Freedom remains under assault. In the past few weeks, President Obama has had his health care summit, which turned out surprisingly well for the Republicans. Obama was unable to paint them in a corner as “the Party of No.” Lamar Alexander provided a well-reasoned and statesmanlike rebuttal and Congressman Paul Ryan exposed the bill’s untenable financing, demonstrating that Obama’s assertions that it will not add one dime to the deficit is patently untrue. Undeterred by poll numbers that show that Americans overwhelmingly do not want this bill, Obama and the Democrats will try to ram it through using reconciliation. Obama clearly wants to cover the uninsured at any cost, and we will end up paying those costs if he is successful. While the election of Scott Brown was clearly helpful, the probability of passing this attempt to take over 17% of our economy are still in the 40-45% range, I believe.
But another little reported assault on freedom is going on in the West. Geert Wilders, a Dutch legislator, is being tried in the Netherlands for criticizing Islam. Wilders did a provocative short film entitled “Fitna” (http://www.themoviefitna.com/). The film asserts that Islam contains elements which are inherently aggressive and violent and that is what we are seeing played out in Europe and around the world. Last year, Wilders was denied entry into Great Britain because of his stance.
I recommend that you watch the movie (caution: it contains explicit violence) and decide for yourself. I believe that Wilders overstates his case, but that it is entirely appropriate to ask the question. But that is not the real issue here. The real issue is freedom of speech. Two years ago, several newspapers and bookstores (including Borders) refused to carry the pictures of the political cartoon that depicted Muhammed with a bomb in his turban. We in the West took the cowardly and disgusting step of voluntarily self-censoring. Now the Netherlands is taking it a step further and actually putting one of their parliamentarians on trial for blasphemy. Even if you believe that Wilders is an extreme wingnut, we in the West typically don't prosecute you for being a kook. If that were the case, Dennis Kucinich, Glenn Beck, Rev. Wright, Tom Cruise and about half the czars that inhabit this administration would be sweating.
How are these two items related? In the U.S. we proposing, for the first time in our history, criminalizing the failure to purchase a good or service (health care). In the Netherlands, the Dutch are criminalizing blasphemy. These two developments are an overt assault on our economic freedom and free speech and must be resisted.
But another little reported assault on freedom is going on in the West. Geert Wilders, a Dutch legislator, is being tried in the Netherlands for criticizing Islam. Wilders did a provocative short film entitled “Fitna” (http://www.themoviefitna.com/). The film asserts that Islam contains elements which are inherently aggressive and violent and that is what we are seeing played out in Europe and around the world. Last year, Wilders was denied entry into Great Britain because of his stance.
I recommend that you watch the movie (caution: it contains explicit violence) and decide for yourself. I believe that Wilders overstates his case, but that it is entirely appropriate to ask the question. But that is not the real issue here. The real issue is freedom of speech. Two years ago, several newspapers and bookstores (including Borders) refused to carry the pictures of the political cartoon that depicted Muhammed with a bomb in his turban. We in the West took the cowardly and disgusting step of voluntarily self-censoring. Now the Netherlands is taking it a step further and actually putting one of their parliamentarians on trial for blasphemy. Even if you believe that Wilders is an extreme wingnut, we in the West typically don't prosecute you for being a kook. If that were the case, Dennis Kucinich, Glenn Beck, Rev. Wright, Tom Cruise and about half the czars that inhabit this administration would be sweating.
How are these two items related? In the U.S. we proposing, for the first time in our history, criminalizing the failure to purchase a good or service (health care). In the Netherlands, the Dutch are criminalizing blasphemy. These two developments are an overt assault on our economic freedom and free speech and must be resisted.
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