(hat tip The Blaze)

John Stossel had Ann Coulter on his program to discuss freedom of speech.

(hat tip Story Balloon)

This is a great day for all Americans who cherish their free speech rights. The democrats have failed in their cynical attempt to clamp down on speech with their so-called “DISCLOSE Act.”

It went down in flames today on a 57-41 vote.

[Read the full story at Hot Air]

No matter how you feel about pornography from a moral or social perspective it’s nevertheless a legal and legitimate enterprise. Adults aged 18 years or older can lawfully view other adults aged 18 years or older engaging in consensual sexual acts on film. Certain sexual acts such as those involving minors, bestiality, or incest are expressly illegal and cannot be engaged in or filmed. Beyond that you can pretty much do whatever you want. It’s a free speech issue plain and simple.

Opening arguments began today in the outrageous “obscenity” trial of John Stagliano who owns a porn company called Evil Angel.

Stagliano faces up to 32 years in prison and a $7 million dollar fine for distributing three adult movies to consenting adults who wished to purchase them.

Keep in mind we’re not talking about anything involving kids here — only adults. Anyone not wishing to view the movies doesn’t have to. They don’t run billboards or television commercials. You have to either go to an adult video store or to the Evil Angel website to buy the movies.

Reason Magazine has extensive background on this case as well as up to date trial coverage. John Stossel had Stagliano on his show a couple of weeks ago to discuss his case.

The bottom line is that it’s impossible to legislate “obscenity” because it’s in the eye of the beholder.

Regardless of what you think of porn, this kind of attack on free speech is a mighty slippery slope.

What’s to stop the DOJ (especially Eric Holder’s DOJ) from deciding certain kinds of political speech are obscene? How about books? Music?

This is the kind of issue that I part ways with my Conservative friends on. I’m a libertarian all the way on this. The government has no damn business getting involved.

Follow the case live on Twitter @richardabowitz

UPDATE:  Here’s Reason’s interview with Stagliano

Take a listen to left-wing Solicitor General Elena Kagan as she argues before the Supreme Court. This is from the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case. Suffice it to say, Kagan lost. I remember listening to this case at the time and thinking what a weak lawyer she was. Not surpassingly, Obama picked her for the Supreme Court.  Where do liberals learn these bizarre legal theories? Are we reading the same Constitution?

Kudos to Naked Emperor News for bringing this back.

(hat tip Breitbart TV)

This is an excellent interview by Megyn Kelly. It really shows you what happens to a society when liberalism is allowed to run wild. People are not allowed to speak freely and must be censored or prevented from speaking all together.

(hat tip The Right Scoop)

I would just ignore the corrections and send my constituents whatever the hell I wanted. I don’t think Democrats can legally do that, at least not to that extent.

I’ve written quite a bit about Geert Wilders over the last couple of years. He’s one of the only people in Europe willing to speak out against the spread of Islam and the Islamization of Europe. Wilders is being prosecuted in multiple countries under absurd “hate speech” laws for speaking out against Islam. As a Dutch member of parliament he lives under constant death threats from Muslims in the Netherlands.

He was invited to speak in Britain recently and was turned away at the airport after radical Muslims threatened to overrun the British parliament if he were allowed to speak — thus proving Wilder’s point that Islam is a totalitarian ideology.

Take a listen to this magnificent speech from Geert Wilders in Los Angeles at the David Horowitz Freedom Center:

Here’s the Q & A after the speech:

(hat tip The Astute Bloggers)

I knew the second he opened his mouth to ask The One a question, Joe Wurzelbacher AKA “Joe The Plumber” was gonna be in for a bumpy ride. Sure enough, the left’s vicious smear machine went to work right away taking the man apart.

Michelle explains better than I ever could the step by step destruction of Joe by the Obama thugs. Obama supporters don’t give a damn about free speech unless it’s their free speech. Predictably, Joe The Plumber is now being labeled a racist much like anyone else who dare’s to question his holiness The One.

-Chris Jones

When John McCain told a group of supporters the other day they have nothing to fear if Barack Obama gets elected, he was was wrong. Anyone who enjoys exercising their free speech rights has a lot to fear from an Obama administration. No campaign in history has done more to chill free expression than Barack Obama and his ultra left-wing pals.

Michael Barone’s latest column in the Washington Times explains in detail the dangers of an Obama presidency as it relatest to free speech.

Other Obama supporters have threatened critics with criminal prosecution. In September, St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch and St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce warned citizens that they would bring criminal libel prosecutions against anyone who made statements against Mr. Obama that were “false.” I had been under the impression that the Alien and Sedition Acts had gone out of existence in 1801-’02. Not so, apparently, in metropolitan St. Louis. Similarly, the Obama campaign called for a criminal investigation of the American Issues Project when it ran ads highlighting Mr. Obama’s ties to Mr. Ayers.

These attempts to shut down political speech have become routine for liberals. Congressional Democrats sought to reimpose the “fairness doctrine” on broadcasters, which until it was repealed in the 1980s required equal time for different points of view. The motive was plain: to shut down the one conservative-leaning communications medium, talk radio. Liberal talk-show hosts have mostly failed to draw audiences, and many liberals can’t abide having citizens hear contrary views.

Let’s not forget about NBC’s hideous behavior during this election cycle which has even infected ‘Saturday Night Live’:

Corporate liberals have done their share in shutting down anti-liberal speech, too. “Saturday Night Live” ran a spoof of the financial crisis that skewered Democrats like House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank and liberal contributors Herbert and Marion Sandler, who sold toxic-waste-filled Golden West to Wachovia Bank for $24 billion. Kind of surprising, but not for long. The tape of the broadcast disappeared from NBC’s Web site and was replaced with another that omitted the references to Mr. Frank and the Sandlers. Evidently NBC and its parent, General Electric, don’t want people to hear speech that attacks liberals.

Barone also points out the extremely troubling activities of labor unions which are certain to run wild under a liberal administration:

Then there’s the Democrats’ “card check” legislation that would abolish secret ballot elections in determining whether employees are represented by unions. The unions’ strategy is obvious: Send a few thugs over to employees’ homes – we know where you live – and get them to sign cards that will trigger a union victory without giving employers a chance to be heard.

Once upon a time, liberals prided themselves, with considerable reason, as the staunchest defenders of free speech. Union organizers in the 1930s and 1940s made the case that they should have access to employees to speak freely to them, and union leaders like George Meany and Walter Reuther were ardent defenders of the First Amendment.

Everyone should read the rest of Michael Barone’s piece. All this “Change We Can Believe In” crap makes for a great campaign slogan, but many Americans have no idea just what kind of change is coming.

-Chris Jones

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