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SecularMotion Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Feb-25-11 06:27 AM
Original message
Anti-Abortion Billboard to Be Removed
Source: NY Times

The outdoor advertising company that put up a controversial billboard sponsored by a group opposing abortion decided to remove it on Thursday because employees in the Mexican restaurant below the sign were harassed by people angered by the billboard’s message, the company said.

“It’s down, or at least it should be coming down soon,” Peter Costanza, the general manager for Lamar Advertising, said in a telephone interview on Thursday. “Why did I take it down? Yesterday, somebody came into the restaurant harassing the waiters and waitresses. I don’t want any violence to happen around the buildings there.”

------

The anti-abortion group, Life Always, which is based in Texas, had a news conference in Manhattan on Wednesday to discuss the opening of an advertising campaign intended to reach black women. The billboard, located a half-mile from a Planned Parenthood center in SoHo, showed a young black girl in a pink dress and the words “the most dangerous place for an African-American is in the womb.”



Read more: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/24/anti-abortion-billboard-to-be-removed/?hp
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baldguy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Feb-25-11 06:32 AM
Response to Original message
1. Anything that promotes violence toward health care providers is terrorism.
Peter Costanza is a terrorist.
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Blacksheep214 Donating Member (682 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Feb-25-11 07:42 AM
Response to Reply #1
4. Domestic Terrorism
I guess the Department of Homeland Security is only there to protect someone elses homeland from terrorists, not ours.

I want the name "Homeland" removed from this expensive boondoggle Bush created!
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nxylas Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Feb-25-11 08:39 AM
Response to Reply #1
8. How does the billboard promote violence?
It was tacky, yeah, racist even; but I don't see anything in there that could be construed as calling for violence against abortion providers. This was an anti-abortion group exercising its first amendment rights, not one of those websites that publishes the names and addresses of doctors that perform abortions with crosshairs over their pictures. Confusing domestic terrorism with protected speech is no different than the wingnuts who say that failing to have a Chinese-made "Support the Troops" ribbon on the back of your SUV makes you an ally of Osama Bin Laden.
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Blacksheep214 Donating Member (682 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Feb-25-11 09:21 AM
Response to Reply #8
10. Simply put
it's part of the bigger picture!

Abortion is settled law and anything which promotes the known violent opposition is problematic. Take a look at Rachel Maddow's reports on Dr. Tiller and the Kansas anti-abortionists.

Besides being racist and offensive on its face, how is this fit for children to see or even know about. Like explaining what a blow job is during the Lewinski crap. Not acceptable!

I choose what my kids see, not some ad company! I can't change this channel.
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nxylas Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Feb-25-11 10:20 AM
Response to Reply #10
11. And what about the non-violent opposition?
I agree with the last half of your post, but the first two paragraphs could be used to make any criticism of abortion illegal. How is that compatible with the first amendment? Or do you only believe in freedom of speech for people you agree with?
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speltwon Donating Member (699 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Feb-25-11 02:03 PM
Response to Reply #11
16. And you can't squelch speech because some unhinged person
might take it as a call to arms. Heck, even general advocacy of violence is constitutionally protected (look it up). And this is certainly not a call to violence. Look at some PETA ads, for example
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slackmaster Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Feb-25-11 10:27 AM
Response to Reply #10
12. Everything is part of the bigger picture
I think you are promoting violence by even mentioning it.
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ProgressiveProfessor Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Feb-25-11 12:02 PM
Response to Reply #10
14. There are many religious fundies who say the exact same thing
Edited on Fri Feb-25-11 12:14 PM by ProgressiveProfessor
The public square is just that. People can make statements we find objectionable with impunity, and that includes billboards. Pictures and video can be taken of you and your children there without your consent. Offensive topics can be raised and openly discussed. What right do you have to squelch that discussion just because you find it "not acceptable"?

I am not supporting the message of the sign. I too have escorted clinic workers and patients. However, just because somebody finds something "not acceptable" does not give them the right or moral standing to limit discourse in the public square.
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speltwon Donating Member (699 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Feb-25-11 01:53 PM
Response to Reply #10
15. Saying something is "settled law" does not mean there is no right to
protest it. That's about as fundamental an exercise of free speech as you can get. And I'm not going to cite the numerous examples of settled law that were changed over time. You should understand that.

You cannot choose what your kids see in public, to a large extent. An anti-gay bigot cannot choose to protect their kids from seeing two men or two women holding hands or kissing. You can't protect them from seeing message shirts or hats you disagree with. Yes, that even includes shirts that say "fuck" on them.

The ad is abhorrent but entirely free speech. However, since it's a privately owned billboard company there is nothing preventing them from bowing to public pressure and taking it down. It's not govt. censorship and not a 1st amendment issue.

Whether or not it's "problematic" to oppose abortion it is entirely legal to do so.
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speltwon Donating Member (699 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Feb-25-11 02:07 PM
Response to Reply #1
18. For very loose definition of "promoting violence"
compare this with, for example, the nuremberg files...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal_Horsley

They were eventually ruled "true threats".
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truthisfreedom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Feb-25-11 06:34 AM
Response to Original message
2. freedom of health care!
freedom of choice!
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Name removed Donating Member (0 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Feb-25-11 07:27 AM
Response to Reply #2
3. Deleted message
Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.
 
Le Taz Hot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Feb-25-11 08:23 AM
Response to Reply #3
6. Not sure what your post has to do
with anti-choice billboards but you're a little late on your post:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4747977
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Omaha Steve Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Feb-25-11 07:54 AM
Response to Original message
5. I have stood countless early morning hours as an escort to reproductive clinics

I will continue to do so. We stood up to the Kansas group that invaded Ne. after Doctor George Tiller was killed. There were by far more pro choice volunteers holding the line around the clinic, than there were protesters!
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speltwon Donating Member (699 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Feb-25-11 02:04 PM
Response to Reply #5
17. Exactly. Support pro-choice with action and words
That is the way to counter this
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mahatmakanejeeves Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Feb-25-11 08:25 AM
Response to Original message
7. Lamar Advertising
Last September, Virginia AG Ken Cuccinelli cut a secret deal with them that did not come to light until much later. Once the details became known, the General Assembly acted to undo Cuccinelli's secret settlement. Follow the money.

Virginia House acts to restrict liquor billboards

By Bill Sizemore
The Virginian-Pilot
© February 24, 2011
RICHMOND

Alarmed by a legal settlement that some feared would have opened up Virginia's scenic vistas to a proliferation of liquor billboards, the House of Delegates passed legislation Wednesday to restrict such advertising to commercial areas.

Lawmakers learned last week of the state's court settlement with Lamar Advertising Co., a major billboard company, that would have overturned Virginia's virtual ban on outdoor advertising of alcoholic beverages.

Similar prohibitions have been ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court on free-speech grounds. Lamar sued the state in September, and instead of fighting the case, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's office settled it.

The settlement went too far, Del. Glenn Oder, R-Newport News, told the House. Oder leads a House subcommittee that oversees the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

"All the regulations were basically thrown out," he said, raising the specter of booze billboards lining Virginia highways.
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msanthrope Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Feb-25-11 08:52 AM
Response to Reply #7
9. Thank you for posting this...this is related to a current case
in my jurisdiction, and could prove to be helpful.
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mahatmakanejeeves Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Feb-25-11 11:28 AM
Response to Reply #9
13. We must connect the dots.
Edited on Fri Feb-25-11 11:59 AM by mahatmakanejeeves
You are welcome.

Also, I need to correct a date in my earlier post. Lamar sued Virginia in September 2010, but Cuccinelli's secret settlement did not happen until January of this year. The settlement remained secret until about two weeks ago.

I do have to wonder why Cuccinelli, who never met a press release about himself he did not like, was so reticent about it.

We might as well go ahead and rename Virginia "Potterville" and get it over with.

Restrictions on alcohol ads on billboards hurriedly replaced by Virginia Assembly
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