Schmalfeldt On Roger Shuler’s Arrest: Where’s The Media?
It turns out we’re not the only ones wondering where the heck the media is on reporting the brutal and apparently illegal arrest of law blogger Roger Shuler. OpEdNews’s William Schmalfeldt takes the liberal blogosphere to the woodshed:
The so-called “liberal” media should hang its head in shame over its silence in response to the beating, arrest, and jailing without bond of liberal blogger Roger Shuler.
Since Shuler was arrested in front of his house, beaten black and blue by the police, thrown into a Shelby County, Alabama, squad car and jailed without bond on two counts of contempt of court, not only have the major media outlets been silent, outside of a few minor league blogs, the big left wing blogs like Think Progress, Talking Points Memo — personally contacted by this writer — have yet to write a word about the case.
Imagine the outrage if Erick Erickson of RedState were accosted by police, thrown against his garage door, had his arm twisted behind his back being told by the police they were going to “break” it. Imagine the weeping and wailing if Matt Drudge displayed a mugshot showing the entire left side of his face swollen and bruised, his left eye swollen nearly shut. …Roger Shuler, creator of the “Legal Schnauzer” blog, is a man who has been taking on the Alabama right wing political machine, pretty much on his own, for years. He is beloved in the South where liberals are generally seen as “the enemy” by the people in power. On the evening of Oct. 23, police showed up at his house with an arrest warrant. He had violated a judge’s order. The judge said Shuler was no longer allowed to write about a top level Republican official in the state, the son of a two-term GOP governor with congressional aspirations, and his alleged affair with a married woman, including allegations that the GOP top operative paid the woman hush money and financed an abortion. He was also ordered by this judge to stop writing about a female GOP operative, whom Shuler alleges had an an affair with an elected Alabama GOP official.
Shuler, being a citizen of the United States of America, ignored the contempt citation. The Constitution allows one to write about public figures, to make allegations if they can be substantiated. If the allegations turn out to be libelous, that’s a civil matter. But when did Alabama become a third world country under its own Bill of Wrongs that would deny a reporter, a respected legal authority, a well-known blogger, his First Amendment guaranteed rights?
Since his arrest on Oct. 23, his wife remains barricaded in her house. There is a warrant for her arrest as well, since she assisted Roger in the research and writing of his blog. If she steps outside, she will also be arrested and it seems likely that the Shelby County authorities will be as gentle with her as they were with her husband. …
Do a “Google News” search for Roger Shuler. The highest-level news source we can find having written about the case is “Op-Ed News.” Where is Talking Points Memo? Where is Think Progress? Where is Crooks and Liars? Where is Daily Kos? Where is The Raw Story? Why is Roger Shuler, even at this hour, languishing in a Shelby County, Alabama, jail for the crime of disobeying an illegal, unconstitutional order from a retired judge, called back to service by the GOP operative to handle his case?
Good questions. Maybe people should begin bookmarking OpEdNews, DigitalJournal.com, and (of course) Liberaland.
