Free speech for me but not for thee: A college professor, offended by comments on a free speech wall, forces the students to take it down.
Good for them: More films about Mohammad in the works.
Not surprisingly, both filmmakers fear violence from the religion of peace.
Both filmmakers are closely guarding details of their productions due to security concerns. They decry “Innocence of Muslims” as historically inaccurate, offensive and of poor quality. In the wake of its release, Yousef has been scrambling to meet with his investors — whom he describes as a mix of Egyptians and Americans — and ensure that they’re still on board.
Sina, for his part, said he had been exploring ways to hide the identities of the producers and actors in his movie and said he would not reveal the planned location for the movie shoot. He described his investors as a handful of Persian atheists who live in Los Angeles. “I’ve become more secretive,” said Sina, who insists that his goal is not to incite Muslims but to persuade them.
A Texas school district has banned the use of religious signs at football games, even if the signs were created entirely and freely by the students.
[According to Kevin Weldon, the district’s superintendent], legal counsel recommended that religious activities not be carried out, even if the are being organized and implemented by students. “Per the advice of TASB Legal, please do not allow any student groups to display any religious signs or messages at school-sponsored events,” the superintendent wrote in a letter to parents who are involved in organizing extracurricular activities.
So, according to the legal counsel for this school district, freedom of religion and speech is outlawed at any government event. What a crock.
The good news is that the students are refusing to back down, and intend to display even more signs at future events.
Cowards: The White House press secretary today “question[ed] the judgment” of someone publishing cartoons critical of Mohammad and Islam.
Carney said the White House supports free speech, but that is a lie if they are not going to defend the use that right in all cases.
The French prepare for a vibrant debate on free speech from the members of its Islamic community.
The worst part of this story isn’t that we expect Muslims to riot because someone said something they don’t like. The worst part is how eager many liberals are to lend these violent thugs quisling support.
Update: If you want to see some of those new Mohammad cartoons from the French magazine Charlie Hebdo, go here.
Go for it! The French magazine whose offices were firebombed last year after publishing an issue ridiculing Mohammad is about to publish another issue doing the exact same thing.
Charlie Hebdo’s latest move was greeted with immediate calls from political and religious leaders for the media to act responsibly and avoid inflaming the current situation. Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault issued a statement expressing his “disapproval of all excesses.”
The magazine’s editor, originally a cartoonist who uses the name Charb, denied he was being deliberately provocative at a delicate time. “The freedom of the press, is that a provocation?” he said. “I’m not asking strict Muslims to read Charlie Hebdo, just like I wouldn’t go to a mosque to listen to speeches that go against everything I believe.”
I say, good for the magazine Charlie Hebdo. And more publications should join in! If a lot of people make fun of Islam and Mohammad, it will make it very difficult for the religion-of-peace’s firebombing and rioting mobs to keep up.
A Justice department official today refused to rule out the idea of passing a law that would criminalize speech against any religion. With video.
The exact wording of the question: “Will you tell us here today that this administration’s Department of Justice will never entertain or advance a proposal that criminalizes speech against any religion?”
Despite being asked the question four times, the official consistently refused to answer the question directly. In other words, the Obama administration would consider criminalizing speech against religion. Or to put it more bluntly, they don’t believe in freedom of speech.
Obama cracks down on free speech.
In order to spare themselves the sort of critical scrutiny to which they are unaccustomed, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have fallen in with the absurd claim that violence has broken out in eleven Muslim countries, and terrorists armed with RPGs and (reportedly) mortars carried out a military operation to assassinate a U.S. ambassador, as a result of a 14-minute YouTube video. As always, Obama’s first priority is to point the finger of responsibility elsewhere.
So the Obama administration cracked down on the Christian who made the film–essentially an amateur production–which is critical of Islam, but no more so than many Hollywood productions have been of Christianity. The federal government sent Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies to bring the filmmaker into custody on the pretext that his uploading the movie trailer to YouTube may have violated the terms of his probation on a bank fraud conviction. That led to the famous photo of Nakoula Basseley Nakoula being taken into custody.
Shameful, disgusting, and inexcusable. The Obama administration is essentially attacking American citizens for the evils committed by Islamic radicals half a world away.
The eight dumbest things said about free speech this week.
With one additional bonus update of stupidity from the Obama administration.
This violence in the Middle East is not about what we do, but about the murderous and oppressive culture that rules these forsaken Arab countries. We Americans have nothing to apologize about.
Words fail me: An American professor of religious studies has called for the arrest of an American filmmaker because his film insulted Islam.
The most revealing moment in this disgusting op-ed is when Butler explains that somehow this filmmaker’s free speech rights are less valuable than the filmmaker who made The Last Temptation of Christ.
Bacile’s movie is not the first to denigrate a religious figure, nor will it be the last. The Last Temptation of Christ was protested vigorously. The difference is that Bacile indirectly and inadvertently inflamed people half a world away, resulting in the deaths of U.S. Embassy personnel.
So in other words, free speech is only allowed when it offends Christians or Jews. Offend a Muslim, however, and you must go to prison.
As I said, words fail me. Though I might add that you can reach the head of Anthea Butler’s Department of Religious Studies here. It might be worthwhile to politely ask him what he thinks of his associate professor’s interpretation of freedom of speech.
Fifty years ago today, John Kennedy gave a speech at Rice University in Texas, outlining his reasoning behind his proposal that the United States send a man to the Moon before the end of the decade. The key phrase:
But why, some say, the Moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?
We choose to go to the Moon. We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.
Video below the fold. The full text can be found here. (Interesting sidebar: When I posted Monday’s evening pause that quoted this speech I hadn’t realized the 50th anniversary of the speech was this week!)
This speech is worth watching, in full, if only to see the passion of both Kennedy and the audience for what he says. It also reveals a somewhat higher level of sophistication coming from a politician than one would see nowadays. Kennedy not only understood the deeper philosophical reasons for exploration, his thoughts were grounded in history as well as recent events, all of which he referenced repeatedly.
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That’s telling ’em! The U.S. Embassy in Egypt, in response to the attack by Islamic protesters today, has apologized to the protesters because their feelings might have been hurt by a film critical of Mohammad.
The full embassy statement is beyond belief:
The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. Today, the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Americans are honoring our patriots and those who serve our nation as the fitting response to the enemies of democracy. Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others.
Freedom of speech means you have the right to offend others, with no apologizes. Considering the violence continually perpetrated by Islam, it is perfectly justified to criticize this hateful religion. In fact, to its face I say Islam is a stain on the Earth which oppresses millions while killing hundreds of innocents on a daily basis.
For the Obama State Department to apologize for our country’s belief in freedom of speech, on this day of all days, September 11, is unspeakable. What kind of cowards are these people?
The media’s one-sided coverage.
Ramirez provides this wonderful comparison of the press’s coverage of past gaffes:
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Leftwing civility: T-shirts being sold at a union event celebrate the future death of Margaret Thatcher.
Leftwing debate: A Democratic Hawaii state lawmaker threatened to file criminal charges against a newspaper for publishing a letter critical of the lawmaker.
Hey, isn’t that what we all do when someone criticizes us, go to the state Attorney General to get criminal charges filed?
If you depend on the conservative commentary about Paul Ryan’s acceptance speech yesterday at the Republican convention to find out how he did, you would have no doubt that this was the greatest and most effective speech since Genesis. To quote just one report:
Paul Ryan’s speech, in two words? Nailed it. Everything that I like (and surmise that others will like as he becomes more and more familiar to them) about Paul Ryan was on perfect display during his half hour-ish on stage. He was intelligent without being intimidating; he was stern and serious but still optimistic and even funny; and he hinted at his wonkiness without getting into jargon and maintained his approachability. But the most beautiful thing about Paul Ryan as the potential vice president of the United States is his uncanny knack for breaking through populist myths and shrill leftist attacks and instead communicating the merits of free-market economics and small government, all without being shrill or polarizing.
Because I’m not spending a lot of time watching these conventions, mostly because they really are nothing more than public relations events staged by both parties, I didn’t see the speech live. After reading reports like the one above, however, I decided late last night to go to youtube and dig up Ryan’s speech and see this amazing performance for myself.
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Go for it: Brandon Raub, the ex-Marine who was arrested and placed in a psychiatric ward because government officials didn’t like his Facebook postings, has announced he is suing the officials involved.
An evening pause: Apropos of the uplifting nature of modern political debate, especially on the left, let’s find out why “Bob is a racist.”
A Virginia veteran who was arrested because of his writings on Facebook has been ordered released by a judge.
CBS 6 News’ Catie Beck said the judge dismissed the case Thursday against Brandon Raub. The judge said the original petition for Raub’s detention contained no facts. In other words, there was no information on why Raub was being held — and the judge deemed this violated his civil liberties. As a result, the judge ruled law enforcement has no grounds to hold Raub.
If I was this Marine, I sue everyone I could find for false arrest and a violation of his First Amendment rights.
Leftwing civility: A Connecticut gay man has pleaded guilty to sending hundreds of threatening letters, including death threats, to the director of a conservative organization opposed to same-sex marriage.
Some quotes from his letters:
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Leftwing civility: Police are preparing for significant violence at next week’s Republican convention in Tampa, based on threats by a number of leftwing groups.
In related news, the man who entered the conservative Family Research Center with a gun and shot a security guard after announcing “I don’t like your politics” has been indicted.
Saving the day for freedom: A 5-year-old Oklahoma kindergarten student was banned from wearing a University of Michigan t-shirt because it violated a city ordinance banning any apparel that didn’t support the state’s college teams.
Update: I have corrected the post, as I initially called this a state law, which it is not. Thank you Blair.
Freedom for me but not for thee: The atheist Freedom from Religion Foundation has threatened to sue 151 Mississippi schools if they allow students to pray using public address systems during athletic events.
In other words, according to this atheist organization, all expression of religion must be banned from the public marketplace of ideas. Only then will we have true freedom!
What is encouraging from this article is the increasing willingness of school officials, religious leaders, and students to resist this oppression.
Leftwing debate: It now appears confirmed that the man arrested for shooting a guard at the Family Research Council in DC apparently did so at least in part because he disagreed with the Council’s conservative positions.
Since the Tucson shootings in January 2011, the left has gone out of its way to try to pin every madman’s violent terror spree on conservatives and their willingness to aggressively disagree with the left. “If only the right wasn’t so hateful in its rhetoric these acts of violence wouldn’t happen.” Or to put it more honestly, Shut up!
In every case the charges by the left have proven false. In every case, politics had little to do with the murders. In fact, the only political violence we have seen since the rise of the tea party movement in 2009 has come from leftwing protesters trying to shut that movement down.
Now we do have a case where political rhetoric can be directly tied to violence. And it has come from the left, which has been completely over the top in the anger and hate they have expressed for those who disagree with them on the subject of gay marriage.
Sadly, I do not expect Barack Obama to go on the public airwaves and call for civility. To do so would show us that he can rise above partisanship, something I do not think he is capable of doing.
What brownshirts do: A third Chick-fil-A has now been vandalized.
Leftwing civility: “I hope that someone someday shoot your whole familly” More such comments at the link.
The irony here is that these comments come from people who oppose hunting and the shooting of animals. Yet, these same people find nothing wrong with the idea of shooting a human being with whom they disagree.
Attack of the Cookie Monsters.
The sad part is that the author provides documentation for every single silly attack, none of which have the slightest significance in the greater scheme of our present-day problems, where we have a federal government going bankrupt and a Senate and President who routinely flout the law for political reasons.
