I begin this post by saying thank you to those who emailed the RRC the past few days with very kind comments about the blog, and their appreciation for my being (as a couple of them noted) "a rational blogger". And they expressed dismay at the "irrational" tactics they have witnessed locally on the anti-fracking side. One person insightfully wrote: "informed and rational activists take a positive leap forward and then one irrational activist pushes the cause back ten giant steps".
I couldn't agree more.
RRC advocates civility in blogging and any form of activism, and does not in any way condone or endorse those activists who rant, rave, and yell, who demean and belittle the opposition with obscenities and cruel name-calling, or post wildly raving commentaries that lack structured sense and substance. Issues can be emotionally-charged and it's one thing to be firm, passionate, assertive, even a bit sarcastic in trying to get your point across - it's another to be classless, offensive, and counter-productive.
Their comments reminded me of a recent video of an "activist" who went along for the ride on the Yoko Ono bus tour and I was appalled by her grossly verbal attack of Phelim McAleer who is promoting his pro-fracking film. While I obviously disagree with Mr. McAleer and do not support him or his film, I highly disapprove of the actions of that activist as she basically stalked him for several minutes, vid cam in hand, tossing out obscenities and calling him despicable names, attacking him in the lowest of ways. I don't care how passionate she is about this cause, her actions were unwarranted. One can Imagine that Ono, Sarandon, and particularly Gandhi may have regretted, at least her media presence on that tour.
That said . . . now to the primary gist of today's two-fold post, which, in a roundabout way is correlated to the concept of the rights of rational and concerned citizens.
The deadline for filing for the mayoral race in Arlington is March 1. As of this date, only one candidate has filed and let's be honest, this guy is not serious - he has basically no platform and admits he does not plan to campaign or spend money.
What I cannot understand is WHY the residents of a city of almost 400,000 continue to allow Robert Cluck to reign over what appears to be his own personal kingdom of local government, why he has been allowed to serve so many terms, and why no competent, serious candidates with integrity are challenging this individual. Surely there must be some qualified citizens of Arlington willing to run, with the intent of changing the course of this city after so many years of being led down so many wrong paths.
So the question begs: Is there ANYONE in Arlington who will step forward, file, run a smart and serious campaign, and work for betterment in this city? Clearly, one of the more significant issues is that we need a mayor and council who will hold the gas industry to more stringent standards in operations throughout the city, rather than engage in biased and selective enforcement of ordinances. We need a leader and council willing to open their minds and consider the actual facts about past, present, and future drilling, rather than putting a "ton of revenue" ahead of citizen and environmental welfare and/or what they believe is the path of least resistance.
One of the more disturbing elements of Mayor Cluck's reign is his willful restriction of the rights of citizens to speak freely in council meetings. This selective censorship appears to be a growing problem here in Texas among certain elected officials, be it via council meetings or official Facebook accounts.
In this first video below (from May of 2012), Mayor Cluck announces that speakers must talk to the council and not turn around and talk to other people, and if you get "too exercised and start calling names or being disrespectful, you're through".
While RRC fully agrees that speakers should demonstrate respect and sensible restraint, Mayor Cluck's outline for acceptable behavior is open to interpretation - - his own interpretation, in fact . . . as you'll see in the second and third videos below.
And if you don't already know it, the decision has been made to remove the Citizen Participation portions of regular council meetings from the live-stream and archived videos. Although Council members were recently afforded the opportunity to request items be placed on the agenda for future discussion and although two members specifically requested such, King Cluck and his loyal subjects sitting right and left of center throne, denied it.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for redress of grievances.
As Robert Cluck is an elected official, I've no doubt he understands the origin of the above passage and what it is "supposed" to mean in America, at all levels of government.
The following videos are courtesy of local online interactive news media outlet: ArlingtonVoice.com
One month later, here is a citizen speaker . . .
Did he talk to the Council? Yes.
Did he turn around and talk to other people? No.
Did he get "too exercised"? No.
Did he call names? No.
Was he disrespectful? No.
But . . . he was "finished" . . . silenced, censored by an elected official.
In the following video from a year earlier, a citizen simply wants his time to speak failry, but Mayor Cluck's response is to cut off the microphone so the speaker cannot be heard.
A citizen tells Mayor Cluck that he is a servant of the people and should yield the floor to those citizens. Cluck's response: Call the police down to "help" them out.
Citizens are heard commenting on Mayor Cluck's laugh, eye roll, and smirk.
"Take him out, take him out" the Mayor is heard saying; he says they need a couple of other people out because "we're trying to run a meeting here".
But that meeting is based upon citizen involvement, and yet, those citizens, likely voting and taxpaying citizens, are being "taken out" because the Mayor does not like that they are exercising their Constitutional right to free speech.
A speaker tells Mayor Cluck that "it isn't a laughing matter" to which the Mayor snaps: "I can smile if I want to!" . . . is this an adult talking?
Music intro . . . It's my party and I'll SMILE if I want to . . .
The only reason these folks became emotional and had to raise their voices to speak out as passionately as they did was due to a specific "cause and effect":
Mayor censors, citizens react.
Someone, please step up to the plate, take a stand against stagnant local government, big business special interests, and the stifling of free speech and help move Arlington in a new and better direction for all citizens, future generations, and the environment.
