The First Amendment

Ok, so both of my articles this week kinda have something to do with umm the first amendment. Well the editorial is some what connected to freedon of the press and the article is freedom of religion. After reading these articles, I started to wonder how far can the First Amendment can be stretch out? I'am all for the freedom of speech, religion and ect. But what if the press decided to write an article on a murder, or like the movie we watched (All President Men) about the Post and Watergate? Should the press be forced to revealed their sources? It's a hard decision to make. Then we look at the freedom of religion and separation of states and church. If that was really the case, then should this sector be charged with a crime? I would, but then I would violate the law right? I think it is so nasty that polygamy and possibility incest is happening. It's just not fair and Polygamy to me is so sexes. Why it is alright for men to have more than one wives but women can't have more than one husband? Anyways back to the topic of the first amendment.
I think that the press should have the right to keep their sources secretive, because come on now, priests are allowed to keep confession as a secret thing. To think of it, being a priest is their profession and being a journalist is a profession, so if it is ok for priest not to come out and say that someone is a murderer then a journalist shouldn't be forced to give out their sources. I might sound unfair when I say this but I do think the parents of the Polygamy sector should be punished because they are hurting the poor children who should be enjoying their childhood. My two views contradict each other but I mean it's my choice and hey FREEDOM OF SPEECH RIGHT?

P.S. this is the last blog ever and i think Im kind of sad! I actually like this project because it allows me to talk about something that is acutually IMPORTANT! Stroud, definately keep this idea, its fun! UMMM FOUR DAYS LEFT OF SCHOOL!

PEACE OUT WITH MUCHO ♥!

Article--More sect children reunited with happy parents.

This article is about the polygamy sect that was swept by the police. The children of the sect were taken away by the police due to the fact that young girls were being forced into marriage. There were about 397 children that were return back to the sect already. These people are from a sect called Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. This sector broke away from the Mormon Church in a way that they believe polygamy brings glorification in heaven. Upon the return of the children, many people saw the police raging the village to find evidence of underage girls being forced to have sex or forced into marriage.
The investigation apparently started from a call from a sixteen years-old mother to a hotline claiming her middle-age husband is abusing her. The court removed all the children at the beginning of the investigation because they believed that the church was forcing underage girls into marriage with older men. The court was forced to send an order to give the children back because at the appeal, the attorney proved that there was no main evidence that all of the kids were being abused. The kids were said that they were well taken care of in the foster facility and many parents moved near the facility to be close to their kids.
Part of the investigation was also to take DNA samples and to see which kids belong to whom. One of the member of this polygamy sect is Warren Jeffs, a convicted felon as an accomplish in a rape case and is in jail in Arizona, is being investigated for having sex with under aged girls from 12-15 in the sect. As for the parents of the returning children, they are required to attend parenting classes and are not allowed to leave the state until the investigation is over. The children are also required to be check as part of the investigation.

A Shield Law for The World--Editorial

The article talks about the right given to journalist under the First Amendment, this right is the right of journalists to keep their sources anonymity, and under no circumstances shall the sources be revealed; this is also known as the shield law. The article basically said that journalists should be able to write whatever they wish due to the freedom of speech. The article also stated that this shield law doesn’t only protect American journalists but also to many journalists around the world. The article also stated that if Congress would allow journalist to keep their sources anonymously, it would also protects them from prosecutorial habits that have been happening. The past attorneys generals have allowed prosecutors to used “contempt of the court” reason to violate the First Amendment right of journalists and made them reveal their sources. By doing this hypocrisy, the US is allowing ourselves to be criticized by other countries but it also made it alright when other countries are doing the same thing. Many other countries had followed the United States by allowing prosecutors to used journalists as a tool to get information. Although other countries abused the shield law, the US is the only country that had imprisoned its journalists. The article also mentioned that some countries in Europe had passed law to stop this issue. Belgium passed the law in 2005, Germany settled the issue in 2007, and France is planning to passed its version to give journalist confidential priority. This issue was never a problem in communist countries because they were too afraid to leak out official information, because there would not be any officials who are willing to risks a chance to being punished for leaking confidential business.
The author of the editorial noted that the United States should not be the blame of other countries mistake or the imprisonment of their reporters. However, he does think that American is a model because other countries based their shield laws on the US’s one and by putting our journalists in prison, we should have some responsibility to it. The US shield law is officially known as the Free Flow of Information Act, if this law is passed, it would guarantee more freedom of the press worldwide.