I should add ...

The author of the book which inspired my longer then average post is being brought up on charges in Canada for which he will have to appear in court to address. The CIC, that's the Canadian Islamic Congress, filed a human rights violation with ... drum roll please ... the Canadian Human Rights Commission, the British Columbia Human Rights Commission, and the Alberta Human Rights Commission on the grounds of his, "blatant Islamaphobia." He has had to hire attorney's, appear multiple times in court and if found guilty (it's yet to be adjudicated) have his book banned from reproduction (if ever there was a pun) in Canada all while paying stiff fines too ... for writing a book. This assuming as both an American citizen and a subject of the British Crown he steps foot back in that country. Now I'm curious - what if you're a writer of lesser note, with less resources financial and otherwise then this chap? A writer for whom Canada IS home? Do you even dare write the book? It is a blatant attempt at suppression of information in its most basic form - the written word. While they sell Mein Kampf openly - authored by the greatest offender of human rights ever to walk the earth - this writer gets hauled into court, and by the very people whom would undoubtedly defend that Muslim book store owner's right to a curious taste for "German literature."

Natan Sharansky (the first political prisoner released by Gorbachev in the waining years of the Soviet Empire and coauthor of The Case For Democracy), once defined "true freedom" as being able to pass a "test" as he defined it: "Can you stand in the middle of the town square and declare your dislike and disapproval of your government and your community without fear of reciprocity?" I dare say that our North American brethren are in danger of failing that test.