The First Amendment of the Constitution…
The right to abuse common sense.

For all of you that are "Constitutionally Challenged," here is the actual wording of the First Amendment of our Constitution:

Amendment 1 - Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression

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 (redress v. 1. To set right, remedy or rectify. 2. To make amends for. n. 1. Satisfaction for wrong done; reparation. 2. Correction.) of grievances. (http://www.usconstitution.net/xconst.html)

Read it carefully. Do you see anyplace in this simple 44-word statement that says it is OK to build an Adult Bookstore next to a high school? Does it say that there shall be no Nativity scenes, or Christmas trees allowed on government property? Do you see anywhere in that statement that is is the "right" of an artist to get national funding (read that tax payer money) for art, and then create a drawing of Christ out of elephant dung, or to place a jar of urine with a crucifix inside and then display it in a building that is funded by the same taxpayers…who have no choice whether to give the "artist" or the gallery their money?

I could go on and on about the nuanced incongruities and outright ambiguity with which this "Constitutional Right" has been bandied about in courts over the past two centuries (most often of late by the ACLU), but anyone who reads the paper, or listens to one of the idiot talking heads on "Fox News" or "Air America," knows just how far 44 words can be twisted in a Supreme Court ruling.

Suffice it to say, that as with so much of the original Constitution, as well as the Amendments that gave it teeth, I have little doubt that the original framers would be screaming, "HEY, DAMN IT!!! THAT'S NOT WHAT WE MEANT!!" if they saw the way "freedom" has been interpreted over past 200+ years. (Case in point, I am damn certain that the framers did not actually support the concept of the NRA or private militias…especially vigilante morons with 4x4s, guns and cheep beer)

That said…know that anything I write on this site, is protected by the First Amendment under "freedom of speech." Also know that opinion is safe from any real threat of prosecution, as the standard for "continual bloviating, and gas-bag rhetoric which while inflammatory, and perhaps dangerously inaccurate, and which actually may cause entire elections to be swayed without having to file as a "PAC or special interest" has been already been set by the myriad talk shows, columnists and authors since the invention of the political pamphlet in the Colonial era.

In short, it's my opinion…so BITE me!