December 4, 2003
The Washington Times: Your source for news the that... umm...was reported yesterday in that other Washington paper...
The Washington Times article referenced by the previous post includes the following paragraph:
Change the Climate Inc. has been using public service advertising space on the Metro since 2001, the Washington Post reported Wednesday, but it was the latest round of advertising, this fall that drew the ire of Rep. Ernest J. Istook Jr., R-Okla.I hope it really chafes the Moonie Press' collective ass to have to cite yesterday's Washington Post article, especially when they were scooped on a story about Republicans angry at stupid things.
Particularly interesting about this story is that Metro had originally refused to run the ad, but caved in when they were threatened with an ACLU-supported lawsuit. Boston's decision not to run the same ads resulted in a lawsuit that continues today, three years after it began.
Istook has inserted an omnibus bill language that would cut the funds Metro received from the federal government by $92,500 (twice the amount the space was worth). Which Istook said would serve "as a warning to other transit agencies." This douche bag Istook is clearly playing into the hands of Change the Climate (CTC), by essentially demanding that the ads be removed. Were WMATA to do so CTC would undoubtedly bring an ACLU-supported lawsuit against the authority.
As Jim Graham, chairman of the Metro board, puts it, "The congressman would rather have us slug this out in court... The expense that's going to be involved is considerable. And this group would like nothing more than to sue. It's better publicity than advertising."
CTC's founder, Joseph White summarized the situation thusly:
"Yes, we wanted to stimulate debate, but we didn't think a nutcase congressman would try to eliminate free speech. If they don't like what we're doing, they ought to read the Constitution and get a life."
And yes this post was just an excuse to post the ad in question.
Posted by cs at December 4, 2003 2:52 PM
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