1st Amendment Suspended; BP Gulf Oil Spill Coverup Now Violates US Constitution And Bill of Rights

  Posted by - July 4, 2010 at 2:05 am - Permalink - Source via Alexander Higgins Blog
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The Federal Government has effectively suspended the 1st Amendment by issuing an order that bans all media access to spill, boom, cleanup sites and workers under threat of felony charges and a $40,000 fine.

While we have seen the media blackout evolve over the course of the disaster in the Gulf the latest ban is especially alarming.

With the issuance of the ban the coverup of the BP Gulf Oil Spill now directly violates the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and the alarming part is that they aren’t even hiding it.

In case you have forgotten, here is the text of the First Amendment of the US Constitution which is a part of the Bill of Rights.

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.

In other words, The First Amendment protects a fundamental right of the “We the People” by prohibiting the Government from infringing upon the freedom of the press.

It assures that Freedom of Speech is not violated by making sure that the media can operate without the interference from an overreaching Government.

Yet that is exactly what we are seeing here, interference by the Government on behalf of a corporation that is directly infringing upon the Freedom of Press.

The Government sponsored interference directly infringes upon the ability of the media to report on this catastrophe and to provide “We the People” with the necessary facts needed to protect us from an evermore corrupt Government that is beholden to the interests of Big Oil.

The interference by the Government first began by air with the issuance of a NO-FLY zone that infringes upon the Freedom of Press by making certain that the media can not report on the presence of oil or animals that have been trapped in harms way because of the spill.

The Government sponsored infringement on the Freedom Of Press has now has now been expanded from air to both land and sea with with the latest ban that prohibits media access to spill, boom, cleanup sites and workers.

Once again the much promised transparency from BP and the Government proves to be lip service surrounded by a cloud of secrecy.

The latest ban should not be surprising.

It is just the natural escalation of the entire chain of events during which BP and the Government have time and again told the American people one thing and have done another.

As long as we continue to sit idle it will continue to happen.

To steal a line from Rick Barry, “Your silence speaks volumes.”

Our women and children will get sick from going to beaches the Government tells us are safe.

A plague of cancer and other disease will be the result of inadequate seafood safety requirements that haven’t detected a single piece of contaminated seafood while scientist warn us that they are seeing evidence that the entire food chain is becoming contaminated.

The Government will continue to hide the true location of the oil which has now been confirmed in the Gulf Stream and up the entire East Coast of Florida whether the Government admits to it or not.

The Government will continue to assure the media and the public that clean up operations are underway that really aren’t while oil continues to assault the Gulf Coast and everyone know that there should be super tankers out there sucking up this mess.

The reason the our founding fathers gave us the basic rights of Freedom of Press and Freedom of Speech was to prevent such things from happening.

But don’t be alarmed as you watch those same rights which have been provided to you in Constitution disappear into a black cloud of smoke before your very eyes.

No, instead you can be rest assured that Big Brother has your best interests in mind not the interests of Big Oil.

You can trust Big Brother when he tells you being a slave to oil is just a necessary sacrifice you must make in order to enjoy the luxuries of the American lifestyle that we all cherish so much.

Or can you? Here’s the story. Judge for yourself.

Under threat of a federal felony, National Incident Commander Thad Allen HAS BANNED ALL MEDIA ACCESS to boom operation sites and clean up sites. Allen’s orders effectively bans all media – print, television, radio and Internet bloggers from talking to to any clean-up worker or to even come close to take pictures or videos of booms, clean-up workers, oil soaked birds, dead dolphins, dead marine life, burned and dead endangered sea turtles.

Allen has issued a blanket order that bans anyone from getting close to any spill clean up site, boom site, areas where there are clean up workers or any other oil disaster related area or persons effectively shutting down the first amendment rights of the media. The zone of exclusion is 65 feet. There was rumor that Coast Guard bosses wanted to impose a 300 feet exclusion zone but later relented to a 65 feet no trespass and exclusion zone.

CNN’S Anderson Cooper reveals the full media restriction issued by the Coast Guard

This is despite assurances from Thad Allen that there will be full transparency on all clean-up operations. Allen claims local officials were asking the Coast Guard to create a media-free buffer zone. However no media outlet — television, print, Internet or radio could find a single local official who requested the Coast Guard to ban media access to oil sludge sites on land or water. Since no local official requesting a no media zone can be found, it can only be assumed that the ban was requested by BP.

If there is any time that First Amendment lawyers are needed — Now is the time, the gulf is the place and the defendant is the federal government.

Personally, I couldn’t agree with that statement anymore considering that the Government is clearly lying about the location of the oil, the safety of seafood the safety of the Gulf beaches, and is misleading the public about a variety of things including lying about the cleanup efforts.

CNN’s ANDERSON COOPER REPORTING ON BP’S TRANSPARENCY OR LACK THEREOF

PART 1 BP’S LACK OF TRANSPARENCY

PART 2 BP’S LACK OF TRANSPARENCY

PART 3 BP’S LACK OF TRANSPARENCY

PART 4 BP’S LACK OF TRANSPARENCY

PART 5 BP’S LACK OF TRANSPARENCY

The Huffington Post article Oil Spill Media Access: ‘Down Here, Many Cops Do Literally Work For BP’ gives us even more insight to the 1984 Orwellian state that we have come to live in and becomes more apparent every day along the entire Gulf of Mexico.

It outlines the escalation of media blackouts along the Gulf Coast culminating in a story where a local reporter was ordered to stop filming because BP didn’t want any video taping by a local police officer.

The next day the media followed up on the story and found out that the police officer was off duty and working for BP in his full police uniform.

As you are hopefully well aware, BP has been doing its level best to interfere with reporters in the Gulf Coast region to keep them from reporting on what’s actually going on down there as clean-up efforts continue.

BP has been striving to keep reporters away from affected areas, put the kibosh on images of the destruction done to area wildlife, hassle local reporters and run off area activists. It has also gone as far as dispatching its own PR staff to masquerade as journalists and report the happy side of this epic disaster. Yes, National Incident Commander Thad Allen has ordered BP to stop preventing media access. Yes, media professionals are still seeking help from the administration to curb BP’s clampdown.

As I’ve noted before, Mother Jones reporter Mac McClelland has been battling the opposition like she was Melanie Laurent in “Inglourious Basterds”. Last week, she reported on how Drew Wheelan of the American Birding Association was hassled, questioned, and later, tailed by police officers who seemed to be taking orders from BP. Today, following up on that story, McClelland reports that this is exactly what’s happening.

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Louisiana police don’t have any right to tell you you can’t walk onto a public beach (even to, as Esman puts it, “roll around in sticky gunky tar that I’ll never be able to get off–if I want to, that’s my right”). However, they do have the right to mislead you about who they’re really working for. In Louisiana, as in many places, it’s legal for police officers to wear their uniforms regardless of whether they’re acting in an official capacity or working for a private corporation. Which is why Andrew Wheelan, the environmentalist mentioned above, was unaware that the cop who pressured him to stop filming a BP building and later pulled him over so that a BP official could question him wasn’t on duty at the time. The Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office told me that the deputy who pulled Wheelan over is just one of 40 in the parish who are working for BP on their own time. And the BP-police collusion goes beyond uniformed deputies moonlighting. In nearby Lafourche Parish, for example, the sheriff’s office is filling 57 security positions a week for BP; the shifts are on the clock, and BP reimburses the sheriff’s office for them.

McClelland’s bottom line: “…there you have it, plain as day: Down here, many cops do literally work for BP.”

Update: July 4th, 2010 2:19 AM

Government Ignores Public Outcry; Will Expand Restriction Zone

WKRG is now reporting that the Federal Government plan on expanding the restriction zone to include all booming operations and oil spill response efforts and will expanded to cover Mississippi, Alabama and Florida over the next few days.

The Coast Guard plans to expand recently announced “safety zones,” restricting public and media access to oil spill response efforts from Louisiana to Florida.

In a press release sent late Thursday afternoon, the U.S. Coast Guard announced a 65 foot “safety zone” around Deepwater Horizon booming operations and oil spill response efforts.

The restriction currently applies only to Southeast Louisiana, but a spokesperson at the Joint Information Center in Mobile said the restricted area would likely be expanded into Mississippi, Alabama and Florida in the next few days.

Coast Guard Captain Edward Stanton of the Port of New Orleans questioned News Five’s interest in the story on Friday saying, “I’m curious as to why people in Mobile are concerned about a safety zone in Louisiana.”

Stanton, who insists the safety-zone is not meant to “restrict legitimate use of the waterway,” said most anything would be visible from 65 feet away. “The fact is we’re not attempting to keep anyone from seeing anything,” said Stanton.

Critics of the new restriction argue the safety zone could prevent the media from taking up-close pictures of oiled wildlife and failed booming operations.

Media and private vessels wishing to travel in areas of Southeast Louisiana must now get permission from the Coast Guard Captain of the Port of New Orleans.

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