Julia Wilson

Hello dear world

How are you ? First of all I would like to share a quote with you.

"If there is a bedrock principle of the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable." -- Justice William J. Brennan ( 1906 - 1997 ) U.S. Supreme Court Justice

I would like to share a little bit of news with you. Recently in Sacramento, Calif. 14-year-old Julia Wilson upset by the war in Iraq, vented her frustrations with President Bush last spring on her Web page on MySpace.com. She posted a picture of the president, scrawled "Kill Bush" across the top and drew a dagger stabbing his outstretched hand. She later replaced her page on the social-networking site in which she learned in her eighth-grade history class that such threats are a federal offense. However, it was too late.

Federal authorities had found the page and placed Julia on their checklist. They finally reached her this week in her molecular biology class. The 14-year-old freshman was taken out of class Wednesday and questioned for about 15 minutes by two Secret Service agents. The incident has upset her parents, who said the agents should have included them when they questioned their daughter. On Friday, the teenager said the agents' questioning led her to tears. "I wasn't dangerous. I mean, look at what's ( stenciled ) on my backpack - it's a heart. I'm a very peace-loving person," said Julia, an honor student who describes herself as politically passionate. "I'm against the war in Iraq. I'm not going to kill the President."

Her mother, Kirstie Wilson, said the two agents showed up at the family's home Wednesday afternoon, questioned her and promised to return once her daughter was home from school. After they left, Kirstie Wilson sent a text message to her daughter's cell phone, telling her to come straight home: "There are two men from the secret service that want to talk with you" Apparently you made some death threats against President Bush. Julia responded to her mother's text message "Are you serious ! ? omg. Am I in a lot of trouble ?" she responded. Moments later, Kirstie Wilson received another text message from her daughter saying agents had pulled her out of class.

Julia said the agents threatened her by saying that she could be sent to juvenile hall for making the threat. "They yelled at me a lot", she said. "They are unnecessarily mean".

Spokesmen for the Secret Service in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., said they could not comment on the case.

Wilson and her parents said the agents were justified in questioning her over her MySpace.com posting. But they said they believe agents went too far by not waiting until she was out of school. They also said the agents should have more quickly figured out they weren't dealing with a real danger. Ultimately, the agents told the teen they would delete her investigation file.

Assistant Principal Paul Belluomini said the agents gave him the impression the girl's mother knew they were planning to question her daughter at school. There is no legal requirement that parents be notified. "This has been an ongoing problem," said Ann Brick, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union in San Francisco.

Former Govs. Pete Wilson and Gray Davis vetoed bills that would have required that parents give consent or be present when their children are questioned at school by law enforcement officers. A similar bill this year cleared the state Senate but died in the Assembly.

Julia plans to post a new MySpace.com page, this one devoted to organising other students to protest the Iraq war.

In my opinion I have to say that I believe Julia didn't mean any harm in what she posted on her Web page. I think that Julia was expressing her thoughts on a matter which she feels strongly on. The agents could have found out that 14-year-old Julia wasn't a threat to National Security or otherwise. I think that her freedom of speech should not be questioned simply because of what she might or might not say. Justice Benjamin Cardozo, who served from 1932 to 1938, wrote of free speech that it is " the matrix ... the indispensable condition of nearly every other freedom. "

It was also written that Justice Louis D. Brandeis believed that the most important role in a democracy is that of "citizen", and in order to carry out responsibilities of that role a person has to participate in public debate about significant issues. One cannot do that if he or she is afraid to speak out and say unpopular things; nor can one weigh all of the options unless other people, with differing views, are free to express their beliefs. Free speech, therefore, is at the heart of the democratic process. To prevent the majority from silencing those who oppose it is the reason the Framers wrote the First Amendment.

As Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once wrote is "not free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought we hate."

Julia Wilson is my model of free speech.

I just had to share my opinion with you on this dear world. What do you think ? Am I wrong ? That's all for now.

Good-night.