Pro-Life Group Engages in Air Battle Over California--Federal Lawsuit Filed

www.thomasmore.org . ^ | 10/2/2002 | Thomas More Law Center

[Eowyn-of-Rohan]

" Simple, don't look up. Problem solved"

Oh how dumb...don't you people who use this retort ever consider the fact that by the time you see it it is TOO LATE to "not look" or to "change the channel"? The damage has been done.

[Psycho_Bunny]

One thing has nothing to do with the other.

[Psycho_Bunny]

So?

There are lines that can be drawn by reasonable persons.

[Notwithstanding]

No. It is "overbroad", meaning the solution is too broad for the "problem".

Example: NYC bans all handbills because they create a mess on the streets. Supreme Court rules that such a ban - even though it applies to all speakers using handbills regardless of their message - is overbroad.

[Notwithstanding]

However, it is unAMERICAN to nix free speech - however inappropriate YOU may think it is.

[goodieD]

Not true. Killing babies is ALWAYS relevent..

[Notwithstanding]

Alas, the US Supreme Court would tell you to avert your eyes or stay at home.

[Psycho_Bunny]

It's not relevant to the subject at hand. And your response to me had absolutely nothing to do with what I was talking about.

If you are incapable of relevant discourse then rant/respond to someone else.

[let freedom sing]

Ban Huntington Beach from California!

[goodieD]

If you handle all dissension by calling it "irrelevent", then perhaps you are the one who needs to go rant.

[Eowyn-of-Rohan]

You are probably right, and that is what riles me...I doubt the forefathers could have foreseen how freedom of speech issues pertaining to 20th century inventions such as the television and computer would be manipulated such that the rights of the few outweigh the rights of the many.

[Notwithstanding]

Actually, they understood that unpopular public speech should be protected from the censorial tyranny of the majority. It is a fundamental tenet of first amendment that the most unpopular speech is that which most needs first amendment protection. Popular speech is highly unlikely to be censored. It is only unpopular speech that will face censorship.

[Eowyn-of-Rohan]

You are right that it is the unpopular speech that will face censorship. But do you think the forefathers intended that "freedom of speech" for pornographers, for example, should mean that they be given absolute freedom to display pornography anywhere, everywhere, and any time they choose? There used to be certain places a person would have to go to obtain pornography. It wasn't banned, but people who did not want it were not subjected to it, unlike today.

[Aquinasfan]

Pro-life activists, like the anti-smoking activists, sometimes go over the lines of decency with some of their photo-ads.

Indecent? How?

[Desdemona]

Pro-life activists, like the anti-smoking activists, sometimes go over the lines of decency with some of their photo-ads.

Indecent? How?

AF, this I gotta hear. The photos are hard to look at, but indecent?

[Notwithstanding]

Photos of slaughtered unborn babies are extremely political speech. Political speech is precisely the type of speech the founders thought ought to be unbridled. There is nothing obscene about them, they are not pornographic or profane.

You want to avoid such speech. And you can - avert your eyes or stay at home.

Being "forced" to see these flying photos is no different than being "forced" to see a street demonstration of photos of lynchings or holocaust victims or the Vietnamese child being blasted through the brain by a US serviceman. It is no different than you being forced to view a flying banner ad for an "adult" lounge during the ball game.

Do you really think that you should not be subjected to any message you find offensive?

[Eowyn-of-Rohan]

Do you really think that you should not be subjected to any message you find offensive

Of course not. I am many times every day. Pictures of dead, mutilated babies are extremely depressing and upsetting to normal people, and could traumatize a child who might see them. There used to be basic standards of appropriate behavior. Simple concepts, perhaps you have forgotten, like compassion, manners, and basic respect for your fellow human beings come to mind. BTW I don't believe you answered my question, but that's ok.

[Fudd]

The only rule this group has to abide by is current NOTAM's (Notices to Airmen), that proclude them from flying lower than 1000 feet AGL (Above Ground Level) over cities or people. 500 feet AGL Rural.

My point as on an earlier post. However, if the outfit flying this banner is based in HB, the locals are sure to twist some arms until (or even after- left wingers often ignore theses things) a court tells the city they stepped out of bounds.

[Politicalmom]

They ARE showing respect for their fellow human beings...the ones whose LIVES they are trying to save.

[Eowyn-of-Rohan]

are those the only ones that deserve respect? My cousin just had to have an abortion because the fetus had no skull. She is severly depressed and wanted her baby very much. THINK of how photos such as the ones discussed would make her feel. I think she deserves respect and compassion too.