Since I never watched or listened to Don Imus, I am eminently qualified to write about him. I have no personal or ideological concern about his sudden disemployment after he broadcast remarks others regarded as racially insulting. I think some of the talk shows in which people mostly scream at or denounce each other are idiotic, but I have no question about the right of the speakers – including Mr. Imus – to say what they think.
Except . . . except that the right of free speech under the First Amendment to the Constitution does not insulate the speaker from charges of defamation or slander. Nor, as supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes reminded, does it include the right to cry "Fire!" in a crowded theater. A speaker is responsible for the consequences of his words.
Whatever Mr. Imus’s intent, large groups of people were offended by what they considered to be racial stereotypes. But it was not until his employers, NBC and CBS, became worried about the possible effect on their advertising revenues did any sensitivity about the feelings of the people who felt insulted manifest itself.
Yet the affair may have a salutary result beyond demonstrating that the concern of the networks is measured by the effect on the cash register. That is the recognition that even after nearly 400 years in this country, the resentment of racial injustice remains a raw emotion among large numbers of our citizens of color. Their feelings demand sensitivity and respect.
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Well, the paralyzed posteriors of a few of us who sat through the long hearing of the Judiciary Committee of the Connecticut General Assembly on openness of the courts may have had some effect. The committee did not endorse an amendment to the state constitution that would explicitly subject the Judicial Branch to the Freedom of Information Act. But by a 39-0 vote it did assert that the authority for making and changing rules rests with the Legislature rather than solely with the Judicial Department.
Changes instituted by acting Chief Justice David Borden have gone a long way toward remedying the scandal that erupted last year when a retiring former chief justice withheld issuing a decision so as to influence the choice of his successor, and other findings showed that some judges had supersealed cases involving their friends so as to shield them from scrutiny. The new chief justice, Chase Rogers, had said she intends to continue an openness policy. The assertion by the Judiciary Committee may help blunt any future effort to reimpose secrecy.
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It was no surprise that two congressmen who traveled together to Iraq — Republican Chris Shays, who represents Fairfield County, and Democrat Chris Murphy, who represents Northwest Connecticut — differ on whether there should be a deadline for withdrawal of American troops. Mr. Shays continues to support President Bush in his contention that a deadline would encourage the insurgents, whereas Mr. Murphy favors a cutoff. I believe Murphy is right.
Robert MacNeill’s PBS series on the background of the war has emphasized how the unjustified and unnecessary Iraq ? deflected broader efforts to combat the real enemy, al Qaeda, and in the process persuaded much of the Muslim world that the United States is its enemy. We cannot dictate the future of Iraq and the longer American troops remain, the more recruits for Al Qaeda they help muster.
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Two of my favorite ideologues, Attorney General Albert Gonzales and World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, have been simmering in the frying pan and I must say I love the sound. It is unlikely that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will satisfy his critics about the firing of U.S. attorneys, and it is certain that Mr. Wolfowitz still has a great deal to answer for in the shenanigans to double the salary of his lady friend.
I thought the arrogance of Wolfowitz in dismissing all criticism of the planning and conduct of the Iraq war for which he was responsible especially irritating, but that is beside the point with the World Bank. Wolfowitz was recommended for his office by President Bush with the idea that he would reduce corruption in Third World countries. Then what is he doing increasing the take of his protegée — showing them how to keep more of the boodle?
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Ninety-one fans of the old Central New England Railway got together last Saturday to look at remnants of another part of the system. This was the old Newburgh, Dutchess & Columbia that in 1871 reached Millerton from Beacon, on the west shore of the Hudson River opposite Newburgh, through Hopewell Junction and Millbrook. Initially the hope was that this line would serve as a bridge for coal traffic delivered by barge to Beacon and headed for Hartford and Boston over a connection with the Hartford & Connecticut Western at State Line. Both lines were absorbed into the Central New England.
But the grades on the ND&C were ferocious over the gap between Silver and Winchell mountains. I have read that the small steam locomotives could pull no more than five loaded freight cars on the climb to the summit. Later, other connections diverted the traffic; by the late 1920s the line to Millerton was dismembered. Most of the rest of the CNE had disappeared by World War II. But the knot of lines in Dutchess County and Northwest Connecticut contributed richly to the history we celebrate.
