It would seem so... Heather Ryan, former member of the US Navy and mother of two, was fired from her job today as the Executive Director of the Maiden Alley Cinema. McConnell encountered Ryan and her 12-year old daughter Heaven as members of a small protest held during a stop by McConnell and his crew in Paducah, KY.
McConnell was so enraged by Ryan and her pink-haired daughter asking questions about his support for the Iraq war, he immediately pulled tens of millions of federal dollars from programs to benefit Paducah. But that wasn’t enough. McConnell went after Ryan personally, tying the federal money to having Ryan terminated from her job. Ryan was fired today by the theater’s Board of Directors, who were apparently cowed into submission by the Paducah City Council and McConnellCo. The Board called Ryan in for questioning last week, and even viewed the video she took of the entire incident. Today, on MLK Day, they fired her.
Ryan is the sole earner for her family of four, earning a scant $25K a year while supporting her husband through law school. She is now out of a job, thanks to Mitch McConnell’s small-minded need to maintain his fiefdom. McConnell showed the typical immaturity and viciousness of the frat boys he supports in this absurd, hurtful stunt. May this be the real beginning of the end for McConnell.
Like I always say, when someone shows you who they are, believe them. McConnell should be ashamed of himself. As should the city fathers of Paducah, KY and the Board of Directors of the Maiden Alley Theater. Tell them all what shame and stupidity they have brought upon themselves for punishing an act of exercising pure American civil rights- the right to free speech, in protest to those in power.
Take a look at the video that started it all...
UPDATE-
The local TV station, WPSD, has the story on their website- let's see if this get picked up anywhere else.
The local conservative newspaper, the Paducah Sun, also ran a story this morning. (pay site- cross posted at Bluegrassroots.com)
Of course their spin is that McConnell is "too big a man" to be impacted by something as small and insignificant as this. Maybe he hasn't talked to George Allen lately...