U.S. State Department Sides with Muslims

Reuters reports that the U.S. State Department has taken a position in the Mohammed Cartoon controversy.

State Department spokesman Kurtis Cooper said "We all fully recognize and respect freedom of the press and expression but it must be coupled with press responsibility. Inciting religious or ethnic hatreds in this manner is not acceptable."

If I had any doubts before, I’m sure I’m right now. If the OBJECTIVE was to incite religious or ethnic hatreds then I would agree but that wasn’t the objective.

Again, I ask the question why I, or a Danish newspaper, or a French newspaper should be restricted in its freedom of expression because of somebody else’s religious taboo? So a religion can get anything censored simply by declaring it offensive? Think about the implications of that for a second.

What ever happened to the idea that while I may not agree with what you say, I'll defend to the death your right to say it? When did somebody pass an exception for religious taboos?

Since when did "respect for religion" trump "freedom of the press" and "freedom of speech?" DID SOMEONE REPEAL THE 1ST AMENDMENT WHILE I WASN'T WATCHING?

Why doesn’t it surprise me that the Bush administration would take such a position? The Bush administration, like Fundamentalist Christianity, only recognizes freedom of expression for those that agree with them.

First the High Court of South Africa strikes down laws against same sex marriage as discriminatory while in the U.S. defense of marriage laws relegate gays to second class citizenship. Now it’s Denmark, Norway, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy and even the goddamned French that have the courage to stand up for freedom of the press and freedom of expression in the face of religious blackmail while our government sides with the religious fruitcake element and our press stays silent or even agrees with the government.

DAMN, I wish I lived in a country where FREEDOM RINGS like Denmark or South Africa!

Add to this that nobody said boo about Cindy Sheehan being kicked out of Dubyah’s State of the Union address just because she wore an anti-war T-Shirt and I have to admit that at this moment I’d much rather be Danish.

On the positive side though is that now I can consider moving to Copenhagen as well as considering moving to Amsterdam.