Old Glory: You're free to burn it but not free to display it at work

Something sure smells rotten there. Do only Leftists have rights? And guess which side the ACLU is on?

"Ralph Silvestro, a legal clerk who works at the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia, never imagined that anyone would have a beef over the American flag he had taped to the side of his work computer. After all, he works in a courthouse.

No one complained about the flags, Silvestro said. Then on Sept. 23, Silvestro got an e-mail from his supervisor: "Keith has advised me as your supervisor, that the flags must come down. They are not appropriate for the workplace," the e-mail said. The "Keith" mentioned in the e-mail was Keith Smith, the new director of Active Criminal Records....

When asked if Smith had violated Silvestro's constitutional rights, perhaps infringing on his freedom of expression, a civil-rights lawyer said: "No." "Here's the thing: Your boss rules your life," said Mary Catherine Roper, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania's Philadelphia office. "Your employer gets to make the rules."

Source

If burning the flag is protected freedom of expression, displaying it should be too. And the first amendment DOES apply because the guy was working in a government office. The story might have been different in a private business. If the ACLU were really in favor of free speech they would have defended this guy and had good prospects of success in court.

Posted by John Ray. For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. For a daily survey of Australian politics, see AUSTRALIAN POLITICS Also, don't forget your daily roundup of pro-environment but anti-Greenie news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH . Email me (John Ray) here