Explain This

Yesterday, a federal court in New York ruled that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority had to accept ads in the subway stations that say this:

IN ANY WAR BETWEEN THE CIVILIZED MAN AND THE SAVAGE, SUPPORT THE CIVILIZED MAN. SUPPORT ISRAEL. DEFEAT JIHAD.

The MTA had refused to accept the ad on the grounds that it was "demeaning". Huh? Who does it demean? The only group it mentions is the jihadists. Is there something wrong with calling a group that killed 3000 in 2001 and just murdered four in Libya "savage"? I certainly do not see it.

Fortunately, the judge enforced the requirements of the First Amendment which prohibit the government from determining which speech is acceptable.

On another front in the free speech battles, the United States has begun running TV commercials in Pakistan in which America condemns the you tube video that has been tied to all the protests. That's right. People in various countries get upset about this video and the reaction of the United States government is not to stand up for free speech, but to condemn the video and to see to it that the filmmaker is arrested.

Before the 2008 election, president Obama had criticized the US Constitution as a document of negative rights; in other words, the Constitution says in detail what the government cannot do. Obama spoke out about how the Constitution ought to say what government must do. At the time, it seemed that all Obama wanted to for the government to be required to provide certain needs of the people like housing and food. That is radical enough. Now, however, it is clear that Obama also dislikes the restrictions on government action contained in the Bill of Rights. Free speech, to Obama, is a bother, an annoyance. His administration is basically campaigning against it all across the Moslem world.