Free Republic

President Obama defended the government’s internet surveillance as a “modest encroachment” on the privacy of Americans, but he maintained that the programs initiated by George W. Bush help keep Americans safe, adding that he increased oversight of the surveillance. Obama warmed to the Bush-era Patriot Act programs after taking office. “We actually expanded some of the oversight, increased some of the safeguards, but my assessment and my team’s assessment was that they help us prevent terrorist attacks,” the president told reporters. “And the modest

A recent law passed in Europe during the 3rd Council of Europe Summit bans the condemnation of Islam as both racist and intolerant while equating it to anti-Semitism. The draft from this summit also included the notion of "Islamophobia" and concluded that such words used in public denote discrimination and intolerance to a person’s belief. What this new law does is equate the denunciation of one’s religious beliefs with racism. It will eventually make it illegal to write and/or distribute material denouncing Islam as a religion of terror. Further, it will make it possible for Islamically minded people too sue...

"There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison