Kagan: ‘Disappear’ Free Speech If The Government Deems It Offensive

President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan is perfect in every way – perfect that is if you think the role of the highest judicial body in the United States is to ban free speech, indefinitely detain Americans without trial, resurrect command and control socialism, while urinating on everything the Constitution stands for.

We already discovered Kagan’s penchant for treating Americans as guilty until proven innocent, or in fact just plain guilty without even the chance to be proven innocent, when she was quoted as saying, “That someone suspected of helping finance Al Qaeda should be subject to battlefield law — indefinite detention without a trial — even if he were captured in a place like the Philippines rather than a physical battle zone".'

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French Justice Minister Threatens Israel Critics With Jail

Pro-Palestinian solidarity groups in France have been threatened by the French justice minister with legal action, after they stepped up a campaign of boycotts against Israeli goods.

On March 30, Palestinian Land Day, French activists held large rallies across the country and joined the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Campaign against Israel.

Thousands of people held a protest in Paris in solidarity with Palestinians and urged the imposition of sanctions on Israeli products.'

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Shameful Anti-Free Speech Lobby Labels Questioning Government 'Hate'

Shameful Zionist propaganda lobby group The Simon Wiesenthal Center has issued a report which smears people who question government as racists and terrorists, labeling conspiracy theories “hate” in the latest crusade against free speech on the Internet.

In an article entitled, Terrorists Targeting Children Via Facebook, Twitter, Fox News affords sympathetic coverage to the 2010 Digital Terrorism and Hate report, which lumps in “conspiracy theories” with “lone wolf extremists,” “bomb making instructions” and “hate games,” implying that dissemination of “conspiracy theories” also amounts to some form of child abuse.

The intention is clear – to smear anyone upset at the mass financial raping they have been subject to, anyone expressing dissent and suspicion towards the federal government, as a racist, extremist, a child abuser, or even a terrorist.'

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Australian Censorship Debate Censored on Communications Minister’s Website

If you’re planning to censor free speech on the internet, what better approach to take than to, er, censor debate about how you’re planning to censor free speech on the internet? Brilliant.

That, according to one sharp-eyed Register reader, is the game being played by Australian Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, whose ministerial website is currently set up so as not to show searches on embarrassing terms such as “ISP filtering”.'

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Bad Word Banned

Apartheid is an ugly word that just shouldn’t be used, Progressive Conservative MPP Peter Shurman said Thursday.

And he got all of Queen’s Park to agree.

Shurman, the member from Thornhill, moved a resolution to condemn the now annual event on Canadian campuses known as Israeli Apartheid Week,

“I want to be clear about what it is I’m trying to do,” Shurman said. “I want the name changed. It’s that simple. It’s just wrong.”

Shurman said he had no objection to people criticizing Israel, or debating the thorny issues of Palestinians and the occupied territories.

“My problem is the name,” he said. “Israeli Apartheid Week is not dialogue, it’s a monologue. The name is hateful, it is odious and that’s not how things should be in my Ontario. It’s a term that frankly I’m sick of hearing. Get rid of this word apartheid.”

The resolution passed with unanimous support from both the Liberals and the New Democratic Party.'

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European Public Figures Get Gag Power Over Press

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is currently fast-tracking a landmark case, brought by Max Mosley, to tighten UK privacy laws. Mark Stephens, a lawyer acting for a group of media and free speech organisations opposing Mr Mosley in court, believes that the extraordinary pace with which it is proceeding suggests that the judges are about to rule in the former Formula One boss's favour.

That would mean a change in the law that would force the press to contact anyone that they are intending to run a story about to warn them if it could potentially breach their privacy, giving public figures a chance to gag newspapers before publication.'

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Indian Law Would Make Criticizing GM Crops an Imprisonable Offense

Criticising Genetically Modified (GM) products could land you in jail — if the draconian draft Biotechnology Regulatory Authority Bill (BRAB) of 2009, which will be tabled in the current session of the parliament by the UPA government, is passed.

In an unprecedented muzzle on the right to freedom of speech of the citizen, Chapter 13 section 63 of the draft bill says, “Whoever, without any evidence or scientific record misleads the public about the safety of the organisms and products…shall be punished with imprisonment for a term that shall not be less than six months but which may extend to one year and with fine which may extend to two lakh rupees or with both.” The BRAI Bill drafted by the department of bio-technology under the Ministry of Science and Technology comes on the heels of a moratorium on Bt Brinjal announced by the Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh.'

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Woman Reporter Dragged Away by Obama Security

Terrorism Chiefs Don't Know What They've Censored Online

Police are shutting websites without keeping any records, hampering government efforts to address online extremism, it's been revealed.

The Terrorism Act 2006 granted powers for police to compel web hosts to shut down websites promoting terrorism. But the powers have never been used, and forces have instead persuaded providers to take down websites voluntarily, according to the security minister Lord West.

He told the Lords on Wednesday that he could not say how many websites have been censored because no records have been kept.

"When we passed the Act in 2006, we laid down a requirement to make such records, but it has not really been done," he said.'

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Guardian Gagged From Reporting Parliament

The Guardian has been prevented from reporting parliamentary proceedings on legal grounds which appear to call into question privileges guaranteeing free speech established under the 1688 Bill of Rights.

Today's published Commons order papers contain a question to be answered by a minister later this week. The Guardian is prevented from identifying the MP who has asked the question, what the question is, which minister might answer it, or where the question is to be found.

The Guardian is also forbidden from telling its readers why the paper is prevented – for the first time in memory – from reporting parliament. Legal obstacles, which cannot be identified, involve proceedings, which cannot be mentioned, on behalf of a client who must remain secret.

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Permission?

Forty five words that grant the public their rights under the Constitution, to speak freely or to peaceably assemble to protest the illegal excesses of this government. Yet to do this we are "REQUIRED" to ask "PERMISSION" from the same people that we are protesting against? NO, we don't need their permission, because the permission in question is inherent in Article One of the US Constitution: Which overrides any and all city, county or state requirements to the contrary!

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UK Diplomat Convicted and Fined for Being Rude to Israel

British diplomat Rowan Laxton is convicted of 'racial harassment' over his use of strong language in protest at Israel's offensive against the Gaza Strip at the turn of the year.

Laxton reportedly used "offensive language against Israel and Jews" after watching a report about the Gaza war on television, while exercising in a gym on January 27.

The now suspended head of the South Asia desk of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) also said that all Israeli soldiers "should be wiped off the map."

Upon a complaint made by two gym-users to the police, the diplomat was arrested on charges of 'inciting religious hatred' but released on bail until next month.

On Thursday, City of Westminster Magistrates' Court convicted the 48-year-old Laxton of 'aggravated racial harassment' and required him to pay a fine worth 350 pounds.

"A member of FCO staff was convicted... of a public order offence. The FCO takes very seriously any suggestion of inappropriate behavior by its staff," said an FCO spokeswoman.

She said the case would be considered under the FCO's misconduct procedure, but refused to elaborate further.

Laxton, who has already been suspended from his job, could now be sacked. He was also ordered to pay 500 pounds in prosecution costs, but was not ordered to pay compensation.

Wearechange Schools Pittsburgh Police on Constitution at G20

Pittsburgh Beefs up Security to Greet G20 Protesters

Pittsburgh is beefing up security with thousands of extra police, as anti-globalization, anti-war, anti-government and anti-poverty activists descend on it for the G20 summit.

Ravenstahl has said protesters will be allowed to exercise their constitutional freedom of speech and assembly "within sight and sound" of the summit venue.

It turns out this will be in a strictly delineated area outside of the downtown cultural area where the likes of US President Barack Obama and China's Hu Jintao will be sitting down with other world leaders.

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Stunning Victory For Freedom of Speech

This morning a new light shines across Canada. The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT) has had its fangs trimmed. Section 13, the law that prohibits speaking openly about uncomfortable truths has finally been defeated. Commonly referred to as the anti hate law it has been used to stifle criticism of policy and ideology on almost every medium.

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Preacher Threatened with Arrest for Reading out Extracts From the Bible in Public

Lawyers acting for Miguel Hayworth, 29, have demanded an explanation over the alleged intimidation and abuse of power by three officers.

Andrea Minichiello Williams, the director of the Christian Legal Centre, has written to Peter Fahy, the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester, over the incident.

She claims that Mr Hayworth and his father, John, 55, were unlawfully and unfairly treated as they preached Christianity in the city at the end of July.

"They were clearly told that reading the Bible and preaching can be offensive and that they could be arrested," she wrote.

"Furthermore, they were subjected to abuse and intimidation. They were told that they were being monitored and filmed," she wrote.

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Senate Passes Hate Bill - Freedom of Speech Doomed

The Senate on Thursday approved the most sweeping expansion of federal hate crimes law since Congress responded four decades ago to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

The legislation, backed by President Barack Obama, would extend federal protections granted under the 1968 hate crimes law to cover those physically attacked because of their gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.

"This bill simply recognizes that there is a difference between assaulting someone to steal his money, or doing so because he is gay, or disabled, or Latino or Muslim," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said.

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Darren Pollard Arrested 11th July 2009

How The New ‘US Hate Laws’ Will Change Our Lives

On April 29, 2009, the US House of Representatives passed the Federal Hate Crimes Bill, HR 1913. The Bill was approved despite compelling testimony by House Republicans who were constrained by a Democrat-imposed “closed rule” on debate and amendments which limited the debate to only one hour and twenty minutes.

Only the day before, apparently in co-ordination with House Democrats, Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy introduced his Senate version of the Federal Hate Crimes Bill, S 909. If the Hate Crimes Bill is enacted into law, what are the implications for freedom of speech in America?

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Fiji's Military can Shoot Civilians Without Fear of Prosecution

Fiji's military have been given permission to shoot civilians without fear of being prosecuted.

Terrified Fijians say they are too frightened to speak out after the latest political upheaval, which has seen the nation's media gagged by sweeping state censorship restrictions in a crackdown on dissenting free speech.

Armed forces chief Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama returned to power as prime minister on Saturday, a day after the president suspended the constitution and fired the judges who had declared the his previous government illegal.

President Ratu Josefa Iloilo also declared a 30-day state of emergency, limiting freedom of speech, expanding police powers and curbing media.

Reports emerged yesterday of people being detained without charge in the absence of a judiciary. Public Emergency Regulations imposed by the military regime have given military personnel permission to use arms to break up processions, meetings or assemblies. If anyone is injured or killed, the decree grants soldiers immunity from prosecution.

Yesterday's Fiji Times had blank pages after police censors forced the paper to erase international reaction to latest developments.

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A bit like the UK and USA then really!