But what about the First Amendment?  The concept of free speech is so enmeshed with our national identity and values, that most people do not realize the First Amendment only prevents the government from restricting free speech:

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.

Hank Williams is the latest U.S. citizen to face the cold hard reality that while he has the right to speak his piece, the First Amendment does not protect him from the consequences of his speech.

The Dixie Chicks’ music is still not played on many country stations after Natalie Maines criticized the actions of then-President George W. Bush while she was on tour in London.

Gilbert  Gottfried was fired as the voice of the AFLAC duck after AFLAC considered his Japanese Tsunami jokes tasteless and offensive.

Many public employees (those who work for the government) have very few free speech rights to criticize their employers.  Private employees also can be fired for voicing their views or opinions.  An Alabama woman was fired for having a John Kerry bumper sticker on her car.  A Delta flight attendant was fired for blogging and posing in racy pictures in her uniform.

Related articles

• Hank Williams Jr. Likens Obama To Hitler In Uncomfortable Fox and Friends Interview (mediaite.com)
• Hank Williams Jr. Tests Free-Speech Tolerance (firstamendmentcenter.org)

President Obama at NC State University in Raleigh:

“The time for hand-wringing is over. The time for moping around is over. We’ve got to kick off our bedroom slippers and put on our marching shoes,” he said.

Obama’s job’s plan calls for tax cuts, infrastructure spending and new job training assistance to be funded by ending tax loopholes for corporations and American families earning more than $250,000 a year. According to the White House the act will create jobs in NC as follows:

• The President’s plan will cut the payroll tax in half to 3.1% for employers on the first $5 million in wages and in North Carolina, 170,000 firms will receive a payroll tax cut under the American Jobs Act.
• The President’s plan includes $50 billion in immediate investments for highways, transit, rail and aviation which would include at least $797,900,000 in North Carolina that could support a minimum of approximately 10,400 local jobs.
• The President plan proposes to invest $35 billion to prevent layoffs of teachers, while supporting the hiring of tens of thousands more and keeping cops and firefighters on the job. The plan will provide $900,300,000 in funds to North Carolina to support up to 13,400 educator and first responder jobs.
• The President’s plan includes a $25 billion investment in school infrastructure that will modernize at least 35,000 public schools across the country including $675,700,000 in funding to North Carolina to support as many as 8,800 jobs.
• The President’s proposed new Pathways Back to Work Fund would provide hundreds of thousands of low-income youth and adults with opportunities to work and to achieve needed training in growth industries and could place 4,000 adults and 12,700 youths in jobs in North Carolina.

Do you support this jobs bill?  How will it help the Tarheel State reduce unemployment? What else would you like from our state and local government?

Related articles

• President to rally support for American Jobs Act in Triangle (charlotte.news14.com)
• On tar and Tar Heels – Obama on N.C. infrastructure (politico.com)

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A ban on travel and immigration to the U.S. by individuals with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, was first established by the Reagan-era U.S. Public Health Service and then given further support when Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) added HIV to the travel-exclusion list in a move that was ultimately passed unanimously by the Senate in 1987.

At an October 30, 2009 press conference, President Obama had the following to say about lifting the ban:

“A couple of years ago Michelle and I were in Africa and we tried to combat the stigma when we were in Kenya by taking a public HIV/AIDS test. And I’m proud to announce today we’re about to take another step towards ending that stigma.

Twenty-two years ago, in a decision rooted in fear rather than fact, the United States instituted a travel ban on entry into the country for people living with HIV/AIDS. Now, we talk about reducing the stigma of this disease — yet we’ve treated a visitor living with it as a threat. We lead the world when it comes to helping stem the AIDS pandemic — yet we are one of only a dozen countries that still bar people from HIV from entering our own country. If we want to be the global leader in combating HIV/AIDS, we need to act like it. “