(Thanks, S. :)

Reader S. writes (and I'll comment, following):

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Re: Reader: 'The Agents are getting to where t....

'...So, no Agent is required to provide a way to be contacted. Those of us who do are not required to post, respond to, or even read the emails we receive. All this is totally at the discretion of the individual RMN Agent...'
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Hobie, if you can refuse to post, or to respond to, or to read the emails you receive, then, by all means, so can the other agents. What you have here is but another form of restriction of the 1st Amendment right, which many RMN agents, in their postings, criticize the US government for abusing this right. RMN can be moderated quite easily. Let's show an example that you not only 'talk the talk', but you also 'walk the walk'.

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(hobie here. :) Thanks, but you're confused about the First Amendment. It does not grant any sort of right. What it does, among other things, is restrict Congress from making particular speech illegal.

Here's the text, from Wikipedia who got it from Cornell:

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.[1]

"Freedom of speech" does not include a "right to be heard" or a "right to be provided with a platform from which to speak".

Why? Because such "rights" would necessarily constitute infringement upon the rights of others.

What one does have is freedom to set up one's own website and to exercise one's freedom of speech there. Also, freedom to join in RMN's CGI Room and, abiding by the guidelines that are part of it, to post for oneself:

http://cgi.rumormillnews.com
http://cgi.rumormillnews.com/signup.html

Blessings.

--hobie