Ben Franklin: “Force shites upon reason's back.”

By which he meant I think; if the demands of Reason and Power conflict,
Power prevails. It is true, still.
In what must be among the oddest of ironies, the laws supposed to
protect us from the abuse of power, do not apply to the powerful.
Next Thursday night, the APS School Board Policy Committee is going to
rewrite its Policy on the Public Forum. They will rewrite the rules to
legitimize their previous misconduct; to dodge accountability for
violating their own policies, and to limit the exercise of free speech.
The record shows deliberate and repeated misrepresentation of the
truth. They have removed the public forum from their agenda, and from
the public record. No longer can a stakeholder speak on the record,
except to a pre-approved issue. It makes the public forum meaningless.
It ignores the obligations of a “Public Forum”. It is an assault on
free speech. It defies reason.
If I am allowed to speak, I will reason that they can not dodge
accountability by suppressing free speech; and yet they will anyway.
Because, “power shites on the back of reason.” And nobody will know
what they have done, except the people in the room.
Policy Committee Meeting
Thursday, January 4, 2007 5:00 PM
DeLayo-Martin Community Room, Albuquerque Public Schools, 6400 Uptown
Blvd NE Diogenes’six