The Heckler's Veto


The United States Supreme Court calls it "the heckler's veto":  free speech being outlawed for fear someone might react adversely to it. The attack on free speech in America is growing at an alarming rate.  Over the past several weeks, several stories have been thrust to the forefront as political correctness gone a muck moves to stifle freedom of expression, the bedrock of our system.  Even more alarming, these incidents are happening in our schools where impressionable children are being taught that correct speech is more important than free speech.  The problem is simple: who determines what is correct speech.

The most widely reported story is the Condoleezza Rice incident at Rutgers.  Former Secretary of State Rice withdrew from her participation in commencement ceremonies at the taxpayer supported state university of New Jersey after a bunch of left wing thugs stormed the Chancellor's office demanding that the "war criminal" be banned from speaking.  Rutgers stood by its invitation to Rice...tepidly.   Rice got the message and decided it would not be in the best interest of the school or students for the focus of the day to be on her rather than the graduates.   She is a class act.  Shame on Rutgers.  Shame on the faculty. 

The battle continues in California as students at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, California, continue to be caught in the middle of an American flag controversy.   On February 10 a three judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a decision by the school forbidding the wearing of American flag shirts on Cinquo De Mayo, the Mexican independence day. The school was afraid some Mexican students would be offended and would instigate violence.  The court panel compared the American flag to racist connotations of the Confederate flag.  Meanwhile, Mexican students were free to celebrate the Mexican flag.  Tea Party protesters stood in front of a chain link fence built by the school to keep them off of school property silently waiving the American flag, as various Mexican students inside the fence hurled racial and sexual epithets.  The court case has been appealed to the full panel of the 9th District Court of Appeals, the next step on the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
 
Meanwhile, in San Antonio, Texas, Forbes Elementary School has banned a mother from visiting her child on campus.  Apparently the mother was on school property having a private discussion with a friend.  The school principal was eavesdropping on the conversation and heard what she deemed to be "inappropriate" language. The mother received a "letter of trespass" advising her that she would be arrested if she returned to the campus, and that the police would be waiting for her.  The mother denies using inappropriate language.  School officials cite a "no tolerance" policy, the hallmark of American constitutional violations, but have yet to say no tolerance of what.

These types of events are occurring with more and more frequency.  The chilling effect on bulwarks of our democracy is becoming a deep freeze.  Unless some sanity is brought back into the political arena, we are in deep trouble.  Our children will never know the America we grew up in.  Whatever happened to I may disagree with you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it? 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Strouss-Hirshberg; Things That Aren't There Anymore

Image
Youngstown was at the heart of the American industrial revolution in the mid 1800’s. During World War I, more steel came from Youngstown than anywhere else in the world. It’s no wonder, then, that the area was home of some of the best of everything, including department stores. Strouss-Hirshberg and McKelvey’s were the Macy’s and Gimbels of northeast Ohio, and offered to local residents the best of what money could buy. Strouss will always hold a special place in the heart of this area. It is hard to believe that there are twenty somethings today that haven't heard of it, or go “huh?” when you mention it. I tried doing some research on its history. Believe it or not, it is hard to find. As near as I could figure, the Strouss Hirshberg Company was originally known as D. Theobald and Company. Isaac Strouss clerked there, and eventually bought the store in 1875 with his new partner Bernard Hirshberg. The store was incorporated in 1906. The Readers Digest version of the life of the
Read more

Hope vs. Aspiration

Image
Don't forget to visit http://www.markknowsitall.com/ Hope: to have a wish to get or do something or for something to happen or be true. Aspiration : a desire or ambition to achieve something. As the 2008 presidential campaign heats up, Barack Obama is in full gear selling his vision for the future of America. He is for “hope” and “change.” …and oh yes, peace. He is also for “peace.” Aren’t we all? Obama, the oratorical wunderkind with the speech cadence of Martin Luther King, is doing a fine job of telling us what we should hope for, and how he is going to give it to us. He is a riveting individual and a spell binding speech giver. Hope is a good thing, right? Obama believes Americans are “hope” deficient. Americans “hope” for universal (read “government run”) health care, even though 85% of Americans have coverage, and 25% of those who do not aren't American citizens, and an additional 14% of those who don’t can afford it but simply choose not buy it, and a portion of the re
Read more

New and Improved: Big Bosomed Women Who Party

Image
Of all the words in the English language that I have learned to fear and despise, the phrase that sends chills up and down my spine the most is "new and improved."   The new part is probably right, at least partially, but the improved is open to question.   It usually translates to confusion, work, and money.   This is especially true of the computer geeks at Google, You Tube and Facebook, along with all of my stock programs.   Those are particularly aggravating because I actually pay a monthly fee for some of these digital age gems. What is wrong with these people?   Do they take delight in terrorizing hundreds of millions of people by making them figure out how to get a program or site to do what it used to before they made it better?   Case in point is Google, the most used search engine in the world.   Google does everything for you now but go to the bathroom, and it can probably give a print out for that too.   I think it can actually predict when you will belch.   It t
Read more