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So you would favor permitting stores to erect "Whites ONly" signs then?

I would. I disagree with what you have to say but will fight to the death to protect your right to say it. I would probably also hope for the store owners to receive poor business, lots of harassment, and an inability to find employees willing to work at such a blatantly racist store.

I stand corrected on the word. Learn something every day. ;)

I see you're still an aptly-named anonymous coward tho. Must suck to have to keep checking back to see if anyone paid any attention. Stand up for what you believe in. You know, the whole "I may not agree with what you say" thing.

A proper discussion of pornography is outside the scope of my time, but to use the best definition I can come up with:

"the sexually explicit depiction of persons, in words or images, created with the primary, proximate aim, and reasonable hope, of eliciting significant sexual arousal on the part of the consumer of such materials."

Wow, man (or woman, as it were). You were actually offended by the ol' "wardrobe malfunction". I would have to say that I found the "wardrobe malfunction" neither arousing, nor explicit. In fact I was quite disgusted by the whole publicity stunt. And therein lies the problem.

I submit again that you are probably an asexual party-pooper who was raised under extremely repressive rules. I'm guessing a Bible-belt female, never married. I am sorry that you will never be able to feel that you can fully express yourself sexually and lighten up about it all.

Rules for whomever, rules for whomever else. Free speech is free speech regardless of who it is for. As written by Beatrice Hall ... but i will defend to the death your right to say it and you know what, it does apply in Canada.

as a few people have pointed out in other threads, there is no brand-new news in Mr Blogger's comments. This has been an ancient scandal in Canada that frankly barely gets mentioned in any more excited a tone than mentioning I like pepper on my steak

what makes me respond to your post is that there is a fundamental difference in how we value and express our freedom of speech. whereas in some countries, shocking testimony at an inquiry calls for a media circus, it does not necesarily mean the same thing in Canada. yes we are a boring, yawny people. i've never been in a city in Canada where i saw the day reported by the Channel 11 Action News Team (now with fewer carbs). it's true that if there's a riot in Canada there's nothing to mention. unleess of course it involves hockey.

but since the commission has been open to the public, has had reporters sitting there the whole time, and is specifically a very boring and old story, you can't really argue that free speech is being limited.

the publication ban is only a limit placed on the story being disseminated widely by the press; in practice it is mostly voluntary, because publication bans are breached whenever a publisher or even TV scum (sorry, "reporter") decide that the story must be told. it is a politeness of the system meant to ensure a fair trial, but it certainly doesn't mean you can't go to Tim Horton's down the street and find out exactly what's going on. nor does it mean that you can't turn on your television and watch the news reports from the States (which most of us are able to figure out how to do).

the inalienable Right of Free Speech is important, but it seems like it should come with the Responsibility of Intelligence as well. i care about my right, but wouldn't want to hear the incessant minutiae of these "scandals" as if it all happened in the girl's locker room in high school.

A "patriotic" American will defend the his opponents' rights to voice their contrary opinions. Or, as Voltaire almost said, "I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it."

Political discourse in America often turns ugly. Whoever first says, "You can't say that" has, in my opinion, lost the argument.

FYI, check this out. I always thought your sig was Voltaire's until I found that site.

The phrase which has now become famous was not a quote by Voltaire (although it is a paraphrasing of one of his statements)

Um, was he writing in English in that letter to another French guy? Probably not. In fact, this page has the source of the letter as A Book of French Quotations. In which case, the widely-quoted phrase isn't a paraphrasing but rather a *perfectly good translation*.

FYI, Voltaire is incorrectly attributed.

Reminds me of that quote attributed to Voltaire, "I disagree with what you say but will defend to the death your right to say it." (paraphrased)... misattributed quote