CRYPTONYM

The McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum recently conducted a survey that shows a sampling of the adult population in the United States finds it easier to recall the five main characters from The Simpsons than to name the five freedoms protected by the First Amendment. Approximately one in five adults could name all five Simpsons. Only one in one thousand could name all five freedoms.

Here is the apparently obscure, but beloved amendment:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

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Posted by at 10:13 AM | Permalink
Posted to Chicago | Education | Law | Politics and Current Events | Press Releases

Tom Geoghegan, author of the Prickly Paradigm pamplet Law in Shambles, will be speaking at 57th Street Books, 1301 E. 57th Street, in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood on February 22nd at 7pm. Geoghegan will be joined in conversation by journalist Rick Perlstein, author of Before the Storm and The Stock Ticker and the Superjumbo.


Geoghegan convincingly explains in Law in Shambles how the 2000 presidential election was only the first sign that justice is now driven by party politics. He notes how even lawyers are becoming disillusioned with the law, as federal cases are increasingly determined by whether they are heard by a Bush-appointed judge or a Clinton-appointed judge.


Geoghegan ultimately contends that the sense of disorder in our legal system has never been greater, and we may no longer have the basic civic trust necessary to preserve the rule of law.


More details on the event


Read more about Law in Shambles

Posted by at 11:09 AM | Permalink
Posted to Author Events | Law | Politics and Current Events | Prickly Paradigm