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Free World is Barring Free Speech
Jewish World Review ^ | 4/14/09 | Jonathan Turley

Posted on 04/23/2009 5:42:32 PM PDT by ReformationFan

For years, the Western world has listened aghast to stories out of Iran, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern nations of citizens being imprisoned or executed for questioning or offending Islam. Even the most seemingly minor infractions elicit draconian punishments. Late last year, two Afghan journalists were sentenced to prison for blasphemy because they translated the Koran into a Farsi dialect that Afghans can read. In Jordan, a poet was arrested for incorporating Koranic verses into his work. And last week, an Egyptian court banned a magazine for running a similar poem.

But now an equally troubling trend is developing in the West. Ever since 2006, when Muslims worldwide rioted over newspaper cartoons picturing the prophet Muhammad, Western countries, too, have been prosecuting more individuals for criticizing religion. The "Free World," it appears, may be losing faith in free speech.

Among the new blasphemers is legendary French actress Brigitte Bardot, who was convicted last June of "inciting religious hatred" for a letter she wrote in 2006 to then-Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, saying that Muslims were ruining France. It was her fourth criminal citation for expressing intolerant views of Muslims and homosexuals. Other Western countries, including Canada and Britain, are also cracking down on religious critics.

Emblematic of the assault is the effort to pass an international ban on religious defamation supported by United Nations General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann. Brockmann is a suspended Roman Catholic priest who served as Nicaragua's foreign minister in the 1980s under the Sandinista regime, the socialist government that had a penchant for crushing civil liberties before it was tossed out of power in 1990. Since then, Brockmann has literally embraced such free-speech-loving figures as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whom he wrapped in a bear hug at the U.N. last year.

(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: freedomofspeech; freespeech; jonathanturley; turley
I fear for our nation and our world. Wasn't the 20th century supposed to be the century where freedom won with the defeats of the Nazis and the Soviets? If I've learned anything from history it's that people don't learn from history.
1 posted on 04/23/2009 5:42:33 PM PDT by ReformationFan
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To: ReformationFan

gosh, i wonder how that happened?


2 posted on 04/23/2009 5:43:53 PM PDT by ken21 (the only thing we have to fear is fdr deja vu.)
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To: ReformationFan

Bridgette Bardot requires immediate SEAL Team coverage. Seriously, as an inevitable target of religious zealots, Bridget Bardot needs protection with the possible gain of picking up some Al Queda jerks for interrogation.


3 posted on 04/23/2009 5:55:05 PM PDT by NewRomeTacitus
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To: ReformationFan
Wasn't the 20th century supposed to be the century where freedom won with the defeats of the Nazis and the Soviets?

And the last half of the 20th century is where political correctness defeated freedom.

5 posted on 04/23/2009 5:59:18 PM PDT by markomalley (Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus)
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To: ReformationFan

they are going have to wire a lot of jaws shut and break a lot of fingers


6 posted on 04/23/2009 6:10:18 PM PDT by GeronL (TYRANNY SENTINEL. http://tyrannysentinel.blogspot.com LIBERTY FICTION at libertyfic.proboards.com)
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To: SonOfPyrodex

She has changed a bit....


7 posted on 04/23/2009 6:20:33 PM PDT by FrogMom (No such thing as an honest democrat! Or one with a brain.)
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To: GeronL
they are going have to wire a lot of jaws shut and break a lot of fingers

Perhaps. Of course, what they might do is put a handful of high profile speakers or typers in jail. Go take a turn around Free Dominion to see where America could well be within a couple years.

8 posted on 04/23/2009 6:21:52 PM PDT by RobinOfKingston (Democrats, the party of evil. Republicans, the party of stupid.)
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To: ReformationFan

Great nations rise and fall.
The people go from bondage to spiritual truth,
from spiritual truth to great courage,
from courage to liberty,
from liberty to abundance,
from abundance to selfishness,
from selfishness to complacency,
from complacency to apathy,
from apathy to dependence,
from dependence back again to bondage.

Europe is rapidly going back into bondage and they are doing it willingly. And Obama is envious because they are ahead of the US and is working overtime to catch us up.


9 posted on 04/23/2009 6:24:11 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (Socialism is the belief that most people are better off if everyone was equally poor and miserable.)
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To: ReformationFan

The “free” world is looking more and more like the old Soviet Union everyday.


10 posted on 04/23/2009 6:41:39 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (Proud charter member of Napolitano's rightwing, nutcase American, watch list.)
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Comment #11 Removed by Moderator

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