Thursday, February 26, 2009

What Happening to Our Freedom of Speech??


If you want to voice your opinion - make sure you don't tell people Jesus loves them, or that there are alternatives to abortion, and by all means don't say you wish to see Obama removed from office. You could end up in Jail or have your house searched by the Secret Service if you say these things. -Slowly our Freedom of Speech is being stripped from us.

Here are several examples:

Pro-lifers arrested on Public Sidewalk, Hurt, Jailed Overnight for "Trespassing" on public sidewalk (excerpts-click title to read entire article)
Members of a pro-life protest group have accused Birmingham police of violating their civil rights by bullying and arresting the group for peacefully spread their message on a public sidewalk.

According to a press release issued by the group, nine members of the Survivors Campus Life Tour were holding signs, dialoguing and distributing literature to students on a public sidewalk at Birmingham's Parker High School Thursday when police arrived in over a dozen squad cars and began to threaten the group with arrest unless they leave.

The group says they contacted their attorney, who assured them that their location on the public sidewalk and their free speech activity was legal, and so they continued their activities until police began arresting the members without explanation. ....

Members claim that they were placed in holding cells for 6 hours without water or access to a phone despite requests, and that at least one member was shackled painfully at the ankles for hours despite his attorney's pleas for their removal. Rev. Shaver said he and the other male detainees learned that several of the jail guards also serve as security guards at a local abortion clinic.

The members were held overnight in the Birmingham City Jail and released early the next morning. Daniell Versluys, the Survivors' Director of Special Events, told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) that the members were given no paper citations, only bond forms stating "Charge of Trespassing" with no penal code listed. Versluys also said that the group plans to publish their video footage of the incident on Youtube. It is uncertain whether either the police department or the Survivors will press charges....

"I am in shock and disbelief that a person can be arrested for simply standing on a public sidewalk and handing out literature," said Allison Aranda of Life Legal Defense, the Survivors' legal counsel. "If there is any principle that is so deeply rooted in this nation's history it is the right of free speech, and it is shameful that those charged with upholding the law are in fact the ones that violated the Highest Law of the land today."

"The police officers of Birmingham have demonstrated a total disregard for both local laws and the Constitution," remarked Rev. Jeff White, founder of the Survivors. "It is ironic that young people participating in a project named after Dr. King's letter sit in the very jail he penned it from. Ironic and sad. ... Throughout their entire ordeal, these youths' first and foremost concern was to draw attention to the ultimate civil rights abuse - the murder of pre-born children."

Pro-Life Pastor Hoye Gets 30 Days in Jail for Helping Women at Abortion Center (excerpts-click title to read entire article)
A pro-life African-American pastor has been sentenced to 30 days in jail for sharing a pro-life message outside local abortion centers. ...

“It is absolutely incredible that in America an individual can be sentenced to jail for engaging in peaceful free speech activity on a public sidewalk,” she told LifeNews.com Thursday afternoon. “We will appeal......

Hoye is an African-American pastor who feels a special calling to work for the end of abortion because abortion centers specifically target the black community.

As part of his efforts, he stands in front of an abortion center in Oakland with leaflets offering abortion alternatives and a sign reading, “Jesus loves you and your baby. Let us help.”

Aranda previously told LifeNews.com that the jury convicted Hoye despite a video tape the defense presented at trial showing that prosecution witnesses conjured up phantom patients whom Hoye had allegedly harassed.

The tape also showed that Hoye had not threatened two abortion facility escorts or its director, as had been alleged. ....

LLDF attorneys say the "clinic escorts" are upset by Hoye's presence and they surround him to impede his movement, block his sign with large sheets of blank cardboard, and make raucous noise to drown out his quiet offers of assistance. ...
Watch the video clips to get a sense of what was actually happening in front of the abortion clinic - click here and read more about the shocking re-emergence of reconstruction era "Jim Crow" laws in the 21st Century! Click here to learn more.

Man With Pro-Life Anti-Obama Sign Pulled Over, Faces Police, Secret Service (excerpts-click title to read entire article)
An Oklahoma man with a homemade sign on his vehicle was pulled over and harassed by police for allegedly making a threat against the president.

Chip Harrison said he was driving to work when a police officer followed him for several miles and eventually signaled him to pull over.
The officer mistook the sign, which read "Abort Obama, not the unborn," as threatening. "I pulled over, knowing I hadn't done anything wrong," Harrison told the McClatchy-Tribune news service in a interview. "It's not meant to be a threat, it's a statement about abortion," Harrison said, saying he disagrees with Obama. "I asked the officer, 'Do you know what abort means?' He said, 'Yeah, it means to kill.' I said, 'No, it means to remove or terminate.'" .......

Harrison told the news service he eventually received a call from someone claiming to be a lieutenant supervisor for the Internal Investigations Department and who wanted to know how to return his sign to him.
The person asked Harrison if he wanted to file a complaint and he took some papers in case he wanted to do so.

After the call, Harrison received a second call from someone with the Secret Service who said agents were at his home. Upon calling his attorney, Harrison went home.
"When I was on my way there, the Secret Service called me and said they weren't going to ransack my house or anything ... they just wanted to (walk through the house) and make sure I wasn't a part of any hate groups," he recounted......

"(The officer) shouldn't have taken the sign," McCool said. "That was (Harrison's) First Amendment right to voice his concern."

8 comments:

RightKlik said...

Freedom of speech is slipping away

Franklin's Locke said...

This is not the first time the Left (Progressives) have attacked the First Amendment nor will it be the last. Wilson, FDR and LBJ all went after these freedoms because they are the second most powerful behind the Second Amendment and the right to own firearms.

This attempt is not new. This is a new time and a new era. We have new technology to battle these attacks on our liberties. We need to still stand up and spread the work about what is going on, or we will not have any freedom left.

http://franklinslocke.blogspot.com/

Mel said...

I knew about the Hoye case but not the other two, it is ridiculous.

Humble wife said...

We swirl closer to the bottom, ugh.

Unknown said...

Agreed. Our freedom of speech is slipping away.

:/ scary times.

Gayle said...

Franklin's right. What's going on is scary but it isn't the first time and I'm sure it won't be the last. We'll always have a large percentage of people who don't understand the importance of freedom, but the one's who really threaten us are those who understand it perfectly and want to do away with it! I watch everything going to hell in a handbasket under this administration. I think the infatuation that most people have with Obama will soon be a thing of the past. After all, infatuation never lasts very long, does it? It either turns into something deeper or else it vanishes and the blinders come off. In this case I'm hoping for the latter!

Sorry for being away for so long but my pc went to HP for repair and it was nearly a month before they returned it to me.

Keep up the great work!

Dana Broderick said...

wow! crazy stories. I agree with you. where are conservatives right to free speech? it seems like it has to be in the liberals agenda or it's considered hate speech or intolerant. this blog is awesome! i'm going to follow more closely! ;)

a red voice said...

-so true -
I couldn't agree with you all more - thanks for visiting my blog - sorry I've been out of action for a short time - come back anytime - I appreciate all your comments and insights.