I was astounded at the conviction the callers expressed that someone who has something nasty to say should be silenced.

The First Amendment was created to prevent the government from butting into Americans’ ability to have an uninhibited, robust and wide-open debate about the nooks and crannies of society. It doesn’t give individual people the right to say anything about anybody. There are laws against slander, after all. But the underlying notion is that people can speak their minds and that sunshine is the best disinfectant.

When the press conference rolled around, legitimate news outlets – the mainstream media – were extremely circumspect in their coverage of Sinclair and his allegations. Articles in the Washington Post? New York Times? Associated Press? L.A. Times? Not a word the day of or after the event.

Not so the advocacy blogs. Sinclair’s accusations were listed by blogger after blogger, who went on to decry that those accusations were “allowed” to be voiced.

The day after the press conference, I got a call from a woman who scolded the National Press Club for permitting an “obviously mentally ill person” to speak. “For you folks to support this and have the videotape shown everywhere – I’m incredulous.”

The videotape was posted on blogs not associated with media outlets.

And therein lies the difference between most journalists and some bloggers: Professional journalists don’t print or air startling allegations without first investigating their credibility.

This is not meant to be a slap-down of blogs. There are plenty of bloggers who research and think before they post. And bloggers who just want to opine have a role in our national conversation.

My point is that the very thing the people who advocated blocking Sinclair’s press conference said they feared – widespread media coverage – simply didn’t happen because no credible news outlet would publish those kinds of allegations without first verifying them.

The underlying message I got from the callers and e-mailers was that the First Amendment and free speech are an impediment to the way they think things ought to be. Or that while some people are free to speak, others should not be.

That way of thinking is a lot scarier than allegations from Larry Sinclair.

Sylvia A. Smith has worked at The Journal Gazette since 1973 and has covered Washington since 1989. She is the only Washington-based reporter who exclusively covers northeast Indiana. Her e-mail address is sylviasmith@jg.net. Her phone number is 202-879-6710.
Copyright © 2008 The Journal Gazette. All rights reserved. News service copy is used with permission. The information contained in the report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Journal Gazette or granting news service.


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Again I ask - Is anyone else out there highly concerned about this??? Why so silent, people???

HT's: Citizen Wells
American Free Press.net
Journal Gazette.net

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More evidence of Obama's real feelings vs. the fake, plastic ones being manufactured and spun out through his campaign!

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Oh and...don't believe all of the political polls out there. Look at how Newsweek's was fixed!

Yahoo! Hypes Newsweek Poll With 15-Point Obama Lead

The Newsweek poll questioned more Democrats than Republicans: 231 Republicans to 324 Democrats, plus 307 independents. How convenient.