Category: Verbatim

Quote du Jour

Buck Banks

The function of the press is to explore and investigate events, inform the people what is going on, and to expose the harmful as well as the good influences at work. There is no higher function performed under our constitutional regime …. A reporter is no better than his source of information. Unless he has a privilege to withold the identity of his source, he will be the victim of governmental intrigue or aggression. If he can be summoned to testify in secret before a grand jury, his sources will dry up and the attempted exposure, the effort to enlighten the public, will be ended.

The intrusion of government into this doman is symptomatic of the disease of this society. As the years pass, the power of government becomes more and more pervasive. It is power to suffocate both people and causes. Those in power, whatever their politics, want only to perpetuate it. Now that the forces of the law and the tradition that has protected the press are broken down, the people are the victims. The First Amendment, as I read it, was designed precisely to prevent that tragedy.

— William O. Douglas (1898-1980), U.S. Supreme Court Justice

Quote du Jour

Buck Banks

In the First Amendment the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors. The Government’s power to censor the press was abolished so that the press could remain forever free to censure the government. The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of Government and inform the people.

— Hugo L. Black (1886-1971), U.S. Supreme Court Justice

Quote du Jour

Buck Banks

Freedom of expression is the well-spring of our civilization …. The history of civilization is in considerable measure the displacement of error which once held sway as official truth by beliefs which in turn have yielded to other truths. Therefore the liberty of man to search for truth ought not to be fettered, no matter what orthodoxies he may challenge. Liberty of thought soon shrivels without freedom of expression. Nor can truth be pursued in an atmosphere hostile to the endeavor or under dangers which are hazarded only by heroes.

— Felix Frankfurter, (1882-1965), U.S. Supreme Court Justice

Quote du Jour: Bush Praises Freedom of Speech Then Has Woman Arrested for Verbal Protest

Jon Ponder

“China has become successful because the Chinese people are experience [sic] the freedom to buy, and to sell, and to produce — and China can grow even more successful by allowing the Chinese people the freedom to assemble, to speak freely, and to worship.”

— President George W. Bush, on Thursday, just moments before a woman was arrested for verbally protesting the visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao at the White House

Quote du Jour

Buck Banks

Anti-Semitism is a social disease …. Anti-Semitism is an excellent diagnostic device to use in studying the health and well-being of society. It is a harbinger of war, the fear of inadequacy that, in moments of crisis, breeds havoc and social panic.

— Carey McWilliams, (1905-1980), editor of “The Nation”

Quote du Jour

Buck Banks

The political doctrine which has represented the loftiest endeavor toward common life is liberal democracy…. Liberalism — it is well to recall this today — is the supreme form of generosity; it is the right which the majority concedes to minorities, and hence is the noblest cry that has ever resounded in this planet.

— José Ortega y Gasset, (1883-1955), Spanish philosopher