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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dale Baker who wrote (69336)	5/30/2008 2:24:20 PM
From: KonKilo	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 541925

...free speech is in the Constitution along with the separation of church and state. Congress can't tell me what to say and do, just as they can't tell me I have to pray in school if a local majority decides it. I see your point, but let's go a little deeper. Those kids in the school system are not forced to pray, they want to. I recognize the arguments concerning parental and peer pressure in helping cause them to form this mindset and can also see the right of bystanders to not be subjected to unwanted religiosity. Bottom line, though, this is a case of Federal law conflicting with Freedom of Speech. As is the Obama Flag Code flap: "The United States Flag Code establishes advisory rules for display and care of the flag of the United States. It is Section 1 of Title 4 of the United States Code (4 U.S.C. § 1 et seq). This is a U.S. federal law, but there is no penalty for failure to comply with them and they are not widely enforced — indeed, punitive enforcement would conflict with the First Amendment right to freedom of speech, as the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled when the subject has come up in the past." I hear some of the leading voices of this thread speaking up in defiance of Federal law in favor of free speech. It is a pleasure to be among such a fine group of anarchists and firebrands. (Sorry, I was headed somewhere with this, but just got word my daughter is sick. Later).

To: Dale Baker who wrote (69336)	5/31/2008 11:03:54 AM
From: KonKilo	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541925

...free speech is in the Constitution along with the separation of church and state. I had intended to pursue this further before my daughter became ill. (She's fine now, thanks.) Your point about the situational aspect of free speech, ie; yelling FIRE in a crowded room, students disrupting class, etc, is well-taken. I am more concerned with the topic of Congress' passing laws that conflict with freedom of speech, such as the Flag Code. I suppose that is why we have the ACLU and legal challenges. As for the "free speech zones" I agree with you that, under GWB, they were more a matter of stage management than anything. Nonetheless, I agree with Ward Reilly who said, "Free Speech Zones" in the U.S.A.? I thought our entire nation was a "Free Speech Zone."