Seditious Behavior

Seditious BehaviorMarch 10th, 2008

Most clear-thinking people will eventually acknowledge, despite their vociferous protestations against any particular subject, that free speech is a precious thing and should be protected. We may wish that someone who is spouting nonsense with which we disagree would shut up, but not many would endorse a law that would force them to do so.

There are people and groups who do now and always have loathed the military. They have every right to their opinions no matter how twisted I may view them to be, but that right becomes seditious action when it is intended to directly impede the work of the military. Apparently shame is a thing of the past.

Code Pink and those sympathetic to their cause have been busily harrassing the military recruiting center in Berkeley, California since it opened in January of last year. Chanting and singing in protest is one thing, but when the protesters blocked the entrance for three hours, there should been a police intervention. Of course, the protesters would have been screaming about oppression and the loss of their civil right to protest. That would have been pure bunk, however.

To make matters worse, we now have elected officials encouraging this sort of behavior. The Mayor of Berkeley and the City Council have branded the Marines as “unwanted intruders” and have been supportive of the protestors. If nothing else, why aren’t they supportive of the rights of the Marine Corps’ free speech? And an even bigger question would be, why aren’t the liberal protestors out there to support the rights of young men and woman to choose whether to join the military?

Pro-choice is not the same without all that make-up, people. Here’s how elected officials view abortion clinics. From the AG of Massachusetts:

“Attorney General Martha Coakley said yesterday that a new law restricting
antiabortion activists from standing within 35 feet of an abortion clinic’s
entrance did not violate their right to free speech.”

Of course, liberals will claim that having clinics blown up justifies the tighter security and the usurpation of the rights of abortion foes to be vocal in their opposition. Then they will dismiss the bombing of the Times Square Recruiting Center as a need for the same security of the Berkeley recruiting center. Someone needs to tell them that they can’t have it both ways. And if the Massachusetts Attorney General’s position has any merit at all, we should be free to tell the Berkeley protestors to shut up. Especially since the very people that they hate so much are responsible for their right to free speech.
-Woody

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