As google voice is something i am looking into. I have an invite....just never used it yet.
i am one of those weird people. hell, smartphones freak me out at times....
and when scientists get a grasp on a quantum computer...
i am moving off planet, if i am still alive.
scary.
I gotta gripe... anyone have an opinion?
1. Taxpayers spend millions, almost a billion, dollars to implement a Do not Call process aimed at preventing telemarketers from calling you. What is there in the constitution giving commercial companies the right to invade your privacy by making unsolicited telephone calls... all under the banner of free speech.
2. Local newspapers dump advertising trash in your driveway nearly everyday, forcing you to have to pick up the crap and throw it away. This too under the banner of freedom of speech. Where does this come from?
3. Religious group goes to the site of a serviceman's funeral/burial with protest signs and chanting slurs against the serviceman even calling him a murderer. Again, so-called freedom of speech... WTF
4. Politicians engage in lies on a daily basis promising this or that if you vote for them. Again, freedom of speech. Or is it freedom to lie? What about contract law and particularly fraudulent inducements in exchange for something of value, i.e., your vote.
I'm beginning to believe we need some fine tuning of this so-called freedom of speech defense.
1. you can always have your number unlisted or when use the opt out option when registering for products or services. It is in the fine print.
2. You dont have to have a newspaper delivered to your house...you can either read it via mobile phone, thus eliminating the unnecessary trip to the recycling bin.
3. Is complete bullshit, but I am sure the forefathers of this country did not forsee all the exploitation of the loopholes. Religous groups are especially protected and not just by freedom of speech.
4. Everyone lies. It is a fact of life. You can either let it bother you (living in your ideal world where politicians and the government actually serve the people of the US and not their own self interests. This is the world where I am a 6ft blonde supermodel and rule the world too...)or you can just make the best of it.
There have been amendments made, but I am one who is for freedom of speech. That is the basis of this country...freedom. Men and women and children have died for this right. If you fine tune it...then that introduces censorship. People are going to say things that piss others off (myself included) but you know what? You dont HAVE to listen to them.
when things get too crazy, i just hop on my boom and fly away.
Sorry if I came off sounding like a jerk. I just feel pretty strongly about some things and letting people do what they are going to do is hey, life. Now, the protests at soldier's graves needs to stop though and if i were a trial attorney, i would shred that defense!!
now watch, I bet Puck will say something profound in less than ten words. how does that fucker do that??!!
Ya, the religious freedom provisions do provide an interesting circumstance. I bet nothing like the founding fathers had in mind, but nevertheless, here we are. The upcoming decision by the Supremes may be a Win/Win regardless of how they rule.
If they rule the church group was out of line, then great. I think the vast majority would agree with this.
If they rule in favor of the church, then by extrapolation, other ludicrous behavior may be opened up. Hmmm, I may start the pwilley "Church of the Holy OH". Membership requires all male members to "donate" funds, and all female members to attempt to deliver the best "ohs". And, in my new church, we recognize the fact that happy women generally strive to deliver the best "ohs". And, women are happiest when they can spend money. So, in my new religion, the donations collected will be split amongst the active female participants each day.
Thus are the teachings according to Pwilley.... lol
1. The First Amendment is a limitation on government power, not private conduct. Subject to the limitations of the federal telemarketing statute, they have the same right to call you and solicit as does a private person.
2. Freedom of speech has nothing to do with this conduct. Place a "no trespassing, no littering sign" on your property. That will stop it.
3. That one really was freedom of speech. Unless and until the Supreme Court tells that the right of privacy may sometimes outweigh political speech of this nature, this is clearly protected political speech.
4. Oh you can still sue them for defamation if they defame you, or for fraud if they defraud you, although the burden of proof is high. The First Amendment does not protect tortious speech of this nature.
Lying is okay though- I mean they are politicians.
Most of your gripes here pwilley (and they are VERY legitimate) is that corporations have declared human rights for themselves.
No where is this stated in the Constitution, and as far as I know, it's not stated in the law either. It's all based upon a Supreme Court decision, Santa Clara Co. vs Southern Pacific Railroad. The SC actually decided against the railroad, but a former railroad employee worked as a clerk for the court and attached a head note that falsely said that the court recognized that corporations have the same rights that are enumberated in the US Constitution.
So what we need is a law (or maybe even a Constitutional amendment) that states "A corporation is not a person")
Quite frankly, I think an easier way of solving this would be for the American People to elect a attorney generals with balls, who will promise to revoke corporate charters if they misbehave.
1) Telephone spam. I totally agree here. Unauthorized use of my property especially when it costs me to receive your message can be and should be regulated. This is already in place.
2) Newspaper delivery and snail mail paper spam. One CAN control this by not subscribing to the newspaper. You do not really have a say in what else the paper delivers on the other paper pages. Some people like the ads. Maybe they could offer a higher priced subscription without the ads for people like you? Are you willing to pay 5 times the existing subscription rate? Side note: If not for 4th class mail spam the US Postal Service could not survive.
3) Funeral harassment. If one can show that intentional infliction of pain occurred I think they should be pursued. I certainly hope the SCOTUS finds this later in this year’s appeal.
4) Political lies. I have to go with Thomas Jefferson here. The best weapon is MORE free speech and protection for those one might despise. Our main problem recently has been the death of the Free Press. One used to be able to rely on most of the main stream press to accurately and truthfully point out the lies and truth. Not so much anymore. If our Republic does fall some day, I believe it will be the death of the Free Press that will have been the main culprit.
Years and years ago I bought a device at a clearance sale. It was a box that you hooked up to your phone line "in-line" between the incoming line and the rest of your phones.
It gave you the option of inputing up to 50 names and numbers into it. When someone who was on the list called, it would ring through to your phone (with a special ring tone). If the caller was not on the list, you had the option of either not having the phone ring at all, just taking a message, or having the call pre-screened by the box asking the caller to state his name. Then your phone would ring and the box would "announce" the caller and give you the option to answer or not.
Furthermore, it also let you select, day-by-day, at what time of the day your phone would be available to ring and what time it would stop accepting calls even for the fifty callers on your list, and further refined it by letting you set up a subset of your alllowed callers that would ring through at any time.
You could also retreive messages from any phone in the house.
It was a great piece of equipment, although back then (around 1985) it was the size of a small shoebox. I don't know why they don't have something like that today
As google voice is something i am looking into. I have an invite....just never used it yet.
i am one of those weird people. hell, smartphones freak me out at times....
and when scientists get a grasp on a quantum computer...
i am moving off planet, if i am still alive.
scary.
His lobbying for the repeal of Equal time and Fairness doctrine directly led to the formation of conservative talk radio and the inundation of the airwaves by the odious and megalomaniacal Rush Limbaugh.
Murdoch manipulated the situation so as to force feed his dreck into the minds of the most easily swayed... and all you need to do is look to the paets of the country where ALL the airwaves are controlled by Murdoch's Newscorp, and Clear Channel Radio, the Texas based, Christian-owned and operated radio conglomerate.
All one needs to do, is follow the clues back to the beginnings of the Rush Limbaugh program to see where and when this country started down the slippery slope of HATE YOUR NEIGHBOR.
Today, over 90% of all talk radio programming in the USA is dominated and overwhelmed by the conservative right wing. No wonder radio has gone into the shitter.