On Wed, 30 Apr 2003, Thomas Shaddack wrote:
On Tue, 29 Apr 2003, Nomen Nescio wrote:
Needless to say, nothing could be further from the letter and spirit of the First Amendment.
I thought the Constitution applies to personal speech, not to corporate or government speech...
If I speak for myself, the First Amendment applies.
But should it apply even to corporations? Are such entities considered to be persons? Should they have "rights"?
Yes, they are considered "persons" in a ficticioius way. so are houses - a house can be confiscated if one person living in it was either a "drug dealer" or "terrorist. The owner need not know, the house is guilty of being an accomplice. Insane? Yes, but what else is new in the US :-)
I suggest an "eye test". If it is theoretically possible to talk with it eye-to-eye[1], then the Constitution applies. If it isn't possible to talk with it without a proxy person - a CEO, a spokesperson, etc. - no "higher rights" apply.
A non-personal entity should be considered to voluntarily give up its "right" to existence by an act of knowingly lying. A death penalty - the entity liquidation - should swiftly follow.
You are confusing common sense with law. A very silly thing to do! Patience, persistence, truth, Dr. mike