First Amendment Doesn't Include Treason

Written For, Posted At, and Reprinted with Permission of The Talon - Eagles Up!


One of the biggest problems with the way our government has been run in recent years is that average citizens can see what is wrong, but despite their myriad efforts to convince Congress to get off its collective rear end and do something about our problems, rarely do we get any meaningful response.

That appears to be changing on at least one front that got a lot of attention recently. The whacko women of the protest group Code Pink, which appears to be a front organization for anyone who will pay attention to them, decided to target our beloved US Marine Corps earlier this year in Berzerkley, California, attempting to shut down the Officer Recruitment Office there.

Many Californians, while generally benign in their attitude toward the freak show that calls itself the Berzerkley city council, decided that enough was enough in this case, and with conservative leaders like Melanie Morgan publicizing the cause, they showed up by the hundreds to support the Marines and successfully oppose Code Pink.

Nonetheless, the Berzerkley council, which receives millions in federal tax dollars each year, still voted to demand that the Marine Corps leave their town, and even gave Code Pink a designated parking spot right in front of the recruiting office as a command center to continue their disruptions.

Many Americans who understand that we wouldn't have the freedom to be idiots occasionally without the military to guard us from our lapses, questioned why the federal government was allowing this atrocity to occur without repercussion. Incidents of this nature only fuel the outrage and the demands for a clean sweep of elected officials, starting in the halls of Congress.

Code Pink's misfits and malcontents were just the tip of the iceberg, however.

The American media is not reporting it on a national level but as the pro-troop organization Move American Forward reported earlier this spring, dozens of incidents of vandalism and assault have occurred at recruiting offices throughout the country recently. The pro-terrorism forces have adopted the tactics of the barbarians they emulate, and apparently think that by engaging in acts of treason and terrorism they will gain favor from their Islamo-fascist role models.

That, however, appears to be coming to an end.

At least one Congress member has heeded the call to stand up to the forces that would destroy our country.

House Armed Services Committee member Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.), has introduced legislation to outlaw what he has described as a growing number of protesters abusing their right of "free expression" by using vandalism and violence to shut down military recruiting.

His Freedom to Serve Act of 2008 (FSA) HR 6023, would make it a federal crime to interfere with military recruiting efforts by vandalism, violence or intimidation.

It's about time. I am not a big fan of excessive regulations or laws for the sake of laws. But you would have expected something like vandalizing recruiting offices or attacking recruiters with mob violence to already be illegal, locally, regionally and federally.

Rep. Akin is a former Army officer and has sons serving our country. I guess it stands to reason that it would take a man of his experience to understand the need for such a law, although frankly, any thinking member of Congress should see as he does.

Explaining to others in the Congress why he has introduced this legislation Rep. Akin cited an incident in Seattle where Army recruiters were attacked by rampaging "students," another in New Jersey, where the windows of Army and Navy recruiting stations were broken, and a third in a Kansas recruiting center where workers' car tires were slashed and bomb-proof glass had to be installed.

Nothing about Rep. Akin's proposal stifles the First Amendment. We can still protest, voice our displeasure, even support butchers and murderers such as the Islamo-fascists our troops are still fighting and defeating on numerous fronts.

But our Constitution gives us the right to peacefully assemble and protest, not to engage in acts of anarchy. There is a difference and it is high time freak show participants like the Berzerkley City Council, Code Pink and their useful idiots are reminded of this. Rep. Akin and his family have, and are, protecting America.

America should show it's support for him and his "Freedom to Serve" bill.