Book burner David Rivera

Here's another little Hitler who needs to be expelled from Congress.

Rep. David Rivera (R-Florida) - who once ran a mail truck off the road because it contained an opponent's campaign flyers (which detailed domestic violence allegations against Rivera) - wants the government to shut down a concert solely because it features a Cuban musician.

Rivera has teamed up with a small group of right-wing Cuban emigres in asking Miami-Dade County to cancel a concert by Cuban singer Pablo Milanes.

This censorship attempt echoes a similar effort in 1999 by right-wing Miami area officials to cancel a concert by the Cuban band Los Van Van. When the show went on as planned, right-wing thugs threw batteries and bags of shit at concertgoers. This despite the fact that Los Van Van's lyrics had no political content whatsoever.

I'm all for cities, counties, and states having selective purchasing policies regarding what products governments can buy. But these policies are never supposed to be used to censor art just because the artist happens to be from a targeted country.

It gets sillier. Back in 2000, Miami-Dade County tried to shut down a festival because it featured a movie by Cuban filmmakers. They tried canceling it even though the film was critical of Castro's government. That same year, county officials refused to allow the Latin Grammy Awards to be held there, because they were afraid Cuban musicians would perform. They also nixed the 2007 Pan American Games for fear it would include Cuban sportspeople.

Miami area efforts to stifle art are perhaps the most virulent campaign of government censorship to be practiced in America in recent years. David Rivera has become the personification of this campaign. Like so many other members of Congress, he cares not one iota about the Constitution or free speech. Rivera is downright hostile to it.

(Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/08/09/2351889/us-rep-rivera-exile-groups-protest.html)