On Wed, 8 Feb 2006 23:22:12 -0800, "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: >The official position from the White House is that the U.S. condemns >the cartoons but condemns the violence as well. At first they (including one former president) condemned the cartoons trying to use what they then thought was a small relatively unimportant matter to gain a little much needed goodwill from the arabs. Then it blew up in their face when embassies were set on fire and the US government suddenly found they were supporting the terroist regime in Syria. Then suddenly free speech seemed important once again... It has nothing to do with the U.S. as "a voice of moderation". They were willing to betray a fundamental principle of our way of life for the benefit of some short-term diplomatic gains. P. H. Lundbech Odense, DK ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html