Free Speech Against Muslims Prohibited

When SCOTUS permits women in high heels to stomp defenseless little animals on film, it should allow a man to mock Muhammad with cartoons.

"Hearing set for man who posted anti-Islam drawings," by David Unze for the St. Cloud Times, April 23:

A June 1 hearing has been scheduled for the Waite Park man who admitted posting anti-Islam drawings at various locations in St. Cloud.

The hearing is an opportunity for Sidney Allen Elyea to dispute a civil charge that he violated a city ordinance prohibiting posting materials on fixtures. Elyea faces two civil charges that each carry a maximum fine of $250.

Elyea has admitted posting the drawings and said he did so to educate others about Islam. The city charged Elyea through the civil process after county attorneys in Benton and Stearns counties declined to file criminal charges of obscenity or defamation against him, saying that what he posted was protected speech.

So two county attorneys thought that Elyea was exercising his freedom of speech, and yet the city pressed forward with a case anyway. Why is that? Why are Muslims being set up in this country as a protected class that must not be criticized or offended? Who else enjoys such protection? Why, no one, of course. And no one should.

Elyea's attorney has echoed that opinion, adding previously that Elyea was protesting in a nonviolent manner and that the city's ordinance encourages arbitrary enforcement and is void because it's vague.

"Given what our Supreme Court has done to protect the right to free speech, it baffles me that the government has not dismissed this case," Attorney Ryan Garry said Friday. "The city attorney's office should be charging and citing residents for the crimes they commit, not for the opinions they have."...

The drawings that Elyea posted contained explicit depictions of bestiality and sodomy, contained images of the Prophet Muhammad in derogatory positions and contained pictures and words offensive to Muslims in particular.

One set of the drawings was found posted to a telephone pole outside a Somali-owned business in East St. Cloud. Other copies were found in other parts of the city.

So he may be a jerk. He may be a provocateur. He may be a lout. But is it illegal now to be those things, when a certain hypersensitive group is the recipient of the loutish behavior?