Free Speech

Does Free Speech Matter to You?

" On the day America celebrated her Independence, basking in such "certain inalienable Rights" as "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness," a married couple was handcuffed and led away by police from a gathering in Charleston, South Carolina.   Their crime: wearing T-shirts at a public event. Inscribed on the T-shirts was a message that declared their love for America and their loathing for its unelected leader....[In] Albany, N.Y...last year a man was arrested for trespassing in a shopping mall because he sported an anti-Bush T-shirt.

...Last week, Whoopi was verbally whoopin' George W. Bush's (expletive) at a private gathering in New York. A few days later, Whoopi was told by a corporate sponsor (Slim-Fast) that she was being relieved of her contract as their spokesperson. Her crime: loving the First Amendment more than she loves George W. Bush....If nothing else, Whoopi now has something in common with Nicole and Jeff Rank, the above-mentioned couple arrested in Charleston. Not only did the Ranks face a court appearance (the charges were dropped), but Nicole Rank learned that, as a result of the incident...she had been relieved of her job with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "We sang the National Anthem," a dazed and confused Jeff Rank told a Charleston reporter. "We weren't doing anything wrong."

 
The [ACLU] has begun compiling cases like the Fourth of July arrest of the Ranks in Charleston. Among the dozens the ACLU has documented of police arresting and removing people with anti-Bush signs from Bush administration public appearances, are: March 27, 2001, Kalamazoo, Mich.; Feb. 6, 2002, Evansville, Ind; April 29, 2002, Albuquerque, N.M.; Aug. 23, 2002, Stockton, Calif. ; Sept. 2, 2002, Neville Island, Penn.; Sept. 22, 2002, Trenton, N.J. ; Sept. 27, 2002, Phoenix; Oct. 24, 2002, Columbia, S.C. ; Nov. 4, 2002, St. Louis ; Jan. 22, 2003, St. Louis; June 17, 2003, Washington, D.C. ; June 23, 2003, Richmond, Va. ; Jan. 8, 2004, Knoxville, Tenn....These cases are all over the map, all over the land of the free and the home of the brave."

(excerpted from "Whoopi Doo, The Constitution is on a Slim-Fast Diet" by Alan Bisbort, hartfordadvocate.com)