Slashdot Mirror
Students Banned from Blogging
wayward writes "Students at Pope John XIII, a Catholic high school, were told to take down their blogs from sites like Xanga and MySpace or face suspension. Rev. Kieran McHugh, the school's principal, said that he was trying to protect students from online predators. Not too surprisingly, free speech advocates got more than a little concerned.
Free speech advocates are concerned about the restriction of speech in a private high school? Shouldn't they be finishing up with China first?
We may as well close this thread. You've said it all.
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
Amen!
I knew two schools in Louisville, KY. One, with nice, polite kids. Normal lives, the whole deal. The other was a girls school, and riding the bus home in the afternoons with them? Wow. Every cliche you could find in a Penthouse, they had in spades. Not in a good way, either. In that slimy, disgusting "no thanks, celibacy sounds great" way.
Oh, yeah, there's no free speech in school. How they plan to enforce this off campus is worth hearing.
hahahaha
GNAA forever baby 8)
gotta admit, some GNAA trolls have more brains than most tin-foil hat wearing slashtrolls.
that's my highschool!...my highschool made slashdot? my world just got alot smaller. yeah pj99
WHAT? WHAT?! WHAT?!?!?!
You literally knocked me out of my chair with that one. I'm still having trouble believing you were modded +5, Informative.
How can you say that an amendment to the CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES is not a federal law? Unless you were talking about, say, canadian federal law. The constitution is the federal "law" that grants power to the congress to pass laws. The constitution is the document that grants power to the president to sign bills into law. The constitution (or at least the principle of judicial review established in Marbury v. Madison) is the document that grants the supreme court the power to rule on them. And before you say that that only applies to federal laws, go look up Martin v. Hunter's Lessee (Justice Story ruled that section 25 of the Judiciary Act of 1789 applied). By its very definition it is THE Federal Law! Without it there is no federal government, at least not one UNDER the constitution.
An amendment is, by all intents and purposes, the equivalent of being an original article in the constitution. Any federal law that violates anything in the amendment will be struck down in court, and congressmen should be held accountable for knowingly passing laws that directly violate the constitution! Any state law that violates a federal law will be struck down in court, or, as seen in the Californian medical marijuana case, the perpetrators will still be hunted down by the feds for breaking such laws. All states are subject to all laws in the constitution, with very few half-exceptions (such as those outlined in the annexation of the Republic of Texas). All local laws and governments must abide by the constitutions of their state and federal government, and they must also abide by all state and federal laws. I challenge you to find a license to operate that exempts any business or organization from federal, state, or local laws.
If somebody wants to do something that the constitution prohibits or does not allow for, they will have to amend the constitution in order for it to be legal. That's what this whole stink about teaching religion in public schools is about. That's why the fundies want to pass an AMENDMENT to define marriage; states will be unable to do anything that contradicts that definition, nor will any other federal law.
As per your "Not unless you think the Federal government gets to review and approve all school rules, employee handbooks and shopping mall rules." comment, my answer is: Why yes, yes I do. If a plaintiff brings suit against a local school saying they interfered with his right to vote, and, for some reason, the suit ends up being appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, then yes, yes I do believe that the supreme court will decide whether they will hear the case or not. Either way, you can be sure the church/school won't be the ones to decide whether the supreme court is allowed to hear the case. This may not have been the case in the early 1800s, but it certainly is today.
SWM seeks new sig for a brief fling
Your post is a troll. It is unsettling that your comment was rated "5: Informative".
The Constitution in the law of the land. It reins supreme over Federal, State & Local law. The Constitution describes the structure of the government and what powers it has. It also lists important rights of the citizens. From this foundation comes Federal, State & Local law.
Yes, the Judical branch of the US Government does get to review & approve/disapprove all school rules, employee handbooks and shopping mall rules. Maybe you heard of a little thing back in the 50's & 60's called the Civil Rights Movement? Maybe you heard of Rosa Parks? The Federal Government decided "rules" & laws enacted in the South weren't so hot.
I think the following from the US Declaration of Independance needs repeating here...
We don't have Free Speech because the First Amendment grants it to us, we have free speech because our creator gave it to us; one of many unalienable Rights.
The First Amendment simply spells out this right of free speech, so the government or others wouldn't get "confused" and say we don't have that right. Indeed its the government duty to protect our rights. If our right to free speech is impedied, it is the goverment job to see our rights restored.
If the govt becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law, it invites man to become his own law, it invites anarchy