"First Amendment freedoms are most in danger when the government seeks to control thought or to justify its laws for that impermissible end. The right to think is the beginning of freedom, and speech must be protected from the government because speech is the beginning of thought."
Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy
John D. Ashcroft, Attorney General, et al. v. Free Speech Coalition, (2002)
So I was going to write a bit about the First Amendment before the shootings in Garland, TX at the "Draw Mohammed" event. BTW, the $12,500 winner of that event was Albanian-American artist Bosch Fawstin with this cartoon:
The cartoon is, of course, copyrighted by Mr. Fawstin. Look at all his work...I especially like "Obama's position on Iran" cartoon. Spot on!
Oh, sorry...forgot the "Trigger Warning!":
There there, Special Snowflake! Feel better?
The reason I was thinking about the First Amendment was the 204 writers who chose to protest the PEN Literary Guild decision to give the PEN/Toni and James C. Goodale Freedom of Expression Courage Award to the magazine Charlie Hebdo, whose staff, if you remember that far back, was slaughtered by Islamic fascists on 7 January. I think Salman Rushdie of course put it better than I ever could: "“The award will be given. PEN is holding firm. Just 6 pussies [At the time only 6 authors had signed the letter]. Six Authors in Search of a bit of Character.”
Of course, this was after cartoonist Gary Trudeau, who once aspired to relevance, had already — to borrow the words of The Daily Caller — "crapped" all over the dead cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo:
Or maybe we should put it to the much revered William O. Douglas, who, for some reason, didn't mention "hate speech" at all:
Oh gosh, so what's a poor socialist...er, progressive...to do?
And so we come to Garland, TX, where the Islamic fascist ran into a Texan lawman who knew what he was all about. Whoops!
Oh, sorry...forgot the "Trigger Warning!":
"But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."
— Thomas Jefferson
There there, Special Snowflake! Feel better?
The reason I was thinking about the First Amendment was the 204 writers who chose to protest the PEN Literary Guild decision to give the PEN/Toni and James C. Goodale Freedom of Expression Courage Award to the magazine Charlie Hebdo, whose staff, if you remember that far back, was slaughtered by Islamic fascists on 7 January. I think Salman Rushdie of course put it better than I ever could: "“The award will be given. PEN is holding firm. Just 6 pussies [At the time only 6 authors had signed the letter]. Six Authors in Search of a bit of Character.”
Of course, this was after cartoonist Gary Trudeau, who once aspired to relevance, had already — to borrow the words of The Daily Caller — "crapped" all over the dead cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo:
By punching downward, by attacking a powerless, disenfranchised minority with crude, vulgar drawings closer to graffiti than cartoons, Charlie wandered into the realm of hate speech, which in France is only illegal if it directly incites violence…D'at ole demon Hate Speech! That Gary, he makes a whole career of demonizing conservatives and licking the boots of Democrats, but he knows that hate speech when he hears it! I wonder what the Founders might say? Maybe:
“Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.”
—Benjamin Franklin
Or maybe we should put it to the much revered William O. Douglas, who, for some reason, didn't mention "hate speech" at all:
“Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us.”
—Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas
Oh gosh, so what's a poor socialist...er, progressive...to do?
And so we come to Garland, TX, where the Islamic fascist ran into a Texan lawman who knew what he was all about. Whoops!
10 comments:
And we have TWO islamofascists with "assault rifles", per the local police chief, that managed to shoot a security guard in the third ring of security in the ankle and then got killed by a cop with his GLOCK at an unknown distance. Hope they enjoy their 27 sturgeons.
Sorry. Latest from the AP is that the local cop STARTED to go after the Terrs, but the SWAT Team showed up and finished the Job.
But Hey! Texas LEOS finished what the IslamoFascists started.
Wonder if Obama is going to send the DOJ after those Cops for "Violating the Terrorists Civil Rights"?
Best quote of the day...
Justice Texas style drop them like their hot!
They were warned what would happen if they tried their islamobarbarism on American soil.
Sure, it was because of "hate speech." Just like it was the fault of the rape victim for wearing a miniskirt and halter top.
David…isn't that an amazing dichotomy? "Victim shaming" is one of the greatest sins possible, according to the progressive left. It's so important to the progressives that they are willing to DESTROY the whole American concept of due process, destroy the 4th Amendment and turn law into the rule of the mob.
Pamela Geller is a hero, in the same way every great civil rights activist was a hero. If you choose to be out front and put that target on your chest, that is the essence of what our Founders believed…"we pledge our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor…"
Those are real words, words with iron behind them. The Founders poked the British bear — the greatest and most feared military power in the world — right in the eye, because God-given rights are more important than security.
None of us like things that offend us. Progressives, for example, make me sick to my stomach. Every time one opens his or her mouth to spew their venom I want to punch them in the face…but I don't, and I unequivocally support their right to spew that venom.
The fundamental concepts of the American Republic as outlined in the Bill of Rights are damned hard in execution, specifically because they require much from the people, specifically intelligence and thought, which are apparently in short supply these days.
mb
Funny you should mention the BoR, Michael. You read Cooke's article in National Review, didn't you?
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/417828/why-bill-rights-would-never-pass-today-charles-c-w-cooke
Since I only watch live TV to see We'd night at the range, I mostly get my news from going online. The local "online newspaper" in San Francisco had this event so obscured I didn't even hear about it till 24 hours later via your blog (I'm being completely serious). I don't understand what is the agenda of my local liberal press other than to obscure when law abiding citizens who use guns to stop bad guns. It wasn't in the headline area and I one saw a link to it in a sidebar area online. This is outrageous.
As Rush Limbaugh (who has a radio show) says, " low information voters". Don't care, don't read, don't know. But they have a vote.
Just heard the cartoonist winner and didn't realize he used to be a Muslim. According to Islam he is to be killed for leaving the faith no less drawing the prophet.
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