Opinion: March 25, 2011 buzz: Protecting free speech; rethinking the death penalty
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Most viewed: Lying and the 1st Amendment
There’s a difference between fraud and lying to boost your ego. Fortunately for Xavier Alvarez, the latter is protected by the 1st Amendment. Says Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals:
‘If false factual statements are unprotected, then the government can prosecute not only the man who tells tall tales of winning the congressional Medal of Honor, but also the JDater who falsely claims he’s Jewish or the dentist who assures you it won’t hurt a bit. Phrases such as ‘I’m working late tonight, hunny,’ ‘I got stuck in traffic’ and ‘I didn’t inhale’ could all be made into crimes.’
Read on for why Alvarez’s words were eventually deemed scornful but not criminal.
Most commented and shared: Second thoughts of a ‘hanging judge’
Donald A. McCartin, known once as ‘the hanging judge of Orange County’ for sentencing 10 convicted men to die, has changed his opinion on the death penalty and shared it with readers in Friday’s Op-Ed page. Had he known what he knows now, he would have given these men alternative sentences -- life in prison without the possibility of parole –- so as to not be a ‘player in a system so inefficient, so ineffective, so expensive and so emotionally costly.’ Recounting the story of Rodney James Alcala, who kidnapped and murdered a 12-year-old girl, McCartin explains why.
--Alexandra Le Tellier
PREVIOUSLY:
March 24, 2011: L.A.’s prostitution hub; debating the Libya intervention
March 23, 2011: A nonviolent, effective way we can all protest Wisconsin
March 22, 2011: Libya intervention; sales tax for online shoppers
March 21, 2011: ‘Outsourced,’ Libya intervention, same-sex marriage
March 18, 2011: In L.A., paying for carpool lanes; saving puppies
