Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Obama To End Freedom Of Speech

Funding our troops will end our ability speak our minds and hearts...




Many people are unaware the the National Defense Authorization Act, providing for the funding of our troops and set to win passage in Congress this week and then signed by President Obama, will forge the first links in the chains that will fundamentally shackle their freedom of speech.  The Democrats have inserted The Mathew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crime Prevention Act in the Defense funding Bill, over the objectives of the Republicans.

The Hate Crimes Prevention act broadens the protected classes for hate crimes to include sexual orientation and "gender identity", defined as a victim's "actual or perceived gender related characteristics"  Although passed by the House earlier this year, this censorship bill would never have passed the Senate as a stand-alone Bill, therefor the legerdemain being used by the Democrats to force this Bill upon the citizenry of the United States.


The critics of the censorship bill argue that the hate crimes provision will chill freedom of speech by empowering federal authorities to accuse people of inciting hate crimes, even if the speech in question was not specifically related to a crime.  For example, clergy and others, professing the basis of their religious faith could be held accountable for a crime committed by others who may, or may not have even heard their speech.

If you care to see a clear example of the potential danger of this type of law, you only have to look North to Canada, where Ezra Levant and Mark Steyn, two authors and bloggers, have been battling with the Canadian  Human Rights Commission.


On February 14, 2006 the Western Standard drew the attention of the Muslim community by reprinting the controversial editorial cartoonsdepicting Muhammad, the prophet of Islam.[26]
Levant republished the Muhammed cartoons on his website in January 2008 on the same day he appeared before a hearing of the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission investigating a complaint by Syed Soharwardy of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, and theEdmonton Council of Muslim Communities about Levant's earlier publication of the cartoon. Additionally, Sowharwardy has filed a complaint with Calgary police about Levant saying he fears for his safety because of "lies" he says Levant has been spreading about him claiming Levant is inciting hatred. Police said they were actively investigating the complaint.[25]
Levant was called before the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission and asked to respond to the complaint. ......The complaint was dismissed by the Commission on August 5, 2008.  Source
 In 2007, a complaint was filed with the Ontario Human Rights Commission related to an article "The Future Belongs to Islam,"[41] written by Mark Steyn, published in Maclean's magazine. The complainants alleged that the article and Maclean’s refusal to provide space for a rebuttal violated their human rights. The complainants also claimed that the article was one of twenty-two (22) Maclean’s articles, many written by Steyn, about Muslims.[42] Further complaints were filed with the Canadian Human Rights Commission and the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal........
Soon afterwards, the head of the Canadian Human Rights Commission issued a public letter to the editor of Maclean’s magazine. In it, Jennifer Lynch said, "Mr. Steyn would have us believe that words, however hateful, should be give free reign. History has shown us that hateful words sometimes lead to hurtful actions that undermine freedom and have led to unspeakable crimes. That is why Canada and most other democracies have enacted legislation to place reasonable limits on the expression of hatred."[47] The National Post subsequently defended Steyn and sharply criticized Lynch, stating that Lynch has "no clear understanding of free speech or the value of protecting it" and that "No human right is more basic than freedom of expression, not even the "right" to live one's life free from offence by remarks about one's ethnicity, gender, culture or orientation."[48]
The federal Canadian Human Rights Commission dismissed the Canadian Islamic Congress' complaint against Maclean’s in June 2008. 
Steyn later wrote a lengthy reflection of his turmoil with the commissions and the tribunals. The reflection appears as the introduction to The Tyranny of Nice,[50] a book authored by Kathy Shaidle and Pete Vere on Canada's human rights commissions. In it, Steyn writes:
I’ve learned a lot of lessons during my time in the crosshairs of the [Canadian human rights investigator Jennifer] Lynch mob. Although the feistier columnists have spoken out on this issue, the broad mass of Canadian media seems generally indifferent to a power grab that explicitly threatens to reduce them to a maple-flavoured variant of Pravda. One boneheaded “journalism professor” even attempted to intervene in the British Columbia trial on the side of the censors. As some leftie website put it, “Defending freedom of speech for jerks means defending jerks.” Well, yes. But, in this case, not defending the jerks means not defending freedom of speech for yourself. It’s not a left/right thing; it’s a free/unfree thing. But an alarming proportion of the Dominion’s “media workers” seem relatively relaxed about playing the role of eunuchs to the Trudeaupian sultans.  Source

If you have time, an even more compelling view of how difficult retrieving your right to freedom of speech can be, watch the folowing video's of Levant and Steyn testifying to the Canadian Parliament in an effort to have their equivalent of the Mathew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crime Prevention Act repealed.  If you're concerned....call your Representative and Senator NOW!








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