MaryE,
I like your posts here and at Rodmans board. Think you are a VERY smart lady but I hate to tell you but Freedom of Speech and Freedom of The Press don't apply to the work enviroment.

Harry

> Hi everybody,

> I took a low-paying (for me) Federal job
> that has been delivering greater rewards
> than I would have considered possible, since
> it was just a "get over" endeavor
> that I never intended to keep.

> As you may know, I'd rather tinker with the
> hardware and software of my computer than
> almost anything else. So I set out to teach
> myself Microsoft Publisher, Pagemaker, and
> Quark Express, three leading publishing
> programs.

> Now, you've got to write in order to use
> these programs. If you don't, you get the
> nonsense stuff that comes with them to
> illustrate how to use the programs.

> Anyway, I did some "stream of
> consciousness" writing about the job
> and my co-workers, and produced a little
> newsletter. I printed 2 copies, and gave
> them to people at work who were also
> interested in those programs. Their feedback
> on the layout and design (primitive!) was
> important to me.

> They shared the publication with a few other
> people, and before I knew what was
> happening, people were asking for their own
> copy. I printed a total of 10 copies.

> The next week, I gave some thought to the
> content as I perfected my skill with the
> programs. I produced enough copies for
> everybody to have his own.

> The content dealt with leadership
> characteristics, the power of cooperating
> with each other, a rant on the sneaky
> snitches who invariably turn up like roaches
> in any workplace, and a page of thanks to
> people who had helped me personally, during
> the preceeding week.

> It was a hit. (Wha' ????? - It was just a
> little exercise, and people who'd never
> spoken to me were asking to be included in
> the next distribution. "Next? Hell, I
> done learned what I wanted to! Ain't gon' be
> no next!")

> The newsletter got the attention of some
> managers and lawyers, who, for reasons not
> yet well articulated, thought it should be
> stopped. I talked with my manager and
> persuaded him to communicate to "the
> powers that be" that I understood very
> well the tenets of the U.S. Constitution,
> and that sharing the product of my THINKING
> was not illegal, yet. I further intimated
> that I was infused with a healthy dose of
> MLK idealism, and would, in fact, fight all
> the way to the Supreme Court to preserve the
> rights they were intent on violating.

> The verdict was that I could not distribute
> it in the workplace - a verdict supported by
> some specious reasoning that could easily be
> ripped apart by any lobotomized
> twelve-year-old.