PROGRESSIVES AIM TO TAKE AWAY RELIGIOUS FREE SPEECH

Progressives aim to take away religious free speech

NOTE: When writing about God and Jesus, The Daily Jot means YHVH as God and Yeshua Ha Mashiach as Jesus--the actual original names and the true nature and character of them.    Thursday, December 13, 2018 The government is prohibited by the First Amendment to interfere with the right to free speech and religious freedom, but progressives (communists) in the US Congress are encouraging private sector companies such as Google, Facebook, and others to "regulate" free speech on their platforms. This revelation came in the aftermath of Google CEO Sundar Pichai's testimony before the House Judiciary Committee about whether the company's search engine was biased against conservative speech. In an interview with CNN, US Representative Ted Lieu (D-CA), a member of the House Progressive (communist) Caucus, said he wants government to regulate free speech, but absent of that, corporations should do so.   Lieu was asked by CNN host Brianna Kellar how Google and other tech companies can work to prevent the spread of conspiracy theories and other online trolling. Lieu responded: "I would love to be able to regulate the content of speech. The First Amendment prevents me from doing so, and that's simply a function of the First Amendment, but I think over the long run, it's better the government does not regulate the content of speech." He added that corporations should do the job that government can't do-regulate content of speech. And this is the point: Leftist-led tech companies are actually doing the work these leftists in government want them to do by suppressing conservative and religious speech on their platforms. They do it under the guise of "preventing" fake news and conspiracy theories.   Progressivism, socialism, communism are all the same thing, just a different word is used depending on what is more acceptable to the audience. It is all about communism. Communism must control free speech because its very manifesto calls for abolishing all morals and all religion. Government becomes god in the communist regime. It is run by dictators who pillage entire societies and promote control through class warfare and poverty. Look at China, Cuba, Venezuela, and Argentina. There is no middle class and people are starving. This is a hallmark of communism and it starts with taking away religious freedom and freedom of speech-the tools of hope and salvation. Sadly, it is gaining a foothold in America.   Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez in early December praised socialist Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and said that she "represents the future of our party." Perez also told a Demand Justice gathering of progressives on December 5 that too many voters get their information from Fox News, the NRA and the pulpit on Sundays. He further said, "We've got to talk about other reforms to enable us to elect Democrats." He said they need a broader communications strategy. In this context, it means suppression of free speech and religious free speech-just as the liberal tech companies are doing. See where this is headed? As Christ said in Matthew 24:9 of the end times: "and you shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake." They detest God's Word. They hate your opinion. They seek to take both away. Have a Blessed and Powerful Day! Bill Wilson www.dailyjot.com

NFL FREE SPEECH HISTORY

Soft tyranny and you

NOTE: When writing about God and Jesus, The Daily Jot means YHVH as God and Yeshua Ha Mashiach as Jesus--the actual original names and the true nature and character of them. 

  

Friday, April 24, 2015

 Soft tyranny and you

The government has set a standard of tyranny against you that those who disagree with you can and will prevent you from having a job. Your free speech is OK so long as you keep it to yourself.  Do you ever feel like you have an opinion and yet uneasy about expressing it? Do you think that as a Christian, it is better to not express your views on morality in public forums? Have you felt any kind of reservation about what you do and say could be listened to by the government, so you watch your words? Are there just certain issues that you don't talk about much anymore because the response is so visceral and examples have been made of those who say something?  It's selective free speech. It's soft tyranny. 

Alexis de Tocqueville defines soft tyranny in his book Democracy in America, Volume II (1840): "It [the government] covers the surface of society with a network of small, complicated rules, minute and uniform, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate, to rise above the crowd. The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent, and guided; men are seldom forced by it to act, but they are constantly restrained from acting. Such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence: it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd."

If you are afraid to speak your mind because of the consequences of perhaps losing your job, your livelihood, or that it may invite some government investigation or ruination, you are a victim of soft tyranny.  Galatians 5:1 says, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." A free people can only exist by adhering to the precepts of God. Bondage is bondage, whether it is sin or tyranny. We live in a society where a very vocal minority is bullying your Constitutional rights. Moreover, eternally these people face great peril. Isaiah 5:20 says, "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness..." 

We must speak boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. Even though many respond with hatred and accuse you based on the very intents of their own hearts, they will not know the truth unless someone tells them. We would not know sin had we not known the laws of God. Don't be a victim of soft tyranny. Right is greater than might. As Ephesians 6:12-13 says, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against power, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." Soft tyranny is evil. Stand against it.

Have a Blessed and Powerful Day!

Bill Wilson
www.dailyjot.com

Free Speech in Peril

Myron Magnet, City Journal:

Well-funded Stasi-like groups such as UnKochMyCampus, reports the Wall Street Journal’s Kimberley Strassel, are already at work, seeking “trusted informants” among faculty and students to target and harass the few remaining conservative professors whose thought runs counter to “progressive values” and might “undermine environmental protection, worker’s rights, health care expansion, and quality education.”

READ MORE

What is it with this administration and YouTube videos anyway?

Obama: 'The Future Must Not Belong To Those Who Slander The Prophet Of Islam'
http://youtu.be/oAwMpL7POyo 

High Ranking DOJ Official Refuses to Affirm 1st Amendment Rights
http://youtu.be/0wwv9l6W8yc

DoJ official refuses to denounce demands for Saudi-style blasphemy law
http://dailycaller.com/2012/07/27/doj-official-refuses-to-denounce-demands-for-saudi-style-blasphemy-law/

DOJ: Social Media Posts Trashing Muslims May Violate Civil Rights
http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2013/05/doj-social-media-posts-trashing-muslims-may-violate-civil-rights/

The Constitution is Sharia Compliant? But we shouldn't have free speech to criticize Islam or Mohammad?

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf on Free Speech (Ground Zero Mosque Imam)
http://youtu.be/aZHVlSQX2T8

Infamous Obama Admin - State Dept - Pakistani TV Ad Apologizing For Mohammed Video 
http://youtu.be/ogk2dgSQETA

Obama’s FEC Wants to Criminalize Political YouTube Videos

Posted By Daniel Greenfield On October 26, 2014 @ 8:03 am

http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/dgreenfield/obamas-fec-wants-to-criminalize-political-youtube-videos/

You are not in Kansas anymore...in fact, you are not even in America

You are in the Obama-Holder Dhimmi-Zone from which you may not emerge alive.

JUDICIAL WATCH: DOJ: Social Media Posts Trashing Muslims May Violate Civil Rights

Doug Ross: IT'S COME TO THIS: Holder Justice Department Says It Will Help Enforce Islamic Sharia Law

In other words, criticizing Islamofascism -- the political strain of Islam -- could very well be criminalized by the Obama-Holder administration. The Islamist term for this crime is "Blasphemy", which may include one or more of the following crimes:

- speaking ill of Allah
- finding fault with Muhammad
- speculating about how Muhammad would behave if he were alive
- drawing a picture to represent Muhammad
- whistling during prayers
- flouting the rules prescribed for Ramadan
- reciting Muslim prayers in a language other than Arabic
- consuming alcohol
- gambling
- being alone with persons of the opposite sex who are not blood relatives
- finding amusement in Islamic customs
- publishing an unofficial translation of the Qur'an
- practicing yoga
- watching a film or listening to music
- wearing make-up on television
- insulting religious scholarship
- wearing the clothing of Jews or of Zoroastrians
- participating in non-Islamic religious festivals
- converting from Islam to Christianity

This crime is, in many cases, punishable by death. In other words, you are no longer living in America.

Pamela Geller writes:

How is this any different than Islamic law in, say, Turkey (Obama's favorite and most trusted ally)? In October, 43-year-old Fazil Say went on trial in Turkey for "denigrating" Islam for a series of tweets earlier that year. In one of his messages he had retweeted a verse from a poem by Omar Khayyám, in which the 11th-century Persian poet attacks pious hypocrisy. This is the same thing.

If the DoJ pursued the vicious, offensive, racist, antisemitic tweets directed at me (and others) by Muslims and leftists, they would be pursuing little else. But they wouldn't and they shouldn't.

Note to the Justice Department -- we will fight you on this every step of the way. We will drag your dhimmi asses all the way to the Supreme Court. This is sharia enforcement, and we are not going to stand for it.

Vets Being Round Up Nationwide, People Everywhere Just Disappearing

There's a Glenn Beck video here which I just saw last night--pretty serious stuff going on here, folks.

Boy, we're definitely not in Kansas anymore:

Marine Veteran Brandon Raub’s Attorney says he is getting calls from veterans and people all over the country reporting psychiatric detention for political speech.

PayPal, the Bible, and Homosexuality...

READ ALL ABOUT IT:
Government’s back door censorship

Although PayPal did apologize to Pamela Geller...

Westboro Baptist neutralized by the Patriot Guard Riders

Who is actually getting death threats?

Isn't this clever?

Now a Tea Party leader is told to stay away from public events for his safety. Didn't the Left get Obama's message about the rhetoric???

After blaming the tea party for the mass slaughter on Saturday one tea party leader is receiving death threats. The sheriff’s office told Tucson tea party leader Trent Humphries to stay home.

When I was growing up in the 1950's, this lady was like my Mom's neighbors. Now she's suddenly like Satan. It's beyond riculous! Didn't these people get Obama's message about toning down that violent rhetoric?

Palin aide: She’s getting death threats at unprecedented levels

Where were the protests from the left about all THIS violence and hate (oh wait, it was the Left who was actually doing and saying all this stuff):

The progressive “climate of hate:” An illustrated primer, 2000-2010

And don't forget: Death Threats Against Bush at Protests Ignored for Years

On July 11, 2007, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Betty Williams gave the keynote speech to the International Women’s Peace Conference in Dallas, Texas, and said (to laughter and applause from the audience):

I mean right now, I could kill George Bush, no problem. No, I don’t mean that. I mean — how could you nonviolently kill somebody? I would love to be able to do that.”

You can hear the audiotape of her threat on BREITBART.TV

Despite the fact that threatening to kill the president is a crime, the Secret Service refused to question her or detain her...

Here's a collection of photos and here's a sample:

Meanwhile, in campaign mode (as usual), our opportunistic president seeks to kill (oops) two birds with one stone: They Couldn’t Help It… Team Obama Hands Out T-Shirts at Pep Rally Memorial

And still, now, it appears that the president's peeps aren't listening to him: Anti-Palin Posters Appear in SF

Isn't all of this strange? They're madly in love with a guy they won't listen to...or maybe they all really know he doesn't mean what he says about "healing" and "tone" and "rhetoric"...

What do you think?

Putting a Bullseye on the Constitution

Daniel Greenfield: There is hardly a better way to degrade the entire idea of political speech than by classing everyone who is in any way critical of the government as "anti-government".

College Officials Have Police Shut Down Student Conservative Group Recruitment After Seeing Anti-Obama Literature

After all the crap on all the college campuses directed towards George W. Bush, Karl Rove, and many other conservatives (think: Ann Coulter), suddenly it's this: Florida YAF Shut Down By Campus Police For Trying To Start a Conservative Club: Written by YAF Pack on September 08, 2010, 07:27 PM - Young Americans for Freedom

Bloggers beware: they're coming for me and they're coming for thee

Congress about to limit political speech of bloggers?

Democrats trying to criminalize citizen journalism

By: Mark Hemingway
Commentary Staff Writer
12/03/09 5:10 PM EST

An amendment to a bill currently being considered by the Senate would deny ordinary citizens doing vital investigations in the public interest the same legal protections as professional journalists. If it were to become law, the change could significantly stifle important citizen journalism efforts similar to the recent ACORN expose.

The Senate is currently considering a new press shield law sponsored by Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa. The bill would "maintain the free flow of information to the public by providing conditions for the federally compelled disclosure of information by certain persons connected with the news media." Except that Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Cal., and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., want to ensure that any new journalistic protections would only apply to professional journalists and not regular citizens. An amendment filed by Durbin and Feinstein would modify the legislation to define journalists thusly:

AMENDMENTS intended to be proposed by Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself and Mr. DURBIN)

Viz:

In section 10(2)(A), strike clause (iii) and insert the following:

(iii) obtains the information sought while working as a salaried employee of, or independent contractor for, an entity—

(I) that disseminates information by print, broadcast, cable, satellite, mechanical, photographic, electronic, 1or other means; and

(II) that—

(aa) publishes a newspaper, book, magazine, or other periodical;

(bb) operates a radio or television broadcast station, network, cable system, or satellite carrier, or a channel or programming service for any such station, network, system, or carrier;

(cc) operates a programming service; or

(dd) operates a news agency or wire service;

In section 10(2)(B), strike ‘‘and’’ at the end.

In section 10(2)(C), strike the period at the end and insert ‘‘; and’’.

In section 10(2), add at the end the following:

(D) does not include an individual who gathers or disseminates the protected information sought to be compelled anonymously or under a pseudonym.

While the ACORN story has stung congressional Democrats and pointed out the deficiencies of the mainstream media, there's no basis for Durbin and Feinstein's amendment that seems anything other than vindictive or an attempt to protect the powerful. It's telling that bloggers on both the left and the right are in total agreement this is very bad law.

www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Democrats-trying-to-criminalize-citizen-journalism-78461812.html

Chavez shutting down 34 privately-owned Venezuelan radio stations in the name of "free speech" and "democracy"

“Political language,” Orwell argued, was “designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” Source

George Orwell claimed that there was something more calculated at work when politicians begin to claim for example that “Slavery is Freedom” or that “Hate is Love,” or in Mao Tse Tung’s words, that “Compulsion is Voluntary.” Source

In August 1st article from Reuters we hear that

• Chavez says stations no longer belong to 'bourgeoisie'
  
  
• Calls closures part of effort to democratize airwaves

He says, furthermore, that this is his way of preserving democracy and free speech. Think about this next time the Democrats start talking about the "fairness doctrine" or, what they've cleverly started talking about instead, "localism" and new FCC regulations...

Here's more of what Chavez is doing according to Reuters:

• Another 120 radio stations were being investigated for administrative irregularities
  
  
• Venezuela's attorney general presented this week draft legislation that would establish prison sentences for anyone who provides false information that harms the interests of the state

Mr. President, Keep the Airwaves Free

How Obama plans to get rid of blogs and websites that don't support him

Pamela Geller at Atlas Shrugs says:

It's coming folks, sooner than later. This bodes most ill. Free speech is our most unalienable right. I repeat what Ayn Rand said: "the principle of free speech is not concerned with the content of a man's speech and does not protect only the expression of good ideas, but all ideas. If it were otherwise, who would determine which ideas are good and where forbidden? The government?" Rand further said at a lecture, "Political Vacuums of Our Age", presented to a group of women in journalism in Indiana in 1961: "Once a country accepts censorship of the press and of speech, then nothing can be won without violence. Therefore, so long as you have free speech, protect it. This is the life-and-death issue in this country: do not give up the freedom of the press - of newspapers, books, magazines, radios movies, and other other form of presenting ideas. So long as that's free, a peaceful intellectual turn is possible."

AN OBAMA OFFICIAL'S FRIGHTENING BOOK ABOUT CURBING FREE SPEECH ONLINE

Obama's Justice Dept: No free speech on the Internet!

WATCH VIDEO: Eric Holder, I Would Restrict The First Amendment On The Internet

Islam vs. Free Speech

Each and every presidential candidate should speak -- loudly and clearly -- against this encroachment of foreign law on the First Amendment. Anyone who doesn’t stand forthrightly against these foreign infringements on Americans’ Constitutional rights should receive neither our confidence nor our votes.
Islam vs. Free Speech

Democrats plan to end free speech (ACTION ALERT)

This is a SPECIAL MESSAGE from Stephen Frank's "California Political News and Views" and RightMarch.com:

ALERT: The liberal assault on conservative talk radio has begun -- Rush Limbaugh has figured out that there are more liberals than ever calling his show and other conservatives' shows, in order to "lay the groundwork" for demands to bring back the "Fairness Doctrine," better known as the "Hush Rush" Plan. Here's how Rush sees it:

"I think the liberals are calling this show and a number of other conservative shows for the express purpose of either being interrupted, not being allowed to speak. They'll come out with these outrageous, weird, insulting things that give a host no choice. You gotta move on, or you have to deal with these people in a substantive way. But regardless, they will then -- they're taking notes and all this, maybe even recording it -- and they will either send the recordings or a report in a complaint to their congressman. "Well, I don't know. I tried to call the Rush Limbaugh Show and I got hung up on. I was disconnected. I was yelled at and screamed at after only 30 seconds, I couldn't explain what I wanted to say!" I think there's an ongoing campaign out there on the part of the left to try to build this notion that they can document, to send off to the FCC and other places, that they just don't get a fair shake on conservative talk radio." -- Rush Limbaugh Show, 1/24/07

So what is he talking about? The same thing we've already warned you about: activists on the far left are positively giddy over the Democrats' takeover of Congress, and they're ready to do "whatever it takes" to set their gains in stone by passing new laws to KILL CONSERVATIVE TALK RADIO.

Just think of this new attack as the "Hush Rush Plan."

Last weekend, more than 2,000 liberal activists gathered in Memphis for the George Soros-subsidized "National Conference for Media Reform," and even more participated "virtually" online. They listened intently to all of the usual suspects: Jesse Jackson, Jane Fonda, Bill Moyers, Helen Thomas, Danny Glover, David Brock, Democratic FCC commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, and more.

Some of the groups represented included MoveOn.org, the Revolutionary Communist Party, Mother Jones magazine, the far-left Pacifica Radio, and others on the fringe left.

But the biggest rounds of applause -- and the strongest support received -- came when Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) announced their plans to bring back one of the most onerous anti-free speech rules ever seen in America: the horribly misnamed "Fairness Doctrine."

The "Fairness Doctrine," a federal regulation requiring broadcasters to present both sides of any "controversial" issue, was enforced by the Federal Communications Commission from 1949 to 1987. The FCC adopted it as a regulation, but it was never a law enacted by Congress.

When the rule was in place, radio and TV stations could face hefty fines if their stations aired controversial statements on public affairs without providing equal time to opposing viewpoints. The result was self-censorship by broadcasters who avoided politics to escape any potential government retaliation.

When this rule was dropped in 1987, it led directly to the rise of conservative talk radio that enabled average citizens to have their voices heard across America. If it weren't for the Reagan administration dropping the "Fairness Doctrine," we would never have heard of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glen Beck, Michael Savage, Janet Parshall, Neal Boortz, Janet Folger, or the hundreds of other conservative talk radio hosts that dot the land and expose the lies and misdeeds of the Left.

And that is why the Left wants to bring back the "Fairness Doctrine" -- this time, as a law.

Rep. Hinchey, the new chairman of a subcommittee with jurisdiction over the FCC, has introduced a bill titled the "Media Ownership Reform Act," which would reinstate the Fairness Doctrine and authorize bureaucrats at the FCC to monitor and alter the content of radio and television programs. With passage of his bill, Hinchey said that "progressives" would be able to demand and get "equal access" to programs hosted by conservatives and rebut the "baloney" of people like Limbaugh. "All of that stuff will end," Hinchey said about the influence of conservative media.

Sen. Sanders, the only open socialist in Congress, then stepped up to the microphone and proclaimed that he would be introducing a Senate version of the Hinchey bill.

And to top it off, Rep. Kucinich, chairman of the House subcommittee on domestic policy, announced he would hold hearings on the media, which would include looking at restoring the Fairness Doctrine.

"We know the media has become the servant of a very narrow corporate agenda... We are now in a position to move a progressive [liberal] agenda to where it is visible," he said.

Did you read that? They're ready to move THEIR agenda forward, by pushing conservatives off the map -- by KILLING conservative talk radio!

WE MUST STOP THEM! We have to make sure there are enough Democrats to side with a strong Republican minority against this legislation -- but the only way we can do that is by overwhelming our Congressmen and Senators with messages DEMANDING they vote FOR free speech, and AGAINST any attempt to bring back the anti-free speech Fairness Doctrine.

And we've got a GREAT way to do that!

TAKE ACTION: Now that Hillary Clinton has declared that she's running for president, we can expect that Democrats will move FAST and STRONG to bring back the "Fairness Doctrine" -- as FrontPage Magazine notes:

"Hillary does not want to risk too much probing by the media into her past misdeeds or her current untruths and inconsistencies. Indeed, she recognized early in her husband's administration the power of conservative talk radio, which helped defeat her disastrous health care plan. In response, she reportedly pushed at that time to re-establish the so-called 'Fairness Doctrine' in broadcasting. And she saw what happened to Senator Kerry's 2004 Presidential campaign when it got derailed by media focus on the Swift Boat veterans' charges. Kerry himself blamed the abolition of the Fairness Doctrine for his own defeat, declaring '[T]here has been a profound and negative change in the relationship of America's media with America's people. This all began, incidentally, when the Fairness Doctrine ended. You would have had a dramatic change in the discussion in this country had we still had a Fairness Doctrine in the course of the last campaign.'"

Hillary and Kerry are right -- if the Left is successful in bringing back this dangerous doctrine as a law, there will be dramatic changes... conservative talk radio shows, like Rush Limbaugh's, would be gone. And that's what they want: a law to "Hush Rush!"

Any effort now to codify the old doctrine into law would reverse 20 years of free speech rights enjoyed by patriotic conservative Americans. But that's exactly what the Left wants to do -- unless WE are able to stop them.

To make YOUR voice heard LOUD AND CLEAR, we've set up our website so that you can send "blast faxes" to EVERY SINGLE REPRESENTATIVE AND SENATOR in Washington, D.C.! These Congressmen need to hear from us NOW, before they're able to sneak their legislation past an unsuspecting American public!

Send YOUR blast faxes to ALL 535 of these Congressman NOW, demanding that they support free speech and say NO to the "Fairness Doctrine":

https://secure.responseenterprises.com/fairness/?a=42

NOTE: As always, you can also send a FREE message to your current Congressman and Senators, demanding they OPPOSE any "Hush Rush" attempt to kill our free speech rights -- just go to http://capwiz.com/sicminc/issues/alert/?alertid=9264151&type=CO now. Be sure to send this Alert to EVERYONE you know who wants to help STOP Congress from shutting down conservative talk radio! Thank you!

Free speech takes a hit at Columbia University

Free Speech Takes A Hit (an editorial from the Hartford Courant published on 10/17/06 about two very different incidents at Columbia University)...but did it really?

On Friday, October 13, 2006 Gateway Pundit's post Former Nazi: "Today's Leftist Youth Like Hitler's Storm Troopers" , provided this revealing information about the nature of what really happened at Columbia University.

A former Nazi youth, was interviewed on Hannity and Colmes on Thursday night and warned that today's leftist youth protesters behave like Hitler's Storm Troopers... No kidding! Hilmar ought to know!

Flopping Aces has the video: The Leftist Attack On Free Speech posted By Curt on 10/13/06.


And the other invited guest mentioned in the Courant?


Mixed reports on Columbia dis-inviting Iranian President Ahmadinejad Published by Shoshana Olidort 9/21/06.

Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs apparently extended an invitation to Iranian President Ahmadinejad to speak at the school’s World Leaders Forum. According to Columbia Spectator and JTA, the invitation was accepted but the event, which was scheduled for Rosh Hashana eve, was cancelled because the “school couldnt make proper security and logistical arrangements.” But BWOG reports that Public Affairs Director Robert Hornsby denied the event was ever scheduled. The New York Sun reported that the invitation was shrouded in “secrecy and confusion,” with President Bollinger’s statement about the invitation released just before midnight last night. The same article noted that Columbia’s vice president for public affairs, Susan Brown, denied the invitation, calling it a rumor.
LionPAC, Columbia’s pro-Israel student group posted flyers protesting the event across campus.

What Wouldn't Ahmadinejad Do? By Bari Weiss and Birk Oxholm
Issue date: 9/22/06 Section: Opinion at the Columbia Spectator

In Ahmadinejad's Iran, gays are killed, women are stoned, and democratic activists are flogged in public squares. He has jailed dissidents. He has denied the Holocaust. He has gleefully called for the destruction of the Jewish state. We have said no to hateful words, but we have reached out to a perpetrator of hateful deeds.

I do not think that inviting law-abiding United States citizens to an American university is the same as inviting known murderers and thugs who have sworn to destory Israel, and our First Amendment rights to freedom of speech should not apply to non-citizens. Our constitution is for the citizens of the United States. Other countries do not use our consitution to govern their own countries and their own people.