Judging from these two stories, the loony-toon tree is being shaken pretty hard out in Denver and the nuts are falling to Earth. First, Alex Jones of InfoWars was caught on video stalking and harassing Michelle Malkin outside the Denver Mint. Evidently that’s Alex’s idea of being clever and accomplishing something for his cause. Wrong. …
Category: Free Speech
The End of Hate in Our Time
In the words of Canada’s Human Rights Commission’s senior counsel Ian Fine, the commission is necessary because "there can’t be enough laws against hate." This during a panel on human right’s commissions in which Fine was caught twice in lies – or glaring ignorance – about the commission’s activities. Actually, a single law against hate…
Repression in Yemen
From the NY Times and Jane Novak’s Armies of Liberation blog comes the story of Abdul Karim al-Khaiwani, a journalist who is facing a potential death sentence tomorrow as a consequence of writing about the rebellion in northern Yemen that’s cost thousands of people their lives. Read the NYT article and Jane’s post, then consider…
Schlafly Honored, Hundreds Turn Away
The University of Washington honored one of its own when Phyllis Schlafly was presented with an honorary doctorate degree at today’s commencement. Unfortunately, the ceremony was marred by students and faculty who turned their backs to her while the award was being presented. Some applauded while Schlafly was hooded. But about a third of the…
The New Anti-Intellectualism
From the Wall Street Journal: Often it seems as though American higher education exists only to provide gag material for the outside world. The latest spectacle is an Ivy League professor threatening to sue her students because, she claims, their "anti-intellectualism" violated her civil rights. Priya Venkatesan taught English at Dartmouth College. She maintains that…
Censoring Ourselves
Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith, today posted an intense condemnation of the western practice of censoring itself in regards to Islam and the terrorists who operate with its theocratic permission. What’s most interesting about Harris’ article are his personal anecdotes about censorship by the mainstream American press. Highly recommended reading. Harris writes:…
Paterson Should Protect Free Speech
Gov. David Paterson has until the end of today to decide whether or not he will sign a bill the New York state legislature passed – unanimously – that would give American citizens who are sued for libel abroad the right to obtain a declaration that their works are protected under American law. Let’s hope…
Chilling Effect in Canada
Kathy Shaidle reports that she and other bloggers are being sued by Richard Warman, a former member of Canada’s Human Rights Commission and frivolous lawsuit filer extraordinaire: Canada’s busiest litigant, serial "human rights" complainant and — the guy Mark Steyn has called "Canada’s most sensitive man" — Richard Warman is now suing his most vocal…
Support Geert Wilders’ Right to Speak
The Jawa Report is linking to a petition aiming to organize a boycott of Dutch goods and services if Wilders is punished or prosecuted over the Fitna affair. Like Wilders’ film or not, it’s a no-brainer that making the video and distributing it are well within the realm of free, protected speech. For that much…
Censored?
Michael van der Galien, my boss at PoliGazette.com, just emailed and said that the site has been suspended by the hosting provider, one alfahosting.be. Michael had recently posted about Fitna and embedded the video in the post. A rousing discussion followed and now this. Coincidence? I doubt it. True, there are often bandwidth limitations, etc.,…