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Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Muzzle'ems uncool -- America

An overwhelming majority of Americans disapprove of the producers' censoring of a South Park bit following menacing remarks by radical Muslims, according to Zogby International.

Americans don't like being muzzled, and they especially don't like muzzles coming from the murderously inclined. Our First Amendment guarantee of free speech is not popular with certain cultures. Too bad. Get over it, this is America.

Bart Simpson takes a crack at this issue, targeting the climate of fear stirred by the Muslim zealots. (Search "Simpson, South Park" to see video.)

BTW, do you realize that restrictions on so-called hate speech could be applied in a number of quarters to block discussion of the South Park controversy?

Bloggers behind bars was the theme of a Washington forum, where it was noted that online journalists compose half of journalists in jail around the globe. Further details may be found at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the Voice of America.

Rep. Adam Schiff of California and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen lent their support.

The Committee to Protect Journalists urged regional Russian authorities to vigorously investigate the brutal beating Monday of Arkady Lander, chief editor of Mestnaya, in the southern city of Sochi.

Censorship is developing into an increasingly important public issue globally. Today's New York Times, for example, had three stories related to press freedom.

# Russia's parliament is ready to enact a law granting the Russian security service Soviet-era powers to "warn" journalists and dissidents of speech deemed inappropriate.

# China is poised to enact a law tightening up internet controls on "state secrets" -- which is anything deemed by party hacks to be harmful to national interests. The law would pressure internet services to censor "suspicious" reportage.

# A federal judge ruled yesterday that the University of Wyoming couldn't prevent a speech by a former sixties radical on grounds of fear of violence. The school had sought to bar William Ayers, the Chicago professor who became an issue during Obama's presidential campaign over a past as a member of the Weather Underground. He had been invited to speak by the university's School for Social Justice.

Well, I received a robotic notification from ChangeDetection.com that this blog had been updated. (See post below.) However, past experience suggests that the updates will not continue to arrive without some sort of apparent funny business to make it clear that we, not you, are in control.

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