Free Speech

In what seems like a more and more familiar tale, a high school teacher in San Diego was told by his school board that he could no longer hang signs or banners in his classroom with phrases like "One Nation Under God", "In God We Trust", or "God Bless America". In fact, even a direct quote from the Declaration of Independence, "All men are created equal and they are endowed by their Creator", was put on the school district's naughty list.

And it's not as though this was a new thing.  It turns out that the teach in question, Bradley Johnson, had been putting up such signs in his classroom for over twenty-five years without complaint.  San Diego's Ponway Unified School District leadership complained that the signs "over-emphasized" God, "conveyed a Judeo-Christian viewpoint", and that they might "offend" others.  At the same time, teachers in the district were allowed to display signage celebrating or promoting other things, such as gay rights.

We fail to see why anyone (least of all Americans) should be "offended" by things like our national motto or Declaration of Independence.  And, believe it or not, a federal judge in the liberal 9th Circuit agreed.  read more »

In what's starting to look like a case of history repeating itself, a contestant in the upcoming Miss California pageant has let it slip that she's opposed to gay marriage. And liberals are having fits.

In this case, the city council of Beverly Hills - the very city which Lauren Ashley will represent - has condemned her views and is demanding that the pageant not allow her to use the moniker "Miss Beverly Hills" in the competition.

Via Fox News:

Former Miss California Carrie Prejean isn't the only beauty queen open to expressing her objection to same-sex marriage. Miss Beverly Hills 2010 Lauren Ashley is also speaking out in support of traditional nuptials.

Miss Beverly Hills and upcoming Miss California contender Lauren Ashley spoke out to Pop Tarts earlier this week against gay marriage -- and as a result she has been publicly condemned by the City of Beverly Hills.  read more »

This is a story that's both hard to believe and not hard to believe at the same time.

It seems that this past Saturday, a woman who had participated in the March for Life in Washington was told by security guards that she had to remove her pro-life pin that she had on from the march before she entered the building.  She was told that you can't wear religious or political items in a federal building.  (??) Via Lifenews:

...after searching her bag, two guards at the Gallery told her, "You're good to go in, but first you need to remove that pro-life pin.”

"He was indicating the small lime green pin with the message 'impact73.org' and the silhouette of a small hand inside that of a larger hand that I had attached to the lapel of my coat," Duke writes today.

"The pin, they informed me, was a 'religious symbol' and a symbol of a particular political cause and it could not be worn inside a federal building," Duke continues.

"Why, I asked, can I not wear a religious or political symbol inside a federal building? Bringing to bear the full weight of the supreme law of the land, the guards informed that it was a violation of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution: The combination of me, wearing a pro-life pin, in a federal building was a violation of the separation of church and state," she explained.  read more »

Chuck Schumer's upset.

He's upset that the Supreme Court ruled yesterday that corporations (and unions) have First Amendment rights...as in that government can't tell them that they can't spend their own money to communicate their own message when it comes to elections.  And he's going to hold hearings!  (Oh no!)

Seems he has a problem with that whole "if the First Amendment protects ANY speech at all, it must first protect POLITICAL speech" thing...  Which isn't much of a surprise, as incumbent politicians always seem to be the ones who have the biggest problems with "too much" freedom of speech.

But Tim Carney has another ideas as to why Chuckie might be upset.  He took a look at the biggest recipients of contributions from corporate America and guess who's right up at the top of the list?  (three guesses and the last two don't count)

You see, if those evil corporations are free to spend their own money on campaigns, they won't have as much reason to give it to politicians like Schumer.

Our neighbors to the north have given us another excellent foreshadowing of what the near future of political correctness run amuck holds for us.

It seems that a pro-life student, wishing to engage in a SILENT protest against abortion was put in isolation and segregated from the rest of the student body.  The student, Jennifer Rankin, was joining in the pro-life "Silent Day of Solidarity" campaign, which involved wearing red tape over her mouth and a red armband.  The point of the protest was to be able to respond with a pro-life answer when people would ask why she is protesting.

From Life News:

...a school principal alerted police and met Rankin and her mother at the entrance where she told them that the protest is not welcome at the school. Ultimately, school officials allowed Rankin into the building but kept her in isolation away from other students.

"I was taken directly into a small room that was opposite the vice-principal's office and I was in there all day," Rankin told the Petersborough Examiner newspaper. "I wasn't allowed to speak with or see any other students and students were not allowed to come and see me and I was isolated in that room for the entire day."

Keep in mind that one of the "nice" things about Canada and some European countries is that, for good or ill, they seem to be a harbinger of what's heading our way.

Again, political correctness run amuck.

Why do I oppose Obama?

1. As a Christian, I am distressed by Mr. Obama's dedication toward championing abortion, at any term! Mr. Obama refused to sign a bill that would give medical assistance to babies who survived botched abortions, without this bill they simply suffered until they expired. I believe, when people engage in sex, they should understand the risk, STD's and pregnancy to name a couple. You are not forced to have sex, and abortion should not be a convenient birth control method.

2. As a fairly logical and informed American, I understand that terrorist do not want to be friends, they despise our culture and more importantly their countries are in such turmoil, they need a common enemy to bond them. Mr. Obama has done many things to appease them, and they only see that as weakness, and thus still attack us. Due to the President's newly adopted rules of engagement, soldiers are dying out there, and that is heartbreaking.  read more »

West Coast pro-life leader Walter Hoye, who served a jail term for peaceful demonstrations at a California abortion clinic, has lost another round in court -- but that's not the last word.

Pastor Hoye challenged the Oakland ordinance against protestors, declaring it violates his right to free speech. The federal court rejected that argument -- so the case is being appealed to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court in essence ruled that abortion clinic workers can say what they want, but Hoye cannot.

Attorney Katie Short of Life Legal Defense Foundation tells OneNewsNow she believes the higher court will see through the ruling...

Normally, when one thinks of trespassing, you think of someone illegally being somewhere they have no right to be, or where they just don't belong.  You don't think of college students being in a public area on their own campus.

It turns out the you can get charged with trespassing at the University of Calgary if you set up a pro-life display - even if you're a student.  Six such students have been charged with trespassing after the University initially approved their display, then seemingly changed course after administrators didn't like the graphic nature of the display.  In other words, the difference between trespassing and not trespassing is the nature of your views.

From Lifenews:  read more »

A Tennessee elementary school is censoring the words "In God We Trust" and "God Bless the USA" on student made posters in its hallway.  The school leaership claims the offending language was covered up because it included the word "God", and as a result was in violation of existing school board policy.  read more »