Mayor Autry Demonizes ACLU

Actors need to stay out of the political arena.

The character "Bubba" that Autry played on "In the Heat of the Night" sounded far more intelligent and rational than the actor playing the role of Mayor Autry of Fresno!!

Maybe the problem is Mayor Autry is reading from the wrong script, the one handed to him now seems to be from far right religious groups (homophobia, mysogyny, etc...) and the agribusiness interests (water theft for profit) of the region. So we get to hear outrageous comments like what he just said about the ACLU (who also defends free speech of 'right-wingers'), or outright distortions of reality like when he appeared in Sacto for the delta smelt hearings and threatened that "all his farmers" would go "broke and bankrupt" if they didn't get their excessive water allotment for agribusiness too busy with short term profit to worry about 'petty' issues like water conservation and species extinctions, let alone ecosystem collapse. Just don't collapse the bank accounts of those scriptwriters!!

wow. a rich white male debating a rich white male moderated by a rich white male in a club frequented by (mostly) rich white men. certainly newsworthy to me.

If the audio of this event had not been posted on Indymedia, Bill Simon (see article below) would not have been able to write the following, which appeared in The Fresno Bee this morning:

BILL SIMON: Autry's dead wrong about ACLU
By Bill Simon
10/17/08 22:28:18
Mayor Alan Autry owes the citizens of Fresno and the members of the ACLU an apology.

At the Downtown Club on Wednesday, in a debate with Judge Oliver Wanger, Mayor Autry attacked the ACLU in general and the ACLU-Northern California specifically. The mayor said: "The ACLU has run a reign of terror on American values in this country since 1920." Autry said that the ACLU was the enemy of this country.

In speaking of the homeless decision, Mayor Autry said: "I saw these so-called caring lawyers running from the homeless once this was settled. They couldn't get out of town fast enough."

That hardly squares with my experience. Shortly after I was elected to the Fresno Area ACLU chapter board, I went Courthouse Park on a Sunday afternoon for a memorial service for Pam Kincaid. Pam was a lead plaintiff in the homeless case against the city and died mysteriously while a patient at Community Health Center-Cedar, in the former University Medical Center.

And there at Pam's memorial, on their own time, were Michael Risher, ACLU staff attorney, and other lawyers from the case who had come from San Francisco for Pam's memorial.

As the new chair of Fresno's ACLU chapter, I thought I should introduce myself to Mr. Risher. He was so busy talking to homeless people that a year later I have still only met him by telephone and e-mail. But I stand in awe of his generous dedication to the rights of Fresnans.

In reality, the ACLU is central to your and my freedom and to the greatness of our country. I can only speak firsthand to my experience of the ACLU in Fresno. That experience does not involve pornography or taking God out of this country. In fact, the ACLU has defended the right to hold voluntary, student-run prayer in public schools, just not church or adult-imposed prayer.

What has the ACLU done? In Fresno we have been involved in opposing the River Park teen curfew, fought a fee to register voters on Fulton Mall and worked to improve a proposed Fresno film ordinance that would prevent college art students and high school kids and you and me from making a five-minute video. We have opposed the city's destruction of homeless people's property, insisted that Fresno County libraries follow their own policies about who can use their meeting rooms and defended citizens' rights to free speech.

We have worked for independent oversight of police because, for most citizens, if civil liberties are going to be violated, it will most likely be in an encounter with a police officer. Besides, dedicated police officers need an independent voice to reassure the community that in difficult situations, the police officers acted professionally and responsibly. We have been involved in having the police department give people a meaningful response when they file a complaint.

We have demanded that the U.S. government stop using torture.

In the Fresno area, we have presented workshops for high school students about their constitutionally guaranteed rights. We have participated in various community meetings in Fresno, Dinuba and Orange Cove. We have met with just about every ethnic and cultural group in the city. We have been to more Fresno City Council meetings than I can remember.

We have done all that. And I don't recall a single pornographic or godless moment in all we have done, despite Mayor Autry's assertion that the ACLU is out to "take God out of the country."

The ACLU often defends unpopular people. When people object, I always say that if the bad guy doesn't have any rights, neither does the good guy. And that's you and me. You might consider yourself to be the good guy today. But if someone else is in power tomorrow, in charge of defining who is the good guy, you could be the bad guy tomorrow.

The ACLU is dedicated to making sure that everyone enjoys his or her constitutionally guaranteed rights. When those rights disappear, this country, as we have known it and loved it, will also disappear.

Mayor Autry owes the citizens of Fresno and the ACLU an apology.
Bill Simon is the chair of the Fresno Area Chapter ACLU-Northern California.

Nothing like a born-again Christian, eager to slam others. Let me tell you about Mayor Autry's so-called "concern" about the homeless. He had his risk analyst lie and set up my family and neighbors for annihilation so his associate, Swieso, could seize control of our properties to continue the "secret" altering of the city water system, which entails "gutting" and reconstruction. 1 neighbor left dead after repeated exposure of raw sewage; 1 neighbor never seen again - followed by forged deed; 1 neighbor shot/killed when done to his property; my family members killed - Autry's group took our properties entailing more fraudulent legal documents; attempted murder of me while told I would be meeting the others, "in another world." Instead of help, Mayor Autry had the same risk analyst who lied and set us up, issue a Restraining Order against me - calling ME a "danger" to THEM! They are not done - they do not leave witnesses; they returned to further rob and rape - death threats continue. This accompanies Mayor Autry's "citywide upgrade." Our properties were located on Olive Ave. where the illegal tie-ins to the main line were made when the road was torn up.
Cold-blooded abuse of power at the cost of human lives.
http://marlalk.wordpress.com/2008/08/31/my-home-to-be-burned-down-next/