Ahhh, now were getting somewhere. In the Chris School of COnstitutional law Freedom of Speech comes in levels of importance and the level of importance is set my the liberal agenda. So a liberal partisan attack article with no chance for the target to present their side holds the highest protection under Chris’1st Ammendment but anything religious based is about a G or and H on the Free Speech-o-meter.

Are you serious that speech comes in levels?? One form can be 100 times more important than another?

For the sake of our democracy, it’s essential that the public have access to information the government would rather keep secret.

Or it’s just a loophole for the NYT to alert Amreica’s enemies to our security plans. Besides, what does this have to do with anything. Were talking partisan politics here, not freedom of information.

One has to do with seperation of powers, the other is a matter of taste.

No, one has to do with Leahy bolstering his political base before an upcoming election and the other is the fundamental right to free speech, free religion and a touch of free association but mostly freedom of the press. I’d go for saving the 1st Ammendments over re-electing liberals any day. I don’t recall a right for liberals to smear Republicans before an upcoming election.

Now that Republicans are in charge of the Executive and Legislative branches, a power grab is not worth discussing.

What power grab??? Probably the reason it isn’t worth discussing is because it doesn’t exist. Do you have any evidence of unprecidented taking of power or changes allowed by Congress that increase the Presidential powers?

Right, what did you learn in school growing up about our government, about how it works

I learned to look for empirical evidence and not to adhere to partisan conspiracy theories. Something a bit more solid, please.

Furthermore – the idea that America is at war against Islam is detrimental to our future prosperity. Right, radical Islam is not going away based on anything we do or say about it.

Islam came to us, Islam is at war with us. As long as you falsly imply that we went after islam the longer you will be in the dark on world events.

If that’s true, then why is it a positive step in your mind to publish cartoons that make fun of the prophet?

They don’t make fun of the prophet, but if they did, who cares? The 1st Ammendment, which you seem to selectively enforce, doesn’t say anything about making fun of something. If anything, the right to Parody is encouraged.

When it wasn’t that radical Islam flew planes into the WTC…it was ‘pissed off Arabs who wanted us out of their neighboorhoods’ that led to this.

Bullshit, this was the beginning of a campaign to restore the Caliph and install Sharia as the world body of law. Being in their neighborhood was just a coincidence because of Saddam and this whole Jihad is part of a larger campaign. By this logic WW2 was just about one day, Dec 7, 1941.

At the end of the day though, what can we actually do to fix this problem? Because invading a Middle Eastern country and occupying them…that hasn’t worked.

It seems like it’s working pretty good, Saddam is gone, Al Quesda gone, Syria, Lybia, etc. playing fair. Only Iran and N. Korea remain the worlds assholes.

Right, are you suggesting that we simply need to insult them more?

If defending ourselves is an insult to them than I am all for insulting them, 24/7 – 365. Why should we grab our ankles to help spread their culture to the detriment of ours?

The media spews corporate America’s doctrine, regardless of whether you think they are right or left. They sell ad space. That’s it in a nutshell.

I would agree with you to a certain extent and that is liberals, who are plentiful in media, take the opportunity to fill the void left by corporate to fill the airwaves with partisan bile. While corporations only care about their message and product, they rarely care what happens with the rest of the airtime.

Liberals own the media, the least they can do is appear somewhat unbiased rather than steamroll the public with their partisan attacks. Seriously, where is the quality of journalsim America should be proud of?

You’re full of it Right. The media spews corporate America’s doctrine, regardless of whether you think they are right or left. They sell ad space. That’s it in a nutshell. Their programming is based on what their “programmers” think America wants to see (and what advertisers will pay for). Not some mythical left-wing agenda. If you want to bitch about what’s on TV, or even print for that matter bitch at the corporations and businesses that advertise on those media outlets. It’s about ad revenues, and not about conspiracies. Take a Business 101 class, it would do you some good.

Given all of that. I think Muslims are off their rocker. I have absolutely no use for a religion that cannot tolerate non-believers. If they don’t like the cartoons they shouldn’t look at them. Either Muslims need to become a lot more tolerant, or they should be prepared for some SERIOUS warfare in the future.

You believe that we are at war with this religious culture, and let’s say that’s what 95% of Americans think. If that’s true, then why is it a positive step in your mind to publish cartoons that make fun of the prophet?

It’s not cowardly to not print them. In fact, if we are at war with these people, if our GOAL is to make them realize how ridiculous their beliefs are, then…in your opinion, making fun of them is a good way to go about it?

Personally, if that was even America’s problem…cultural matters from across the globe…neither bombs nor insults would be the first thing I’d reach for to change their minds.

It only seems like our problem because of 9/11, but if US bases weren’t on Saudi soil to begin with, 9/11 never would have happened.

I know it’s difficult to accept the fact that we don’t have the right to do whatever we want in all instances, that our military goals shouldn’t necessarily be respected by everyone else in the world…it’s hard to wrap our heads around that concept, and so, to deal with the fact that our own actions led to 9/11, we create this false conflict with ‘radical islam’…

When it wasn’t that radical Islam flew planes into the WTC…it was ‘pissed off Arabs who wanted us out of their neighboorhoods’ that led to this.

Our being in Iraq today is not a good thing, regardless of what the military industrial complex wants us to think about it. Make no mistake…they’re in it to make money, and if that means getting us riled up about ‘radical islam’, then so be it.

At the end of the day though, what can we actually do to fix this problem? Because invading a Middle Eastern country and occupying them…that hasn’t worked.

Right, are you suggesting that we simply need to insult them more?

I consider an act of congress to be 100 times more relevant than whether or not a newspaper runs the religious cartoon.

One has to do with seperation of powers, the other is a matter of taste. The obvious ‘partisan’ element here is that the party in charge would rather the discussion of ‘seperation of powers’ never enter the discussion. To me though, it’s not ‘partisan’, it’s simply ‘American’.

Right, what did you learn in school growing up about our government, about how it works, why it’s lasted so long while the governments of other countries tend to fold periodically?

It’s the design. Three equal branches. If you asked a Republican how valuable this construct was back in the 80s, or during Clinton’s first term, they’d agree. Now that Republicans are in charge of the Executive and Legislative branches, a power grab is not worth discussing.

“Despite the publication’s small circulation, we are concerned about the possibility of causing any offence to the Muslim community in Wales – with whom the Church in Wales has an excellent relationship – as a result of the reproduction of this cartoon,” said Sion Brynach, a spokesman for the church.

It is still happening all around the world and you want me to be outraged about a liberal activist that got what was coming to him???

Liberals own the media, the least they can do is appear somewhat unbiased rather than steamroll the public with their partisan attacks. Seriously, where is the quality of journalsim America should be proud of?

It breaks my heart that it’s come down to this. Whereas in the 1980s we faced an enemy with thousands of nuclear weapons aimed at us, civil librities, rule of law and seperation of powers weren’t chucked out the window. Why now?

What about two months ago when a real freedom of the press issue came about????? One guy get fired for screwing over the newpaper and the readers and your on valium and listening to the Cure. But when the entire world is intimidated from exercising free speech your all “gotta protect the newpaper’s bottom line” What gives???? It doesn’t make any sense.

This guy was trying to promote an agenda while excluding the ideas of a large segment of our population. Why are you shedding a tear for this guy???

I’ve had this site bombarded by storm troopers before, and it’s a bitch…if you pin down who it is and know it’s someone from this webring, let me know.

In the meantime, you probably want to pull your “going to stop moderating comments as well” post, put a crossout through that sentence and update that post with what you laid out here. Lurkers abound, perhaps even some working for the government…integrity is like the ice caps, once it breaks off, there’s no turning back, folks stay away forever.

The goal should be to lose the moderation altogether, and if you’re getting spammed, locking out IPs and certain words (ie: putting swear words into automatic moderation)…for me it’s a constant struggle, as it is for most bloggers. Good luck w/ that.