Wednesday, June 28, 2006

What's Up, Michigan?

What's the First Amendment good for, anyway, Michigan?

A Michigan man might get 30 days in jail for writing "Bullshit Money Grab" on the memo line of the check he sent in to pay off a parking ticket he didn't deserve in the first place. An ACLU lawyer will defend his First Amendment rights. Long live the ACLU.

Last April, a Michigan State University professor of mechanical engineering told the university's Muslim Students' Association to leave the United States. In the letter he sent, he lumps all Muslims into one category: the terrorist category. But despite twelve different MSU student groups asking that the professor be reprimanded - not fired, mind you, merely reprimanded - the university said his hate speech was protected by the First Amendment.

Wires crossed, much, Michigan? How about you, Colorado?

The infamous University of Colorado at Boulder professor Ward Churchill is getting fired for comparing some of the victims of the WTC attacks to Nazis. Yes yes, what he said was downright blasphemous and all, but in comparison with the MSU story, isn't this fucking wierd?

What's the pattern here? Here it is: the First Amendment is for protecting the status quo, not free speech.