Wow! I bet that nasty governor the good people of the State of Tennessee so ignorantly elected is stewing in his ant-1st amendement juices right now!!!! It's good to know that despite all the awful politicians that Tennessee has chosen for itself that their are some sane judges who know the constitution and aren't afraid to administer it!!

Score one for the OWS - ONV movement, one of the people.

Not only has our Governor Bill Haslam had these protestors arrested but has pushed his agenda of suppressing the Constitutional Rights of Tennesseans throughout his brief tenure in office from shooting down Nashville's anti-discrimination laws to creating the bill banning the use of the word "gay" in public schools. He's railroading civil liberties to the extent of making it illegal to upload a "potentially offensive image" to the internet this year. I addressed our Governor's antics with a visual commentary of him and his wife on my artist's blog at http://dregstudiosart.bl...e-portrait-governor.html Drop by and let me know how you feel about our rights being infringed upon.

Thanks Brad for your ongoing coverage of the "Occupy" movement, and the elite's efforts to suppress it. It is heartening news indeed that a local judge and federal judge have finally spoken out against these clearly unconstitutional efforts to suppress our rights.

The police are sworn to uphold the law, which includes the supreme law of the land, our federal Constitution. Police can refuse to obey an unlawful order, in fact, they have a duty to refuse. "I was just obeying orders" was not an excuse at Nuremburg, and it is not acceptable now.

Accountability must return to this country, specifically holding people in authority accountable, including the police. Those police who have willfully and intentionally harmed citizens for exercising their Constitutional rights must be prosecuted, the same as those same policemen would arrest and prosecute citizens who engaged in the same actions. No person is supposed to be above the law, but over the last thirty years we have seen the rise of "privileged" classes and occupations where the law has not been applied equally.

Arrest and prosecute some policemen for their abusive behavior and the rest will soon realize that they are accountable. Do nothing, and their behavior will only grow worse. They engage in their behavior because their superiors, and ultimately politicians, also are not held accountable.

I'm just back from being a tourist at Occupy Nashville.

It was inspiring to see these fine Tennesseans of all ages and cultures. I'd been bummed and backed away from any real involvement in person ever since the TN General ASSembly got rid of the Tennessee Voter Confidence Act (mandating paper ballots), which they passed nearly unanimously in the spring of '08; but said they couldn't possibly implement until '10. And don'tcha know, the '08 election, when the whole country was swinging Dem, saw EVERY SINGLE open seat in the General Assembly won by the Republicans! Amazing! They took over the State House for the first time ever. And then, don't you know they voted that they couldn't possibly have paper ballots ready by '10, putting them off till '12. And don't you know the Repubs "won" more seats - not that there is now one single elected official in the state that we can prove was elected by the will of the people (computer voting machines all around, you know...) - and now are busy gerrymandering the Congressional districts so that TN will have no Democratic Party Congressfolk. Oh, and they decided that they couldn't possibly have paper ballots. Ever.

So, I've been bummed. But the Occupy Nashville group encouraged me. Let's keep supporting them and all other occupy groups.

peace out,

shw