I have a friend, Wynand, who is a doctor in South Africa. He is of course much more knowledgeable Africa than we are, and I think he's more knowledgeable about America than we are. In fact most thoughtful foreigners tend to be more knowledgeable about the good parts of America than we are. If that foreigner is a conservative, he's guaranteed to be more knowledgeable. And appreciative. I've met any number of foreigners on line who seem to appreciate America a good deal more than ABC, CBS, NBC &c. do.

Wynand wrote:

The difference between America and Zimbabwe:

In America a can of grease in your hair turns you into an expert on politics.

In Zimbabwe an AK47 in your hand turns you into and expert on politics.

In my own private little fantasy world, the AK47 is trained on Keith Olbermann, or the thug Ed Schultz, or the Moaning Moonbat Mike Malloy, but that is starting to sound as sanguinary as they are, so I withdraw it.

We are not by any means to the point of Zimbabwe, but we do get to see SEIU thugs beating up on Tea Party attendants, to advance the agenda of progressive Washington hell-bent to impose statism on America. I've seen the Tea Partiers, and I'd be surprised if any had more criminal violations than a parking ticket, which is I'm quite sure one cannot say that about any leftist march. Or union march.

The Tea Party people pick up their trash and others' trash. They merely want a government which does not rule against the wishes of the ruled: they want a representative government instead of this high-handed group of corrupt Chicago crooks.

And now we see the SEIU, the thug arm the Democrat party, threatening these people. That alone speaks volumes to the fact that we are heading away from a true representative government as fast as possible. And heading away from our First Amendment right of free speech.

Pat Condell is a Brit who made his name on YouTube, insofar as YouTube confers a name, as a very determined, and sometimes strident, atheist. But he's not a progressive, holding a grudge against Christianity and french-kissing, like Soros and Chomsky, bomb-throwing Islamic terrorists. These days he's making videos ridiculing the dhimmitude of suicidal Western nations.

I find him bracing--he writes well. But in this his point is unusually trenchant. The Muslims in Europe have made criticizing religion illegal and that the U.S. even went along limiting speech, but outside the U.S. Condell is livid over this, stating that if the U.S. discarded our First Amendment outside the U.S., then how long until we were undermining it inside the U.S.? Well, SEIU is doing what it can now.

Condell's point is that the First Amendment is crucial to the health of the free world because it alone guarantees that there will be a place in the world which will be free from Sharia totalitarianism. A valid point. I don't know if Condell knows of the Fairness Doctrine. The progressives have gone in a year from "Dissent is patriotic," to in effect, shut up Rush Limbaugh no matter what so we can continue giving away the store with less trouble.

Freedom of speech has never been under so much attack in the last 200 years as it is now. First, by spineless European politicians being frog-marched by Islamists off the cliff just like any other lemmings, and now by the American government.

Freedom can never be taken for granted. Rush made the comment that he would stop when everyone agreed with him. That time will never come because some people are opposed to the very freedoms that America stands for. Such as Islamists and these days Democrats. And more than a couple of Republicans. If we're very lucky, there might still be four or five people inside the Beltway who actually still believe in American freedoms. But don't out them. Let them work in the closet as best they can.