This story upset me this morning. I read that Juan Williams, a liberal pundit who has worked for Fox news amongst other media outlets, was just fired from his position at National Public Radio (NPR) because he made a casual comment that he was afraid to travel on flights with openly devout muslims on-board. Most sane people I talk to also admit that they have anxiety traveling with people who appear outwardly muslim. The reason for this fear is because just about all cases of terrorism today are perpetrated by devout muslims. I think that if a muslim professor at Lincoln college can profess that Israel and Jews should be destroyed and he is not fired and Juan Williams who simply states that he is fearful of openly muslim travellers is fired is a travesty of justice.
America has long prided itself on one of the Constitutionally promised right of free speech. There are cases where speech must be restricted especially in cases of incitement to riot and murder. And what Helen Thomas said was markedly different that what Juan Williams said. Ms. Thomas said that Jews should get out of 'Palestine' and go back to Poland, Germany, etc.". That statement was boldly antisemitic and she should have been fired on the spot instead of being given permission to resign.
Freedom of speech is being eroded by fear of what the muslims think. Who will stand up against these barbarians to guard the free speech of Americans? Islam must be reigned in or else all of our freedoms will be removed and we will wake up Dhimmis in the Caliphate.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20020347-503544.htmlRepublicans Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee are calling for NPR to be stripped of public funding in response to the termination of contributor Juan Williams, who was fired from the radio station on Wednesday in response to remarks he made about Muslims on Fox News earlier this week.
"At a time when our country is dangerously in debt and looking for areas of federal spending to cut, I think we've found a good candidate for defunding. National Public Radio is a public institution that directly or indirectly exists because the taxpayers fund it," Sarah Palin wrote in a post on her Facebook wall on Thursday. "And what do we, the taxpayers, get for this? We get to witness Juan Williams being fired from NPR for merely speaking frankly about the very real threat this country faces from radical Islam."
"We have to have an honest discussion about the jihadist threat," she continued.
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Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee also called for governmental defunding of NPR, condemning the decision to fire Williams as "censorship."
"While I have often enjoyed appearing on NPR programs and have been treated fairly and objectively, I will no longer accept interview requests from NPR as long as they are going to practice a form of censorship, and since NPR is funded with public funds, it IS a form of censorship," Huckabee said in a statement released on Thursday. "It is time for the taxpayers to start making cuts to federal spending, and I encourage the new Congress to start with NPR."
The controversy arose after Williams, a longtime senior news analyst for National Public Radio, remarked during an appearance on Fox News (for whom he is also a contributor) that he gets "nervous" when he sees Muslims on his airplane flights.
"I think, look, political correctness can lead to some kind of paralysis where you don't address reality," Williams said to Bill O'Reilly during the Monday appearance.
Williams continued: "I mean, look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous."
Today, Williams spoke out about his termination on Fox News, saying the decision to fire him had been made before anyone from NPR spoke with him, and that he was denied the chance to defend his comments in a face-to-face meeting.
He said he was asked what he had "meant to say" in a phone call with Ellen Weiss, NPR's Senior Vice President for News.
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