Railroaded speech

[Kadie]

Railroaded speech

Debra J. Saunders
Tuesday, May 4, 2004

IMAGINE if the federal government passed a law that limited advertising of one political point of view. But you don't have to imagine such a law because it already exists, even though most citizens -- even some D.C. politicians who voted for it -- aren't aware of it.

Last year, Congress passed and President Bush signed a big fat transportation spending bill with a tiny provision that ordered that no federal funds go to transit systems that run any ad that "promotes the legalization or medical use of" any drug listed in Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act. If a transit agency sells a billboard to an advocacy group that supports medical marijuana, it must say adios to the federal dollars that keep its wheels and rails humming.

The good news is: A lawsuit against the measure was argued in a Washington federal court last week. A ruling is expected soon.

snip...
Added Mirken, "San Franciscans right now are barred by law from buying a billboard in BART or Muni stations supporting Proposition 215 (the medical marijuana measure approved by California voters in 1996) and from urging our members of Congress to try to change federal law."

more... http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/05/04/EDGJ46E3BK1.DTL

[aquart]

1. We are ruled by prissy, petty, incompetent, impotent pricks.

Who would melt if we threw a bucket of wet truth over them.