Nude Barbie Photos Are Free Speech

From Yahoo/Reuters

Which of course raises the question: Is there anything whichisn'tfree speech? Except of course political commercials within 90 days of an election..

And praying.

Prayer is free speech. Just not praying in public schools. Unless you want Neo Nazis or the KKK excercising their free speech by marching in public schools every week?

Prayer is free speech. Just not praying in public schools. Unless you want Neo Nazis or the KKK excercising their free speech by marching in public schools every week?

Now that''s an interesting choice of comparisons... How about political speech? Should it be banned from schools, teachers and students alike?

Now that''s an interesting choice of comparisons... How about political speech? Should it be banned from schools, teachers and students alike?

It is. Is it not? What I remember of political speech in public school was debate club. It was after hours and not an official part of the curriculum.

nude photos of Barbie dolls being menaced by kitchen appliances.

pics?

Quote:
nude photos of Barbie dolls being menaced by kitchen appliances.

pics?

If you want to see this artist''s vision, you will just have to pay for it. Don''t take food out of the artist''s mouth.

Personally, I fiind nothing wrong with prayer in schools. I do not believe it should be mandatory or forced in any way. I think religion is a private thing, and shouldn''t be thrown around at people. Political discussion should not only be permitted, but encouraged. Kids need to learn to think somehow. As long as the schools don''t push any specific agenda, there shouldn''t be a problem.

Actually it is legal to pray in school. You just can''t be a government employee forcing your kids to pray on the government''s time. You can meet after school and pray to pagan gods while sacrificing chickens and holding a Green Party rally at the same time, no problem. If you''re not being payed by the government, you can pray all you want. Even if you are, you can pray all you want. You just can''t make your students do it. I don''t really think that''s unreasonable. Want your kids to pray in school? Send them to a school that isn''t government-owned.

Completely untrue. Children who have tried to pray have been stopped by faculty across America.

Ral, I''m only 23 so I was in highschool not too long ago. When they had those ""moment of silences"" as well as other things, we had kids praying. Also there was a christian ""club"" that would meet every morning before school and pray around the flag. And there was a christian athletes thing too. Maybe it is a state by state thing...

David Limbaugh''s new book, ""Persecution: How Liberals Are Waging War Against Christianity,"" will make you cry for your country. (But don''t pray for your country if you''re anywhere near a public school!) Released this week, Limbaugh''s copiously researched book documents how the courts, the universities, the media, Hollywood and government institutions react to any mention of Christianity like Superman recoiling from kryptonite, Dracula from sunlight, or Madonna from soap and water. His straight, factual narrative of what is happening in our public schools makes you wonder how much longer America can survive liberalism.

In a public school in St. Louis, a teacher spotted the suspect, fourth-grader Raymond Raines, bowing his head in prayer before lunch. The teacher stormed to Raymond''s table, ordered him to stop immediately and sent him to the principal''s office. The principal informed the young malefactor that praying was not allowed in school. When Raymond was again caught praying before meals on three separate occasions, he was segregated from other students, ridiculed in front of his classmates, and finally sentenced to a week''s detention.

Before snack time in her kindergarten class in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., little Kayla Broadus held hands with two of her classmates and recited this prayer: ""God is good, God is great, thank you, God, for my food."" The alert teacher pounced on Kayla, severely reprimanded her, and reported her to the school administration. In short order, the principal sent a sternly worded letter to Kayla''s parents advising them that Kayla was not allowed to pray in school, aloud or with others.

The school board then issued a triumphant press release crowing about its victory over a kindergartner praying before snack time. Thus was creeping theocracy in Saratoga Springs stopped dead in its tracks! Kayla''s mother brought a lawsuit, winning Kayla the right to pray out loud. But she was still prohibited from holding hands with others while she prayed. Hearing the G-word in kindergarten might interfere with the school''s efforts to teach proper sexual techniques in the first grade.

Thanks to the vigilance of an alert teacher at Lynn Lucas Middle School outside of Houston, two sisters carrying Bibles were prevented from bringing their vile material into a classroom. The teacher stopped the students at the classroom door and marched them to the principal''s office. (Maybe it was just the sight of public school students carrying a book of any kind that set off alarm bells.) The sisters'' mother was called and warned that the school intended to report her to Child Protective Services. When the mother arrived, the teacher threw the Bibles in the wastebasket, shouting, ""This is garbage!""

In another display of tolerance at Lynn Lucas Middle School, school administrators snatched three students'' books with covers displaying the Ten Commandments, ripped the covers off, threw them in the garbage, and told the students that the Ten Commandments constituted ""hate speech."" (Also, it would be insensitive to expose the Ten Commandments to students who had never been taught to count to 10.)

After the massacre at Columbine High School, students and families were invited to paint tiles above student lockers. The school district had taken all reasonable precautions, immediately deploying an army of secular ""grief counselors"" with teddy bears to descend on the school after the attack. Nonetheless, some students painted their tiles with ""objectionable"" messages, such as: ""4/20/99: Jesus Wept"" and ""God Is Love."" This would not stand: The school removed 90 tiles with offending religious messages.

A federal court upheld the school''s censorship of the religious tiles. Of course, Columbine school officials had earned a measure of deference after having inculcated such a fine sense of morality in their students that two boys could walk into school one day and stage a bloody massacre. You don''t argue with a track record like that.

Not all mentions of religion constitute ""hate speech."" In Tupelo, Miss., school administrators methodically purged all Christmas carols of any religious content – and then led the children in a chant of: ""Celebrate Kwanzaa!"" At Pattison Elementary school in Katy, Texas, Christmas songs are banned, but students are threatened with grade reductions for refusing to sing songs celebrating other religious faiths.

In New York City, the chancellor of the Department of Education prohibited the display of Nativity scenes in public schools, while expressly allowing the Jewish menorah and the Islamic star and crescent to be displayed. Some would say that was overkill inasmuch as New York City is already the home of the world''s largest public display built in commemoration of Islam: Ground Zero.

Between issuing laws prohibiting discrimination against transgendered individuals and running up a $38 billion deficit, the California Legislature mandated a three-week immersion course in Islam for all seventh-graders. A ""crash course"" in Islam, you might call it, if that weren''t so ironic. Students are required to adopt Muslim names, plan a trip to Mecca, play a jihad game, pray to ""Allah, the Compassionate"" and to chant ""Praise to Allah! Lord of Creation!"" They are encouraged to dress in Muslim garb.

I remember back in ''93 when they told some club at my high school that -by law- they couldn''t pray in the commons area anymore. They then moved outside the school and prayed around the flag for a few days before they were told it was school (government) property, and they couldn''t pray there either. They ended up moving off school grounds. If prayer still happens at your school it hasn''t been challenged at your school.

Some would say that was overkill inasmuch as New York City is already the home of the world''s largest public display built in commemoration of Islam: Ground Zero.

Wow. I didn''t know that David Limbaugh was such an ass.

Pity, up until that point I was thinking ""hey, good to see that he isn''t just being reactionary, but is illustrating points where there is distinct double-standards where Christianity is suppressed while other religions are promoted.""

Then he goes and proves how skewed his perspective is. Oh, and here''s another ass-gem:

A ""crash course"" in Islam, you might call it, if that weren''t so ironic.

Can we get someone to write a defense against the persecution of Christianity in America who doesn''t undermine their position with vitriolic generalizations?

Wow. I didn''t know that David Limbaugh was such an ass.

The column wasaboutLimbaugh''s book - not written by Limbaugh himself. The examples are all from his book, but the commentary is from the author, your favorite and mine, Ann Coulter...

The column was about Limbaugh''s book - not written by Limbaugh himself. The examples are all from his book, but the commentary is from the author, your favorite and mine, Ann Coulter...

First of all, let''s take a moment while I laugh at myself for not checking who wrote that quote.

Second, knowing that it was Ms. Coulter (I use ""Ms"" loosely here...) makes it better. Guess I can give Limbaugh the benefit of the doubt for now.

As you can tell from my previous statements, I agree that there is a part of this nation''s culture (primarily on the liberal side of the political divide) which has been trying to suppress expressions of Christian faith.

Whether this is due to paranoia that we aren''t being ""tolerant"" enough when we don''t hide our own beliefs, or due to an active anti-Christian agenda, it''s still reality. It was something that, for a long time, I struggled in balancing just in my own personal life.

I think that in schools, it''s important for all children to be able to remain true to their faiths. If that means praying before a meal, so be it. (I did that when I was in school, actually) If it means wearing a head covering, fine.

As long as observing your religion doesn''t stop the learning process or injure others (I don''t believe there''s a reason to sacrifice chickens during recess, for example), then there''s no reason that you should be prevented from your religious practices.

I also feel that during holidays, schools should either completely ignore religious preferences and not have any decorations of that type, or should instead provide for all religions representative of the student body that they feasibly can. No middle ground, suppressing one while embracing another.

And as far as schools teaching religion, I can only think of one class where it is appropriate to discuss what different religions are like and how they relate to society: Social Studies (or whatever they call it these days). And even that should be more of an overview for the purposes of understanding segments of our society, not a lesson in how to be of that faith.

Now, praying around the flag sounds just weird.

Is this really a liberal anti-christian agenda or just school administrators be insanely over cautious in fear of being sued?

I''m praying for a ""naked barbies for Bush"" commercial.

Is this really a liberal anti-christian agenda or just school administrators be insanely over cautious in fear of being sued?

I believe that''s a very large part of it.

Is this really a liberal anti-christian agenda or just school administrators be insanely over cautious in fear of being sued?

Of course, that''s the main issue. Also, individual administrators will interpret and bias the law in reflection of their personal beliefs. And, as Ral - and Coulter, but who''s surprised that she''s not entirely accurate - fails to point out the vast majority of schools that do allow students to practice their personal religious beliefs without persecution. They just don''t have school mandated prayer. But instead of noting that crucial point people like Coulter get a few mostly isolated cases, trump them up as a national agenda, and try to point out how the liberals are taking over the world to ruin all that is good and right. Not only is it laughable, but more importantly it''s not accurate considering - as has been pointed out before - the vast majority of the population is in some way religious and is not interested in doing anything so melodramatic as persecuting christians.