In fact, I think the contrast is telling; the students who stormed the stage at Columbia were actually punished, whereas the SFSU students were let off the hook. It definitely exposes hypocrisy in American universities, and not bending toward "liberalism," or in favor of "islamism;" quite the opposite.

NSA wiretaps suggest very strong evidence that there are Muslims hiding in your scrotum right this very minute. For your own security, you should chop off your testicles at once.

There, I'll bet you feel better already.

People like glenn and these other liberal wingnuts are vastly underestimating the battle we are in.

People, we have spent almost half a trillion dollars and spent many lives fighting against fundamentalist islam. And we have barely made a dent. That should tell you what we are up against.

God has chosen this moment in time as a pivotal battle against good and evil. I personally feel no greater goal than to fight and die for this great cause. All REAL americans should feel the same.

You need to bridge that gap, becasue "today we don't print offensive cartoons, tomorrow we're a giant caliphate" is not an especially convincing argument.

Well said. And I completely agree with Golden Boy that CNN pixilated those Danish Cartoons so one could not actually see them, that the NYT wouldn't publish them & etc, for one reason: FEAR. After those cartoons become a cause of riots in other parts of the world, they took on news value, but our media almost universally caved to a desire not see their studios/presses blown up.

In that sense, Muslim terror inarguably has had a chilling effect on speech; Piss Christ pissed off Xians, but no one was bombed or murdered. Salman Rushdie wrote a novel that some Muslims purport to find blasphemous, and nearly has his life ruined by having to go into hiding. These are serious issues.

But none of that means a Caliphate is coming, or that Islamist terrorists have any capacity whatever to install one. To believe otherwise is sheer paranoid lunacy.

Can you answer the question as to why the cartoons that offended Islamic sensibilities were reprinted almost nowhere in the States?

Oh. So if the N.Y. Times doesn't reprint the complete "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" in the interest of full disclosure, they're aiding and abetting the Master Plan of (or at least kow-towing to) the anti-Semites?

Agreed, the cartoons are not the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion", but nonetheless, it's not necessary for them to print everything that you think they ought to be printing. Others have reprinted the cartoons. And not everyone prints Ted Rall, either. Imagine that.

Cheers,

NSA wiretaps suggest very strong evidence that there are Muslims hiding in your scrotum right this very minute. For your own security, you should chop off your testicles at once.

I know you are trying to be helpful, but the justifiably paralyzing fear that the Savage Desert Beasts instill in any pure-hearted, oatmeal-fed American male tend to cause the testicles to retract to a such a degree they become inaccessible.

The situation these poor souls find themselves in can be remedied by surgery, replacing the frightened nuts with Neuticles, or by e.g. publishing their own goddammned paper full of anti-Muhammed cartoons if they care that bleeding much about it!

Assertion of 1st-amendment rights is known to have beneficial effects wrt "having some balls."

Piss Christ pissed off Xians, but no one was bombed or murdered.

Benito Giuliani whipped up a frenzy to cut off funding for the Brooklyn Museum. When you have that kind of civic power, you don't have to threaten bombs or murder.

In the end it's the same shit, different Messiah.

Surely the onrush of Islamic fundamentalist caliphate warriors and their fifth column henchmen of the ACLU and the Dhimmicratic party is destined to fail.

How could it succeed?

We have legions and legions of brave, forthright young Republicans and Christian Culture Warriors and O'Reilly fans and FrontPageMag readers and National Review bloggers.

All of these people are proud of having enlisted and fought in the Great War To Save America From Iraqi Terrorism, and surely they are confident that their battle skills would transfer to the domestic fight.

University won't punish College Republicans for anti-terror rally

By Melanie Bengtson

First Amendment Center Online intern

03.29.07

San Francisco State University’s College Republicans will not face sanctions after hosting a rally during which students stepped on pieces of paper they had painted to resemble the Hezbollah and Hamas flags. The anti-terrorism demonstration on Oct. 17, 2006, prompted another student to file a complaint because the flags contain the Arabic word for “Allah.”

The complaint alleged that the Republicans had attempted to “incite violence and create a hostile environment.” SFSU administrators held a hearing to evaluate the charges, which could have resulted in sanctions to force the group to apologize or even remove their organization from campus. The hearing panel announced on March 19 that there would be no sanctions against the organization.

“We were actually very surprised,” said Leigh Wolf, president of the SFSU College Republicans. “They had dragged it out for so long. We were under the impression that they fully intended to drop sanctions on us.”

Associated Students, the student government of SFSU, unanimously passed a resolution condemning the College Republicans on Nov. 15. That resolution prompted the Office of Student Programs and Leadership Development to investigate the incident. That investigation led to a hearing before the Student Organization Hearing Panel, which had the power to punish the group.

Samantha Harris, the director of legal and public advocacy for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, said, “This was really one of the most egregious free speech violations we’ve seen.”

The situation drew the attention of national media and interest groups. FIRE and the American Civil Liberties Union petitioned the school’s administration on behalf of the College Republicans and their constitutional right to free expression.

According to Wolf, SFSU has failed to protect free speech in the past. In 2004, while celebrating the reelection of George W. Bush, the College Republicans were surrounded by students who tried to quiet them by throwing soda cans and other objects at them. Then charges were filed against the College Republicans, though they were later dropped.

“It’s the epitome of ‘free speech if it is our speech’,” said Wolf.

The Student Organization Hearing Panel announced on March 19 that no punishment would be imposed on the College Republicans. Associated Students also voted unanimously to recall their resolution condemning the organization.

“Students and faculty who find themselves facing censorship really need to stand up for their rights on principle. As much work as FIRE put in the case, we couldn’t have done it without the students … they stood up for what they knew was right and they stood up for the First Amendment,” said Harris.

Asked if the College Republicans intended to file a lawsuit against the university, Wolf said, “All options are on the table at this point.”

Calling the university’s actions against the First Amendment an “embarrassment,” Wolf said, “It’s the very essence of our country ... the ability to disagree and still live in a civil society where everyone still functions even if they disagree with each other.”

Melanie Bengtson is an intern at the First Amendment Center and a sophomore studying developmental politics at Belmont University.

Update

Students sue university over probe of anti-terror rally

Lawsuit says San Francisco State violated First Amendment by dragging College Republicans through five-month probe, campus tribunal after they stepped on Hamas, Hezbollah flags during protest. 07.10.07