Free Speech No More: Anti-War Sermon Brings IRS Scrutiny; Brain Drain Watch

Here's a nice measure of how the comatose American public has willingly given away the constitutional freedoms Chaos grew up with and thought were inviolate: the IRS has threatened to revoke the tax-exempt status of All-Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California, for an October 31, 2004 sermon from guest pastor Rev. George F. Regas, in which he criticized the Iraq war and George Bush, essentially asking, "what would Jesus say" about preemptive war. Since the tax code in its infinite wisdom allows rich and corporate citizens to escape payment but prohibits church intervention in political campaigns (except for fundamentalist church activity), the IRS claims that All-Saints engaged in improper political activities. Oh, yes, it also claims that the church's progressive social activism is not the reason for the attention given (ho ho ho). After some publicity, IRS offers to "settle" with the church if it will admit wrongdoing, which All-Saints declined to do--Chaos admires the stand on principle.


On another front, the ACLU takes on the Bush Administration for denying visas to foreign intellectuals and scholars for taking ideological positions contrary to (what else?) the Bush Administration's policies. "The government should not be banning scholars from the country simply because it disagrees with what they have to say," said an ACLU attorney. The justification for this despicable action comes from (again, what else?) the Fascist USA Patriot Act, which allows the government to deny visas to those advocating terrorism. That "marketplace of ideas-free speech" thing is so quaint, so outdated. The oblivious public now has the government it voted for, and deserves, and the collective IQ slips a tad more...