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the audacity of theft
2008-06-06 21:54:00 writes an anonymous submitter in houston: “a neighbor in my building put up an obama yard sign on the door of her apartment around the time of the texas primary. when it disappeared, i assumed she took it down herself.” then up went this note ? a cheerful bit of propaganda that oh-so-subtly disproves all those ...
6th Circuit Court of Appeals: First Amendment does not demand wall between
2008-06-06 03:38:00 In victory for Ten Commandments posted in Kentucky, court criticizes ACLU for misusing concept that is outside of the Constitution Tuesday, December 20, 2005, 1:20 PM (MST) | ADF Media Relations | 480-444-0020 <!-- function ProcessPollViewerSubmit() { ...
By: Tundra Politics
The Tudors Concludes and America Begins
2008-05-26 21:13:00 America began in response to what we see in the final two episodes of The Tudors' second - and thank goodness, not final - season.Torture to get confessions, executions for no good reason other than the whim of the government - in this case, a psychotic King Henry VIII - these are the things that Thomas Jefferson and our Founding Fathers tried to make sure would never happen in America, by insisting on a Bill of Rights for our Constitution.And the torture and the beheadings were searingly portrayed on The Tudors. The execution of Anne was more harrowing and indelible than any I've seen in any movie.How could reasonable people allow this to happen? The answer, clearly, was that in the 1500s we were less removed from sheer barbarism that we might assume or suppose.George Boleyn beheaded on the strength of a hug or two he gave his sister Anne. Henry Norris executed on no evidence at all. A Jesuit assassin lies to bring Anne down - he says he slept with Anne - and he's beheaded....
By: Infinite Regress
Newsflash: San Francisco Left Wing Liberal Talk Show Host Bernie Ward Chang
2008-05-07 07:26:00 Disgraced and fired Former San Francisco Talk Show host, liberal left wing proponent, Bernie Ward, charged in December 2007 with distributing and receiving child pornography via the internet, plans to change his innocent plea Thursday according to federal court records. In breaking news tonight via San Francisco Chronicle writer Henry Lee, Ward a former Catholic ...
By: deansguide
East Brunswick Board of Ed Wins Case and Endangers First Amendment Rights
2008-04-28 20:47:00 So is anyone else as incensed as I am? I?m not sure why the latest ruling on the East Brunswick coach?s right to pray with his students hasn?t received more media attention (and public outrage), but it?s absolutely critical that New Jersey ? and Americans in general -don?t let Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ...
John Adams Concludes, The Tudors Continues, The First Amendment Abides
2008-04-21 07:01:00 A fabulous, instructive night for history on cable television - John Adams, the splendid mini-series, concluded on HBO, and The Tudors, the magnificent, searing series, continued with its second season on Showtime.The last episode of John Adams was mostly personal, and very powerful. Adams' daughter dies of breast cancer. Abigail dies. And Thomas Jefferson and John Adams die on the same day, July 4, 1826, after they have reconciled via letters.What was mostly at dispute between them was freedom of speech and communication, and the First Amendment. Adams, early in the hour, complains that all he'll be remembered for is signing the Alien and Sedition Acts - the closest our nation has ever come to abrogating the First Amendment.Its importance was wrenchingly, brilliantly portrayed in the two episodes (4 and 5) of The Tudors I saw tonight (on Showtime On Demand). Thomas More resists the law that Parliament passed on behalf of Henry, proclaiming him the ultimate religious authori...
By: Infinite Regress
Who’s First Amendment Is It, Anyway?
2008-04-18 19:03:00 The purpose of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution has been eroded and molded to fit 21st century liberal sensibilities; that is to say, to take it as much out of the public square as possible. When Thomas Jefferson responded to the Danbury Baptists, he was responding to a specific question — government interfering ...
Kevin, What's The Frequency?
2008-03-17 19:26:00 The FCC's schizo indecency knuckle rappers face the principal's office as the Supreme Court agrees to consider the issue of "fleeting profanities" and the FCC's arbitary and capricious enforcement. B&C The Court will likely take up the FCC's appeal of a lower court ruling that left the righteous Martin & cohorts sucking wind. ?Fox is pleased that the Supreme Court has decided to hear this case involving fleeting expletives in live TV shows, as this will give us an opportunity to demonstrate once again the arbitrary nature of the FCC?s decision in this and similar cases. It will also give us the opportunity to argue that the FCC?s expanded enforcement of the indecency law is unconstitutional in today?s diverse media marketplace, where parents have access to a variety of tools to monitor their children?s television viewing.?The NAB's Dennis Wharton: "NAB is pleased the Supreme court has agreed to review this case, and that Justices will provide badly-needed clarity to bot...
By: Chickaboomer
John Adams: Good Founding Father, Bad President Makes Great Television on H
2008-03-17 04:55:00 The Adams Chronicles mini-series on PBS in 1976 has long been one of my all-time television favorites. And, seeing as how I don't at all like the real John Adams, the second President of the United States, that's saying a lot.I just saw the first two episodes on HBO's new mini-series, John Adams, and I think I like it better than the Chronicles.Of course, the first two episodes did not get close to the part of the real life of John Adams that makes him a villain in my book. And that book is: respect for the First Amendment to our Constitution. Adams signed the Sedition Act into law shortly after he became President in 1796 - an Act that so trampled the First Amendment, that Thomas Jefferson was close to urging the South to leave the USA back then.I'll tell you more about that era when the HBO mini-series gets there.In the meantime, what I saw is superb, breathtakingly accurate history. David McCullough, author of the book upon which the mini-series is based, is a top-notch h...
By: Infinite Regress
Ferndale violated First Amendment by punishing protesters
2008-02-01 19:03:00 [From The Detroit News] Catherine Jun DETROIT — A U.S. district judge ruled Thursday that the city of Ferndale violated the First Amendment right to free speech when it punished anti-war protesters on Woodward and drivers who honked to support them. District Judge Denise Page Hood, who read her opinion from her Detroit bench, said the city failed ...
By: News for Greens
Psycho FCC Proposes Fining ABC 1.4 Million Dollars Over Naked Backside
2008-01-27 07:03:00 Talk about the golden ass ...Hard to believe - or maybe not, given Congress and the FCC's increasing trampling of our First Amendment - but now the FCC is proposing to fine ABC 1.4 million dollars for repeatedly showing a woman's "nude buttocks" on its NYPD Blue police-drama back in 2003.All right, perhaps "psycho" is not the right word. "Treasonous" would be more like it, because our First Amendment clearly says "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech," and, last time I checked, NYPD Blue was not silent television (and, even if it was, pictures are a kind of communication or "speech").The FCC and Congress have been growing ever bolder in their flouting of the First Amendment since the Janet Jackson Superbowl incident of a few years ago (come to think of it, we're approaching its anniversary). I gave a keynote address about this at Fordham University in 2005 - here's a transcript - and am currently writing a book about it. (I'll also be giving anothe...
By: Infinite Regress
Does it even matter that the Bush Administration gets busted in its BS?
2008-01-24 06:25:00 Over the past number of years the Bush Administration has been slapped silly by people who have caught them in their lies (e.g., weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, nuclear development for war in Iran, torture), fear mongering, violations of the Establishment Clause (e.g., millions in faith-based initiatives), breaking international covenants (e.g., regarding torture), suppression ...
Bill Clinton's Statements About Obama Should Be Taken with a Big Grain of H
2008-01-23 01:16:00 Bill Clinton is clearly playing a major role in Hillary Clinton's contest with Barack Obama and John Edwards for the Democratic nomination for President. He is certainly entitled to support his wife, and indeed speak for or against any candidate. But the media accord a lot attention to what he says, because he is a former President. And this means his record as President is germane to what he says about any candidate, and voters should keep Bill Clinton's record as President in mind when they evaluate his current statements.With that as my guide, I would like to briefly recount an episode in the Clinton Presidency that did not receive too much attention at that time, and many Americans may be unaware of today.Bill Clinton signed the Communications Decency Act into law in 1996. It was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court a year later, which probably accounts for why many Americans know little about it. But a brief examination of Bill Clinton's actions and expl...
By: Infinite Regress
Harry Truman on the Religous Foundations of Our Government
2008-01-19 18:15:00 “The fundamental basis of this nation’s law was given to Moses on the Mount. The fundamental basis of our Bill of Rights comes from the teaching we get from Exodus and St. Matthew, from Isaiah and St. Paul. I don’t think we emphasize that enough these days. If we don’t have the proper fundamental moral background, we will finally end up with a totalitarian government which does not believe in the right for anybody except the state.” Hat Tip: First Amendment Religion Clauses ShareThis
ACLU Says Tea Rooms are Private, Ladies!
2008-01-16 14:49:00 Maxine absolutely ADORES the ACL&U!!! Those folks are as entertaining as a weekend doing ‘ludes with Elizabeth Taylor while constantly injecting Botox into Sharon Stone, which is something Maxine knows all about, my little Fart Blossoms! According to the ACL&U, these United States can do away with all of those pesky security guards at all the ...
Huckabee wants to change the Constitution to fit the Bible
2008-01-16 01:34:00 “I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution. But I believe that it would be a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that’s what what we need to do—to amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s ...
CASA D?ICE : A FINE DEMO OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT
2008-01-10 19:46:00 Casa D?ice, a restaurant located near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania which features political messages as their signature claim to fame. Among the political messages they put up under their restaurant?s name and proudly reproduced on their website include: www.casadice.com MORE ARCHIVED SIGNS HERE
Mike Huckabee and the First Amendment
2007-12-31 09:11:00 Mike Huckabee was questioned about a number of topics on Meet the Press this week but the most significant were related to his views on religion as they impacted public policy. Tim Russert confronted Huckabee with a statement from a 1998 speech where he said, “I hope we answer the alarm clock and take ...
By: Liberal Values
Lincoln Park Sued by Hustler Over Ordinance
2007-12-24 08:35:00 In local news, my home city of Lincoln Park, Michigan is being sued by Bradley Shafer, a Lansing attorney who specializes in adult entertainment cases, who is representing Park Theater and a proposed Larry Flint Hustler Club. Shafer is quoted as saying, “They have enacted a number of unconstitutional laws. And in regards to the ...
FCC Ends Longstanding Ban on Cross-Ownership: Good!
2007-12-19 00:31:00 Well, the FCC overturned a 32-year-old ban on broadcasters owning newspapers in the same market - at least, overturned the ban in the top 20 markets. I was interviewed by Richard Dalton for Newsday about this important development, and that appears in Wednesday's editions.The gist of what I told him: good!Here's a little more context and explanation.First, I don't like media concentration at all. The fewer the hands and minds that control our media, the easier it is for the government to push them around. More diversity in voices means that differences in opinion and perspective are likely be heard, and that's a good thing for democracy.So why am I applauding the 3-2 FCC ruling - a great example of even a broken clock being right twice a day?Two reasons:2. Media concentration is becoming less of a threat to diversity of communication in the age of the Internet. Plainly, there are many more voices on YouTube and countless other web sites than a decade ago, and the net resul...
By: Infinite Regress
Striking Writers Chide Producers with Protest Web Site
2007-12-12 03:20:00 The Los Angeles Times today reported that Hollywood’s striking writers have acquired the amptp.com and amptp.net domain names and launched a Web site that protests the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the studios in the parties’ labor dispute. AMPTP’s official site is associated with amptp.org.The story begins with the observation: “When the Hollywood studios say they don’t know enough about the Internet to pay writers what they seek for the streaming and downloading of their shows, they might not be kidding.”The protest site, which looks like the producers’ official site, states the Alliance was “heartbroken” that negotiations with the writers had failed “despite our best efforts, including sending them a muffin basket, making them a mixed CD and standing outside their window with a boombox blasting Peter Gabriel songs.” It also features lin...
CAIR Savages The First Amendment
2007-12-10 21:24:00 And kill them wherever you find them, and drive them out from whence they drove you out, and persecution is severer than slaughter, and do not fight with them at the Sacred Mosque until they fight with you in it, but if they do fight you, then slay them; such is the recompense of the ...
CAIR's Savages the First Amendment
2007-12-10 04:28:00 After listening to the Savage Nation since 1997, studying Qur'anic verse since 2001 and hearing Michael's recent commentary on the Religion of Peace, I must say I fully agree with him, from the depth of my infidel loins.
A Little Lesson on ?Freedom of Speech? - There are Consequences to What You
2007-12-06 18:14:00 Yesterday, Judge Sidney H. Stein of Federal District Court in Manhattan ruled against Debbie Almontaser, the former principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy, New York’s first Arabic-themed school, in Brooklyn. Debbie was pressured to step down after her discussion of the word “intifada” during a press conference in August. The word had been used on a t-shirt, ...
BREAKING NEWS: Stephen A. Smith Hates The First Amendment
2007-12-05 02:29:00 It seems to me that ESPN's Stephen A. Smith hates the following things: The Internet The First Amendment In a recent interview, Smith had this to say about the internet: "And when you look at the internet business, what?s dangerous about it is that people who are clearly unqualified get to
By: A Wikia Wiki
Surprise Verdict in Sudan - Teacher Found Guilty! < /sarc>
2007-11-30 01:02:00 Yeah, we didn’t see this coming: British teacher Gillian Gibbons has been convicted of inciting religious hatred for letting her pupils name a teddy bear Muhammad and sentenced to 15 days in prison and deportation from Sudan, one of her defense lawyers said Thursday. “The judge found Gillian Gibbons guilty and sentenced her to 15 days jail and deportation,” said Ali Mohammed Hajab, a member of her defense team. Gibbons walked in without handcuffs, wearing a dark jacket and blue skirt, according to reporters in the courtroom before media were ordered out of the chamber. Riot police surrounded the courthouse. Muhammad is a common name among Muslim men, but giving the name of Islam’s founder to an animal would be seen as insulting by many Muslims. Apparently, it’s also insulting to give the name to an inanimate object too. It wasn’t a real bear, you know. It was a toy. Appreciating your First Amendment rights yet? As it turns out, it was a staff...
John Edwards vs. The First Amendment
2007-10-28 20:00:00 It now seems like every day that we hear more lunacy from the increasingly desperate Edwards campaign. Yesterday it was attempts to suppress news from a student journalist. His lack of respect for the First Amendment is seen yet again in his proposal to suppress advertising of new drugs. I’ve never been very fond of such ...
By: Liberal Values
A ?Pillar? Of The First Amendment Discriminates Against The Second
2007-10-27 04:07:00 Earlier this year, Virginia?s Roanoke Times newspaper came under intense scrutiny and near-universal condemnation after its editors made the irresponsible and dangerous choice to post a searchable database of Virginia?s Right-to-Carry permit holders on its website.
By: Gun News
A ?Pillar? Of The First Amendment Discriminates Against The Second
2007-10-27 04:07:00 Earlier this year, Virginia?s Roanoke Times newspaper came under intense scrutiny and near-universal condemnation after its editors made the irresponsible and dangerous choice to post a searchable database of Virginia?s Right-to-Carry permit holders on its website.
By: Gun News
First Amendment Defenders Debunk Limbaugh Claims
2007-10-25 19:36:00 Conservative denial of separation of church and state is clear in the secular nature of the Constitution, in the Bill of Rights, in writings by the founding fathers, and in multiple court decisions. First Freedom First debunks recent claims by Rush Limbaugh regarding correspondence from Thomas Jefferson and Supreme Court decisions which cited this. After ...
By: Liberal Values
Harry Reid Tries to Take Credit for Limbaugh Auction
2007-10-20 05:17:00 Harry Reid, in an effort to get Rush Limbaugh off the air, fired a letter to the head of Clear Channel condemning some comments they made up and attributed to Limbaugh. Rush took the letter, put it on Ebay and sold it for over $2,000,000. Limbaugh matched the amount from the auction and ...
Your first amendment rights begin here
2007-10-18 17:39:00 The National Park Service performs an important role in preserving some of our wild areas for human enjoyment and conservation needs. Apparently, it also protects a small area to preserve our first amendment rights.It is not a very big area, and if anyone were to take the park service up on their offer to host a demonstration, it would spill out onto the street pretty quickly. The speed limit here is only five miles per hour, anyway, so it is unlikely anyone would get hurt. I would add this to my sidebar as a nice reminder if it were not for one thing. I do not know if you can read it in this shot, but here is a close up:How can you require a permit to use the first amendment?
House Democrat to Investigate Limbaugh, Hannity, Levin
2007-10-09 22:26:00 Something reeks of Stalinism here..oh, it’s Rep. Henry Waxman. Rather than let the First Amendment live, he is looking for a way to kill it: Rep. Henry Waxman has asked his investigative staff to begin compiling reports on Limbaugh, and fellow radio hosts Sean Hannity and Mark Levin based on transcripts from their shows, ...
Judge Bans Television Station from Running News Story
2007-10-04 12:25:00 Isn’t there something about freedom of the press in the Constitution? I thought it was kind of a big thing. I guess not in the People’s Republic of Massachusetts. Yesterday, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Merita A. Hopkins prohibited WHDH from airing its story. In court, Paul Hynes, the attorney representing the Boston firefighters? Local 718, ...
Avery Doninger, the First Amendment and Some ?Douchbags?
2007-09-27 23:45:00 One of the sad truths about being a fan of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1) is that you are rarely defending people’s rights to read Huck Finn. No, you get to defend pornographers, Ann Coulter and teenagers who call people “douchbags” (sic). Avery Doninger, after an altercation with her high school about ...
By: The Twinkies
Bill O'Reilly about Andrew Meyer: "I Was Tasered, and It's Not that Bad"
2007-09-19 15:05:00 Did you see Bill O'Reilly's take last night on the tasering of University of Florida student Andrew Meyer?O'Reilly revealed that he, too, had been tasered once, and it didn't really hurt that much. Meyer was therefore hamming it up, according to O'Reilly.Well, one thing O'Reilly's revelation can teach us about tasering: it obviously doesn't knock much sense into your head about the First Amendment, and what it means for freedom of speech in this country.The First Amendment certainly does not say or mean that it's ok to interfere with speech, and taser a speaker, as long as the pain is not that bad. No pain is acceptable if meted out by the government or its agents. No interference with free speech by the government or its agents is acceptable. Period.Now the University of Florida police might not have been the Secret Service or the FBI. But they were still acting as agents of the government - that is how any police force, however local, derives its powers. The 14th Amendmen...
By: Infinite Regress
The First Amendment on Campus
2007-09-11 17:06:00 A first amendment debate is emerging across university campuses. Speech codes and anti-harassment policies, first implemented to protect students, are being questioned. Critics argue that the rules are taken too far and infringe on the constitutional rights of the students. Administrators, however, maintain that the standards are key to preserving the culture and atmosphere of the institutions.
Ninth Circuit Finds Sale of Paintings Protected by First Amendment
2007-08-30 06:12:00 In a published decision, the Ninth Circuit today found that the sale of a painter’s original works are protected by the First Amendment. In White v. City of Sparks, painter Steven White challenged the constitutionality of a Nevada city ordinance that ostensibly required him to obtain a permit before selling his paintings in public parks. The Ninth Circuit sided with the artist, finding: “So long as it is an artist’s self-expression, a painting will be protected under the First Amendment, because it expresses the artist’s perspective.” The court rejected the city’s argument that the sale of the paintings removes them from the ambit of protected expression. In so finding, the Ninth Circuit joined the Second and Sixth Circuits, which have reached similar conclusions.This has significant trademark ramifications. In ETW Corp. v. Jireh Publishing, Inc., for example, the...
ABC Mark Levin's Campaign of Disinformation Against Ron Paul
2007-08-19 01:15:00 The latest in the mainstream media's bizarre and destructive campaign against Ron Paul and his supporters - actually, more ABC's than any other medium - comes from the WABC New York and nationally syndicated ABC radio talk host, Mark Levin.As you can see on his web page, he's urging his listeners and web-page readers to "Call Ron Paul's office and tell him he can't win."What kind of ham-handed campaign of disinformation is that?Levin describes himself as "one of America's preeminent conservative commentators and constitutional lawyers."I would describe Levin as a Nixonian dirty trickster, in the Donald Segretti and Watergate scandal tradition.Ron Paul and his supporters should actually wear Levin's sleazy tactics as a badge of honor. They should be proud that someone who lists Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity among his favorite links, and who supports the Bush administration as if it were Abraham Lincoln's, has seen fit to try to undermine Ron Paul's campaign in this underhan...
By: Infinite Regress
Republicans Now Thumb Noses at YouTube as Well as Evolution
2007-07-28 05:33:00 What do you expect? Remember that three of the Republican Presidential candidates - Brownback, Huckabee, and Tancredo - don't even believe in evolution. You expect them to understand the advantages of YouTube?The Washington Post reported yesterday that only John McCain and Ron Paul have committed to the September YouTube/CNN debates. Ron Paul makes sense. As I've said many times, he is far and away the best of the Republican candidates. He is a rarity in both parties, because of his devotion to the U.S. Constitution. This makes him unaccepting of the FCC and Congress's attempts to trample the First Amendment, and to going to war without the required declaration.Ron Paul's supporters have also shown considerable Internet savvy - and I expect we'll be seeing even more in the months ahead.I'm glad John McCain sees the value of the YouTube debates. It's easy to be cynical, and say McCain is so desperate that he'll try anything, but he still deserves credit for recognizing this s...
By: Infinite Regress
The Flouting of the First Amendment - transcript of my June 2005 Keynote Ad
2007-07-12 19:39:00 The following is a more-or-less verbatim transcript ("uh"s taken out, "so"s left in) of my June 2005 Keynote Address delivered at Fordham University's Media Ecology Association Convention. I'm writing a book with the same title, and will be talking about these issues at the Westport County Playhouse on August 5 (I'll have more details up here, closer to the event). A quote from the 2005 Keynote - "what begins as a seemingly innocent campaign against indecency ... always segues in short order into political censorship" - appears on the May 8 page of the 2007 First Amendment Calendar. A slightly refined version of this talk will soon be published in Explorations in Media Ecology. As as a special treat for InfiniteRegress.tv readers, I've included the actual clip of Brent Bozell vs. me on the First Amendment that I mention in the Keynote...The Flouting of the First AmendmentKeynote address given by Paul Levinson at the Sixth Annual Convention of the Media Ecology Association, Fordh...
By: Infinite Regress
Treaty of Tripoli: Article 11
2007-07-03 15:39:00 I recently read an article entitled, ?America is NOT a Christian Nation?, whereby the author quotes John Adams as they put it, ?He didn't seem content just to point out problems with theism but attacked Christianity itself?:?As I understand the Christian religion, it was, and is, a revelation. But how has it happened that millions of fables, tales, legends, have been blended with both Jewish and Christian revelation that have made them the most bloody religion that ever existed?--John Adams, letter to F.A. Van der Kamp, 1816?I returned the favor with another quote of John Adams:?The general principles upon which the Fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity?I will avow that I believed and now believe that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and the attributes of God.? [June 28, 1813; Letter to Thomas Jefferson]Interestingly a commenter suggested that they were less worried about the letters (whether ...
Ann Coulter is a Crazy Evil Demagogue
2007-07-03 02:23:00 I'll be honest and admit that I had never heard of this nutbag before until a few days ago. I don't tend to listen to Republican or conservative radio shows, TV spots or books mainly because of people like her. But when someone makes a stab at anyone and uses the term "faggot" as a punchline, they move into my vision and I'm prepared to take her down if I ever get face to face with the witch. So far she has called Bill Clinton gay, defended Mark Foley and stated recently that the widows of 9/11 are media whores. Here is just a glimpse of the madness:These broads are millionaires, lionized on TV and in articles about them, reveling in their status as celebrities and stalked by grief-arazzis... These self-obsessed women seemed genuinely unaware that 9/11 was an attack on our nation and acted as if the terrorist attacks happened only to them... I?ve never seen people enjoying their husbands? deaths so much. --Godless: The Church of Liberalism June 2006She has also gone after Al Gore...
By: Motiveless Crime
Freedom of Speech Takes Another Hit from the US Supreme Court
2007-06-26 11:56:00 In a 5-4 decision yesterday, the U. S. Supreme Court backed a high school principal's right to censor a student's speech - or, more precisely, to hold up a banner than read "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" at a school event in Juneau, Alaska.Technically, the Supreme Court was probably right that the high school principal's action did not violate the First Amendment. A school, after all, is not Congress, which is prohibited under the First Amendment from abridging freedom of press and speech - as when Congress passes laws which fine broadcasters for "indecent" language. A school is not even a state or local government, which, under the Fourteenth Amendment, is not allowed to violate any amendments to the U. S. Constitution.No, a school is not the government.A school is place where students are supposed to learn about the government - and about what it means to be an American - what it means to live and work in a society that tolerates differences of opinion and expression.And this high schoo...
By: Infinite Regress
Bush's Supreme Court Rules And Consequently Violates The First Amendment
2007-06-25 19:49:00 A group by the name of "Freedom From Religion Foundation," has lost its suit against the various taxpayer funded, faith-based initiatives that the Chimperor has imposed upon us since he took office. According to the Associated Press...The Supreme Court ruled Monday that ordinary taxpayers cannot challenge aWhite House initiative that helps religious charities get a share of federalmoney.The 5-4 decision blocks a lawsuit by a group of atheists andagnostics against eight Bush administration officials including the head of theWhite House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.The taxpayers' group, the Freedom From Religion Foundation Inc.,objected to government conferences in which administration officials encouragereligious charities to apply for federal grants.Let's just start with a little history lesson, shall we? The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution covers free speech, but one other thing it covers is the establishment of a single religion. That said, Bush's...
JEFF COHEN: GIANT MEDIA SITTING ON THE WINDPIPE OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT
2007-06-04 21:43:00 Jeff Cohen, author and media critic, spoke in Portland, Oregon ... all » on May 18th, 2005.
By: Current Era Blog
Ward Churchill - Professor Pinocchio
2007-05-29 21:20:00 The President of the University of Colorado has recommended that tenured professor Ward Churchill be fired. This seems like a good time to go over what I see as the reasons why and why not.Let's start with three issues that should have nothing to do with his firing:1. His views about 9/11, ranging from crackpot conspiracy theories to repulsive metaphoric links of victims to Nazis, should not be grounds for his firing. A professor should never be fired for his or her political views, however outrageous they may be. Of all places in our society, the university must be open to the greatest diversity of ideas.2. The First Amendment to our Constitution does not protect him. The First Amendment prohibits the government from interfering with speech and press. Although the FCC, with Congressional support and urging, violates this Amendment almost every day, neither one of them is going after Churchill. Universities should indeed encourage and enforce a maximum openness to speech and ideas ...
By: Infinite Regress
Four Imus Fallacies
2007-04-14 21:51:00 Not to worry ... I'm not going to turn this blog into a never-ending series of posts about Imus, no longer in the morning or at present anyplace in the media. But I thought I'd offer one concluding contribution, and then back to my regularly scheduled diatribes, barring something new about Imus ...I've seen a lot of faulty analogies bandied around the media regarding Imus, his insult of the Rutgers women's basketball team, and his firing. I'll discuss (and puncture) four of them here:1. Why are people offended by Imus, but not by the same kind of language used in rap and hip-hop records and culture?Poor analogy. Rap and hip-hop make general statements (bad, good, insulting, whatever) about general classes of people in society. Imus insulted real individuals - in fact, women who were not celebrities, but players on a college basketball team. General insults, not specifically directed at you, can be easily ignored. An attack on a real individual cannot - certainly not by that per...
By: Infinite Regress
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