Saturday, October 23, 2010

Muslims Scare Me, Too. Oh, Wait...No They Don't.


Let's take a look at the First Amendment:
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.
And with the addition of the Fourteenth Amendment, Section I:
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Nowhere does it say that freedom of speech is protected at your place of employment.  Basically it says that 1)Congress can't run over your freedom of speech and 2)The State cannot run over your freedom of speech.  I work for the government and they specifically told us that we do not have opinions and we do not have freedom of speech while we are at work so I can't talk about my thoughts and opinions of abortion, health care, gay people, etc.  And neither can you or Juan Williams.  And the notion of the Fox News pundits calling for an end to the federal funding NPR receives is laughable because NPR doesn't receive federal funding.  About half of their money comes from the stations themselves that carry NPR and the other half is from donations and grants.

I admit that NPR may be a little on the liberal side of things but that's the society we live in now.  You either have to be liberal or conservative to make it or you end up losing (i.e., CNN).