"Capt. Frank Hopkins" wrote in message
nk.net...

Amendment I

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.



A moderator can't censor by law. Otherwise, he or she could be 1. sued.
2 imprisoned, or 3 both.

Really? Try posting anything but the party line at rec.guns or rec.hunting.
In the latter group, I once spotted a message from a guy who said that he
liked to pack his whole family into the car and drive 4 hours to a place
where they'd shoot prairie dogs. I'm not an animal rights activist, but I
was curious about his pastime, so I asked why they shot prairie dogs. My
message never made it. I emailed the moderator. He said it was off topic.

In rec.guns, I once described an incident where an acquaintance of mine was
denied a pistol permit. His neighbors had noticed that he was being a
peeping tom, spying on a woman, the back of whose house faced his yard. He
was using a device made for long-distance viewing. Unfortunately, the device
was a scope mounted on a .223 Remington rifle. Believe it or not, the cops
could not do anything but stop by and yell at him. A few months later, the
dummy wanted a pistol permit. Here, you need to have 3 references sign your
application. He asked the same neighbors who'd called the cops on him
earlier. They called the cops AND the judge who rubber stamps the permit,
and explained that the guy was totally irresponsible with guns. He didn't
get the permit. I used this as an example of someone who's too damned stupid
to be around other people with a weapon.

The message never made it. Nobody busts moderators. Their newsgroups
constitute their own private dick-turf.