Re:Nothing for you to see here. Please move along. (Score 1)

  Don't let your personal ideas on a topic be clouded by prejudice.

Wel, I want to agree wih you (:-), but...

  But back to freedom of speech, and tangentially related: freedom of press. Also make sure to mention that currently the US ranks #44 on the Worldwide Press Freedom Index http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reporters_Without_Bor ders below for instantance Mauritius and Mali, Benin and El Salvador but JUST ahead of Bolivia. The Netherlands can be found 40 places higher in this list on number 4 after three Nordic countries.

... I don't know if this is a very good point. After all, that ranking only expresses the amount of freedom the press has in saying what it wants. However, Dutch journalists (much like, as I've been told, American journalists after 9/11) have a notoriously uncritical attitude toward the government -and politicians in general. It's easy to be left in freedom if you never push the boundaries of what's generally accepted.