1st Amendment

Into the Mouths of Babes: The Case for Minding Our Business!

David Katz, M.D. | Posted 05.02.2012

Read More: Healthy Living Health News, Brian Wansink, Food Marketing, Children, Bullying, Adolescents, Regulation, Obesity, Cspi, 1st Amendment, Childhood Obesity, Government, Chronic Disease, Nutrition, Obesity Epidemic, Dr. David Katz, Diabetes, Marketing to Children, Children Marketing, Obesity in Children, Children and Health, Children Health, Healthy Living News
David Katz, M.D.

The wellbeing of children is everybody's business, and everybody should mind that children are staring down the barrel of a glow-in-the-dark cheese doodle or sugar-laden cereal loop at foreshadowed health and foreshortened lives.

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The Supreme Court's 4-1 Split

Kelly Kleiman | Posted 04.12.2012

Read More: 4th Amendment, Supreme Court, 1st Amendment, Strip Search, Supreme Court Strip Search, Politics News
Kelly Kleiman

Plenty of attention has been paid recently to splits on the Supreme Court: Who will divide with whom on the Affordable Care Act? Will the existence o...

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A Dying Empire Invades Oaksterdam, Our Privacy & Our Speech

Harvey Wasserman | Posted 04.12.2012

Read More: 4th Amendment, 1st Amendment, Empire, Oaksterdam, Bill of Rights, Ozzie Guillen, Politics News
Harvey Wasserman

At freedom's core is protection from arbitrary police power and the right to choose one's own medicine, as well as to express one's opinion, however c...

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GOP Candidate Promises War On Porn

The Huffington Post | Leigh Owens | Posted 03.16.2012

Read More: 2012 Elections, Santorum Pornography, Obscenity Laws, Rick Santorum Porn, Elections 2012, Rick Santorum War on Porn, Rick Santorum, Porn, 1st Amendment, Pornography, Video, Santorum, Santorum for President, Rick Santorum Pornography, Sex, Rick Santorum 2012, Rick-Santorum, Slidepollajax, Politics News

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum has promised to initiate a war on porn if elected. “America is suffering a pandemic of harm from ...

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HR 347 'Trespass Bill' Criminalizes Protest

Jeanine Molloff | Posted 05.12.2012

Read More: Trespass Bill, Civil Liberties, Occupy Wall Street, 1st Amendment, Politics News
Jeanine Molloff

As I write this op-ed, I primp for the mirror -- looking for the most flattering pose -- for my mug shot. Now, don't get the wrong impression; I have...

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The Case for Non-Human Personhood Rights

Eric Michael Johnson | Posted 05.12.2012

Read More: 14th Amendment, Killer Whales, Dolphins, Animal Rights, Primates, Cetaceans, Personhood, Corporate Personhood, Chimpanzees, Whales, Great Apes, 1st Amendment, Science News
Eric Michael Johnson

This is not as radical an idea as it may sound. The law is fully capable of making and unmaking "persons" in the strictly legal sense. But that would be unlikely to happen with whales, dolphins, or even great apes.

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The Power of One!

Jim Worth | Posted 04.29.2012

Read More: Supreme Court, Twenty-Eighth Amendment, Get the Money Out, 1st Amendment, The Power of One, Democracy, Congress, Citizens United, 2012 Election, Politics News
Jim Worth

Would you pay $1.00 per month to get rid of PACs, super PACs and the ungodly amount of money being funneled into federal political campaigns?

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My Vote on the NATO/G-8 Ordinance

Joe Moreno | Posted 03.19.2012

Read More: Chicago Police Department, Rahm Emanuel, 1st Amendment, Nato, Protest, G-8, Iraq War, Chicago, Death Penalty, First Amendment, Free Speech, Chicago Protests, My Chicago, Chicago News
Joe Moreno

I voted yes on the NATO/G-8 Ordinance, proposed by Mayor Emanuel, today. While my original position was to vote against this ordinance, my opinion changed over the last two days, because of the changes made to the original proposal.

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The American Spring

Ronald Ricker | Posted 01.28.2012

Read More: Equality, Tyranny, Alexander Hamilton, Bill of Rights, Politicians, Lobbying, Middle Class, Majority Rule, U.S. Constitution, Tyranny of the Minority, Federalist Papers, 1st Amendment, John Stuart Mill, Mob Rule, Nafta, Tyranny of the Masses, Patrick Henry, Right to Vote, Voting, Politics News
Ronald Ricker

Somewhere, sometime, accelerating rapidly recently, we Americans have lost it--the American Dream. We were the land of opportunity, the land of equa...

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Vermont Dilemma: What Happens When Same-Sex Marriage and the First Amendment Collide?

Todd Brewster | Posted 12.13.2011

Read More: First Amendment Rights, Wildflower Inn, Wildflower Inn Lawsuit, Christianity, First Amendment, Wildflower Inn Vermont, Gay Marriage, 1st Amendment, Same-Sex Marriage, Gay Voices News
Todd Brewster

The O'Reillys are an Irish Catholic family, and suddenly this summer their inn became the subject of a federal lawsuit and a vicious Internet posting campaign for its decision to deny a lesbian couple its grounds for their marriage rite.

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The Ag Gag Bill: Industry Lobbying & Corporate Overreach Run Amok

Kurt Michael Friese | Posted 08.07.2011

Read More: Animal Cruelty, Agriculture, Ag Gag Bill, 1st Amendment, Animal Abusers, Farm Animal Abuse, Animal Abuse, Agriculture Abuse, Food News
Kurt Michael Friese

Industrial agriculture, like most powerful business interests, has a very effective lobbying organization -- not only in DC, but also in state capitols around the country.

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Why Help Build a Mosque I Have Core Differences With?

Rev. Chuck Freeman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Unitarian Universalist Church, Prophet Mohammed, Jesus, Imam, Religious Freedom, Muslims, Theocracy, Thomas Jefferson, Mosque, 1st Amendment, Sermon on the Mount, Religion News
Rev. Chuck Freeman

Normally I wouldn't be in favor of helping another religious group build a house of worship, especially one that I have such core differences with. But the Muslim religion is under siege in America.

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The "Mosque" Debate Exposes Bias - Let's Move Beyond 9/11 as Public Policy

Mark Green | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Ground Zero Mosque, First Amendment, 9/11 Anniversary, 9/11, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, September 11th, 1st Amendment, Freedom of Religion, New York News
Mark Green

The uproar over the center/mosque near Ground Zero is working to expose the irrational, biased arguments against it.

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Mr. Obama... Are You Out There?

Jessica Peck | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Religious Freedom, Touro Synagogue, Obama Ground Zero Mosque, Ground Zero Mosque, First Amendment, Ground Zero Islamic Center, 1st Amendment, Denver News
Jessica Peck

We need our President to take a stand. Silent for much of the summer, Obama finally entered the mosque fray earlier this month. Well, kind of.

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The Spirit Speaks to a Texas Minister About Building Mosques in America

Rev. Chuck Freeman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Islam, Mosques, Religious Freedom, New York Islamic Center, 1st Amendment, Ground Zero Mosque, Mosque Controversy, Nyc Mosque, Free Exercise of Religion, First Amendment, Mosque, Religion News
Rev. Chuck Freeman

My friend Islam invited me, a rabbi, and a comparative religion professor to his Muslim community center for a strategy session around the national mosque controversies.

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Religious Freedom Doesn't Have a Geographical Contraint

Daniel Bear | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Islam, Ground Zero Mosque, Religous Freedom, Anti-Defamation League, 1st Amendment, New York News
Daniel Bear

The recent uproar over a mosque/community center being built blocks from the World Trade Center has evoked passionate responses from numerous parties....

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Censorship and Gaea, the Porno Beaver

Will Weaver | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Censorship, 1st Amendment, Bemidji Minnesota, Gaea, Arts News
Will Weaver

The decision by a Bemidji, MN city manager to decision to remove a sexually suggestive statue from public view is a reminder that, when it comes to censorship and the arts, that none of us should ever sleep easily.

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A Cross by Any Other Name

Geoffrey R. Stone | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: First Amendment, War Memorial Cross, Salazar v. Buono, Mojave Cross Supreme Court, Mojave Cross, Religion and Politics, Salazar vs. Buono, Supreme Court Cross, Mojave Desert Cross, Separation of Church and State, 1st Amendment, Desert Cross, Mojave Desert Cross Supreme Court, Supreme Court War Memorial Cross, Religion News
Geoffrey R. Stone

According to the Court's conservative justices, the Cross is not solely "a symbol of Christianity." I supposed by this logic the American flag doesn't symbolize America, either?

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Net Neutrality -- Can We Trust the FCC Not to Censor the Internet?

Rick Carnes | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Songwriter, Music and Technology, Free Speech, Music Creators, Intellectual Property, Music, Net Neutrality, 1st Amendment, Technology News
Rick Carnes

The history of the FCC is replete with examples of attempts to apply decency rules and censorship to content. Should we believe that 'this time it's different?'

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Both Sides Now

Terry Curtis Fox | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Abortion, 1st Amendment, Television, Tim Tebow, Cbs, Focus on the Family, Reproductive Rights, Free Speech, Media News
Terry Curtis Fox

Free speech is meaningless if only one position has access to the public square. It's incumbent upon CBS to revise its practices so that those of us with stories about the benefits of abortion can do so in programming and advertising.

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Colo. Springs Judge: Exposed Breasts Not Covered Under 1st Amendment

Colorado Springs Gazette | Daniel Chacon | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: First Amendment, Girls Gone Wild, 13 Pure, 1st Amendment, Liquor License, Nightclub, Breasts, Colorado Springs, District Court, Denver News

A judge has upheld a decision to suspend the liquor license of a Colorado Springs nightclub where several women bared their breasts during a "Girls Go...

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Freedom and Broadway

Reverend Billy | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: 1st Amendment, Public Space, New York City, Free Speech, Healthy Living News
Reverend Billy

Our neighborhoods are healthy, better for children and for families, when citizens are not afraid of tickets and fines, of stops and intimidation.

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