On Wed, 14 Feb 2001, Sampo Syreeni wrote:
But why should this be limited to the book stores? The same should go for laudries etc.
Where is: Congress shall make no law respecting the laundering of a persons personals. Ain't there, you're blowing smoke.
In this sense we *are* talking about privileges to those dealing with 1st Amendment protected material, like the press and book stores.
No, in no sense are we talking about the store other than as a mechanism for the execution by the book buyer (ain't that part of 'press'?) of their protected activities. By infringing the store you infringe the protected activities. Hence they wouldn't be protected, therefore the initial action against the store can't be allowed. Putting a 'tax' on owning a press would be identical. Are you saying that taxing the simple ownership of a press should be allowed? That it would not infringe the 1st?
Declan's problem obviously is that while free speech has constitutional protection in itself, here *privacy* is protected only via extension of the 1st Amendment protection. This isn't enough.
There is NO issue of 'privacy' per se in this. The issue is that speech and press (which includes reading same) are protected activities under the 1st. Publishing a book is not a 'private' activity (at least not in the sense you use the word - remember 'private' has TWO (2) definitions, just like juicy-fruit. Is your claim the 1st is based on a 'privacy' argument? I'd like to hear it. As to 'privacy' refer to to the 4th, 5th, 9th, & 10th to understand why the 'privacy' argument as tendered by Declan and others is so full of holes it'd make good Swiss cheese. ____________________________________________________________________ Before a larger group can see the virtue of an idea, a smaller group must first understand it. "Stranger Suns" George Zebrowski The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage@ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------