Senate resolution a threat to our freedom of speech

Editor,

Last week, a nonbinding resolution was introduced by Sen. John Cornyn to condemn an ad that criticizes Gen. David Petraeus, the officer in charge of the Iraq occupation, which was printed in the New York Times by the liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org.

In response, a second bill, proposed by Sen. Barbara Boxer, was introduced to condemn the ads by groups attacking Sen. John Kerry's military record in 2004 and comparing former Sen. Max Cleland to Osama bin Laden.

While I agree with the sentiment in Sen. Boxer's amendment, I believe that neither bill should have been introduced in the Senate. Unfortunately, this is not the only thing that has assaulted our freedom of speech. As many probably remember, after Janet Jackson's breast exposure, harsh fines were imposed on shows that don't follow strict decency standards.

After the attacks on Sept. 11, comedian Bill Maher was fired from ABC for daring to claim that maybe the terrorists who attacked us weren't cowards. Never mind that he still said they were evil, he just dared to say something people found offensive. I'm not going to pretend that there aren't people whose writings and speeches I don't find personally offensive. But I'd be willing to die to protect their right to say what they believe.

I give credit to Sens. Barack Obama and Joseph Biden for their refusal to vote on the Cornyn bill. The best way to end this letter is from a statement given by Sen. Bernie Sanders on the Senate floor: "We live in a democratic society, and people are allowed to do dumb things. Your newspapers do dumb things. And if every time something dumb is done when we have a debate on this issue, I think it's not only a waste of time, it's not what America is about."

Elliot Kaufman

UNM student