08 February 2008

Since I'm in a "Railing on the Government" Mood Today

I have said on many occassions that those who think we have freedom of speech in the United States need to take their heads out of the sand and get a clue.

In Berkeley, California, the local Peace and Justice Commission brought a resolution before the City Council that condemned the U.S. Marine recruiting station (and the country in general) for "launching illegal, immoral and unprovoked wars of aggression and the Bush administration launched the most recent of those wars in Iraq and is threatening the possibility of war in Iran."


So here these (insert your judgement statement here) people have elected to make their voice heard. Freedom of speech reigns! Yay! Oh, but wait... of course someone has to get ticked. In this case a group of Republican lawmakers, led by Senators David Vitter (R-Louisiana) and Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) have introduced the Sepmer Fi Act of 2008, threatening to take away somewhere in the neighborhood of $2,000,000 in federal funds for things like school lunches and education from the city and give to the Marine Corps.


Are you kidding me? These people, no matter what you think of them and their view, are exercising their supposed right to free speech, and you wind up punishing the kids by depriving their lunch and educational programs of money. Now that's despicable.


Heck, even the Marines don't seem to have an issue with it. The spokesperson for the recruiting station basically said that they fight to support their right to free speech. If they aren't hopping mad, then why are Senators Vitter and DeMint so mad? I am sure, in part, it is because they see this as a slap in the face to the men and women of the military (and, to an extent, it is)... but mostly, given the tone of their rhetoric, it looks to me like this is just a way to get some face time on national TV.


You can read more about the story at this link... if you really want to.

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