Amendment I

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 of grievances.

My Opinion: To me this amendment is the most abused. We all know we have these rights but do we really know where they came from and what this country went through to get to this point? We are all content until one of these rights are taken away, when really it is our own fault for not abiding by the constitution. There are many subjects the First Amendment hits on that get us through our everyday lives.

Religion: Our government is prevented from establishing a offical religion which gives us free reign to believe in whatever we want.

Speech: Freedom of speech is the most controversial part of this amendment with people today. As much as we don't want people to say certain things, by law we cannot. They have the freedom to say what they want and when they want.

Press: The government cannot control where we hear our news from. They cannot specify that Americans are to only listen to CNN and nothing else. This allows different stand points to be spoken and criticized.

Assembly: Freedom of assembly has become more important in my opinion. With the free reign to meet with who ever you want whenever you want for any specific reason is important. When groups can gather and accomplish a common goal, their word can be spread more quickly and efficiently.

Petition: To petition the government for a redress of grievances means that citizens can ask for changes in the government. They can do this by collecting signatures and sending them to their elected representatives; they can write, call or e-mail their elected representatives; they can support groups that lobby the government.

Restricting the First Amendment on the interent





My Opinion: The reason I choose this video is because I feel that this is something that needs to be done. Regulating the internet could prevent us from potential future disasters. Where do you think kids find out how to make a bomb? FROM THE INTERNET! Why should this stuff be available? What use could it possibly offer to anyone! I think by coming up with some sort of restriction on the internet should be considered greatly.

March 3, 2006

A Colorado teacher who was suspended after making controversial comments about President Bush -- which were recorded by a student during class -- is filing a lawsuit against the school district in Aurora, Colo., this morning.
Sean Allen, the sophomore who took his tape to KHOW Radio.(thedenverchannel.com)
On the tape, the student, Sean Allen, repeatedly asks questions, and teacher Jay Bennish actually compliments him. But that may not be good enough for school officials, who will conclude their investigation within the week.
The district says the key question is whether Bennish violated policy by failing to allow ample opportunity for opposing views. On Thursday, dozens of students walked out of class at Overland High School, picking sides in the debate between the geography teacher and Allen. The controversy started Feb. 1, the day after Bush's State of the Union address.
"Who is probably the single most violent nation on planet Earth?" Bennish asked his class. "The United States of America."
He went even further, comparing Bush to Adolf Hitler.
"I'm not saying that Bush and Hitler are exactly the same, obviously they're not," Bennish said. "But there are some eerie similarities to the tones that they use."
Bennish told the class he was only expressing his opinions.
"I'm not in any way implying that you should agree with me," he said. "What I'm trying to get you to do is to think, right, about these issues more in depth."
"His whole goal," said David Lane, Bennish's attorney, "is to fire these kids up, and you have to take some extreme positions to fire these kids up. Let them debate it."
Bennish is on paid leave. Allen is thinking about transferring schools because he is afraid of reprisals.

-ABC News [Good Morning America]

My Opinion: Although it is disturbing to hear a teacher telling his students that Bush is like Hitler, he was expressing his opinion which he is protected to do by the First Amendment. At first you think that as a teacher you should be teaching your students things that will influence them so I can see the other side of this story. This goes back to me saying sometimes we wish we could tell people to just be quiet, but unfortunately we cannot and that is part of being an American that I can deal with.