Posts Tagged ‘first amendment’
Thanks to Shirtoid.com
With all the warm weather and Valentine’s Day right around the corner, everyone is fixated on the birds, bees, and the birth control. Here’s a few stories of interest:
The Pill or Health Care?
According to the Archdiocese for Baltimore, the requirement that the church provide birth control to it’s employees is a deplorable first amendment violation. In his statement Cardinal O’Brien told his fellow congregants:
We cannot – we will not- comply with this unjust law. People of faith can not be made second class citizens.”
Failure to follow the law will result in the loss of health care coverage for 3,500 local employees.
Cardinal O’Brien isn’t the only religious leader that is finding qualms with the requirement.
White House officials have met with women’s groups and religious leaders to try to find a solution that will be acceptable to everyone. Press Secretary Jay Carney said:
There are ways to, I think, help resolve this issue that ensures that we provide that important preventative service, that health care coverage to all women… in a way that also tries to allay some of these concerns.”
The two groups hope to find an effective compromise in a timely fashion. Good luck with that.
Plan-B and a Coke, please.
Shippensburg University installs a new kind of vending machine. Thanks to Associated Press!
Shippensburg University revolutionized the way that college students could get Plan-B by allowing it’s students to purchase the pill for $25 out of a vending machine. All of the university’s students are over 17 and can legally go to the vending machine in a secluded area of the university health center without needing to go into the small town.
There has been quite a bit of ruckus over the accessibility of what is already a controversial medication. But there has been little noise over the accessibility of Coca-Cola products, which studies have shown can be an effective spermicide.
So if Plan-A and Plan-B are out of stock, stick with Plan-Coca-Cola.
Got No Plan?
Meet Chun Chun- China's biggest baby! Thanks to HollywoodLife.com!
Well, that stinks. You could have your very own Chun Chun! His mother called him the “dragon baby” but in reality he’s 15.5 pound son of Wang Yujuan and Han Jingang. He currently holds the record for the largest newborn in China by half a pound. His parents are thrilled.
Thanks to MSNBC!
If you have the need or luck to produce multitudes of children, you may be susceptible to blackmail. As if the diapers wouldn’t be bad enough.
According to the Associated Press, photographer Teresa Hunt threatened to reveal intimate pictures of a cast member from the TLC hit reality show 19 Kids and Counting featuring Jim Bob Duggar and fam if the show was not cancelled or she did not receive $10,000 dollars.
Amy Duggar, the cousin supposedly featured in the photos, has called Hunt’s allegations “totally untrue”.
“Thank God for dead soldiers” and “God hates fags”.
Welcome folks to the loving gospel of the Westboro Baptist Church!
You will see members of the church carrying signs and screaming the epitaphs above at the funerals of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The Church believes these wars and their casualties are a curse from God, punishment for America’s immorality, tolerance of gays/lesbians and abortion.
Margie J. Phelps, daughter of the church’s founder said in a statement “Nation, hear this little church. If you want [the soldiers] to stop dying, stop sinning.”
Everyone seems to agree that the church’s actions are insensitive and hurtful, but what is not so clear is their right to protest. Albert Snyder, the father of a fallen soldier, is suing the church for invasion of privacy and emotional distress. Their case has now made it to the US Supreme Court.
In America the standard is that an idea cannot be censored regardless of how objectionable it is. But because you have the right to say something does it mean you should say it? Should there be limits to free speech?
Newly minted Justice Elana Kagen pondered “So does that mean that now we have to start reading each sign, and saying ‘war is wrong’ falls on one side of the line but ‘you are a war criminal’ falls on another side of the line?”
Such discussions about our rights seem to be a sign of the times. What do you think?
Quiz time!!! Do you remember Napster?
Back in 2000 Napster was an Internet sensation allowing millions of consumers around the world to download copyrighted music for free. Judgement day came for the Internet giant in the form of a lawsuit by members of the music industry. Napster lost and never recovered.
Now some are speculating a similar legal fate may meet the new Internet darling, Wikileaks.
Wikileaks is an organization that anonymously publishes content online that would otherwise be private or unavailable to the general public. Since its creation, the site has been a major part of freedom of speech debates, with some arguing that Wikileaks is important to public knowledge and essential for government transparency.
However, others argue that the organization is putting information into the hands of America’s enemies and that certain information is private and classified for a reason.
So far, criticism of the site hasn’t stopped it. Recently, Wikileaks was prominent in the news for the leak of a video showing military air-strike depicting American forces killing civilians in Baghdad. The person who leaked the clip was identified and is now facing charges, with some likening his actions to espionage.
The U.S. Department of Defense has expressed worry at the power of the centralized Wikileaks hub. Some critics have suggested military force against the organization.
Whether or not you agree with the case for free speech, the legal outcomes of such action further complicate the issue. If you remember back to the Napster trial, a case with the purpose of shutting down the database of downloadable, pirated music, a few things stand out. First, the trail brought a lot of publicity to Napster. This is something that would happen in the case of a Wikileaks trial.
In addition, the Napster trial, for all intents and purposes, shut down Napster. However, that did not stop the problem of people downloading pirated music. By removing the central location, the problem became more dispersed, with different websites and servers spread out in a very decentralized way. In the case of Wikileaks, if such a thing happens, the decentralization of such leaks and information can make the information that’s being published much harder to police.
What does this mean? Is Wikileaks a tool for the greater good? Or is it just a gang of unpatriotic muckrakers?
Image from the ACLU report
Is America paranoid?
According to Internet blog Boing Boing there are some curious cases that might lead you to that conclusion.
- A lecture on veganism at California State University was infiltrated by undercover local and campus police officers.
- An Illinois Joint Terrorism Task Force search for three days for a Muslim man who was using a hand counter on a public bus. When they found the man, they discovered that he used the counter to count his daily prayers.
- A Kentucky minister who purchased copies of the Koran on the internet after the 9/11 attacks was detained at the Canadian border when trying to enter the United States.
- A Muslim-American journalism student was detained after taking pictures of Old Glory for a class project. …read more.
There’s a rule of thumb that says the most volatile subjects for any discussion are politics and religion. We’ like to add two more: Leonard Nimoy (don’t mess with Trekkies), and… military funerals.
Military funerals are sad enough affairs as is… A loved one, serving the nation, lost in the line of duty.
Imagine then, uninvited guests to the same funeral, picketing, protesting shouting “God hates you” and “You’re going to hell” displaying signs “Thank God for Dead Soldiers” and “God Blew Up the Troops.” …read more.
