Raise the Hammer

Barring that if you'd like to use your free speech argument to do whatever you like then the corporations have the right to use their free speech to say "kiss my @$$"! - Frank

There is no such thing as Free Speech, it is a myth.

In Canada we have freedom of expression which is "subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society."

Who decides what is "reasonable" and what constitutes a "free and democratic" society?

Appointed judges.

In the us it is an even bigger myth as explained by Howard Zinn:

As I am about to argue, however, to depend on the simple existence of the First Amendment to guarantee our freedom of expression is a serious mistake, one that can cost us not only our liberties but, under certain circumstances, our lives.

"No Prior Restraint"

The language of the First Amendment looks absolute. "Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech." Yet in 1798, seven years after the First Amendment was adopted, Congress did exactly that, it passed laws abridging the freedom of speech-the Alien and Sedition Acts.

The Alien Act gave the president the power to deport "all such aliens as he shall judge dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States. The Sedition Act provided that "if any person shall write, print, utter, or publish . . . any false, scandalous and malicious writing or writings against the government of the United States, or either house of the Congress of the U.S. or the President of the U.S., with intent to defame . . . or to bring either of them into contempt or disrepute" such persons could be fined $2,000 or jailed for two years.

• Howard Zinn

Plus the US Constitution only limits the power of one branch of government - Congress - that does not mean that the judicial or legislative branch cannot limit free speech.

This is something every political activist, organizer, protester should know. When I hear the groans of "They're limiting my free speech" or "I have the right to free speech" I want to scream "You don't have free speech!!!!". We think we have all these freedoms and rights because they like to tell us we do, but really we don't.

Anyway, rant over.