Johnson City, TN -- call to action

[dolfan]

The mall in Johnson City, TN has terminated the lease of one Dan Fuchs, a father of 3 Iraq War vets, for selling anti-Obama bumper stickers and merchandise in a novelty kiosk he ran in the mall. The mall administration had told him of complaints and had asked him to offer more pro-Obama merchandise. He had pro-Obama merchandise in his inventory, but the mall was not satisfied with his "balance". He did a local TV news interview after which the mall terminated his lease.

Now folks, this is the very kind of thing I've been harping on. Malls are like courthouse steps in one sense --- they are public fora. Malls are private, though, in that they can pretty much rent to whom they will. Fine. If you live in or near Johnson City, TN, you can exercise your rights of speech by (a) complaining loudly and long to the mall administration; (b) call each retailer in that mall and tell them that you plan not to shop that location until the fellow's lease is reinstated and that the mall form a policy that it won't base tenancy on political expression or political merchandise; (c) contact the City Council for Johnson City, TN and pressure them to pass a zoning ordinance that forbids conditioning lease terms on political expression or merchandise.

This is a war, as I've said before. Now, it has exploded into the private arena by commercial landlords censoring private expression. There is only one way to prevail, and that is to take no prisoners and to tolerate no strong arm techniques that would cut off political expression. Personally, I think the means of achieving that will require a civil war of sorts, that we've gone over the brink of civility and debate due to the sheer magnitude of government intrusion into private life. However, this is a line you can draw peacefully against another private actor. Please do it if you live or shop near Johnson City, TN.

[MacUser]

we've gone over the brink of civility and debate due to the sheer magnitude of government intrusion into private life.

Apparently another Racist against our President?

Seriously.. Obama was clear that he would track these guys down and deal with them individually.

Remember.. when even Bill Clinton called him a "Chicago THUG"?

How is that Hope and Change working out for everyone?