America is Advanced Citizenship...

How is it that in an environment where millions of dollars are handed out like halloween candy that operating budgets continue to be cut to the point of terminating people and/or programs?  This just doesn't make sense to me.  I won't go any further than that.

On to my soap box pet peeve of the day...freedom of speech, or rather the LACK of freedom of speech.  There was a thread on cmlm that was clearly a court ordered retraction of a negative review of a business.  This is wrong on so many levels to me.  I have issues with the fact that a business can sue an individual for giving a bad review of their business, yet they can advertise anywhere at any time.  This is the one and only reason I don't post my experience with Brandon and Olivia's previous day care and why I definitely don't name it publicly.  

If a business is so threatened by one negative review over a bad experience, then it has more issues in my opinion than just the points brought up in the review.  Basically a company can screw anyone over and we are not allowed to warn other people about our experience without fear of litigation.  That is NOT freedom of speech.  

The same argument can theoretically be made about politicians...do you see Obama suing all the idiots who called him a terrorist or not a native citizen?  No.   Do you see Glenn Beck suing all those who call him looney?  No.  Do you see Sarah Palin suing the writers of SNL or Tina Fey over her impersonation?  No!  

To quote a speech from one of my favorite movies, The American President (the one with Michael Douglas):

"America isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad, 'cause it's gonna put up a fight. It's gonna say "You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country can't just be a flag; the symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then, you can stand up and sing about the "land of the free"."

His conviction while conveying those statements made me want Michael Douglas as my president. :)