We No Longer Have Freedom Of Speech

George W. Bush lied each time he took the Oath of Office for the President of the United States:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

The First Amendment to the Constitution is as follows:

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.

George W. Bush doesn’t like this ad:

So he has the Justice Department go after the people that produced the ad. Scott Horton has more on this here:

Well, here’s an example. At just this time, out in Michigan, in a criminal case we have chronicled previously in which the Justice Department seeks to protect the nation from that horrendous scourge—trial lawyers raising money for Democratic candidates—a young Justice apparatchik was busily issuing criminal subpoenas to a media company named Sussman Sikes. The subpoenas require the company to produce all materials related to a television advertisement that the company had prepared for the Fieger law firm.

And what had prompted this? The PR company had done an advertisement which showed President George W. Bush speaking disparagingly about the Fieger law firm, and it sought to turn this around to the law firm’s benefit.

So to defend the dignity of his commander-in-chief (I use this term advisedly, since it’s clear that this man is, contrary to his oath of office, not taking direction from the laws or the Constitution), the young assistant U.S. attorney has launched out to harass and intimidate the PR firm that made the commercial. Next no doubt he will be sending FBI agents into TV stations to serve subpoenas and seize copies of the advertisement.

You may have thought that you enjoyed freedom of speech and that the Department of Justice existed to protect your rights. That might even have been true of prior embodiments of the Department of Justice. But it’s not true for the Bush Department of Justice, which is intent on simultaneously demonstrating its arrogant abuse of power and its contempt for the nation’s Constitution and laws.