LEFTIST DEMOCRATS SEEK BAN ON FREE SPEECH

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: I really didn't want to blog on this. Seriously, I didn't. I wanted to keep my blogging limited to religious issues over the next few weeks. Unfortunately, I am now compelled by current events to speak my mind - at least while it's still legal to do so.

By now we should all be familiar with the tragic events surrounding the attempted assassination of U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in what has now been named the "Tucson Massacre." Six people were killed, including a federal judge and a nine-year-old little girl (both Catholic). Fourteen people were injured. The alleged shooter, Jared Lee Loughner, was apprehended by police and charged with murder and attempted assassination. Congresswoman Giffords now fights for her life in a Tucson hospital having sustained a bullet wound to the brain.

The events surrounding this case are beyond tragic. They are down right frightening. However, that in itself would not be enough to get me to blog on it, as the news media is doing a fine job splashing images and headlines all over the evening news. If you don't know about this event by now, either you're not living in America, or else you've been camping deep in the woods for the last week. No, what provokes me to blog on this is not the terrible event itself, but what has happened afterward. Within MINUTES (not hours or days) after the shooting, the Internet and blogosphere erupted with political opportunism, mainly from the Left, blaming right-wing radio, politicians and TEA parties for the shooting. Within hours after that, the mainstream news media erupted with the same unfounded and ridiculous accusations. Sarah Palin was the primary target of this blood libel, and that is why I've given her a forum on this blog. It is not because of any political favoritism I do this. She is the target of a Left-wing hatchet job in the media, which affects us all in the realm of free speech. Already Democrat members of the U.S. Congress are calling for a return of the so-called "Fairness Doctrine" which limits free political speech on radio and television. All of this is because of the Leftist Democrat blood libel against political conservatives for doing nothing more than exercising their God-given First Amendment rights. I'm not a right-wing Republican. In fact, I'm not even a member of the Republican Party, and to be quite frank with you, conservative talk-radio bores me. Nevertheless, I am an advocate of our God-given right to freedom of speech, especially political speech, which is clearly under attack by the Leftist Democrats in the media and government. Now don't think for one minute that this is limited to political speech, but religious speech has already been attacked. Within hours after the shooting, the blood libel turned against Pro-Life Christians as well. It's all connected you see, not the shooting, but the libel that follows. Leftists suffered a hefty political defeat last November in the U.S. Congressional election, now it's payback time. The problem here is that this isn't just politics. We're talking about free speech here. We're talking about an American tradition, and a God-given right, that has been the bedrock of our way of life for over 200 years. It would seem Leftists in the media and congress would trash that in a heartbeat for a little political payback right here and now. That is indisputable. It's all over the news today, both in broadcast and in print.

Since the news media has been so reluctant to report the actual facts, and so eager to jump to bogus conclusions, it once again falls on the shoulders of basement bloggers (like myself) to do the mainstream media's job for them. So without drawing any conclusions, here are the known facts...

1. Jared Lee Loughner was a registered Independent voter. He participated in the 2006 and 2008 elections, but not the 2010 election.
2. Jared Lee Loughner listed Karl Marx, Ayan Rand, Plato and Adolph Hitler as his favorite authors on his YouTube page.
3. Jared Lee Loughner did not watch television, hated the news, and did not listen to conservative talk-radio according to his friend Zach Osler. According to Osler, Loughner DID NOT take political (Republican or Democrat) sides.
4. Jared Lee Loughner was physically removed from his college for acting erratically in class and appearing to be under the influence of drugs. His classmates stated that they felt threatened by him, and his teacher stated that he was concerned for the safety of the class.
5. Jared Lee Loughner produced a number of YouTube videos which seemed to demonstrate a bazaar and unusual thought process.
6. Jared Lee Loughner has a history of drug and alcohol abuse.
7. Jared Lee Loughner was a conspiracy theorist according to his posts on Internet forums. He believed the government was behind 9-11 and has faked the space program. He also believed the government was using mind-control by influencing people's grammar.
8. Jared Lee Loughner was influenced by the film "Zeitgeist: The Movie," which his friend Zach Osler said had a profound influence on his life. The film promotes the conspiracy theory that Christianity is myth used for political control.
9. Jared Lee Loughner kept an occult style "shrine" in his backyard, complete with a human skull placed atop rotting fruit in a planting pot. 
10. Jared Lee Loughner disliked Representative Gabrielle Giffords, according to his friend Bruce Tierney, and accused the congresswoman of being "fake."
11. Gabrielle Giffords is a Democratic U.S. Congresswoman from Tucson Arizona.
12. Gabrielle Giffords is Pro-Abortion and has a 100% "Pro-Choice" rating from NARAL.
13. Gabrielle Giffords has a liberal voting record on most issues, but is pro-gun rights and opposes illegal immigration.
14. Gabrielle Giffords is Jewish and attends Congregation Chaverim, a Reform synagogue, in Tucson.
15. Gabrielle Giffords is a former member of the Arizona regional board of the Anti-Defamation League.
16. Gabrielle Giffords was periodically interviewed together with Illinois Republican Peter Roskam on NPR's All Things Considered.
17. Gabrielle Giffords is married to U.S. Navy Captain and space shuttle astronaut Mark E. Kelly.

These are the facts, as known at this time. Feel free to draw from them whatever conclusions you like, but that is for you the reader to decide. I don't know why Jared Lee Loughner went on a shooting spree and attempted to assassinate Congresswoman Giffords. I don't know why he shot the other people, including a federal judge and a nine-year-old little girl. I can't get inside this guy's head, and frankly I don't want to. However, I do know this. The reason why we have the First Amendment in this nation is to protect CONTROVERSIAL speech. Non-controversial speech doesn't need protection because it's not threatened. In fact, the ONLY kind of speech that is threatened by those who would seek to ban it is CONTROVERSIAL speech. This tragic event in Tucson has led to this. Those who hate free speech are now coming out of the woodwork, putting blood-libel on politicians, talk-radio and the TEA parties. They're doing it right now on the television news and print media, using their own free speech to condemn the free speech of others. They're proposing legislation in the U.S. Congress right now. Yes, it's happening, and these enemies of free speech all seem to have one thing in common. They're Left-Wing "Liberal" Democrats. No, I'm not blaming the Democrats for the Tucson Massacre. I'm blaming them for using the Tucson Massacre to push their anti-freedom and anti-American agenda.

This thread is open. So post whatever you like. In honor of the free-speech I'm defending here, it will not receive the usual moderation.