The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights that expressly prohibits the United States Congress from making laws "respecting an establishment of religion" or that prohibit the free exercise of religion, laws that infringe the freedom of speech, infringe the freedom of the press, limit the right to peaceably assemble, or limit the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Freedom of Speech
Freedom of speech in the United States is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and by many state constitutions and state and federal laws. Criticism of the government and advocacy of unpopular ideas that people may find distasteful or against public policy, such as racism, are generally permitted. There are exceptions to the general protection of speech, however, including the Miller test for obscenity, child pornography laws, and regulation of commercial speech such as advertising. Other limitations on free speech often balance rights to free speech and other rights, such as property rights for authors and inventors (copyright), interests in "fair" political campaigns (Campaign finance laws), protection from imminent or potential violence against particular persons (restrictions on Hate speech or fighting words), or the use of untruths to harm others (slander). Distinctions are often made between speech and other acts which may have symbolic significance. Efforts have been made to ban flag desecration, for example, though currently that act remains protected speech.
en.wikipedia.org...
So the African American senator is going to just ban profane language. So we can't swear anymore but he's not going to ban racist speech? He doesn't find the N word profane? I know I personally do and I'm caucasion.
I would never do the following but theoretically based on Ford's bill, I could actually take a S"]T on the American flag but couldn't actually say I did?????
I realize the 1st Amendment is not absolute but when we start banning words that people don't like for no other reason except they find those words distasteful, they are violating the 1st amendment. Ford wants to ban foul language because he finds it distasteful. Someone in his position should know better and those who are responsible for putting him in office should think VERY carefully before doing so again. This type of thinking is nothing short of Orwellian.
en.wikipedia.org...
In my opinion, there's an even more disturbing part to this bill.
This bill includes written profanity. How Fahrenheit 451 ish of him.
“Local school boards may not remove books from school library shelves simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books,” said the U.S. Supreme Court in Board of Education, Island Trees School District v. Pico in 1982.
“If we want to get rid of all books with inappropriate content, let’s get rid of the Bible. That’s where we’d start,” Moen said.
Moen encourages her English 250 class to face the book-banning issue by reading a novel from a list of historically banned books. Some of these books include The Great Gatsby, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Catcher in the Rye and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
www.byui.edu...
So now the Supreme Court would be interfering with Fords bill so is he going to take on the supreme court over this?
[edit on 24-1-2009 by jfj123]
