I am not defending the freaking pastor I am condemning Petraeus' attack on the 1st Amendment protected rights of American citizens.
...and therefore you need to attack my comments and me personally.
What personal attack on you? It looks to me like you initiated that in this post I'm responding to, #242.
come to Kabul and work for a year, see how you feel about what this j@ck@ss is doing.
My principles wouldn't change in any situation under the sun.
Not all Muslims are terrorists and the people I work with daily wouldn't consider burning a bible or an American flag...
But General Petraeus, and you, seem to think they will turn jihadi at the drop of a hat. Moderate Muslims I assume.
...and now I get to spend my time explaining that America has it's own version of extremists that we have to deal with.
If they are nice rational people it shouldn't be hard to explain the simple common sense idea that not everyone in America is the same. After all they can see that in their own people. Right? Good luck with that.
you have a great day in your peaceful little part of the world, passing judgments and defending this moron in Florida.
Peaceful? Well, it's true, I am not in Florida where the freaking pastor and his flock have received death threats. I'm not in NYC or DC either. I have no idea what judgment I passed other than that there is no nexus between burning the Koran in Florida and violence in Afghanistan other than the reactions of psychotic killers. That is a cause and effect I don't accept as legitimate because I don't believe in pandering to sociopathic forms of insanity.
Once more for the record, I am not defending this church's acts I am defending the right to speak freely. There is a difference that most Americans can readily see.
I also recognize the pastor's protected right to free speech...but that doesn't mean I can't criticize the content, does it?
Petraeus has that same right.
The "Pastor", if he survives his "speech" and is arrested for burning without a permit will likely win a sizable settlement from the police department that arrests him...which really ticks me off.
Whoever is giving the city legal advice (to deny the church a permit...hell, even thinking they need a permit) and/or any police agency that arrests him, ought to have to pay any settlement out of their own pockets.
But I still have the right to call a spade a spade with respect to the conduct of the "pastor" and point out some of the consequences of his exercise of his right.
Regards