Free Speech
Now that Fahrenheit 911 has broken virtually every conceivable record for a documentary in the first week of its premiere (when taking the massive assault against free speech by Democracy’s opponents and their effect on the number of theatres this movie is actually playing in into question), it might be a good idea for his supporters and detractors to put his self-expression into a—dare I say it?—historical context (as quoted by Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed of WAR ON FRREDOM):
“Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies and debts and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few...”
James Madison, “The Most Dreaded
Enemy of Liberty” (1793)
“Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither.”
Benjamin Franklin, Historical Record
of Pennsylvania (1759)
“In a very real and terrifying sense, our government is the CIA and the Pentagon, with Congress reduced to a debating society... I’ve come to realize that in Washington, deceiving and manipulating the public are viewed by some as the prerogatives of office...Huey Long once said, ‘Fascism will come to America in the name of anti-fascism.’ I’m afraid, based on my own long experience, that fascism will come to America in the name of national security.”
E.C. “Jim” Garrison, District Attorney,
New Orleans (1967)
And for dessert:
“Facts are stupid things.”
Ronald Wilson Reagan (c.1983)
How ‘bout we all stop pressing the snooze bar of history and wake up—and talk about the content of this movie, instead of debating the obvious: whether or not Michael Moore did a public service by making it. And let’s do it quick, before our trustworthy corporate media gives us something really important to talk about, like the results of Michael Jackson’s next nose job.
Earl Hazell
Lexington, KY
Note: Fahrenheit 9/11 has been playing without incident or protest at the Kentucky Theatre—though Moore generated a considerable media blitz in suggesting that the movie was being strongarmed out of theatres by the right wing (when, in fairness, documentaries typically play in limited release—or in platform release, where they expand from major markets to smaller ones, if successful). Reviews are mixed, on the left and the right.; there’s no consensus as to whether or not it actually even IS a documentary. But it is generating discussion…And it did trounce White Chicks at the box office.
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Ssssmokin Anniversary
Bluegrass Action will hold a news conference at 11am, Thursday, July 1, in the Government Center lobby, 200 East Main St., to discuss Lexington’s smoke-free ordinance and mark the first anniversary of its passage by the Urban County Council.
Change of Venue
Lexington’s Farmers’ Market will be displaced from its usual Vine Street home this Saturday, July 3 and temporarily relocated to its Tuesday/Thursday location at Maxwell and Broadway, at the top of the hill, near the Rupp parking lots.
Holiday Traffic Notes
Upper St. will be closed between Main and Vine streets from 7pm Friday, July 2, thru July 4; Third St. will be closed between Upper and Mill streets, and Mill and Market streets will be closed between Second and Third streets, from 7 to 11pm. Friday, July 2, for the Patriotic Music Concert, which starts at 8pm.
Downtown traffic patterns on Saturday, July 3, the day Lexington will holds its annual street festival are as follows:
Downtown sections of Main, Short, Second, Vine, Lime, Rose, Midland, Upper, Church, Mill and MLKing will be closed from 4:30am to noon on Saturday, July 3;
Richmond Rd. will be closed between Ashland Ave. and St. Ann from 7 to 11am;
Main St. will be closed between Rose and Broadway between 4:30am and noon;
Rose St. will be closed between High and Second streets from 7-11am and from 2 to 5pm;
Midland Ave. will be closed from Third to Main streets from noon to 4pm;
Water St. will be closed between Rose and Limestone streets from 5am to 11pm
Main St. will be closed between Midland and Broadway from 1:30 to 5pm;
Broadway will be closed from High to Main streets from 11am to 6pm
Eastbound Main St. will be closed from Jefferson to Vine St. from 11am to 6pm;
Vine St. will be closed between Rose St. and Broadway from 6am to 9pm;
Broadway will be closed between Short and High streets from 11am to 4pm;
Jefferson St. will be closed between High and Main streets from 9 to 11pm;
And Cox St. will be closed between Main St. and Old Frankfort Pike from 9 to 11pm.
What’s Mine Is Yours
Approximately 800 people gathered downtown Wednesday in support of health benefits for mine workers.
Protesters marched in front of the Community Trust Building, which was holding a bankruptcy hearing for Horizon Natural Resources of Ashland, Kentucky
To submit an advocacy/activism activity or event for Quickies, email rkirkland@aceweekly.com, or editor@aceweekly.com.
To submit an advocacy/activism activity or event for Quickies, email rkirkland@aceweekly.com, or editor@aceweekly.com.