There is a difference between free speech and consequence-free speech. Protecting lives and safety must take precedence over broadcasting incendiary messages in the name of “free speech.”

The bit about the Olympia Food Co-op is hardly relevant to this discussion of inflammatory ads. It is another action by those whose ultimate goal is the destruction of the State of Israel.

But since someone brought it up, it should be noted that the Olympia Food Co-op Boycott was shoved through by the Board’s proponents in patent violation of the co-op’s own bylaws, which clearly state that a majority of the staff must approve of such an embargo, which they didn’t — they were bitterly divided over the issue. As no such consensus was ever reached, this boycott was not kosher. Unfortunately, the legal suit to overturn the board’s decision was just defeated in court. The case will be going to the Washington Court of Appeals, so this litigation is not over yet, either.

And it doesn’t make for a very convincing argument for proponents of the bus ads that their display on public transport is a simple First Amendment case by providing a link to the ACLU who are litigating against the banning of such ads. And even less does it strengthen any argument for the Olympia Food Co-op’s boycott by leading Chronicle readers to the site of the very types of organizations that are pushing such embargoes, namely the BDS movement.

But since you insist on showing only one side of the story, I recommend the following site to get another outlook: [link]

And, just to show you that I can take a wider view on these issues, I’d like to direct your attention to the interview with Norman Finkelstein — who is no friend of Israel by any means — but has seen the light about the BDS movement, which even he now recognizes as a single-issue con that has as its only true objectives the de-legitimization and annihilation of Israel. [link]

It feels really good to live in a town like Ann Arbor where our People’s Food Co-op members had the good sense multiple times between 2007 and 2009 to soundly defeat similar boycott resolutions at the PFC and the Board candidates that proposed such actions.

The PFC members saw right through the ruse — à la Olympia — to try to shove down their throats an unwanted boycott by monomaniacal extremists whose goal is to forever single out the Middle East’s only viable democracy for bigoted sanctions while they blithely ignore the true human rights violators of the world including virtually every territory and country that surrounds Israel.

When one decides to uniquely target the world’s only Jewish state with calls for sanctions, boycotts, and divestment against it — as these toxic ads proposed for “decorating” our buses do — and completely overlook the very serious repression perpetrated by scores of other countries the world over, there is something obviously very warped going on.

Another interesting West Coast case with some Ann Arbor resonance is Davis, et al. v. Cox, et al. where the Center for Constitutional Rights is defending sixteen current and former members of the Olympia Food Co-op Board of Directors in a lawsuit brought by supporters of Israel disgruntled over their decision to boycott Israeli goods. Read more here: [link] and here: [link]

Not only does Blaine Coleman’s ad stir up hatred against a particular ethnic group and an entire sovereign state, it quite certainly will drive away passengers–who, are after all, the raison d’être for The Ride’s existence–and undoubtedly start a never-ending signage war of ads and counter ads. And, of course, Coleman’s proposed “decoration” violates the AATA’s standards prohibiting such propaganda.

And, by the way, the image with which Blaine Coleman illustrates his offensive ad was taken without attribution and out of context from Mexican artist José Guadalupe Posada (1851-1913) and appears to possibly be copyright infringement:
[link] and “Rights to the digital resource are held by the University of New Mexico:” [link]

In short, the AATA is within its rights to set aesthetic, civility, and other related guidelines on what appears on our buses and keep offensive ads of of them.

And there is precedent. A similar case unfolded last year in King County, Washington where the ACLU fought the County’s decision to not run a set of slightly less objectionable anti-Israel ads on their buses. The County’s decision was upheld in court, and the ads never appeared on Seattle area buses. One of the reasons the suit was quashed is the very real fear that the placards could have stirred up violence. It would be best if the ACLU dropped their local suit, too.

From AATA controller Phil Webb in response to a query from The Chronicle:

AATA has paid one invoice for $5,963.90 to the legal firm of Maddin Hauser Wartell Roth & Heller of Southfield for services up through December 31, 2011. This firm was selected by the Chartis Insurance Company. We have a “Public Official and Employment Practices Liability Policy” with an aggregate liability of $2,000,000 and a deductible for $50,000 with Chartis. Therefore, our exposure is the $50,000 deductible.

Exactly. Not only attorney fees, but the AATA brief has an expert witness affidavit from Aaron Ahuvia, a U-M business professor, indicating that he is being retained by the AATA at the rate of $250.00 per hour for his services in this case.

Somebody should submit a Freedom of Information Act request to the AATA to determine how much has been expended in the defense of the ACLU lawsuit in the name of Blaine Coleman.

In my opinion, once the AATA accepted political ads in the 2008 District Court election from Margaret Connors and Joan Lowenstein, they became a public forum and could not pick and choose which ads to print or to reject. My concern that the decision to fight this case by the AATA is politically-driven rather than strict concern to adherence to First Amendment principles – which means the case could grind on for a long time with the taxpayers largely footing the legal bill while Mr. Coleman enjoys free legal services provided by the American Civil Liberties Union.