There is an old saying that I know has permeated at least as far as Scandinavia for I first heard it several years ago from the lips of a member of the Communist Party of Sweden who is an old school chum of Mrs. ΛΕΟΝΙΔΑΣ: "As California goes, so goes the US, as they are in the progressive vanguard." There is considerable truth to this statement as is evidenced by myriad encroachments on liberty which have had their inception in the "golden state" such as draconian gun laws and scores of taxing schemes designed to transfer wealth from those who earned it to the more "leisurely" sectors of the population. It has been said of Maryland that "If you can dream it we can tax it". This goes in spades for California where the state practice also includes: "If you can do it we can regulate it."
One area that thus far has escaped the tax and regulate mentality of the modern collectivists in the US is freedom of speech, and even that is threatened by the spread of "anti hate" legislation which has begun to appear here and there. Mostly due to the efforts of our government school system, few of us here in the US understand that we inherited our traditions of liberty from the prudent adoption by our nation's founders of a written constitution which basically formalized the "
Rights of Englishmen".
Britain on the other hand, has never formally adopted a written constitution and therefore Parliament is able to enact virtually any law which it deems appropriate. An example of such an act is: sections 18(1) and 27(3) of the Public Order Act of 1986 which prohibits "Stirring up Racial Hatred by displaying written material" likely to result in attitudes of hatred toward any ethnic, racial or religious group. Interestingly enough the law has not been applied to Muslim demonstrators such as those displaying signs reading "massacre those who insult Islam, May God curse the Queen, Butcher those who mock Islam and God bless Hitler". It is, however to be applied to a UK
blogger who has called attention to the dangers of Islamists who advocate the positions referred to above. He is to be arrested for statements of fact, truth and personal opinion published on his blog.
If any of you, dear readers, care to peruse Lionheart's blog and its archives please get back to me in the comments to this posting and advise if contained therein are any incitements to violent actions against anyone. I would submit that in fact what "hatred" exists over these issues predates Lionheart's postings. If on the other hand you perhaps find this turn of events outrageous please feel free to exhibit your support in the manner you find most appropriate. One wonders if the flap over Salmond Rushdie's publication of "The Satanic Verses" would result in his prosecution by the current Labour Government. Also, if you believe that "this could never happen here in the US", think: 2 or more "progressive" appointments to the Supreme Court. You might also go
here for additional discussion of this issue. Meanwhile:
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE!
cross posted at:
Eternity Road