"Your First Amendment rights can be terminated"

Something stinks in Chicago and it isn't Lake Michigan

Just another fine day with the Chicago police force. When they're not inflicting damage on your ears, they're urinating on the US Constitution and making up the law as they see fit.

See the video of Chicago's finest here and read more about the arrests of NBC journalists at MSNBC.com.

"Your First Amendment rights can be terminated," yells the Chicago police officer, caught on video right before arresting two journalists outside a Chicago hospital. One, an NBC News photographer, was led away in handcuffs essentially for taking pictures in a public place. He was released only minutes later, but the damage was done. Chicago cops suffered an embarrassing "caught on tape" moment, and civil rights experts who say cops are unfairly cracking down on citizens with cameras had their iconic moment.

Tales of reporters, protestors and citizen journalists being threatened or arrested for filming law enforcement officials during disputes are on the rise, critics say, with Occupy Wall Street protests a lightning rod for these incidents. The National Press Photographers Association claims it has documented 70 such arrests since September and, in May, called on U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to focus attention on the issue.

Maybe it's time for the Justice Department to pick up the phone and restore some order out there.