Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
This one sentence lies at the root of what America is, of what makes America great, of the core values our ideals are built on. These are ideals we all should grasp dear to our hearts, to fight for and provide space for. Otherwise, all you end up with Rush Limbaugh's and Bill O'Reilly's.
And you get the current state of American political debate when it comes to Israel. Because even here, where 80%+ of those responding to diary polls think Israel has too much influence on American politics, there is a vociferous minority that trots themselves out to crap on and hijack any diary that attempts to bring up anything that they deem to by unflattering to Israel. That they deem to be "anti-semetic".
And one of them even has a list of diaries and comments deemed "anti-semetic".
One responded to me in comments the other day: "You must be confusing me with someone who talks to anti-Semites. Nice show you put on in hiddens yesterday."
Huh? My response over the fold...
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