In the USA, Freedom of Speech = Low Level Terrorism

Here;s an interesting article. that ought to make anyone who's complacent about US being the guardian of freedom around the world sit up a bit.

It seems that, before the ACLU kicked up a fuss about it, anti-terrorism training materials being used by the Department of Defense taught its personnel that free expression in the form of public protests should be regarded as 'low level terrorism."

Freedom of speech whick must be supported in Iran... but suppressed at home. As an American friend of mine said once, "'Freesom of speech zones? The whole country's supposed to be a freedom of speech zone."

The article has an interesting anecdote about a certain Nobel Prize winner who was detained at a stopover at Houston airport. Eww, been through there and had to sit in a back office while paranoid idiots in uniform strutted around saving the world in their own tiny minds. It's harsh. Though not as harsh as this woman got:

Then again, Ted Kennedy [mentioned because he's been on a no-fly list - rich23] received much less harassment than did Nobel Peace Award winner Mairead Corrigan Maguire after her flight from Guatemala had been directed to Ireland through Houston:

"She was probably tired and ready to get back to Belfast, where her attempts to bring about an end to The Troubles in 1976 made her at 32 the youngest Nobel Peace Prize-winner ever. Since then, she's been given the Pacem in Terris Award by Pope John Paul II, and the United Nations selected her (along with the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Jordan's Queen Noor and a dozen or so other fellow Nobel Laureates) as an honorary board member of the International Coalition for the Decade.
"Unfortunately for Maguire, her flight back home to Northern Ireland was routed through Houston, where none of that meant diddly. Federal Customs officials were far less interested in any of that than they were in a box on the back of the transit form she filled out on her flight.

"'They questioned me about my nonviolent protests in USA against the Afghanistan invasion and Iraqi war,' Maguire said later in a statement. 'They insisted I must tick the box in the Immigration form admitting to criminal activities.

"Maguire was detained for two hours -- grilled once, fingerprinted, photographed, and grilled again. She missed her flight home. She was only released after an organization she helped found -- the Nobel Women's Initiative -- started kicking up a fuss."

So, just so you know where you stand: nonviolent protest is a criminal activity in the US... if you're protesting against the US, of course. Those pointing out the flaws in the enemies of the US - protesting against China, or for the Iranian dissidents (who are, of course, being funded by the US) get a free pass.

Land of liberty, don'tcha love it?