Tag: First Amendment

US Attorney Warns Against Talking Mean About Muslims on the Internet

On By kingsjesterIn Politics5 Comments

obamabillofrightsIt’s not often that a meeting held in a small city like Tullahoma, Tennessee makes the national news. However, with Americans’ heightened sensitivity concerning the fear of their Constitutional Rights being taken away, when a U.S. Attorney says that if we talk mean about those who want to kill us infidels on the Internet, we could be jailed for it…well…that makes everyone stand up and take notice.

Here’s the story from tullahomanews.com:

A special meeting has been scheduled for the stated purpose of increasing awareness and understanding that American Muslims are not the terrorists some have made them out to be in social media and other circles.

“Public Disclosure in a Diverse Society” will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 4, at the Manchester-Coffee County Conference Center, 147 Hospitality Blvd.

Special speakers for the event will be Bill Killian, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, and Kenneth Moore, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Knoxville Division.

Sponsor of the event is the American Muslim Advisory Council of Tennessee — a 15-member board formed two years ago when the General Assembly was considering passing legislation that would restrict those who worship Sharia Law, which is followed by Muslims.

Killian and Moore will provide input on how civil rights can be violated by those who post inflammatory documents targeted at Muslims on social media.

“This is an educational effort with civil rights laws as they play into freedom of religion and exercising freedom of religion,” Killian told The News Monday. “This is also to inform the public what federal laws are in effect and what the consequences are.”

Killian said the presentation will also focus on Muslim culture and how, that although terrorist acts have been committed by some in the faith, they are no different from those in other religions.

He referred to the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing in which Timothy McVeigh, an American terrorist, detonated a truck bomb in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995. Commonly referred to as the Oklahoma City Bombing, the attack killed 168 people and injured more than 800.

…Killian [also] referred to a Facebook posting made by Coffee County Commissioner Barry West that showed a picture of a man pointing a double-barreled shotgun at a camera lens with the caption saying, “How to Wink at a Muslim.”

Killian said he and Moore had discussed the issue.

“If a Muslim had posted ‘How to Wink at a Christian,’ could you imagine what would have happened?” he said. “We need to educate people about Muslims and their civil rights, and as long as we’re here, they’re going to be protected.”

Killian said Internet postings that violate civil rights are subject to federal jurisdiction.

“That’s what everybody needs to understand,” he said.

Killian said slide show presentations will be made.

Zak Mohyuddin, a Muslim Advisory Council member, said a shortened version of a documentary called “Welcome to Shelbyville” will also be featured.

The documentary, produced by the Public Broadcasting Service, spotlights recent demographic changes in nearby Shelbyville, with a focus on the growing number of immigrants from Latin America and Somalia with many Somalis from the Bantu minority ethnic group which practices Islam.

Mohyuddin said Muslims across the nation consistently issue press releases condemning terrorist acts, but the media usually does not pick up the information. He added that the apparent silence leaves the impression that Muslims do not condemn such acts.

Like Killian, Mohyuddin said word needs to be spread so more people understand the Muslim culture.

“It is in the self-interest of Muslims in the United States to counter violent extremism, because we and our children do not want to be viewed with suspicion,” Mohyuddin said. “The Muslim community is a vital resource in the fight against terrorism.”

Killian said he has made other presentations in the state about Muslim culture and civil rights laws, and the Muslims he’s become acquainted with are outstanding citizens.

“Some of the finest people I’ve met are Muslims,” he said, adding later: “We want to inform everybody about what the law is, but more importantly, we want to provide what the law means to Muslims, Hindus and every other religion in the country.

“It’s why we came here in the first place. In England, they were using Christianity to further their power in government. That’s why the First Amendment is there.”

I have a couple of objections for Attorney Killian and his friends…

First off…while I have met some very nice American Muslims, I have also delivered audio/visual equipment to a mosque where I was looked at as if they wanted to take a scimitar to my neck.

If Moderate Muslims are not behind their radical brethren’s eternal jihad against us infidels, they need to get their mugs in front of the cable news networks’ TV cameras and say so…because all I see representing them when I turn on the news, are the abrasive members of CAIR, blaming America for all the world’s troubles .

Secondly, about the First Amendment to the Constitution to the United States…

It protects my rights, also!!!

The most basic component of freedom of expression is the right of freedom of speech. The right to freedom of speech allows American citizens to express themselves without interference or constraint by the government.

If Mr. Killian were to bring a case before the Supreme Court concerning a blogger being mean to Muslims, the court would require him to provide substantial justification for the interference with the right of free speech in his attempt to regulate the content of the speech.

The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America reads as follows…

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.

You know what’s so great about our country? Our American Freedom. Earlier this week, we remembered those who fought and died, so that we could remain free.

It is that same American Spirit which fuels a lot of Conservative Bloggers, Mr. Killian. Including me.

If I write that it was a bunch of cowardly Saudi Arabian Radical Muslim Terrorists, who killed over 3,000 Americans, in the biggest Terrorist Attack ever on American soil, on September 11th, in the Year of  Our Lord Jesus Christ, 2001, my freedom of speech would protect me for making that statement, because it has been proven to be the truth.

And, if I then write that, I hope that, when they arrived at their ultimate destination, they became extra crispy and were immediately surrounded by their 72 virgins, who all looked like Nancy Pelosi and sang like Roseanne Barr, then that would be my opinion, and would still be covered by my Constitutional Right to Freedom of Speech. 

The Constitutional Right to Freedom of Speech, as specified in the First Amendment, is unalterable and not subject to Political Correctness or Expediency.

It is that same First Amendment which allowed Presidential Candidate Barack Hussein Obama to call Americans “Bitter Clingers”.

Our First President, George Washington, said,

If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.

So, this American, born of the Greatest Generation, intends to keep speaking his mind concerning those Radical Followers of Islam who want to kill us.

You see…I’m rather fond of my head. And, I intend to keep it.

Until He Comes,

KJ

One Nation Under God, Being Divided

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics2 Comments

American ChristianityThe primary focus of the nation for the last couple of weeks has been the efforts of Obama and his sycophants to, literally, restrict the Second Amendment rights of average, law-Abiding Americans.

But, what about 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.

Americans are concerend about those rights as well, under the Second Regime of the Manchurian President.

The Christian Post reports…

Millions of American adults, particularly Protestants and evangelicals, feel religious freedoms have grown worse in the last decade in the United States, and foresee further restrictions in the years to come, according to the results of a new study.

Slightly more than half of adults say they are very (29 percent) or somewhat (22 percent) concerned that religious freedom in the U.S. will become more restricted in the next five years, shows the research conducted by Calif.-based Barna Group in partnership with Clapham Group.

The study, released Friday and which included 1,008 adults from across the religious spectrum, representing the nation’s population from the most active to the most skeptical, shows that those who are religious are more concerned than those who aren’t.

Looking at religious groups separately, the survey found that 71 percent of evangelicals, 46 percent of practicing Protestants, and 30 percent of practicing Catholics are “very concerned” about this prospect.

Concerns are not only over the future of religious freedom, but also about the current level of restraints, the study shows. Among practicing Protestants, 48 percent say they perceive freedom of religion to have grown worse in recent years, while 60 percent of evangelicals perceive religious freedoms to have grown worse.

“The simple fact is that America is becoming more religiously diverse,” said David Kinnaman, president of Barna Group.

“This trend includes growth of faiths other than Christianity, increasing expressions of Christianity beyond white Protestantism, and the growth of the no-faith segment – the so-called religiously unaffiliated,” he added. “These social changes create increasing tension about how something everyone essentially agrees on – freedom of religion – ought to work itself out in the real world where people find themselves disagreeing on important matters.”

The study suggests there is widespread agreement on what “religious freedom” means. About 90 percent of Americans agreed with the statement, “True religious freedom means all citizens must have freedom of conscience, which means being able to believe and practice the core commitments and values of your faith.”

Yet, many controversial aspects of religious liberty are emerging, with most Americans subscribing to “us-versus-them narratives.”

More than half of Americans (57 percent) believe “religious freedom has become more restricted in the U.S. because some groups have actively tried to move society away from traditional Christian values.” This opinion is more common among practicing Catholics (62 percent) and Protestants (76 percent) and is nearly a universal perception among evangelicals (97 percent).

Slightly more than 31 percent of Americans believe “the gay and lesbian community is the most active group trying to remove Christian values from the country.” Those who believe so include practicing Protestants (42 percent), practicing Catholics (32 percent), and evangelicals (72 percent).On values that should dominate America’s vision for the future, there is a substantial difference of opinion, the study found.

In fact, an accomplished Man of God was bounced from Obama’s Second Inauguration tomorrow, because he was not politically correct enough. Karen Gushta, in an Op Ed for the Christian Post, writes that

Pastor Louie Giglio, known for his work on human trafficking, had been tapped to deliver the benediction. But whenThinkProgress.com, a media outlet for the George Soros funded Center for American Progress, reported that Giglio had preached a “rabidly anti-LGBT” sermon in the mid-1990s, the inaugural committee quickly distanced itself, stating that it wasn’t aware of Giglio’s past comments when they invited him.

Giglio immediately withdrew from the inauguration, noting in his letter to the White House that “the prayer I would offer, will be dwarfed by those seeking to make their agenda the focal point of the inauguration.” The spokeswoman for the Presidential Inaugural Committee said, “As we now work to select someone to deliver the benediction, we will ensure their beliefs reflect this administration’s vision of inclusion and acceptance for all Americans.”

The question Christians are now asking is whether that “inclusion and acceptance” will include them.

Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote on his blog (AlbertMohler.com 1/10/2013):Louie Giglio was cast out of the circle of the acceptable simply because a liberal watchdog group found one sermon he preached almost twenty years ago. If a preacher has ever taken a stand on biblical conviction, he risks being exposed decades after the fact. Anyone who teaches at any time, to any degree, that homosexual behavior is a sin is now to be cast out….The Presidential Inaugural Committee and the White House have now declared historic, biblical Christianity to be out of bounds, casting it off the inaugural program as an embarrassment.

In discussing Giglio’s withdrawal with OneNewsNow (1/12/2013) Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins said that it is shocking how intolerant the administration is in forcing acceptance of homosexuality. “This isn’t the inauguration of another four years,” said Perkins. “I’m afraid this is the inauguration of a new era of religious intolerance in America.”

Four years ago, Pastor Rick Warren’s selection to give the invocation at President Obama’s first inaugurationignited “fury from same-sex marriage advocates and progressives.” (Christianity Today, 12/23/2008).Nevertheless, he gave the invocation as planned.

A lot has changed in four years.

Warren himself recently spoke out on the issue of religious freedom in a statement for The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is handling seven of the cases against the Health and Human Services Department mandate requiring abortifacients and contraceptives to be included in insurance coverage:

Today, the government has tried to reinterpret the First Amendment from freedom to PRACTICE your religion, to a more narrow freedom to worship, which would limit your freedom to the hour a week you are at a house of worship. This is not only a subversion of the Constitution, it is nonsense. Any religion that cannot be lived out … at home and work, is nothing but a meaningless ritual.”

On January 16, President Obama began his presidential proclamation for Religious Freedom Day with the following:

Foremost among the rights Americans hold sacred is the freedom to worship as we choose. Today, we celebrate one of our Nation’s first laws to protect that right – the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom.

Later the proclamation states:

Because of the protections guaranteed by our Constitution, each of us has the right to practice our faith openly and as we choose. [emphasis added]

What are you saying, Mr. President? Is our “practice” of our faith going to be limited to freedom to worship inside our churches and houses of worship, as you punish us for holding to our religious beliefs on Monday through Saturday at our places of work and as we speak out on public forums?

We pray that God will open your heart and mind to see that unless freedom of religion includes freedom of conscience and freedom to speak the truth as we understand it, there is no freedom of religion in this land. Next Sunday, as you solemnly swear to “faithfully execute the office of President” and to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,” may you acknowledge this truth and act accordingly.

What Liberals, Moderates, and even “Libertarians” (the legalize dope kind) don’t seem to understand, is that Christians do not and will not leave our faith at the church door. We carry it with us wherever we go. And, when prompted by the Holy Spirit, knowingly or unknowingly, we act upon it.

John Adams, writing to the Officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts on October 11, 1798 said

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

Judging by the attack on it and us by this current president and his sycophants, I would said President Adams was spot on.

Until he comes, 

KJ

The War Against Christianity: Battleground: Hobby Lobby

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics9 Comments

obamadoctorUnless you’ve been living under a rock, like those guys in the Geico commercial, you have heard about the brave stand of Hobby Lobby, the national Arts & Crafts/Retail Chain. The Christian couple who own this very successful company are refusing to comply with the contraception mandate, found in Obamacare.

As of August 1, 2012, under this monstrous state-gun Healthcare Act:

All new plans must cover certain preventive services such as mammograms and colonoscopies without charging a deductible, co-pay or coinsurance. Women’s Preventive Services – including: well-woman visits; gestational diabetes screening; human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA testing for women age 30 and older; sexually transmitted infection counseling; human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) screening and counseling; FDA-approved contraceptive methods and contraceptive counseling; breastfeeding support, supplies and counseling; and domestic violence screening and counseling – will be covered without cost sharing.

On Jan. 1, Hobby Lobby will face a $1.3 million daily fine if they don’t comply with Obamacare. Todd Starnes reports on FoxNews.com:

“The Green family respects the religious convictions of all Americans, including those who do not agree with them,” the Becket Fund said in a statement. “All they are asking is for the government to give them the same respect by not forcing them to violate their religious beliefs.”

There are now 42 separate lawsuits changing the mandate, the Becket Fund said.

Conservatives praised Hobby Lobby for standing by their convictions.

“God bless this company,” columnist Michelle Malkin told Fox News. “It’s incumbent upon every conservative who believes in freedom of religion and freedom of conscience to support those businesses that are standing up and taking the slings and arrows of this discriminatory administration.”

“This is the most egregious violation of religious liberty that I have ever seen,” wrote columnist Denny Burk. “The first line of the Bill of Rights says this: ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.’ Obamacare prohibits the free exercise of the owners of Hobby Lobby. Who’s next?”

Conservative talk radio host Laura Ingraham said President Obama “must step in to stop this madness.”

“It turns out as many feared, the president’s religious exemption to the contraception mandate is so narrow as to be meaningless,” she said on Fox News. “Unless you employ and serve only those of your same religious faith you don’t receive an exemption. So under that standard, Jesus himself would not qualify. This is unconscionable and unconstitutional.”

Abortion supporters hailed Sotomayor’s ruling.

“I hope the government earmarks every cent of that fee money for Planned Parenthood, just to spite these ass****,” wrote one reader on the Jezebel website.

“Anyway, I’m all for Hobby Lobby (and all other organizations that think birth control is totes gross) ignoring the law,” wrote Erin Gloria Ryan in a column titled, “Whore Pill-Hating Hobby Lobby Will Have to Pay a Buttload of Fines for Ignoring Obamacare.”

The website Think Progress said Hobby Lobby is ignoring two points.

“First, that Plan B is not an abortion-inducing drug, as Hobby Lobby claims, and second, that the company may well end up paying more to avoid covering contraception than they would simply providing access,” the website reported. “It also takes a twisted view on the ‘Freedom of Religion’ argument; the company is actually forcing its owner’s religious beliefs on all employees, no matter their personal religious views.”

Ingraham pointed out that in a previous case Sotomayor ruled in favor of a Muslim inmate who was denied Ramadan meals. She held that the meal was subjectively important to the inmate’s practice of Islam.

Malkin called it a selective double standard.

“Religious liberty for some, none for others,” she said.

Per usual, “The Boss” is right.

The First Amendment to the  United States Constitution states:

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.

By attempting to force Christian businesses, hospitals, and schools to observe the Contraception Mandate in Obamacare, the Obama Administration and Congress, by virtue of their passing the bill that fateful night on Capitol Hill, are in violation of the First Amendment.

Regarding the statement by those Liberal Obama sycophants (but, I repeat myself) at the George Soros-funded website, Think Progress, that the owners of Hobby Lobby were trying to “force their religion” on their employees:

Seems to me, that it’s the Obama Administration attempting to force their secular socialist belief system on Hobby Lobby.

As an American Business Owner, they have the right to do business as they seem fit, and , if they are in a “Right to Work” state, they can hire and fire whom they want to as well. It is way beyond the purpose and scope of government to tell Americans how they can practice their faith.

In the Message from John Adams to the Officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts, written on October 11, 1798, the Second President of these United States laid it out very plainly:

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

Perhaps their own lack of these virtues is the reason that Obama and his minions do not seem to care that they are ignoring Our Constitution.

…Funny though. These same people who claim to the “the Smartest ones in the romm” are those very same hippies, who, in the 60s and 70s, where whining and screaming to anyone who would listen, that their Constitutional Rights were being violated.

Free Speech: The Right of All Americans

On By kingsjesterIn Politics5 Comments

Recently, we have all been witness to a disturbing trend going on in the Greatest Country on God’s Green Earth: a not-so subtle war on Free Speech.

The scary thing is, it is not some foreign power going to war with us. It is our OWN GOVERNMENT!

We’ve seen two examples of this, this past week:

First, the producer of a youtube.com video, which no one has seen, and yet, was used by the Obama Administration as a scapegoat to excuse Muslim Extremist violence in the Middle East, was brought in for questioning by the Los Angeles police, and now faces charges for a “violation of parole” for posting the video.

Then, a Liberal Pundit from the seldom-watched cable news channel, MSNBC, took it upon herself to rip up a New York Subway Advertisement, which was anti-Muslim. Evidently, the MTA endorses her actions, because, next thing you know, they banned the advertisments under one of their rules, which states:

The advertisement, or any information contained in it, is directly adverse to the commercial or administrative interests of the MTA or is harmful to the morale of MTA employees or contains material the display of which the MTA reasonably foresees would incite or provoke violence or other immediate breach of the peace, and so harm, disrupt, or interfere with safe, efficient, and orderly transit operations.

Let’s review the First Amendment, shall we?

The First Amendment (1791)

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 redress of grievances.

The following are quotes by famous Americans about this American Right:

If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.

George Washington

It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them.

Mark Twain

I live in America. I have the right to write whatever I want. And it’s equaled by another right just as powerful: the right not to read it. Freedom of speech includes the freedom to offend people.

Brad Thor

I begin to feel like most Americans don’t understand the First Amendment, don’t understand the idea of freedom of speech, and don’t understand that it’s the responsibility of the citizen to speak out.

Roger Ebert

We don’t have an Official Secrets Act in the United States, as other countries do. Under the First Amendment, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and freedom of association are more important than protecting secrets.

Alan Dershowitz

Freedom of speech is always under attack by Fascist mentality, which exists in all parts of the world, unfortunately.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Hans Bader at OpenMarket.org, wrote the following, concerning this situation:

This idea that you can ban speech because people react violently to it is at odds with Supreme Court rulings and basic First Amendment axioms. The Supreme Court has rejected this so-called “heckler’s veto” in cases like Terminiello v. Chicago (1949). In that decision, the Supreme Curt ruled that the First Amendment protected unsavory, anti-semitic speech that enraged an “angry and turbulent” crowd. The Supreme Court rejected the idea that speech can be banned to prevent unrest, declaring that “a function of free speech under our system of government is to invite dispute. It may indeed best serve its high purpose when it induces a condition of unrest, creates dissatisfaction with conditions as they are, or even stirs people to anger. Speech is often provocative and challenging. It may strike at prejudices and preconceptions and have profound unsettling effects as it presses for acceptance of an idea.”

Banning speech because someone reacts violently to it sets a terrible precedent. It gives the most violent or angry members of society a veto over free speech and what issues are discussed. It is always possible to blame the victim of violence for inciting aggression by an angry person through expression of views that offended that person. (For example, when a security guard working for a conservative group was shot by a critic of the group, some people blamed the group’s rhetoric for supposedly creating a “climate of hate” that led the outraged shooter to react by attacking it, and said it must “share” the “blame” for the “growth of” such “violent acts.”)

…Banning speech because it offends violent people will backfire and lead to more violence in the future by emboldening, rewarding, and conditioning them.

As I’ve written before, my father was a Master Sergeant with an Army Engineering Unit in World War II.  He was one of our Brightest and Best, who waded onto Normandy Beach on D-Day, in a hail of gunfire.

He also led me to Christ, through his leading of the singing of hymns in his 150 person Sunday School Class, his powerful, loving witness in his daily life, and “instructing me in the way I should go”.

Regardless of the wishes of forces, both seen and unseen, who would restrict our rights as Americans to state our opinion, and to stand for Traditional American Values at this important moment in our country’s history, I will be here, doing just that, as is my God-given right as an American.

And, I will exercise my right to vote on November 6th, 2012.

God Bless America.