GOP Attack on the 1st Amendment
Bill of Rights, Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
That is the 1st Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. The founding fathers of this nation who wrote this over 200 years ago did so with the intention of Americans having to right to worship or not worship as they see fit, to speak as they see fit, to print what they see fit, to hold meetings (of any sort) as they see fit and to charge the government with wrong doing as they see fit.
There are no provisions in the 1st Amendment for mandatory prayer in public school and there are no provisions in the 1st Amendment for national security. It very clearly says Congress shall make no law preventing or restricting the ability of the media to print whatever it chooses to print.
However, the GOP controlled congress and president now claim they have the right and duty to prosecute individual reporters for exercising their constitutional right to print whatever they see fit.
According to this AP story Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Sunday he believes journalists can be prosecuted for publishing classified information, citing an obligation to national security.
The nation's top law enforcer also said the government will not hesitate to track telephone calls made by reporters as part of a criminal leak investigation, but officials would not do so routinely and randomly.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales: "There are some statutes on the book which, if you read the language carefully, would seem to indicate that that is a possibility," Gonzales said, referring to prosecutions. "We have an obligation to enforce those laws. We have an obligation to ensure that our national security is protected."
Read again the 1st Amendment and then what the Attorney General had to say. If such laws do exist, and I presume they do, they are unconstitutional and thus illegal. Either the Attorney General has not read the 1st Amendment, does not understand it or is deliberately choosing to violate it.
Please the links to the right and let your Senators and Congresspersons know how you feel about your Constitutional rights being stripped away from you.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
That is the 1st Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. The founding fathers of this nation who wrote this over 200 years ago did so with the intention of Americans having to right to worship or not worship as they see fit, to speak as they see fit, to print what they see fit, to hold meetings (of any sort) as they see fit and to charge the government with wrong doing as they see fit.
There are no provisions in the 1st Amendment for mandatory prayer in public school and there are no provisions in the 1st Amendment for national security. It very clearly says Congress shall make no law preventing or restricting the ability of the media to print whatever it chooses to print.
However, the GOP controlled congress and president now claim they have the right and duty to prosecute individual reporters for exercising their constitutional right to print whatever they see fit.
According to this AP story Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Sunday he believes journalists can be prosecuted for publishing classified information, citing an obligation to national security.
The nation's top law enforcer also said the government will not hesitate to track telephone calls made by reporters as part of a criminal leak investigation, but officials would not do so routinely and randomly.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales: "There are some statutes on the book which, if you read the language carefully, would seem to indicate that that is a possibility," Gonzales said, referring to prosecutions. "We have an obligation to enforce those laws. We have an obligation to ensure that our national security is protected."
Read again the 1st Amendment and then what the Attorney General had to say. If such laws do exist, and I presume they do, they are unconstitutional and thus illegal. Either the Attorney General has not read the 1st Amendment, does not understand it or is deliberately choosing to violate it.
Please the links to the right and let your Senators and Congresspersons know how you feel about your Constitutional rights being stripped away from you.
posted by AzLib at 1:52 PM
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