European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 29, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                June 2007 stars and stripes Page 17 opinion no Law against court siding with free speech l ment George will Washington it us Hope that supreme court Justice Stephen who is rarely right about first Amend was right about what he said in Dur ing Oral arguments about a Challenge to a use of the Mccain fein Gold Law to suppress political who considers the suppression Constitution said to the challenger if we agree with you in this goodbye Mccain fein the challenger was a Small group of Wisconsin citizens by their grassroots lobbying for their political tried to com Mit the actually of influencing their Sena tors during what the Federal elec Tion which acts As the speech police under Mccain fein insisted was that Laws Black out during which the first amendment is supposedly re in Wisconsin right to life was unhappy because Wisconsin Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl were participating with other democrats in filibusters to Block Senate consideration of some of president Bush judicial Nomi Wirtl wanted to broadcast ads urging the senators constituents to Contact senators Feingold and Kohl and Tell them to oppose the this is speech by people seek ing a redress of the italicized words Are from the first amendments enumeration of rights that Congress shall make no Law yet four supreme court justices Ruth Bader David Souter and John Paul Stevens sup ported the fecs judgment that Mccain Feingold required ban Ning Wrils the in the fecs with Wrils exhortation to Wisconsin residents was that Feingold was running for reelection in because Wirtl is it fell under Mccain Feingold ban on any electioneering communication a radio or to and that refers to a candidate for Federal 30 Days of a primary or 60 Days of a general the blackout period silences speech when it matters yet Wrils and involved no coordination with a candidates Campaign and contained nothing to make it an express advocacy communication that urges people to vote for or vote against a Candi the italicized words alarm the and John he and others favor construing his Law in a Way that would give regulators vast discretion to sup press Mccain and his Aco Lytes argue that Issue ads such As Wrils will be discovered to be electioneering if speech regulators delve deeply enough into the actual intent of those running the or the Regula tors calculate the ads Likely such delving and calculating were rejected by chief Justice John Roberts As potentially chill ing intrusions by government into citizens participation in political Roberts focusing on Only the substance of the communication will entail minimal if any investigations of the communicators states of thereby avoiding a proliferation of factors that speech regulators will be allowed to justices Samuel Anthony Antonin Scalia and Clar ence Thomas joined in the courts which in Roberts words we give the Benefit of the doubt to not Mccain Feingold ostensible purpose is to prevent corruption which has Long been proscribed by Many other Laws or the appearance of which is difficult to define and and hence is problematic to but it is telling that Mccain Feingold restricts not just for profit corporations but also such As whose threat of corruption is Mccain Feingold actual Pur pose is to protect politicians from speech that annoys that is Why Mccain says he regrets Wrils Victory because it will allow groups to target a Federal candidate in the Days and weeks chief Justice John Roberts rejected elements of the Mccain Feingold Campaign finance Law As potentially chilling intrusions by government into citizens participation in political before an in his Scalia said that Mccain Feingold involves wondrous it ostensibly was written to restrain entities with immense aggregations of wealth that have corrosive and distorting these supposedly powerful entities were not powerful enough to prevent Pas Sage of the what the Law Actu ally muzzled faster than you can say Michael Bloomberg was Little Wrils Victory gratified All who understand the threat Mccaine Ingold poses was designed to pose to free political it premature to say John says this weeks supreme court ruling will allow groups to target a Federal candidate with ads in the Days and weeks before an goodbye and Good riddance to a Law empowering government to regulate the Content and timing of speech about govern the Wirtl decision is Only the first test of Mccain Feingold As applied since december 2003 in another 54 the before Alito replaced san dra Day upheld that Laws we Are a step closer to the deregulation of political and hence to the enhancement of Active Liberty that Breyer anticipates with for Bod George will is a member of Washington Post writers gated Community in the air gives fliers the business by Pico Iyer How much would you pay to enjoy six hours away from your fellow in a chair that reclines would you pay an hour or even More and if someone invited you to spend to pass a Long afternoon in a fairly cramped munching peanuts and Reading airline would you accept How desperate Are you to have Access to 15 movies you never would pay to see in a instead of 11 i often think that the airline executive who came up with the idea of business class should get his name on an endowed chair at the Harvard business his face on a mos wanted Post these seats somewhere toward the mid dle of planes Are where airlines make most of their but for they Are the place where the Laws of much like the Laws of no longer seem to to Fly business class from new York to London can Cost on Brit ish and to Fly first class costs More than a coach seat will set you Back roughly look at those figures who in her right mind would pay for six hours or if you include time in the Airport of slightly elevated Comfort someone who is not paying for her own and Longs to be a Little closer to those billion Aires and movie stars who dropped the full to be a few extra feet away from the on the a traveler might expect to pay to get 24 hours of extra Comfort in a hotels upgraded suite or an executive floor but As soon As we take to the skies and become a kind of captive Audi ence we will pay for a Little More of the food that we gladly would have much less the age of airline deregulation has brought a carnival of luxury discount car genuine discount Fra boy parties in the heavens and flyby night operations that change their names or colors be fore youve got a boarding but what its really brought us is the worst Side of global in compact it begins with the inequity of those paying thousands for the upper deck of the Jet effectively set up a gated Community in the in which people from other classes Are not even allowed to visit their re it continues with the startling Ine Quality of services and the unsurprising fact that the countries that often score High est for Quality of life new zealand also Are the ones that offer the most comfortable coach habitations in the it turns upon the divided Ness that moves some people to Fly across Europe on easy Jet for less than the Price of a bus while others strap themselves into Virgin Atlantic airways upper class seats for More than the Price of a new and it ends with perfect i got a Choice of 60 movies in an asian carriers Economy class Section last year Only a few weeks in an exor Bitant business class seat of a got just the Endo theline luxury logic you pay much More to get much the individual details Are less than the economic assumptions be Hind the better seats should Cost maybe 20 percent or for movie stars 50 percent but percent you dont have to be a philanthropist to realize that by enduring slightly More human com Pany for six you could build nine Homes in each big enough to House 10 people with the Money left and even if you want to keep the savings for your with extra you could take five Al inclusive Tours to Southeast for the Price of just an afternoons greater Comfort in route to globalism is something most of us have to but As we look to our summer Vaca maybe some of us can make a Small bid for or or just the plea sure of taking 19 trips for the Price of these common sense can be found mostly in the Back of the Pico Iyer is the most of and a set of essays about Sun after this column first appeared in the los Angeles prickly City by Scott Stantis tvlere9 a court ruum6 that Money k Speel Carmen that than Yum tuck about