Monday, October 11, 2010

Quoting Bob Schieffer...


Bob Schieffer, host of CBS' Face The Nation is one of my favorites. At 73, he's probably the best thing that CBS News has going for itself.

At the end of every "Face The Nation" broadcast, Schieffer offers his own two cents. The following is from Sunday, 10/10/10...

If you know me, you know I take second to no one in my defense of the First Amendment.

Freedom of speech is our most important freedom. Without it we could not defend the others.

But as I watched the lawyer for those Kansas protestors argue before the Supreme Court that her group had a right to hold protests at the funerals of American soldiers, I was reminded that no freedom is possible without some limit.

The courts decided long ago that free speech does not allow someone to falsely shout "fire" in a crowded theater.

This group believes that soldiers are dying because God is punishing America for tolerating gays.

So, they argue they have the right to show up at any soldier's funeral and shout and wave disgraceful signs, as long as they stay in a public area.

I understand that in a free society even a group as vile as the Nazis has the right to publicize its cause.

I don't like it, but I recognize that even flag burning is a form of legal political expression.

But does the First Amendment give anyone the right to open the heart of a dead soldier's parent and invade that person's privacy and grief with hateful noise and sights?

I'm no lawyer, but I know enough about our constitution to know it is based on the premise of fairness.

What these people are doing is not just unfair, it is wrong.

If we can bar political parties from campaigning at polling places, surely there is a way to stop those who wish, for their own selfish purpose, to harass those who have given their children in the cause of freedom.