NY Post hate speech?

Let me say this up front – I think racism and other “hate speech” is disgusting.  It’s rarely helpful to the cause of the person saying it, and it paints them as being ignorant.

But they have every right to say it.  And I support their right to say it.  Calling for a political cartoonist to be fired because of a political cartoon goes against the very core of the First Amendment.

CNN has a story about the NAACP calling for the the cartoonist, Sean Delonas, to be fired.  I am unfamiliar with the cartoons of Mr. Delonas, and he may be an incompetent boob who deserves to be fired, but this is one of those cases where he should have job security for the foreseeable future.

Just in case the NY Post gives in and violates those principles which allow it to exist as an independent newspaper without prior government approval for it’s stories, I’ve copied the cartoon here so I’ll have it if the NY Post deletes it.  Click on the image to see it full size.

NY Post Cartoon from Feb 18, 2009

Check out the home page of this site at effor.com if you have any questions as to why I would do this.  There isn’t much there, just a few quotes.  But those quotes should explain why I put this post on my blog.  Any questions?

gk

Knoxville Church Shooting Coverage

The Knoxville News Sentinel deleted a lot of comments on its’ story during the day Sunday.  I left a few comments regarding deleting the comments and their coverage of the story in general.  Guess what – my comments were deleted….  Here’s what they posted as a reason this morning:

Posted by KNSemily on July 28, 2008 at 11:18 a.m.

Hi everyone,
My inbox is getting slammed with flagged comments and I’m going to start being pretty strict with this as we are on a national stage right now. So heads up: if KNS staff finds your comments to be off-topic, “unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, vulgar, obscene, profane, pornographic, or otherwise objectionable”, as stated in our user agreement, they will be deleted. Please be nice. This is a terrible thing that happened in our backyards and we should be supporting each other, not insulting or discrediting each other’s religious beliefs, etc. I am going to interpret “off-topic” very broadly.

Comments which have since been deleted (I know because I continually monitored the site yesterday) included religious views, facts about the church policy regarding gays and lesbians, and many that criticized the News Sentinel for being the last website in town to provide updates.

Not one that I remember could be construed as meeting their criteria for deletion.   Unless they simply considered it “objectionable” because they didn’t like the content.  I’d be willing to bet that they found a lot of it “objectionable” because they “objected” to someone saying that their coverage sucked yesterday.

Sure, there were many ignorant comments posted by ignorant people – how will deleting them ever help these people become less ignorant?  How will the rest of the community ever understand the hate (from some) that lingers under the surface, just waiting to explode into violence?

Ummm – isn’t that what happened here yesterday?.

Speaking of objectionable, check out the headline on this story in the News Sentinel tonight.

Given the News Sentinels’ proclivity in deleting information, I’m copying it here.  Verbatim.

Bill O’Reilly, Michael Savage, Sean Hannity on accused shooter’s reading list

4-page letter outlines frustration, hatred of 'liberal movement'

Here’s an excerpt:

Inside the house, officers found “Liberalism is a Mental Health Disorder” by radio talk show host Michael Savage, “Let Freedom Ring” by talk show host Sean Hannity, and “The O’Reilly Factor,” by television talk show host Bill O’Reilly.

None of the national media I checked tonight (CNN, NY Times, Washington Post, FoxNews, etc) mention this – and they’re right not to bring it up.  Any well-read person is going to have a wide variety of books in their home.  I have two copies of the Bible, a Book of Mormon, and a Koran in my house.

I also have books by Robert Heinlein, Ayn Rand, a 13 volume “Story of Civilization” by Will Durant, Rachel Carson, Dave Barry, and lots of others.

Right-wingers think I’m a liberal because I support the ACLU, legalizing drugs and prostitution; those on the left think I’m a conservative because I support the NRA, Constitutional Law, and fiscal responsibility.  Guess what – I’m a Libertarian and neither of those labels apply to me.  Live and let live is what I’m all about.

There are probably 1500 books in my house right now – I guarantee that some of them are “objectionable” to someone.  Does that make me anything – other than well read?  Is that motivation for me to shoot up a church?  I don’t think so!

There’s lots more, but if you’re looking for coverage of the shooting at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church (TVUUC) in Knoxville, I suggest WBIR.com or pick one from this list at Google News.

I may add to this later if I read something else that ticks me off!  🙂  My posts are normally carried as part of the Knoxville Blog Network on the News Sentinel – let’s see if they have the guts to include this one….

gk

Congress shall make no law

In reading some of the articles from major media sources regarding Obama’s “historic” speech, all I can say is thank God for the First Amendment!  To give you a sample of what I’ve seen online, take a look at this article from the San Francisco Chronicle.

The article says Obama’s “historic” speech has “elevated the discussion about the issue to the point where it has worked itself into the pews and pulpits of Bay Area churches.”

Now I don’t have a problem with churches espousing a particular political view, and I don’t have a problem with the government staying out of regulating what can be said in churches, but I do have a problem when churches want it both ways.  Churches want to be able to talk politics in church, but they also want to remain tax exempt.  Pick one.

Go ahead and endorse candidates and issues from the pulpit if you want – but you should lose your tax exempt status.  Stick to religion and there’s no problem.

I remember back in 1984 (when I still went to church) the Catholic church I attended issued “voter guides” comparing Reagan and Mondale.  The guide looked at various issues such as where the candidates stood on abortion, the death penalty, welfare, etc.  So far so good….

The problem was that the voter guide made it crystal clear which candidate the Catholic Church wanted to have as president.  From reading the voters guide, it was obvious that the Catholic Church was endorsing Reagan.

They have obviously gotten a bit smarter regarding the political processsince then, as the Catholic Church now has a guide to allowable political activity published on their website.  I would hope that any church (of any religious denomination) would do something similar.  If they cross the line, then they are no longer tax exempt.

You can’t have it both ways – either you stay out of politics (in return for the government staying out of your business) or you go into politics and the government gets to go into your business.

This distinction is not a theoretical argument – it’s what separates this country from all others in the world.  We were the first to GUARANTEE religious freedom to our citizens.  Look at what’s happening today in Tibet, Iraq, even Denmark to see what happens when the government is allowed to interfere with religion.

But you can turn that argument around too – look at what happens when religion gets involved in politics.  Iran, the Balkins, Afghanistan, and most of the Middle East are repressive regimes where you can be legally killed for worshipping – or not worshipping – at the wrong altar.

I posted my views on the Second Amendment a few days ago, and my views on the First Amendment are similar.  The Constitution does not in anyway restrict the rights of the people – it delegates certain rights to the government.  Read the First Amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Seems pretty clear cut to me.  I wonder if the monks in Tibet wish they had something like that as a guarantee….

gk