Freedom of Speech is one of our Constitutional Rights unless...

Why in the world would President Obama, General Petraeus and several elected officials expect Americans to sacrifice one of our most important principles, one of our most important rights, to appease the people of the Islamic world? Those are the people who want to strip us of our Right of Free Speech, among many other rights that offend them.

Are they not the last people on the planet we should appease? If our own leaders are asking Americans to forego their Right to Free Speech, have they not themselves become enemies of America?

Asking Americans to relinquish the Right of Free Speech is asking Americans to submit to an authority that demands to stand above our Constitution. For Americans, that is IMPOSSIBLE.

Beginning in the 1960s, American protesters opposed to the Vietnam War burned American flags. Flag-burning created plenty of controversy -- but led to no deaths. Instead, burning the US flag led to a Supreme Court case. The justices decided the Constitution permitted the burning of the US flag.

Burning the US flag sometimes occurs in other nations, most notably Islamic nations. However, no American has ever believed that anti-American speech in other countries should be met with murder or violence here at home. Or anywhere else. As 1,400 years of Islamic history proves, muslims will NEVER accept Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion or any other freedoms and rights granted to Americans by our Constitution and Bill of Rights.

"Free Speech Is A Great Idea, But ..."

03 Apr 2011

Harry Reid's comment that "we'll look into" the despicable Christianism of Terry Jones unnerved me. Butters unnerved me some more:

Sen. Lindsey Graham said Congress might need to explore the need to limit some forms of freedom of speech, in light of Tennessee pastor Terry Jones’ Quran burning, and how such actions result in enabling U.S. enemies.

"I wish we could find a way to hold people accountable. Free speech is a great idea, but we're in a war," Graham told CBS' Bob Schieffer on “Face the Nation” Sunday.

And there you have a classic example of how warfare abroad can curtail liberties at home. Koran burning is obviously a disgusting act of disrespect and incivility. But that very kind of act is what the First Amendment is designed to protect. And we should also remember that this war has no end, and that therefore the liberties taken away by wartime are permanently taken away.

General Petraeus tries to put out a Fire

A number of American leaders want Reverend Jones to drop his plan to burn Korans. They complain that burning Korans is a bad idea, though they admit it's legal. The complainers, General Petraeus among them, have listed the negative consequences and ill will that are likely to follow.

The complaints sound remarkably similar to those emerging from the debate about building a mosque on Park Place next to Ground Zero. In one case, Americans are imploring other Americans to put their displeasure and anger aside, and show instead that Americans are tolerant people who can solve problems rather than express hate, even though they have the Constitutional right to express themselves as Reverend Jones hopes they will.

However, in the other case, muslims are telling America they can build a mosque wherever the law permits, because, well, because they can. And if America doesn't like it, then America can lump it. Tough noogies. Are any muslims telling the leader of the mosque that maybe it would show good faith to build the mosque somewhere else? No.

It seems this is how things always go with muslims. Last week, when the leader of Israel and the leader of some Palestinians were preparing to meet, Palestinian gunmen from Hamas murdered four Israelis in the West Bank. One of the dead was a pregnant woman. Did Israel launch an attack on Hamas, the governing body of Gaza? No. Did the Hamas government begin an investigation and attempt to catch the killers? No.

Instead, cheers and praise. To commemorate the killings, about 3,000 muslims gathered in Gaza to celebrate the slaughter, hailing it as a heroic deed. They handed out sweets to passersby, the usual muslim celebratory practice. And so it goes.

From the New York Times -- September 8, 2010

Gen. David H. Petraeus warned on Tuesday that any video of Americans burning the Koran “would undoubtedly be used by extremists in Afghanistan — and around the world — to inflame public opinion and incite violence,” endangering the lives of American soldiers.

A State Department spokesman called Mr. Jones’s plan “un-American.” Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman, said any activity “that puts our troops in harm’s way would be a concern to this administration.”

Several clergy members in Washington and Florida said that there were efforts to dissuade Mr. Jones from proceeding with the event, but that he appeared unlikely to relent.

The religious leaders in Washington said in their statement, “We are appalled by such disrespect for a sacred text that for centuries has shaped many of the great cultures of our world.”

Interfaith events are not unusual, but this one was extraordinary for the urgency and passion expressed by the participants. Some of the same religious leaders later met with Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to urge him to prosecute religious hate crimes aggressively.

Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, said: “We know what it is like when people have attacked us physically, have attacked us verbally, and others have remained silent. It cannot happen here in America in 2010.”

The clergy members said that those responsible for a poisoned climate included politicians manipulating a wedge issue in an election year, self-styled “experts” on Islam who denigrate the faith for religious or political reasons and some conservative evangelical Christian pastors.

The Rev. Richard Cizik, president of the New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good, said: “To those who would exercise derision, bigotry, open rejection of our fellow Americans of a different faith, I say, shame on you. As an evangelical, I say to those who do this, you bring dishonor to those who love Jesus Christ.”

The summit meeting was initiated by leaders of the Islamic Society of North America, an umbrella group of mosques and Muslim groups, who contacted Jewish and Christian leaders they know from years of joint interfaith projects.

A Catholic priest, the Rev. Mark Massa, executive director of ecumenical and interreligious affairs of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, wrote the draft of the statement. About three dozen clergy members representing Jewish, Muslim, Protestant, Catholic, evangelical and Orthodox Christian groups refined it at the meeting.

They did not take a stand on whether to support the proposed mosque and community center near ground zero in Manhattan, saying, “Persons of conscience have taken different positions on the wisdom of the location of this project, even if the legal right to build on the site appears to be unassailable.”