Comments on: 10 Questions with a First Amendment Lawyer http://themagicalbuffet.com/blog1/2008/11/26/10-questions-with-a-first-amendment-lawyer/ Where spirituality, politics, and pop culture collide! Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:50:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: rlitzen http://themagicalbuffet.com/blog1/2008/11/26/10-questions-with-a-first-amendment-lawyer/comment-page-1/#comment-11887 rlitzen Thu, 14 May 2009 02:55:37 +0000 http://themagicalbuffet.com/blog1/?p=411#comment-11887 How is the new Presidential thought police known as "the View", MSNBC, CBS, CNN, ABC,NBC,NPR, etc. in any way shape or form assisting American's right to free speech by becoming so incredibly ruthless in personal attacks and career ending attacks against those who disagree with Obama? Will you ever take a case against anyone whose life has been destroyed due to protected political speech by publically disagreeing with gays, Islam and Obama? How is the new Presidential thought police known as “the View”, MSNBC, CBS, CNN, ABC,NBC,NPR, etc. in any way shape or form assisting American’s right to free speech by becoming so incredibly ruthless in personal attacks and career ending attacks against those who disagree with Obama?
Will you ever take a case against anyone whose life has been destroyed due to protected political speech by publically disagreeing with gays, Islam and Obama?

]]> By: VetGuy http://themagicalbuffet.com/blog1/2008/11/26/10-questions-with-a-first-amendment-lawyer/comment-page-1/#comment-4994 VetGuy Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:50:57 +0000 http://themagicalbuffet.com/blog1/?p=411#comment-4994 I like this article.Thanks I like this article.Thanks

]]> By: Wiliam Pickett http://themagicalbuffet.com/blog1/2008/11/26/10-questions-with-a-first-amendment-lawyer/comment-page-1/#comment-4993 Wiliam Pickett Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:50:17 +0000 http://themagicalbuffet.com/blog1/?p=411#comment-4993 Great Article.. Great Article..

]]> By: Robert J. Fleming Jr. http://themagicalbuffet.com/blog1/2008/11/26/10-questions-with-a-first-amendment-lawyer/comment-page-1/#comment-1826 Robert J. Fleming Jr. Sat, 13 Dec 2008 08:40:30 +0000 http://themagicalbuffet.com/blog1/?p=411#comment-1826 I would say that my 1st Amendment Rights have been violated. I am a twice wounded Vietnam combat veteran. I had a neurology appointment at the VA that I waited for five months for, coming up at work so I put in my sick leave request, a week and a half before the appt. You'll love this. I worked for a federal law enforcement agency, the Postal Inspection Service. My supervisors said that the leave was not approved. I had approximately 1800.00 hours of sick leave at the time. I was not by a long shot a sick leave abuser. I earned sick leave at 4 hrs. a pay period. In the Postal ELM (employee and Labor Relations Manual) disabled veterans are authorized leave for treatment of their wounds. After discussing the denial with my supervisors I told them I would be going over their heads to their supervisors. Then I was first threatened. When I went to the Acting Inspector in charge I was shuffled off to an Inspector to discuss the problem. After showing the Inspector the rules (ELM) and explaining it I was told I was right and the problem would be remedied. Yeah. I was going to be counseled without my union (FOP) stewart present , a violation of by Weingarten rights. I refused and was sent home and suspended. When I returned to work I was given letters of warning and other documents warning me to not violate the chain of command again. All it said in our handbook was that you are supposed to use the chain of command. I wrote Senator Arlen Spector, Congressman Doyle and President Bush, and the House Comittee on Veterans Affairs. It did cause a reaction. The harassment started and never stopped. Every type of harassment that you can think of, undesirable job assignments to abusive and threatening language directed at me. Abuse by denying and demanding medical excuse that were not being required from others. They used my use of FMLA as a weapon. I was one of the senior officers. The department has been under going a RIF (reduction in force) for several years. Since I was a night shift employee I worked probably 10 years with out a regular supervisor. After I started writing elected officials I had one 100% of the time. They recruited one of my co-workers to harass and report on my activities. As an example. This co-worker ran a red light at speed one night through a major intersection. A light that was visible 500 ft. before you got there. The next morning according to management it was my fault because he was unfamiliar with the area, and I wasnt giving him directions. We were using a voice prompted GPS at the time. And, in the middle of a approx. 6 mile straight where no turns were required. There was considerable harassment by this so called co-worker who had less than half the seniority I had. He was planning on being the next supervisor. Just a supervisor wannabe. I was hospitalized due to ailments caused by a 500 lb. bomb.(google: Hill 875 , Dak To)blast that exploded above me. I was bleeding in the head. The Dr. wrote it off as epitaxis (nosebleed) but it was back further in my head. I was out of the hospital about a week when my Department head (approx. 49 yo.) physically assaulted me in a hall way and charged me with "assault on a federal police officer" A go to jail felony, loss of pension, etc. He knows enough about having no witnesses. He was frustrated by my petetioning elected officials for a redress of my grievances. The PIS lowered the charges to " offensive touching of a supervisor" when they could not prove it. They knew he assaulted me but would not go against their supervisor. I then filed grievances and EEOs over this matter. I had written statements from a fellow co-worker stating that the Dept. head had come at me twice in the past. Once with a baton (night stick) in his hand. The other time he threw his loaded gun and holster on the floor and came at me with his fists. They also know that this supervisor had his hands wrapped around another officers throat choking him. This officer is now a postal supervisor but will tell the truth if questioned by a lawyer or court official. The Postal Service when confronted with this evidence denied it all. I worked approximately three months in 2007 when I came home from work and founf myself unable to walk. I never returned and used up what sick leave I had left. During this time I was sent for a "fitness for duty" exam. and every time I turned around was being told that my documentation was no good or something just to harass me. They charged me with annual (vacation) time instead of sick. I had to give my FMLA papers directly to my supervisors in violation of the privacy act despite having a medical unit on the site. Every opportunity they could invent I was harassed. The majority of my co-workers are afraid of this dept. head and his thugs. So with a few exceptions I had little support. Postal EEO was a joke and because they lied all the way through the EEOC backed them up in an appeal. They did not even address my claim as to the violation of the 1st Amendment. My right to petition my elected officals for a redress of my grievances I retired 0n September 3, 2008 at 61, you might say under duress. I probably would not have gotten an accomodation for my disability(s). I still cannot walk properly let alone run. If I did go back the management would have still have come after me. I wont get much in a pension but its better than being assaulted and possibly arrested on trumped up charges. All of the harassment had to be approved by the Inspector In-Charge Pittsburgh. They cant claim they did not know because of the political intervention. This is as brief as I could make it. I have a file on this over six inches thick. Im retired now and recently wrote the Postmaster General only to receive a letter saying that everything is fine where I worked. The Postal Inspection Service takes a dim view of its employees contacting elected officials when they do something wrong. Tell me, is this a 1st Amendment violation? Thank You. Bob Fleming I would say that my 1st Amendment Rights have been violated. I am a twice wounded Vietnam combat veteran. I had a neurology appointment at the VA that I waited for five months for, coming up at work so I put in my sick leave request, a week and a half before the appt. You’ll love this. I worked for a federal law enforcement agency, the Postal Inspection Service. My supervisors said that the leave was not approved. I had approximately 1800.00 hours of sick leave at the time. I was not by a long shot a sick leave abuser. I earned sick leave at 4 hrs. a pay period. In the Postal ELM (employee and Labor Relations Manual) disabled veterans are authorized leave for treatment of their wounds. After discussing the denial with my supervisors I told them I would be going over their heads to their supervisors. Then I was first threatened. When I went to the Acting Inspector in charge I was shuffled off to an Inspector to discuss the problem. After showing the Inspector the rules (ELM) and explaining it I was told I was right and the problem would be remedied. Yeah. I was going to be counseled without my union (FOP) stewart present , a violation of by Weingarten rights. I refused and was sent home and suspended. When I returned to work I was given letters of warning and other documents warning me to not violate the chain of command again. All it said in our handbook was that you are supposed to use the chain of command. I wrote Senator Arlen Spector, Congressman Doyle and President Bush, and the House Comittee on Veterans Affairs. It did cause a reaction. The harassment started and never stopped. Every type of harassment that you can think of, undesirable job assignments to abusive and threatening language directed at me. Abuse by denying and demanding medical excuse that were not being required from others. They used my use of FMLA as a weapon. I was one of the senior officers. The department has been under going a RIF (reduction in force) for several years. Since I was a night shift employee I worked probably 10 years with out a regular supervisor. After I started writing elected officials I had one 100% of the time. They recruited one of my co-workers to harass and report on my activities. As an example. This co-worker ran a red light at speed one night through a major intersection. A light that was visible 500 ft. before you got there. The next morning according to management it was my fault because he was unfamiliar with the area, and I wasnt giving him directions. We were using a voice prompted GPS at the time. And, in the middle of a approx. 6 mile straight where no turns were required. There was considerable harassment by this so called co-worker who had less than half the seniority I had. He was planning on being the next supervisor. Just a supervisor wannabe.

I was hospitalized due to ailments caused by a 500 lb. bomb.(google: Hill 875 , Dak To)blast that exploded above me. I was bleeding in the head. The Dr. wrote it off as epitaxis (nosebleed) but it was back further in my head. I was out of the hospital about a week when my Department head (approx. 49 yo.) physically assaulted me in a hall way and charged me with “assault on a federal police officer” A go to jail felony, loss of pension, etc. He knows enough about having no witnesses. He was frustrated by my petetioning elected officials for a redress of my grievances. The PIS lowered the charges to ” offensive touching of a supervisor” when they could not prove it. They knew he assaulted me but would not go against their supervisor. I then filed grievances and EEOs over this matter. I had written statements from a fellow co-worker stating that the Dept. head had come at me twice in the past. Once with a baton (night stick) in his hand. The other time he threw his loaded gun and holster on the floor and came at me with his fists. They also know that this supervisor had his hands wrapped around another officers throat choking him. This officer is now a postal supervisor but will tell the truth if questioned by a lawyer or court official. The Postal Service when confronted with this evidence denied it all.

I worked approximately three months in 2007 when I came home from work and founf myself unable to walk. I never returned and used up what sick leave I had left.

During this time I was sent for a “fitness for duty” exam. and every time I turned around was being told that my documentation was no good or something just to harass me. They charged me with annual (vacation) time instead of sick. I had to give my FMLA papers directly to my supervisors in violation of the privacy act despite having a medical unit on the site. Every opportunity they could invent I was harassed.

The majority of my co-workers are afraid of this dept. head and his thugs. So with a few exceptions I had little support. Postal EEO was a joke and because they lied all the way through the EEOC backed them up in an appeal. They did not even address my claim as to the violation of the 1st Amendment. My right to petition my elected officals for a redress of my grievances

I retired 0n September 3, 2008 at 61, you might say under duress. I probably would not have gotten an accomodation for my disability(s). I still cannot walk properly let alone run. If I did go back the management would have still have come after me. I wont get much in a pension but its better than being assaulted and possibly arrested on trumped up charges. All of the harassment had to be approved by the Inspector In-Charge Pittsburgh. They cant claim they did not know because of the political intervention.

This is as brief as I could make it. I have a file on this over six inches thick. Im retired now and recently wrote the Postmaster General only to receive a letter saying that everything is fine where I worked.

The Postal Inspection Service takes a dim view of its employees contacting elected officials when they do something wrong. Tell me, is this a 1st Amendment violation?

Thank You. Bob Fleming

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