Apropos my personal motto, "Strike while the irony's hot!", and in the spirit of elaborating my recent comments about the so-called "hyperbolization of discourse", let me touch on the oft-repeated derogatory (not to mention ludicrous) charge that the "Bush regime" is abrogating our freedom of speech and other Constitutional guarantees.
If indeed it were so that our rights had been abrogated, such abolishment by authoritative action could only be accomplished in two ways: either everyone's ability to exercise such rights were somehow incapacitated; or the penalty for exercising those rights was made prohibitive. In the case of freedom of speech, I am not aware that everyone has had their tongue removed, so it must be that some frightful penalty has been specified for speaking freely.
Recently, the President of the United States gave an official speech in the legislature of an ally nation. There followed a cacophony of strong objections to the President's remarks. A United States Senator felt obliged to classify the remarks of the President of the United States as, and I quote, "Bullshit!" That, I boldly submit, is a classic, albeit crude, example of free speech.
To the best of my knowledge, Senator Biden's tongue is still capable of wagging in his exceptionally large mouth, and I haven't been informed by our free, one might even suggest obnoxiously free, press that he has suffered any penalty at all for his waggishness. On the contrary, I am sure he has risen in stature and in the esteem of his colleagues who, undoubtedly, will continue to claim that the poor Iraqis fared much better under Saddam Hussein than under the tough love of the United States Marines. And I boldly predict that no one will be punished, much less held accountable in any way, for any remarks made, save the proverbial "false alarm 'Fire!' in a crowded theater".
If indeed it were so that our rights had been abrogated, such abolishment by authoritative action could only be accomplished in two ways: either everyone's ability to exercise such rights were somehow incapacitated; or the penalty for exercising those rights was made prohibitive. In the case of freedom of speech, I am not aware that everyone has had their tongue removed, so it must be that some frightful penalty has been specified for speaking freely.
Recently, the President of the United States gave an official speech in the legislature of an ally nation. There followed a cacophony of strong objections to the President's remarks. A United States Senator felt obliged to classify the remarks of the President of the United States as, and I quote, "Bullshit!" That, I boldly submit, is a classic, albeit crude, example of free speech.
To the best of my knowledge, Senator Biden's tongue is still capable of wagging in his exceptionally large mouth, and I haven't been informed by our free, one might even suggest obnoxiously free, press that he has suffered any penalty at all for his waggishness. On the contrary, I am sure he has risen in stature and in the esteem of his colleagues who, undoubtedly, will continue to claim that the poor Iraqis fared much better under Saddam Hussein than under the tough love of the United States Marines. And I boldly predict that no one will be punished, much less held accountable in any way, for any remarks made, save the proverbial "false alarm 'Fire!' in a crowded theater".
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