Thursday, 28 March 2013 20:44
Public University requires christian student to stomp on paper with Jesus’ name on it and suspends him for not doing so.
The exercise was part of a chapter dealing with the power of certain words. One student, a junior named Ryan Rotelas, said he refused to participate.
While the university said Rotelas was never punished for his refusal, the student's lawyer said school officials told Rotelas he would be suspended.
http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/region_s_palm_beach_county/boca_raton/florida-atlantic-university-jesus-stomping-case-gov-rick-scott-upset-over-deandre-poole-class#ixzz2OsrGYh4h
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1st Amendment
Thursday, 28 March 2013 20:44
U.S. American student punished for refusing to recite Mexican pledge of allegiance
http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/12802
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1st Amendment
Thursday, 07 March 2013 11:21
Illegal Danish? Maryland school suspends 7 year old for eating away parts of pastry so the remainder was gun shaped
7-year-old Joshua was suspended this morning from Park Elementary School in Brooklyn Park. Joshua says he was eating a pastry during snack time and trying to shape it into a mountain, the teacher said it looked like a gun and took him to the principal's office.
Joshua's parents were called, he has been suspended for two days. Joshua's father says it's ridiculous since no one was threatened or harmed by the pastry.
http://www.loweringthebar.net/2013/03/pastry-gun.html
Joshua's parents were called, he has been suspended for two days. Joshua's father says it's ridiculous since no one was threatened or harmed by the pastry.
http://www.loweringthebar.net/2013/03/pastry-gun.html
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Friday, 01 March 2013 12:40
Bob Woodward says White House sent him threatening email
Journalist Bob Woodward on Wednesday said a senior White House official told him he would "regret" taking issue in recent days with President Barack Obama's version of how across-the-board budget cuts came to be.
Woodward said in interviews with Politico and CNN that when he informed the White House he was writing a story critical of the White House's handling of a debate over the origin of the cuts, known as sequestration, the official reacted angrily.
The aide "yelled at me for about a half hour," Woodward told Politico, and then followed up the tirade with an email.
"I apologize for raising my voice in our conversation today," the official wrote Woodward. "You're focusing on a few specific trees that give a very wrong impression of the forest. But perhaps we will just not see eye to eye here. ... I think you will regret staking out that claim."
http://news.msn.com/politics/bob-woodward-says-white-house-told-him-he-would-regret-criticism?ocid=ansnews11
Woodward said in interviews with Politico and CNN that when he informed the White House he was writing a story critical of the White House's handling of a debate over the origin of the cuts, known as sequestration, the official reacted angrily.
The aide "yelled at me for about a half hour," Woodward told Politico, and then followed up the tirade with an email.
"I apologize for raising my voice in our conversation today," the official wrote Woodward. "You're focusing on a few specific trees that give a very wrong impression of the forest. But perhaps we will just not see eye to eye here. ... I think you will regret staking out that claim."
http://news.msn.com/politics/bob-woodward-says-white-house-told-him-he-would-regret-criticism?ocid=ansnews11
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1st Amendment
Wednesday, 20 February 2013 15:01
Connecticut legislator wants 10% sin tax on video games
No established link exists between people who like to play violent video games and committing actual violence. Also, we have the First Amendment. Neither of those two things stopped Connecticut State Representative Debralee Hovey from pushing a 10% tax on video games rated “Mature”. No word on whether Representative Hovey will be proposing a 10% tax on movies, books, or spoken word essays that are intended for a “mature” audience.
http://abovethelaw.com/2013/02/ct-state-representative-proposes-10-tax-on-mature-video-games/
http://abovethelaw.com/2013/02/ct-state-representative-proposes-10-tax-on-mature-video-games/
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Wednesday, 13 February 2013 14:40
Georgia legislator pushes bill to fine people who made fun of him
ATLANTA – An Augusta legislator has found himself the victim of the type of photo manipulation that he is working to outlaw.
Rep. Earnest Smith is cosponsoring House Bill 39, which would make such photo manipulation a misdemeanor with a $1,000 fine.
“It’s clear that we need to do something,” he said.
Smith said Monday that he learned last week that someone had digitally pasted his head on the body of a nude man, but he doesn’t know who did it.
“I could not venture to give you an answer,” he said.
The bill received no action last year, but Smith hopes this year will be different, perhaps because the picture targeting him illustrates how vulnerable all politicians are.
http://onlineathens.com/breaking-news/2013-02-11/state-lawmaker-victim-photo-manipulation
Rep. Earnest Smith is cosponsoring House Bill 39, which would make such photo manipulation a misdemeanor with a $1,000 fine.
“It’s clear that we need to do something,” he said.
Smith said Monday that he learned last week that someone had digitally pasted his head on the body of a nude man, but he doesn’t know who did it.
“I could not venture to give you an answer,” he said.
The bill received no action last year, but Smith hopes this year will be different, perhaps because the picture targeting him illustrates how vulnerable all politicians are.
http://onlineathens.com/breaking-news/2013-02-11/state-lawmaker-victim-photo-manipulation
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1st Amendment
Wednesday, 02 January 2013 11:31
Federal court upholds free speech rights of pharmaceutical company - says FDA / Justice Dept. prosecution unconstitutional
[T]he Second Circuit Court of Appeals at last issued its decision in United States v. Caronia and it is momentous (and predicted to be heading to the Supreme Court). A two-judge majority of the Circuit Court held that Alfred Caronia, a pharmaceutical sales representative, “was convicted for his speech – for promoting [the central nervous system depressant Xyrem] for an off-label use – in violation of his right of free speech under the First Amendment.”
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Wednesday, 12 December 2012 07:57
California governor OKs ban on gay conversion therapy, calling it 'quackery'
Therapy aimed at turning gay kids straight will soon be illegal in California, with the state's governor declaring he hopes a new law will relegate such efforts "to the dustbin of quackery." The legislation -- which the state Senate passed in May, Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law this weekend and will take effect January 1 -- prohibits attempts to change the sexual orientation of patients under age 18. http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/01/us/california-gay-therapy-ban/index.html
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Wednesday, 12 December 2012 07:56
Judge finds NC ‘Choose Life’ plates unconstitutional
Judge Fox concluded, “The State’s offering of a Choose Life license plate in the absence of a pro-choice plate constitutes viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment.” The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina Legal Foundation had filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina in Sept. 2011 on behalf of North Carolinians seeking a specialty license plate that supports a woman’s right to reproductive freedom. http://myfox8.com/2012/12/10/judge-finds-nc-choose-life-plates-unconstitutional/
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Tuesday, 27 November 2012 17:31
Supreme Court rejects plea to ban taping of police in Illinois
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal of a controversial Illinois law prohibiting people from recording police officers on the job.
By passing on the issue, the justices left in place a federal appeals court ruling that found that the state's anti-eavesdropping law violates free-speech rights when used against people who audiotape police officers.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-supreme-court-rejects-plea-to-prohibit-taping-of-police-20121126,0,686331.story?track=rss
By passing on the issue, the justices left in place a federal appeals court ruling that found that the state's anti-eavesdropping law violates free-speech rights when used against people who audiotape police officers.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-supreme-court-rejects-plea-to-prohibit-taping-of-police-20121126,0,686331.story?track=rss
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