Free Speech… Only for Progressives These Days?

'Duck Dynasty' Star Phil Robertson Has Been Suspended Over His Remarks in a GQ Interview About His View On Homosexuality

The right, guaranteed by the First Amendment in the U.S. Constitution is for everyone to express beliefs and ideas without unwarranted government restriction.

By Marion Algier - AskMarion

It is easy to stand-up and support freedom of speech when you agree with what is being said.  It is tough, but necessary when you disagree!!  But, every regulation on the freedom of speech makes each of us just a little less free!!

One of America’s most outspoken fighters for freedom, Sarah Palin, who has personally (as well as her children) been directly attacked by members of the progressive left with false and vile comments, contrived lawsuits, and downright lies, believes the backlash over "Duck Dynasty" star Phil Robertson's anti-gay comments is a threat to freedom of speech… and she is right!  You can’t have it both ways.

"Free speech is an endangered species; those 'intolerants' hatin' & taking on Duck Dynasty patriarch for voicing personal opinion take us all on," Palin tweeted. She took to Facebook to voice her opinion Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2013.

On her Facebook page, Palin posted a picture of herself with members of the Duck Dynasty family.

Sean Hannity and others have also spoken up in defense of freedom of speech in the Duck Dynasty suspension.  Sean Hannity said it was a "slippery slope" to begin firing or suspending people over things they said or believe, adding he never advocated for the firings of liberals -- including Alec Baldwin and Martin Bashir -- who got in trouble for controversial comments.

"You should be able to say what you want short of inciting violence," Crowley said. "A&E, though, has certain standards in practices. As an employee of A&E, A&E then has a right to say 'what he said doesn't suit us.'" said Monica Crowley

“Although he didn’t use the kindest words, Phil Robertson is a Christian man and his opinion is an ongoing debate between fundamental Christians and the Gay and Lesbian Community…” …Megyn Kelly

Even liberal commentator Tamara Holdern said that nobody should be fired for speaking their mind.  Robertson didn’t state his case in the best way and certainly wasn’t politically correct, but that is exactly what people like about him and the show.

It is either freedom of speech for everyone or no one. But through political correctness and application of a double standard, using Alinsky tactics, people on the left like Martin Bashir (who was not suspended or fired) can say just about anything and jour’no’lists can conspire to destroy someone on the right. And the mainstream media can irresponsibly report about candidates, politicians or events (Benghazi) without facts or vetting that make or break people or the outcome of situations and damage our country without reprisals.  Just ask Barbara Walters…

But if someone on the right like Megyn Kelly or Phil Robertson give their opinion or speak their mind, they are ridiculed, bashed by the left, called haters and then are often fired or cancelled. Attacks on conservative political opponents, the religious right or conservative media personalities like Palin, Cruz, Paul, Beck, Hannity, Limbaugh and pretty much the entire Fox network is part of the Progressive playbook employed by the Obama administration and their media minions since day one.

67-year-old duck hunter made headlines when GQ published an interview in which he discussed morality and sin, and juxtaposed homosexuality with bestiality.

“It seems like, to me, a vagina -- as a man -- would be more desirable than a man’s anus," he told the magazine. "That’s just me. I’m just thinking: There’s more there! She’s got more to offer. I mean, come on, dudes! You know what I’m saying? But hey, sin: It’s not logical, my man. It’s just not logical.”

After the quotes were published, GLAAD spoke out against Robertson's comments, calling them vile and misinformed. A&E ultimately suspended him from "Duck Dynasty" with an indefinite hiatus, saying his views do not align with those of the network.

But many are coming out in defense of Robertson, like Palin, who believes Robertson is being persecuted for merely practicing his First Amendment right.

Another controversial fight for freedom of speech was when Larry Flynt, one of the world's most well-known publishers of pornography, published an unflattering parody of Jerry Falwell in Hustler, Falwell waged a suit that eventually went to the U.S. Supreme Court. The court ruled in Flynt's favor, citing the First Amendment's protection of freedom of speech, which was depicted in the film, The People vs. Larry Flynt [Blu-ray]. Funny how the left is happy when the law works for them and wants to ignore when they disagree.

Freedom requires tolerance of everyone’s opinion… not just for the speech and opinions of those you like or agree with!

*Many feel that Robertson will likely appear in season four of Duck Dynasty, which premieres on Jan. 15, as production is largely wrapped.  Robertson’s suspension has sparked a ‘Stand With Phil’ campaign: See the Support Flooding the Internet for Suspended ‘Duck Dynasty’ Star.  #IStandWithPhil and #IStandWithPhilRobertson are all over Twitter and the Internet today.  This is one of those situations and comments that might have better been ignored by the left for it could just spark the debate that has been left in the closet up until now, creating a far greater backlash for them than for Robertson in the long run.

Graphic: Gulag Bound

Technorati Tags: Duck Dynasty,Homosexuality,Opinions,Bible,Free Speech,Bill of Rights,Progressivism,Political Correctness,A&E,Speech-Police,Double Standards,GQ,Supreme Court,Larry Flynt,Bashir,GLAAD,Faith Community,Sin,Alinsky,Barbara Walters,Progressives,Conservatives

Fallen… House Rejects Sex-Selection Abortion Ban – White House Agrees and Media is Silent

Have you seen this NASA photo before?  It is real.. a composite of the Helix Nubela taken by the Hubble Telescope, entitled God’s Eye. 
And for most of us it is a reminder that someone is watching…

Most Americans have always thought that our nation, the Founding Fathers and our Constitution were God inspired. 

And many have seen the correlation between our demise and turning our back, as a nation, on God.

House rejects sex-selection abortion ban

GOPUSA:

WASHINGTON (AP) - The House on Thursday fell short in an effort to ban abortions based on the sex of the fetus as Republicans and Democrats made an election-year appeal for women's votes.

The legislation would have made it a federal crime to perform or force a woman to undergo a sex-based abortion, a practice most common in some Asian countries where families wanting sons abort female fetuses.

It was a rare social issue to reach the House floor in a year when the economy has dominated the political conversation, and Republicans, besieged by Democratic claims that they are waging a war on women, struck back by trying to depict the vote as a women's rights issue.

"It is violence against women," said Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., of abortions of female fetuses. "This is the real war on women." (So why aren’t the feminists screaming about this?)

The White House, most Democrats, abortion rights groups and some Asian-American organizations opposed the bill, saying it could lead to racial profiling of Asian-American women and subject doctors who do not report suspected sex-selection abortions to criminal charges.

"The administration opposes gender discrimination in all forms, but the end result of this legislation would be to subject doctors to criminal prosecution if they fail to determine the motivations behind a very personal and private decision," White House spokeswoman Jamie Smith said in a statement. "The government should not intrude in medical decisions or private family matters in this way."

The bill had little chance of becoming law. The Democratic-controlled Senate would likely have ignored it, and the House brought it up under a procedure requiring a two-thirds majority for passage. The vote was 246-168 - 30 votes short of that majority. Twenty Democrats voted for it, while seven Republicans opposed it.

The bill's author, Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., said before the vote that regardless of the outcome, the point would be made. "When people vote on this, the world will know where they really stand."

Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the House's No. 2 Democrat, said he thought the bill was introduced because "somebody decided politically that this was a difficult place to put people in."

The legislation would have made it a federal offense, subject to up to five years in prison, to perform, solicit funds for or coerce a woman into having a sex-selection abortion. Bringing a woman into the country to obtain such an abortion would also be punishable by up to five years in prison. While doctors would not have an affirmative responsibility to ask a woman her motivations for an abortion, health workers could be imprisoned for up to a year for not reporting known or suspected violations of the ban on sex-based abortions.

An earlier version of the bill also made it illegal to abort a fetus based on race.

"We are the only advanced country left in the world that still doesn't restrict sex-selection abortion in any way," said Franks, who has also collided with abortion-rights groups recently over a bill he supports to ban abortions in the District of Columbia after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Franks and others say there is evidence of sex-selection abortions in the United States among certain ethnic groups from countries where there is a traditional preference for sons. The bill notes that while the United States has no federal law against such abortions, countries such as India and China, where the practice has contributed to lopsided boy-girl ratios, have enacted bans on the practice.

Lawmakers "who recently have embraced the contrived political rhetoric asserting that they are resisting the artificial `war on women', created by Team Obama for political purposes for his upcoming election bid, must reflect on whether they now wish to be recorded as being defenders of the real escalating war on baby girls," said National Right to Life Committee legislative director Douglas Johnson. (Let us remember that both President Obama and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sibelius have always supported late term and partial birth abortions.  Senator Obama even voted against giving the tiny survivors or abortions comfort after the procedure, which is barbaric!)

His group, in a letter to lawmakers, said there are credible estimates that 160 million women and girls are missing from the world due to sex selection.

But the Guttmacher Institute, an organization that favors abortion rights, said evidence of sex selection in the United States is limited and inconclusive. It said that while there is census data showing some evidence of son preference among Chinese-, Indian- and Korean-American families when older children are daughters, the overall U.S. sex ratio at birth in 2005 was 105 boys to 100 girls, "squarely within biologically normal parameters."

NARAL Pro-Choice America president Nancy Keenan said that while her group has long opposed reproductive coercion, "the Franks bill exploits the very real problem of sex discrimination and gender inequity while failing to offer any genuine solutions that would eliminate disparities in health care access and information."

Marcia Greenberger, co-president of the National Women's Law Center, said the bill fosters discrimination by "subjecting women from certain racial and ethnic backgrounds to additional scrutiny about their decision to terminate a pregnancy."

"Doctors would be forced to police their patients, read their minds and conceal information from them," said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.

Republicans also used the bill to continue their ongoing criticism of Planned Parenthood, founded by eugenicist Margaret Sanger who endorsed abortion for racial purification, citing a video taken by the group Live Action purporting to show a Planned Parenthood social worker advising a woman on how to determine if her fetus was female before she terminated the pregnancy.

h/t Jim Abrams, June 1, 2012 6:50 am

The passing of this anti-sex-selection abortion law would have been more symbolic than anything else, for nobody would have gone into a clinic and said we want to terminate this pregnancy because of the gender of the fetus, especially after the law passed.  As Gretchen Carlson of Fox and Friends said: “Who would ever have thought that America, the United States, would need a law like this?”  But with the surfacing of now several videos showing that this despicable practice was not just an isolated incident and now the fact that Congress could/would not pass a bill banning gender selection abortion coupled with progressive politicians trying to turn this “real” ‘war on woman’ into a political shame… we sadly see that we definitely need this law!  After this vote we can no longer call the practices of China barbaric; we have defined our own culture as the only advanced country left in the world that still doesn't restrict sex-selection abortion in any way!  We have fallen a long way from the the God fearing people that founded our country!

As the polls indicate, pro-choice Americans are at record low and partial birth abortions and gender selection is unthinkable to most Americans; plus the Catholic Church has brought suit against the Obama Conception Mandate of ObamaCare… yet unless you watch Fox news, participate in the conservative blogosphere or perhaps receive a publication for your church, synagogue or a pro-life group you probably don’t know about any of this.  the media is silent… blacked out in support of President Obama and his administration.  This alone should be a huge flag of how they will handle the news between now and election and worry us all… blacked out news, distortion of their opponents and issues they oppose and slanted favorable news of Obama and Progressive candidates and issues… sounds a whole lot more like the USSR vs. the USA.

What we are is God's gift to us.  What we become is our gift to God.

Many feel he United States has fallen from grace… You be the Judge!

Related:

New Live Action video shows Planned Parenthood encouraging gender-selective abortion, Medicaid fraud

Catholic Groups File Against Obama Contraception Mandate – ‘Pro-Choice’ Americans At Record Low, Poll Finds

America Solidly Now “Pro-Life”

Many ask themselves how we got here…  When is the last time you took your kids and grandkids to church?  Are they teaching from scripture there?  And how can a modern translation of the Bible, The Voice Bible (Paperback: The Voice New Testament), that changes the nouns for God, Jesus Christ and angels to Eternal One, the Anointed One and a messenger of God and then offers a “watered down” version of the Gospel.  Was it T.S. Eliot who said the less people read the Bible the more they translate it?”  He also said something like ‘Watered down Christianity is worth nothing.’

Technorati Tags: Planned Parenthood,abortions,sex-selective abortion,China,God,fallen,culture,Founding Fathers,Constitution,erosion of culture,Catholic Church,Catholics,media blackout,media bias,Bible,Christians,people of faith,manipulation of the public,Margaret Sanger

Ben Stein on Christmas

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary several years ago…

My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are, Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God ? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Hurricane Katrina).. Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'

In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.
Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said okay.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'
Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can  send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

If you think it has merit, please share it.

If not, then just discard it.... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.

My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,
Ben Stein

Related War on Christmas Posts:

Say Merry Christmas – American Christian Life United (ACLU) – Vocal by Carrie Rinderer

God Rest Ye Merry Merchants

Principal Banning All Fall Holidays at School… Columbus Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving… and Christmas Has Already Been

 

Merry Christmas! : Celebrating America's Greatest Holiday

 

A great book on Losing Our Religion by aethiest S. E. Cupp, who says she is he perfect person for this book because she has no dog in the hunt, takes on the all too often avoided question and discussion of religion in America…

 

The Battle for Christmas

Supporting Israel or Obama… You Cannot Do Both!

 

“The Problem with Jews today, especially American Jews is that we have forgotten our history or persecution”  …Rabbi Joseph Potasnik  This is an amazing statement about a people who have survived without a homeland for much of their existence because they kept their history and traditions alive!

Spencer: Abraham Foxman to Jews: Stay on the Reservation

Seventy-eight percent of American Jews voted for Barack Obama, and in the wake of Obama’s betrayal of Israel, Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League is trying to keep them on the reservation.

One wonders why Foxman even bothers with this dangerous fool’s errand. Obama has associated with antisemites and Palestinian jihad sympathizers throughout his political career, such that the Jews and supporters of Israel who voted for him in 2008 should be in full backpedal mode by now, apologizing for their earlier support for this clear enemy of Israel and dedicating themselves to defeating him in 2012.

But apparently Foxman’s pride is more important to him than the survival of Israel as the Jewish homeland and the sole bulwark of freedom and human rights in the Middle East. And so instead of renouncing his earlier support for Obama and taking a stand for Israel when that embattled country needs it the most, he has opted to pretend that Obama’s statement really wasn’t all that bad, and that Jews and all supporters of Israel should relax and keep on loving Barack Hussein Obama.

“I don’t see this as the president throwing Israel under the bus,” Foxman told Greg Sargent of the Washington Post. “He’s saying with `swaps.’ It’s not 1967 borders in the abstract. It’s not an edict. It’s a recommendation of a structure for negotiations.”

Foxman was referring to Obama’s statement that “the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states.”

Foxman apparently believes that Obama’s statement about “the 1967 lines” is the core of the problem that those who are appalled by Obama’s speech have with it – thus his emphasis that “it’s not an edict,” but simply a “recommendation.” He added that “there is a danger that the 1967 marker, which was always there but has never been stated so directly, may become this year’s settlements issue.” But, he repeated, “it’s not an edict — it’s not what he did with settlements.”

In this Foxman overlooked what most mainstream media reports about Obama’s speech also overlooked: that he wasn’t calling for a return to the pre-Six Day War borders at all, but to new borders “based on the 1967 lines,” and creating “two states, with permanent Palestinian borders with Israel, Jordan, and Egypt, and permanent Israeli borders with Palestine.”

This would be even worse for Israel than a return to the 1967 lines. A Palestinian state that bordered on Israel, Jordan and Egypt while Israel bordered only on Palestine would mean a substantially reduced Israel, having been forced to cede much of its core territory to the Palestinian Arabs in exchange for the chimera of peace with what are in fact implacable and unappeasable jihadis. Abraham Foxman should have learned from the disastrous aftermath of Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza that territorial concessions to the Palestinian jihadis do not bring peace and never will bring peace. Instead, Foxman declared Friday that Obama’s speech “indicated to me that this administration has come a long way in better understanding and appreciating the difficulties facing both parties, but especially Israel in trying to make peace with the Palestinians.”

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu disagreed. Meeting with Obama at the White House on Friday, he emphasized that “while Israel is prepared to make generous compromises for peace … it cannot go back to 1967 lines, because these lines are indefensible.” Netanyahu didn’t say it, but clearly he was not going to accept anything worse than the 1967 lines, either....

There is more…

Video:  Doomsday Predicted by Christian Preacher and Doomsday Coming in Israel If We Don’t Support Them!

Doomsday predictions are abound, one guy even says that the world will end May 21st (others think it could be the Rapture). If that is the case, then I hope you enjoy the last Glenn Beck show I will ever post. 

Minister’s Followers Wait in Vain for World’s End

Glenn and David Barton, Pastor Tom Mullens, Rabbi Joseph Potasnik and Rabbi Shlomo Riskin for a candid conversation on ‘end times’ and courage on Friday’s show after Obama’s Arab Spring Speech and the joint Netanyahu-Obama Press conference

Related:

Israel… U.S. Policy Trouble for Israel and Why It Matters to You and the West

Benjamin Netanyahu:  Lessons from the Sudetenland

Hitler’s Germany, Israel, America’s Borders and Obama’s “Arab Spring” Speech (A Must Watch) Updated

Breaking News:  Obama to Speak at UN Next Week & Propose Dividing Jerusalem

A couple of excellent reads if you haven’t: Bonhoeffer and In Defense of Israel, Revised Editio...

Glenn Beck made his announcement of date and location for the Israel Rally: ‘Restoring Courage’ at the Southern Wall of the Temple Mount on August 24^th

Video: Beck on O’Reilly on Restoring Courage Event

Video of Announcement: Here

Click here for more info

[Pic] Obama bows to Saudi King *update* Video added

The exact definition of “Dhimmi”, a term which we talk about all the time on this blog, is:  

Dhimmi was the name applied by the Arab-Muslim conquerors to indigenous non-Muslim populations who surrendered by a treaty (dhimma) to Muslim domination.

US President Barack Obama, center, back to camera, greets King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, center, before the official G20 leaders group photo with Britain's Queen Elizabeth II at London's Buckingham Palace, Wednesday, April 1, 2009.

Posted at: 8:48 am on April 2, 2009 by Infidelesto -  Infidels Are Cool - Source:  The American Thinker

American Thinkiner adds this:

See Miss Manners on the protocol.   Americans do not bow to foreign monarchs because that act signified the monarch’s power over his subjects.

httip: Ronald

update: Here’s the video it’s at the :53 mark

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Saudi Women petition to stay oppressed

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Saudi’s praised for leading interfaith conference; no word if Bible’s were allowed in

Spanish protest in front of Saudi Embassy over unpaid debt

Obama's Words on Arabic Network Gave the Wrong Message to our Enemies!

Comments:

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  music2myear2 hours ago
  Wow, just wow. Are there no handlers to tell him this isn't done?
  Where's Rahm? Enjoying watching his befuddled puppet from afar?
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  Anne-Marie2 hours ago
  How can people continue to ignore what is obvious, this Usurper is an Islamic murderer at heart.
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  G1 hour ago
  Gimme your oil please!!!!!!!! Hey I have pics of Bush and the prince holding hands. so yeah.
  
  Queen Elizabeth’s Gift to Calderón: Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four
  
  http://iblowminds.com/2009/04/02/queen-elizabet...
  reply
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  David Cooper1 hour ago
  I'm pretty sure that by bowing to a king, he's just committed treason. 
  -_-
  If things keep going this way we'll have an impeachment in no time.

  -----

  Whether it is ignorance, treason, part of the great plan of a New World Order, that Obama is a puppet, or that Obama is an Islamic Follower... at heart - take your pick - but his actions are inexcusable, scary and un-America, at least if we want to keep the American and World that we know!!!

  
  

  And at the very least, if you are one of those who chooses not to see... he is embarrassing!

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