Tag: First Amendment
It's Not Sex, It's SeXXXercise!
MayorBob.
Posted to Business on Sat Aug 30, 2008 at 01:47:43 PM EST (promoted by 1fastdog). RSS.
Stephanie Babines wants everyone to know she's all about fitness first. As a matter of fact she would like to earn a living helping women become more fit, trim, and limber. But the zoning officials in Adams Township, Pennsylvania don't want to let her open her business. What could possibly be objectionable about another having another fitness salon? According to the authorities in Adams Township, it's not the fitness, it's the method Babines plans on using to get the ladies fit. According to Babines, they're a bunch of narrow-minded blue noses and she's willing to go to court to prove her point.
(9 comments, 518 words in story) Full Story
Please Make That Story Disappear
MayorBob.
Posted to Etcetera on Sun Aug 17, 2008 at 09:50:53 AM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.
Shakespear Feyissa is learning a few lessons. Lesson one is that your actions can have unintended consequences. Lesson two, once something gets reported on the internet, it's awfully tough to expunge. Feyissa, a practicing Seattle lawyer, says something that happened over ten years ago is causing him pain and anguish because it can easily be googled. He says the original controversy blew over, so how about deleting that report? Problem being that the report in question is in a school newspaper archive. And the student journalists say once reported, forever archived
(13 comments, 585 words in story) Full Story
Berkeley Seeks To Cut Off All Escape Routes For Conservatives
pO157.
Posted to Politics on Mon Feb 11, 2008 at 12:46:59 PM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.
Famously liberal Berkeley, California has told the United States Marine Corps recruitment staff that they are not welcome in their city.
(22 comments, 427 words in story) Full Story
To Have And To Hold And To Not Dis On Your Blog.
MayorBob.
Posted to Legal on Sun Jan 13, 2008 at 12:32:22 PM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.
A possible test case that could test the boundaries of the First Amendment right to free speech is being played out in a Vermont family court. Like other failed marriages, the union of William Krasnansky and Maria Garrido is in the process of dissolution. Neither party has too many nice things to say about the other. What Krasnansky has been saying about Garrido and what the judge told him he couldn't say form the crux of the case.
(13 comments, 444 words in story) Full Story
Noose = Hangin' Offense?
pO157.
Posted to Legal on Thu Oct 25, 2007 at 07:17:08 AM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.
In the wake of the Jena 6 case, there have been multiple reports of nooses being put up in isolates incidents across the country. One lawmaker in New York State is trying to change this by making it a felony to display this symbol.
(14 comments, 174 words in story) Full Story
The Sermon In The Pen.
MayorBob.
Posted to Legal on Sat Feb 10, 2007 at 08:43:35 PM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.
Every American citizen has the right to practice his or her religion - it says so in the US Constitution. But, does practicing one's religion extend to allowing violent offenders behind bars to serve as quasi prison chaplains? Does commenting or expounding on the gospel to prisoners behind bars constitute having a special "position of authority" in prison? These questions are playing themselves out in a courtroom in federal court as an appeals court panel decides whether a convicted murderer has the right to preach to his fellow sinners behind bars.
(6 comments, 411 words in story) Full Story
Too Much Of A Cross To Bear?
MayorBob.
Posted to Religion on Tue Jan 09, 2007 at 02:32:09 PM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.
The College of William and Mary existed in Williamsburg, Virginia long before there was a constitutional doctrine of separation of church and state. Indeed, as the school was founded in 1693, it existed before there was a US Constitution or even a nation under which it operated. Thus, it likely seemed a natural thing for William and Mary's founders to place a Christian cross on the altar of the main chapel on campus. But, that was then and this is now and what seemed natural then is anything but now. Now, we're in the midst of an era of diversity and inclusion and the cross was seen as potentially divisive by some. Thus, an effort was made to reduce the divisiveness and make the chapel a more "welcoming" place to all. But there is no such thing as an effort to make everything more "welcoming" which doesn't get viewed as an attempt to marginalize something else. So it is with the case of the cross and the college.
(9 comments, 623 words in story) Full Story
When Does Eminent Domain Trump Free Speech?
MayorBob.
Posted to Legal on Mon Jan 08, 2007 at 08:15:46 PM EST (promoted by 1fastdog). RSS.
The concept of eminent domain says the state may decide upon the most appropriate use for property. Normally, it's applied when a municipality, county or state wishes to construct a highway or some other sort of public project and it needs to take control of property which is "in the way" of completion of said project. However, the law has recognized the right of the state to assert eminent domain in cases where public projects are not at issue, but rather where economic interests are in play. Thus, we've determined that the Fifth Amendment takes a back seat to eminent domain. But, what about the First Amendment? According to the highest court in Pennsylvania, even free speech rights hold second position to eminent domain.
(1 comment, 670 words in story) Full Story
Eleventh Commandment - You Need At Least One Person To Play The Game
MayorBob.
Posted to Legal on Fri Jan 05, 2007 at 06:29:30 AM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.
At this point it should be recognized that the First Amendment is going to be invoked in cases where states try to erect religious symbols in public places. Thus, you are not liable to see plaques or monuments with the Ten Commandments etched into them on the courthouse steps. Why, that business was settled a little over three years ago when then Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court Roy Moore got booted off the court for refusal to remove such a monument he had placed in the Supreme Court building. Apparently, it's not necessarily a settled matter - especially if those interested in playing the First Amendment card can't find a single interested local person who opposes the monument being where the First Amendment seems to say it doesn't belong.
(43 comments, 536 words in story) Full Story
BMOC (Big Medievalist On Campus) Told To Sheath Thine Mighty Swift Sword
MayorBob.
Posted to Etcetera on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 03:57:18 PM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.
Portsmouth High School in Portsmouth, Rhode Island has a tradition of allowing graduating seniors to submit their own photos for the yearbook. In years past they've featured photos of members of the band with their instruments or kids on skateboards - anything, really, that let's them better express themselves. One kid went a bit too far, in the minds of school authorities, and his photo is banned from the yearbook. What, pray tell, could this kid have submitted a photo of? It was a picture of him in medieval chain mail holding a (gasp) unsheathed broadsword. According to the school, they have this zero tolerance rule on weapons in school and this rule extends to the official pictures of seniors in the yearbook, so it's no go. Needless to say, this has caused quite a stir.
(5 comments, 613 words in story) Full Story
Blue-Nose Bureaucrats Ban Butt Beer
MayorBob.
Posted to Legal on Tue Dec 05, 2006 at 01:46:05 AM EST (promoted by 1fastdog). RSS.
Ben Franklin once said "beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." Other than that brief 20th century fling with Prohibition, Americans have embraced Franklin's wisdom and have pronounced their partiality to one brand or another of beer. Bottom line, the acid test for most beer drinkers is how good tasting the beer is. Then there are the government bureaucrats whose idea of good taste is something totally different than beer drinkers. Because a particular brand of British beer fails their bottom line good taste test, the liquor control folks in Maine are banning the sales of said beer. But, it's not the taste of the beer that has the bureaucrats in Maine steamed; it's the good taste of the label on the bottle.
(17 comments, 595 words in story) Full Story
