Whatever happened to FREEDOM OF SPEECH?

I really wanted to get off of politics, but I couldn't do it tonight!  The last time I checked this was still free America.  Did something change recently?  I know O said change, but is this what he meant?  I just read an article by CBS news about the Democrats circulating angry petitions against Rush Limbaugh.  Excuse me?  First of all, Rush has been misquoted in the whole "I want Obama to fail" comment.  But, even if he had said that, isn't that his right as an American citizen? One reader commented (and I must agree), "the first step of a new socialist regime is to silence the media."  People, we ought to be really scared.  

The first amendment says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise therof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the right of people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."  There are two biggies here.  The first is the right to free speech.  The second is the right of the press to speak.  We don't have to agree, but everyone is entitled to their opinion.  When we take that away, we are no longer America.  We are no longer the country our forefathers fought for.  The media crucified Bush for eight years.  They made fun of him.  They wished him dead.  They made bad movies about him.  I am an American.  I do not wish harm to my president, however, I do not agree with his policies.  He talks about hope and change.  My hope is that he doesn't change my country, my government, into something that is unrecognizable.  It all starts with the freedom of speech.  What's next?