Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Muzzle "Award" to Berrien County Judge Dennis Wiley

Annual Muzzle Awards - Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression

...“This year, as with so many in the past, the incidents on which the Muzzles are based range from the imperious to the ridiculous,” says O’Neil. Among the 2009 recipients is a Michigan judge who sentenced a minister [Rev. Pinkney] to 3-10 years in jail because of a letter to the editor...http://www.tjcenter.org/

...Each spring members of the Center’s Board of Trustees decide who should be distinguished (around Mr. Jefferson’s birthday, no less) for First Amendment infractions out of the hundreds of people and institutions nominated.
...The First Amendment to the United States Constitution --
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment or 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." http://c-ville.com/index.php?cat=121304062461064&ShowArticle_ID=11800604093733168