Speech

I believe The Sun, along with many other news outlets, misses the major issues regarding the Chick-fil-Astory: Why is there such intolerance for CEO Dan Cathy's personal views, and such disregard for his freedom of speech ("Chick-fil-A gets busted by the thought police," Aug. 2)? In his business practices, the man never treated gay individuals prejudicially, nor did he post his views in his restaurants. Instead, he responded honestly to a direct question about his views on marriage in a few interviews and chose to contribute to organizations that supported traditional family values.

Cellphones and the Internet have not only altered the way we communicate, they have changed the way we can injure one another. The telecommunications revolution has created the capability of causing far greater harm to children than the bullying many of us remember from when we were young. The omnipresent nature of the Internet means that there is no place for the child who is victimized to hide. Not even one's home is a safe haven when repeated, vicious attacks appear on Facebook and Twitter.

Cellphones and the Internet have not only altered the way we communicate, they have changed the way we can injure one another. The telecommunications revolution has created the capability of causing far greater harm to children than the bullying many of us remember from when we were young. The omnipresent nature of the Internet means that there is no place for the child who is victimized to hide. Not even one's home is a safe haven when repeated, vicious attacks appear on Facebook and Twitter.

It seems we have reached an odd kind of stage in the United States when the Supreme Court has ruled that campaign spending by corporate fatcats is permissible "free speech," but Dr. Ben Carson's utterances against gay marriage are considered impermissible bigotry by his employers. I would note that Dr. Carson did not advocate punishment, imprisonment or persecution for same-sex couples; he only questioned their right to marriage, an institution millions of straight Americans have foregone in favor of mere cohabitation.

The robocalls made on behalf of Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. were less cynical than Dan Rodricks ' column ("Drawing the line in cutthroat business of politics," Dec. 7). To describe protected political speech defenses as "hedging" betrays a sneering disbelief in basic First Amendment freedoms. Constitutional rights are not technicalities. Thomas F. McDonough, Towson

Democrats apparently know no bounds in their quest for gun control. The Second Amendment and the right to own guns and firearms by law abiding American citizens must not be overthrown or defeated by the current Obama administration. President Barack Obama and his conspiring drive-by news media have ruthlessly attacked and smeared the tea party, conservatives and talk show hosts such as Rush Limbaugh, Mike Savage, Glenn Beck and other voices of freedom and truth. Now, Mr. Obama will stop at nothing to attack the Constitution and anything or anyone that stands in his way. There is no excuse or explanation for such uncalled for and savage hate speech being leveled against gun owners and red-blooded Americans.

Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me? Baloney! Social scientists, along with those invested in the field of mental health, have determined through respected documentation that verbal battering is no less harmful in its literal destruction of the mind as is physical abuse to the body. So there you go on the editorial page, defending Pastor Fred Phelps' right to express his organization's venomous tirades, even at the funerals of our military sons and daughters, clearly orchestrated to do irreparable harm ("Free speech is paramount," March 13)

The Sun's editorial board commits the same sin they attribute to conservatives: selective editing of Dr. Ben Carson's speech and the reaction thereto ("The Carson Monologue" Feb 12). Did not Cal Thomas, a conservative icon, come out with a demand that Dr. Carson apologize to the president? The Sun piece made no mention. To quote from the great doctor's speech: "Enough said. " Did not Dr. Carson himself establish that six doctors signed the Declaration of Independence? The Sun piece made no mention.

Mark your calendars. In pencil. Gov. Martin O'Malley has rescheduled his annual state of the state address. Again. It is now on for noon Tuesday. The speech is given with a full complement of Annapolis pomp and ceremony. Invitations go to all 188 lawmakers, who listen as the governor outlines his agenda. This year, the speech was initially set for noon today. But when President Barack Obama announced he'd give his annual State of the Union speech that day, the governor bowed out. "The governor expressed a desire to be sure the people of Maryland see the State of the Union," O'Malley spokesman Shaun Adamec said.

Hate speech is a form of vandalism. It defaces the environment, and like a broken window, if left untended, signals to other hoodlums that the coast is clear to do more damage. But unlike the proverbial broken window, which urban police departments and criminologists urge us to repair to maintain the aura of social order, nobody seems to be in much of a hurry to nip hate speech in the bud. That's because since the ill-fated attempt by several universities to regulate hate speech in the 1980s and 1990s, any discussion of reining in racist taunts inevitably degrades into charges of political correctness and ends abruptly with the invocation of the First Amendment.

The positions The Sun's writers have taken recently with regard to free expression have not fulfilled its higher calling to support these paramount values. First, the essential theme of the Sun's April 3 article about Towson University and the white student union ("Towson U. fights back against negative attention") was that the university needed to apologize for not interfering with the attempts of certain students to form a white student union. But the university should have been commended, not condemned, for taking a principled stand in allowing unpopular speech, weak-kneed though its support may have been.

I know it's practically blasphemy in Baltimore to criticize The Johns Hopkins University. But in forcing Dr. Ben Carson out as this year's commencement speaker the powers that be were not only wrong but were trashing his right to free speech and our right to hear him. I may not agree with his positions, but in a democracy he is entitled to state his beliefs, and I have a right to hear them. What the school has done is an insult to the principles of a free democracy. Donald W. Strauss Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

As a Johns Hopkins University alumna, I am deeply disappointed in the school's decision to chide Dr. Benjamin Carson to the point that he has stepped down from delivering the commencement address to the graduating class ("Dr. Ben Carson steps down as speaker at Hopkins graduation," April 11). A university, especially one with Hopkins' vaunted reputation, should stand for the value of free speech in the marketplace of ideas and the respect for diversity that are the hallmarks of a free and civil society.

There is much we don't know about Dr. Ben Carson's decision to withdraw as a commencement speaker for the Johns Hopkins schools of medicine and education. His recent comments in opposition to gay marriage, in which he compared homosexuality to pedophilia and bestiality, prompted a petition from some Hopkins students for him to be removed as a speaker. The dean of the Hopkins med school wrote a letter condemning the remarks, and Dr. Carson apologized. What happened between that series of events and his decision to step down - whether he faced additional pressure, by whom and how - will likely remain a mystery.

A group of students at the Johns Hopkins University is reviving a campus anti-abortion group that members say will perform "sidewalk counseling" - attempting to discourage pregnant women entering clinics from going through with the procedure. But critics worry that the tactics of Voice for Life will harm the vulnerable women the group says it is trying to help. On Tuesday, a panel of undergraduates will review a decision by the Hopkins Student Government Association to deny recognition to the group.

Dr. Benjamin Carson, the famed Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon , apologized Friday for his "choice of words" and use of examples in discussing gay marriage on Fox News earlier in the week. During Sean Hannity's show on Tuesday, when asked about the matter before the Supreme Court, Carson said, "Marriage is between a man and a woman. No group, be they gays, be they NAMBLA, be they people who believe in bestiality, it doesn't matter what they are. They don't get to change the definition.

The Internet is changing how leaders talk. Leaders from Rome to Beijing and beyond are helping usher in a new era of plain speaking. But American leaders are lagging behind, stuck in old patterns of windy and obfuscatory speech. Around the globe, what's in? Plain words, concision, and speech that is clear on who does what. Consider the Catholic Church's new leader, Pope Francis. In just two weeks, he's made a deep impression with simple robes, plain shoes, and direct speech. On Palm Sunday, in his first major address before a crowd of a quarter-million people, Pope Francis drew on the homespun wisdom of his "nonna" to argue that Christians must resist the temptations of material wealth: "My grandmother used to say to us, 'Children, the burial shroud has no pockets!

The Internet is changing how leaders talk. Leaders from Rome to Beijing and beyond are helping usher in a new era of plain speaking. But American leaders are lagging behind, stuck in old patterns of windy and obfuscatory speech. Around the globe, what's in? Plain words, concision, and speech that is clear on who does what. Consider the Catholic Church's new leader, Pope Francis. In just two weeks, he's made a deep impression with simple robes, plain shoes, and direct speech. On Palm Sunday, in his first major address before a crowd of a quarter-million people, Pope Francis drew on the homespun wisdom of his "nonna" to argue that Christians must resist the temptations of material wealth: "My grandmother used to say to us, 'Children, the burial shroud has no pockets!

Democrats apparently know no bounds in their quest for gun control. The Second Amendment and the right to own guns and firearms by law abiding American citizens must not be overthrown or defeated by the current Obama administration. President Barack Obama and his conspiring drive-by news media have ruthlessly attacked and smeared the tea party, conservatives and talk show hosts such as Rush Limbaugh, Mike Savage, Glenn Beck and other voices of freedom and truth. Now, Mr. Obama will stop at nothing to attack the Constitution and anything or anyone that stands in his way. There is no excuse or explanation for such uncalled for and savage hate speech being leveled against gun owners and red-blooded Americans.