Freedom of Speech in the Bush era

“I have a substance I would like to add.”

“I'm asking you, not him.”

“He gave me some facts about the Pittsburgh case. He's one up on you right there...
last edited: 3/01/05 12:58:58 PM”

“treeman, ask him, you seem to hold the two of us to different standards.”

“He helped me with the Pittsburgh case. All I have seen you do is attack and amuse yourself. I would truly like to know where you stand on this. I know where he stands...”

“I don't stand while watching porn”

“Where does Vile stand?
Only 'stand' I see, is he doesn't like Bush.
last edited: 3/01/05 1:05:33 PM”

“I take his posts as pointing out a bit of hypocrisy of the Bush supporters by way of Gonzalez' actions. He shot out some jabs, just as you did. So, there's no difference in standards here. I maintain that he, at least posted about the court case in question. All you have done is take pot shots at liberals and Violin. I will ask again. Do you think Gonzalez is just carrying on for Ashcroft? Is this case really significant? Will it solve any problems if successful? Please explain fully...”

“treebeard - no. ;-)”

“Ok, have it your way. I tried...”

“Stovey and Treebeard call a truce...

”

“Nawwwwwwwwwww Nigal.
I have respect for the treeman.

Time for work.
You kids have fun!
last edited: 3/01/05 1:20:11 PM”

“The only way republicans can get laid is to beet-off to porn.”

“Or to Ann Coulter.”

““Or to Ann Coulter.”

Hey man, she'd be totally hot if she had some duct tape over her mouth.”

“The lunatic is in the hall.
The lunatics are in my hall.
The paper holds their folded faces to the floor
And every day the paper boy brings more.

--Pink Floyd”

“Hey man, she'd be totally hot if she had some duct tape over her mouth.”


Maybe. But I'm thinking her only form of sex is missionary, eyes closed, thinking of Ronald Reagan.”

“I think about Nancy Reagan and baseball. No one likes a hair trigger.”

“That should keep you from the "moment" for days, Nigal!

Or maybe go limp...”

“LMAO!”

“Actually the baseball offsets the Nancy pictures. I'm into the grannies. LOL!”

“Don't forget to check that huge protruding Adam's Apple before you turn out the lights ----”

“Now illegal to ask conservatives offensive questions

Incessant heckling and shouting culminated in an arrest Tuesday night during a speech by Ann Coulter, an extreme right-wing pundit, at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum.

Shouts became so pervasive during the question-and-answer session that Coulter informed the organizers she would no longer take questions if the hecklers were not silenced. For a time, the shouts were considerably lessened, until the issue of gay marriage was broached.

Coulter said she supported the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman on the basis that a good woman civilizes and inspires a man to strive for something better, leading to a question that was met with a stunned silence.

"You say that you believe in the sanctity of marriage," said Ajai Raj, an English sophomore. "How do you feel about marriages where the man does nothing but #&%!$ his wife up the ass?"

UT Police officers approached Raj to arrest him, resulting in a mass exodus of protesters chanting, "Let him go."
[...]
Police have charged Raj with disorderly conduct, a Class C misdemeanor.
[...]”

“Police report: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0504051_ann_coulter_1.html”

“She thinks that's only appropriate in jail cells...”

“The Pie-Proof Ann Coulter on Hecklers
Wednesday, May 04, 2005


This is a partial transcript from "Hannity & Colmes," May 4, 2005, that has been edited for clarity.

Watch "Hannity & Colmes" weeknights at 9 p.m. ET!

SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: Ann Coulter is under attack again. On April 18, Coulter gave a speech at the University of St. Thomas (search) in Minnesota. Critics immediately labeled the talk a hate speech and the president of the university even weighed in, saying that Coulter crossed the line and may have violated campus policy.

So is free speech under attack at American universities? Is it time to get tough on liberal hecklers? Ann Coulter (search) joins us, the author of, what, her now fourth best-selling book, "How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must)."

First of all, we have a bigger story about what happened last night. We're going to get to that in just a second here, because last night was probably the worst of...

ANN COULTER, AUTHOR: No, not at all.

HANNITY: Not really?

COULTER: Last night was one of the best ones, I'd say.

HANNITY: I do occasional college speeches. But when I go in there, I know exactly what I'm getting. You expect the heckling. You expect the protesting. You expect the controversy.

COULTER: Oh, it's a lot of fun.

HANNITY: You thrive on this. You love this.

COULTER: A good time is had by all.

HANNITY: Let's go back to the pie-throwing incident — this guy attacked you. Where were you speaking then, in Arizona?

COULTER: Right, the University of Arizona (search).

HANNITY: Now, here it is. But they missed you. They have bad aim.

First, they charged them. Then they dropped the charges. And now they've re-charged them?

COULTER: Apparently. I only follow it through the newspaper accounts.

HANNITY: And you will testify against the people that attacked you?

COULTER: Yes, although, I keep telling them, "Yes, if you call me." But I think the prosecutor might want to, I don't know, talk to someone who prosecutes for a living, because the idea that they need to call me is preposterous. You just showed all the evidence they need.

That shows all elements of the crime. There's no talking. There's no need for cross-examination. I mean, me just going and describing it in words is not as strong evidence as that tape is. Somehow you got a hold of it. I think the prosecutor can get it.

HANNITY: Last night was really particularly vulgar. And we'll get to that in a second. Why is this happening, though, generally speaking?

COULTER: That's a great question. And I have to say, I would not be very happy if I were a liberal right now.

And you know, it used to be that they would stand up and try to trap you in a question, some sort of hypocrisy or something, or spring something on you, you haven't thought of before. And, OK, that wasn't particularly successful, but at least there was some linear thinking involved.

It is so far beyond that. They're children having tantrums.

ALAN COLMES, CO-HOST: On behalf of liberals, I can speak for myself at least. They should let you speak, because the more you speak, the better my side looks. So I would rather have you speak.

It is wrong to attack anybody, certainly physically. You're on that stage. You're not a large person. Something comes at you, it's dark. Having been on stages, people don't understand what it's like when you're on a stage. You're being charged. You don't know what's happening. You don't know what's coming.

COULTER: Right, and it's also a sucker punch. I can put a pie in Bruce Lee's face if he is standing giving a talk and you run at him. But I wouldn't have missed the way they missed me.

COLMES: But the president of St. Thomas College says you violated the controversial issues policy stating that members and guests are expected to treat each other with dignity. And that's what he is claiming about what happened there. I don't know what that means. But I wasn't there.

COULTER: I don't either, but neither was he.

COLMES: Did you not treat fellow audience members with dignity in your responses?

COULTER: Far more dignity than their questions deserved. No, I'm much nicer to college liberals than I am to you, for example, because I figure you're an adult, these are young kids.

COLMES: I can take it. I can handle it.

COULTER: Right, you can take it. So in general, I am much politer to them. I have to say St. Olaf's and St. Thomas questions were stunningly bad, so bad I can't even remember. I can remember the ones last night.

But I think there really is a problem on college campuses and if you want liberalism to continue in this country — I don't — but just to give you a little tip: Liberal students are being let down by their professors, by the world.

I mean, they're buffeted along by a liberal media. They have liberal public school teachers. They go to college. They have liberal professors. They don't know how to argue. They can't put together a logical thought, whereas you could put a college Republican on TV right now and he can debate you...

HANNITY: Yes, they're good.

COULTER: ... and do a credible job. But liberals, they throw food, they curse.

HANNITY: Last night, it got particularly crude. And we actually even have some video.

COULTER: You can't show the video of the question.

HANNITY: No, we can't. And we're going to get reaction to this video from a speech that she was giving last night that got really out of hand in Texas.

COLMES: A student named Ajai Raj asked an obscene question and began making obscene hand gestures as the police escorted Mr. Raj out and arrested him for disorderly conduct. Here is what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AUDIENCE: Let him go! Let him go! Let him go!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let him go!

AUDIENCE: Let him go!

AUDIENCE: Shame, shame, shame!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLMES: He was arrested for asking an obscene question. I mean, what did he do that earned him an arrest?

COULTER: He asked one of the more intelligent questions from the liberals.

COLMES: Not from what I read, nothing we could repeat, even on cable.

COULTER: No, that's right.

COLMES: No, but it was an obscene question. It was totally out of order. But why was he escorted out though? Why was he arrested?

COULTER: I don't know. I don't work for campus police. And I like question-and-answer. And like I said, compared to the questions the other liberals were asking, it was no worse than the other ones.

COLMES: But were you shocked?

COULTER: There were more f-words and a-words used in his question.

COLMES: Is there a part of you though that kind of enjoys the attention and the controversy from this kind of event?

COULTER: No, not the controversy and not the attempted physical attacks that have failed miserably. But no, I love the question-and-answer. I love to see liberals try to thrash their way to a coherent argument. And actually, I think it's fun to debate.

And like I say, liberal students are really being let down because I'm not gelling that. I mean, take this question last night. Even if he removed the obscenity from it, the reason it came up was — and my controversial speech was my defense of a 5,000-year-old institution, marriage.

That's controversial on a college campus. And I defended it by, you know, pointing out that marriage promotes civilization. You have a lack of barbarity and savagery, what you don't see in societies without a marriage institution.

I said nothing about sodomy. I didn't say it was unnatural, or immoral or they would be struck down by God. And he stood up and said, "Well, you were saying you respect the sanctity of marriage. Well, what about a man who goes home every night and 'f's his wife in the 'a'?" So even taking out the obscenities, his question doesn't make any sense. Oh, he's an impressive-looking fellow, too.

COLMES: Here is my advice to liberals: They should watch the way I destroy your arguments every time you come on this show and they would be fine.

COULTER: No, I was making this point during the break. I think we have got to get college Republicans to start putting up their best debater against you on college campuses to show liberals to introduce them to the process of linear thinking and logical thought.

COLMES: I'll see the headlines in the conservative press, "Colmes Loses to College Republican."

COULTER: College Republicans are good debaters.

COLMES: All right, but have you ever, debated a liberal that made sense other than me? You can't say all liberals don't ask intelligent questions.

COULTER: It's pretty bad on college campuses now. I have spoken at Harvard a couple of times since 2001, and they would not humiliate themselves. They were above it all. So those questions were pretty good.

Penn State, very good questions, but I don't think those were coming from liberals. I think they were just interested students, maybe even conservatives, asking questions. Where else have I gotten good questions? I think that's it.

HANNITY: Apparently this guy had interrupted the whole speech, correct? He was a heckler? He was one of those troublemakers?

COULTER: Yes, I can't tell them apart. A good-looking guy like that, he doesn't really stand out in the leftist crowd.

HANNITY: You were talking about gay marriage. And he makes this very insulting remark, apparently made some very crude gestures on the way out.

COULTER: I didn't really notice. I was just pointing out what a persuasive point he had just made. Who was he trying to persuade by that?

HANNITY: You speak at a lot more college campuses than I ever have. But I find I usually end up fighting with the liberal college professors.

COULTER: No, they sit in the back hiding...

HANNITY: And then attack you later.

COULTER: ... and then attack me when I'm gone.

HANNITY: Yes, well, that happens, too.

COULTER: Like this university professor did, apparently.

No, I thought the guy that should have been arrested was the Arab student who said he supported his fellow Arabs. He was very angry at me. And since I had been talking with enthusiasm about the recent Iraq elections, I said, "Which Arabs are you supporting? The ones who flew planes into the buildings or the ones who just voted in Iraq?"

HANNITY: What did he say?

COULTER: He wouldn't answer. No, he is the one I want the name of.

HANNITY: He wouldn't answer?

COULTER: Wouldn't answer that.

HANNITY: You asked him a simple question, that question, and he wouldn't answer?

COULTER: I support my fellow Arabs. Which ones? No, he wouldn't answer it.

HANNITY: And what is the reaction of everyone else? You have a lot of Republicans on college campuses that love you.

COULTER: Oh, yes. No, usually, I have to say the disruptive ones are a small — and they aren't disruptive. I mean, I like the question-and-answer.

HANNITY: Yes.

COULTER: Challenging questions are a little more fun than someone standing up and engaging in a Tourette's Syndrome at the mike, but that's kind of funny, too.

HANNITY: What should happen to people that are attacking speakers like you, and Buchanan, and Kristol and David Horowitz? What should happen to them?

COULTER: On the basis of what happened to the ones that physically attacked me, I hope they try it again.

HANNITY: Jail time?

COULTER: No. Apparently, the college Republican women gave them a beating they won't forget.

HANNITY: What happened to them?

COULTER: According to eyewitnesses I talked to, one got a broken shoulder and one got a broken nose. And I mentioned again, neither of their sucker-punch surprise missiles came near me. They throw like girls.

COLMES: Well, I'm glad you're in good health. By the way, you know, Ralph Nader has been attacked, Bill Gates, you know, the head of the Sierra Club...

COULTER: Not on college campuses and not by conservatives.

COLMES: We don't know who did it. I don't know if it was other liberals.

COLMES: Well, the venue is not as important as the fact that it happened. It shouldn't happen.

COLMES: Thanks for being here. Stay safe. Stay away from pies.”

“Nice to see that the Vileman is still as vile as ever. LOL

Yep, you libs love the 'right' to shout vile obscenities in a public group with children in the audience.

Real 'class' there.

LOL”

“So is violink's point that liberal's oppose free speech by conservatives?

Sounds like it to me.”

“Warning!!!! Do not click this from work if obscene words bother your employer.

http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:KcYYNOWOF9cJ:www.partycampus.com/article.php%3Fid%3D231+Ajai+Raj&hl=en

Seems this Dem Freedom Fighter Hero has been in a jail before and is a budding 'journalist'.
LOL, figures......

I sure hope the drug dealers he narks on to get off the hook don't do him any harm.
last edited: 5/05/05 8:56:27 PM”

“An anti-semite fake Indian and now this potty mouthed stoner kid are the Dems Freedom of Speech Heros!
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL”

“What a hero....”

“A Liberal's response to a Conservative's right to free speech is anarchy.

How ironic.”

“We should probably do something to alert all the potential "newbies" here on TT to the fact that Violin isn't anything more than a voice for far-leftist propaganda.

Sometimes, others may actually wish to enter into a meaningful & informative debate / discussion of issues, before they attempt to do so we should inform them that that is impossible with Violin... he doesn't want to discuss issues, only spew forth his outdated socialistic beliefs.”

“Violink?”

“A Washington state woman intends to press a civil-rights case against Southwest Airlines for booting her off a flight in Reno after fellow passengers complained about a message on her T-shirt.

Lorrie Heasley, of Woodland, Wash., was halfway home on a flight Tuesday that began in Los Angeles, wearing a T-shirt with the pictures of President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and a phrase similar to the popular film, "Meet the #&%!$ers."

Heasley said she wore the T-shirt as a gag. She wanted her parents, who are Democrats, to see it when they picked her up at the airport in Portland, Ore.

"I just thought it was hilarious," said Heasley, 32, a lumber saleswoman.

And she felt she had the right to wear it.

"I have cousins in Iraq and other relatives going to war," she said. "Here we are trying to free another country and I have to get off an airplane in midflight over a T-shirt. That's not freedom."

Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Marilee McInnis said the T-shirt became an issue after several passengers complained. She said the airline's contract filed with the Federal Aviation Administration contains rules on passenger conduct.

Heasley said no one from Southwest said anything about the shirt when she waited two hours near the gate at Los Angeles International Airport. And neither the pilot, nor other crew members, said anything when she boarded the aircraft, Heasley added.

After the plane stopped in Reno at noon Tuesday, she and her husband, Ron, moved to the front of the plane. Passengers began complaining about the T-shirt as they boarded.

After several conversations with flight attendants, Heasley agreed to cover the words by cuddling up with a sweatshirt. When the sweatshirt slipped while she was trying to sleep, she was ordered to wear her T-shirt inside-out or leave. The couple chose to leave.

http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051006/NEWS10/510060362/1002”

“You mean decent Americans had a problem with indecency in a public place? Parish the thought and get the ACLU on the line! LOL!”

“Bush goes after our beloved Onion. I love the editor's last line:

"I would advise them to look for that other guy Osama (bin Laden) ... rather than comedians. I don't think we pose much of a threat," Dikkers said.”

“How is this oppressing freedom of speech?”

“WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A Wisconsin man who wrote "Kip Hawley is an Idiot" on a plastic bag containing toiletries said he was detained at an airport security checkpoint for about 25 minutes before authorities concluded the statement was not a threat.

Ryan Bird, 31, said he wrote the comment about Hawley -- head of the Transportation Security Administration -- as a political statement. He said he feels the TSA is imposing unreasonable rules on passengers while ignoring bigger threats.

A TSA spokeswoman acknowledged a man was stopped, but likened the incident to cases in which people inappropriately joke about bombs. She said the man was "a little combative" and that he was detained only a few minutes.

Bird entered the airport checkpoint with a see-through resealable bag containing small containers of toothpaste, deodorant, mouthwash and hair gel -- in keeping with new TSA requirements.

"My level of frustration with the TSA and their idiotic policies has grown over 2 ½ years," he said. "I'm frustrated that poorly trained TSA people can pull random passengers out of line and pat them down like common criminals. The average traveler has no recourse."

Bird put the marked bag in a plastic tray along with his shoes and cell phone. A TSA screener saw the bag and went to get a supervisor, who grabbed it and asked Bird if it was his.

"It was obvious that he was already angry," Bird said, adding that the screener told him, "You can't write things like that."

The supervisor told Bird he had the right to express his opinions "out there" -- pointing outside the screening area -- but did not have the right "in here," Bird said.

The supervisor called a sheriff's deputy, who checked to see if Bird had any warrants for his arrest, Bird said. Bird asked the officer if he was under arrest, and was told that he was being detained, he said.

A supervisor said he was going to confiscate the bag, but after Bird refused, he just photographed it, Bird said.

Bird said he filed a complaint about the incident with the TSA.

A TSA spokeswoman said she could not confirm whether Bird had filed a complaint, but described the incident as insignificant.

Screeners looked at the bag to "make sure it wasn't anything like a bomb threat," she said. She said the man was "a little combative" and that a law enforcement officer came over, briefly interviewed him and determined that he hadn't broken any laws.


http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/09/28/idiot.baggie/index.html
last edited: 9/28/06 10:51:22 PM”

“You're only as smart as the people you lead...”

“And the I.Q. of any group can be found by averaging the I.Q. of the individuals, and dividing by the number of members in the group...”

“LOL...remember the woman in SC who yelled .."YOU SUCK" at the 42nd occupant...got detained, IRS investigated...treated like a CRIMINAL.
Yeah you guys are talking from a position of strength.

Papa...need a translation (LOL)?”

“This guy needs to get his head out of is a$$. Granted I think he has the right to write whatever he wants on his bag but shouldn't think that it won't come under some scrutiny. Everyone complains how its such a pain to fly but if you follow the rules and have yourself prepared before you enter the security checkpoints its a not that big of a deal.”

“OH yeah under the protecting our rights...I can remember what was it 500 or more FBI files on Private Citizens accessed by a drunken Ex Bar Bouncer who was chief of White House Security....LOL...”

“So nopw Bush is a dircet superviser in the Transportation Security Administration? Wow he really is allpowerful and as dangerouse as you guys say he is! No wait, he's a dumass that can hardly read. No wait, he's allpowerful and evil. No wait,....”

“OK, I don't get it. He did it to get attention. He got attention. Where's the problem?”

“Typical for todays society. We have become a country of cowards, call someone an idiot and it's a threat.

I miss the days when if someone got in your face, you could settle it between the two of you. Now it's, call the lawyers, call the cops, proclaim an ad hominem attack, call it a terrorists threat.

Bunch of #&%!$'s.”

“Thank the politically correct in our society Steve. Don’t ya just love this lawyer infested Benetton world the kids from the 60s have made for us?”

“mtn is so right...but you need to understand with the wussification of our law system (worried some criminal scum may get his FEELINGS hurt) we go overboard on minor stuff rather than have a deterrant effect later down the road.

I long for the days when a suspect hitting the cops was justification to play with them for a while.”

“BTW- You're all idiots...”